Oscarsborg
The Norwegian fortress Oscarsborg secured the access to the Norwegian capital Oslo through the Oslofjord from the open sea. The German heavy cruiser Blücher was sunk from the fortress on April 9, 1940 .
geography
The facility is located on the islands of North and South Kaholmen south of the larger island of Håøya . There are also six-inch batteries on the east bank. The passage west of the island to the mainland was reduced in 1890 by an artificial reef to an average water depth of 2 meters, so that even today all shipping traffic to and from Oslo passes the fortress in the immediate vicinity.
history
The construction of the fortress was ordered by General Ferdinand Graf Wedel-Jarlsberg in command in 1836 and completed in 1856. It was named after Oskar I (Sweden) .
The three cannons of the main battery of the fortress with caliber 28 cm L / 40 were from 1893 and were supplied by the German company Krupp . They were identical in construction to those used on the armored ships of the Brandenburg class . The cannons bore the biblical names Moses , Aron and Josva . Moses fell into the water while reloading in the port of Oslo , and that's how she got her name. The guns and torpedoes of the fortress sunk on 9 April 1940 the heavy cruiser Blücher , as during the Second World War with the " operation weserübung countries" Norway and Denmark from the German Reich were occupied by the military. The successful defense of the fort under Colonel Birger Eriksen enabled the Norwegian King Haakon VII. , Together with the gold treasure of the country after the UK to escape into exile. The Ufa Tonwoche (" Wochenschau ") on May 3, 1940 showed pictures of the fortress occupied by the Wehrmacht .
In 2002 the last military installations were shut down. Today there is a fortress museum in Oscarsborg.
Location of Oscarsborg in the Oslo fjord
Oscarsborg Fortress seen from the east bank of the fjord
Oscarsborg fortress guns
Krupp gun at Oscarsborg Fortress
Web links
- Information about the island of Oscarsborg
- Oscarsborg nasjonale festningsverk (Norwegian)
- Oscarsborg Fortress (English)
Footnotes
Coordinates: 59 ° 40 ′ 25 ″ N , 10 ° 36 ′ 24 ″ E