Flak battery Mellum
The heavy flak battery Mellum was a bunkered position of the naval flak on the island of Mellum north of Wilhelmshaven during World War II .
Location and structure
There were many barracks on the site that housed the construction company, the material store and the kitchen. In the north-west of the facility, a 10.5 cm anti-aircraft and sea target battery with four gun beds was built. There was also a control station , as well as a machine and drinking water bunker, which were located in the northwest in a widened part of the dike. To be on the safe side, the ammunition bunker was housed about 250 meters from the battery in the Ostendich. The battery had a sports field.
Organizational integration
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 Navy Flak Division 282, whose Flakuntergruppenkommando Nord was in Hooksiel .
history
planning
The island was first visited in the spring of 1940. The purpose of the inspection of the officers of the naval fortress construction staff of the Coast Commander East Friesland was to find a location for a heavy anti-aircraft and sea target battery. The tour was held by Sergeant Georg Harms. Harms was the principal of a Wilhelmshaven elementary school and a member of the Mellum Council . He had been a bird watchdog on Mellum since 1935, he worked to ensure that nature and bird protection were taken into account as far as possible when planning the battery. The first thing to do was to find a suitable position. A bunker was built on the dune in the west of the island as early as 1932. This was already at the inspection kolkt . Since it was feared that the erection of a battery in this position would change or relocate the naturally created dune, similar to this bunker, it was decided to erect the battery on the Ostgroden.
construction
The island was connected to the Mellum balje with a 1.5 kilometer long pier , so that the island could be supplied regardless of the tide. Three anti-aircraft stands with 4-cm and 2-cm anti-aircraft guns were built to ward off attacks from low-level aircraft . The first stand was in the southwest of the island. The second and third booths were in the northwest. The fourth stand was equipped with a 150 cm spotlight and was located in the north watt. The third booth was converted to a 60 cm spotlight after the construction work was completed. Working day and night, two suction dredgers washed up around two-thirds of the island's grassland with sand from the Mellumbalje. An area of about three hectares was washed up in this way and made flood-proof by building a dike . Barges brought clay earth and sods from the mainland to the island around the sand surface and the dyke against erosion protection. The erosion caused by the lack of vegetation caused damage to the guns and equipment along with the flying sand; the control center was particularly affected. The makeshift bunker built in 1932 was blown up after the construction work was completed and removed to prevent further scouring of the dune.
business
The 10.5 cm battery was reported ready for action on July 1, 1942. In the summer of 1943, work began on setting up the second control center in the south dike. It was connected to a command device 41 L and a 6-meter basic range finder. He also received a FuMG 201 Tyo 41G (gA). On March 25, 1943, the battery was visited by the Coast Commander German Bight Vice Admiral von Stosch .
The anti-aircraft battery was repeatedly the target of bombing and low-flying attacks. On April 14, 1944, a Flying Fortress B-17, which was heading for the island just above the water, was so badly damaged with 2-cm and 4-cm anti-aircraft fire that it had to make an emergency landing. The Americans were captured. On March 30, 1945, a British Bristol Beaufighter aircraft attacked the battery while flying low. Stand 4 in the north of the battery was set on fire and destroyed. The aircraft was shot down on the second approach.
The motorboat "Spring" transported mail daily between Horumersiel and Mellum.
camouflage
The position was very different from the rest of the island due to the washed-up sand. In order to camouflage the battery, plant material was transported from Wangerooge to Mellum by motorboat for months .
Animal welfare
Georg Harms was still active as a bird warden on Mellum despite his work as a clerk for camouflage. He even gave ornithological lectures for the flak crew. According to Harms, the gun leader of Flakstand 2 took over the post of bird warden on Mellum from 1942 until the end of the war after further training at the Helgoland ornithological station . The soldiers kept a flock of sheep on the island.
post war period
After the surrender, the island crew was instructed by the occupying forces to leave the battery and go to the Horumersiel battery . The battery was blown up in 1945. Today a memorial on Mellum commemorates the flak battery.
gallery
Bunker now used as a toilet
A bunker entrance in the dike
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 , p. 202f.
Web links
- Heavy flak battery on Mellum. with photographs. In: bunker-whv.de.
- Thomas Clemens, Rudolf Enselmann: Mellum during the war and post-war period. (PDF; 803.89 kB) Nature and environmental protection (Mellumrat magazine), Volume 9, Issue 1. In: jade-hs.de. April 2010 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j 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. 202 f .
- ^ Friedrich August Greve: The air defense in the Wilhelmshaven section 1939-1945. 2nd Navy Flak Brigade . Hermann Lüers, Jever 1999, p. 48 .
Coordinates: 53 ° 42 ′ 50.3 " N , 8 ° 8 ′ 44" E