Flak battery Geniusbank

The Geniusbank flak battery was located in the right-hand section behind the lighthouse.

The Geniusbank heavy flak battery was a bunkered position of the naval flak in Wilhelmshaven during the Second World War .

Location and structure

The battery had been built at the eastern end of the Geniusbank dike. The facility consisted of four gun positions that were arranged around a central control station . The new 12.8 cm gun beds built later were located right next to the old ones. To the east of the facility was a radar of the Würzburg type , a fire water pond, a 2-cm Flakvierling for self-protection and a building with a common room and canteen. To the west of the battery stood a utility barracks, an underground machine bunker, water tanks, an ammunition bunker and control room 2.

Organizational integration

Position of the flak batteries in the Wilhelmshaven section

The German Bight Coast Commander was responsible for the coastal defense . The battery belonged as part of the II. Marine Flakbrigade to the Wilhelmshaven section. The flak battery belonged to the Marine Flak division 212, whose Flakuntergruppenkommando center was on the Fortification Road in Wilhelmshaven.

history

The battery consisted of four guns with a caliber of 10.5 cm , which were housed in an underground bunker system. The system was identical to that of the Tirpitzschleuse flak battery . The facility was probably created at the same time as that at the Tipitz lock. In July 1943 work began on converting the battery to 12.8 cm of the Flak 40 M type . Since these guns were much larger, new gun beds had to be created. The construction of these beds was completed in early September 1943. Due to the loose sand on the genius bench, the conversion could only be reported ready for action on November 25, 1943. On February 3, 1944, due to technical malfunctions during an air raid on Wilhelmshaven, three guns in the battery failed.

The remains of the Flakbatterie Geniusbank are today partly under the washed up sand of the Jade-Weser-Port . Other parts are in an inaccessible bush next to the Voslapp overhead fire .

literature

• Friedrich August Greve: The air defense in the Wilhelmshaven section 1939-1945. 2nd Navy Flak Brigade. Hermann Lüers, Jever 1999, ISBN 3-9806885-0-X , pp. 117f.

Web links

• Flak battery Geniusbank on www.bunker-whv.de, with photographs.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Friedrich August Greve: The air defense in the Wilhelmshaven section 1939–1945. 2nd Navy Flak Brigade . Hermann Lüers, Jever 1999, ISBN 3-9806885-0-X , p. 117 f .
2. ^ Friedrich August Greve: The air defense in the Wilhelmshaven section 1939-1945. 2nd Navy Flak Brigade . Hermann Lüers, Jever 1999, p. 48 .
3. ↑ www.luftschutzbunker-wilhelmshaven.de. Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 

Coordinates: 53 ° 34 '52.9 "  N , 8 ° 8' 16.2"  E