Lobster claw project
The lobster claw project was a major military project by the National Socialist government to set up an artificial naval base at the southern end of Heligoland and its dune.
history
Heligoland was an important naval base of the Imperial Navy as early as the German Empire . During the National Socialist era , the major project to create the port for the navy began in 1938 . Helgoland and the port that is being built there were to become a counterpart to Scapa Flow under the planning and camouflage name "Project Lobster Scissors" and prevent sea blockades .
To the north of the dune (island) , two extensions of the island and thus an artificial basin to accommodate and protect large parts of the German fleet were to be created by backfilling, draining and building moles . At the same time, the island was to be expanded to many times its original size in a construction period of 30 years. In addition, an extensive bunker system was created on Heligoland . However, the project did not get beyond the necessary preparatory work, including the filling of the northeastern country, and was discontinued in 1941 during the Second World War .
Occupied by the British after the end of the Second World War, the island served as a blasting and training area from 1945–1952. In 1947, Heligoland's bunker system was to be destroyed. Despite many protests, one of the largest explosions in history ("Big Bang" or "British Bang") was prepared by the Royal Navy , which on April 18, 1947 changed the landscape of Heligoland permanently.
The visible consequences of the elaborate “Lobster claw project” are the Heligoland north-east, the protective wall on the Lange Anna and the constant expansion of the Helgoland dune.
See also
- Sea blockade # British sea blockade in the North Sea
- German Empire 1933 to 1945
- Bunker systems on Heligoland are blown up
literature
- Claude Fröhle, Hans-Jürgen Kühn: Offshore fortress Heligoland. A journey of discovery through military history . Part 2: 1934-1947 . Fröhle-Kühn Verlagsgesellschaft, Herbolzheim 1999, ISBN 3-9805415-2-5 .
- George Drower: Heligoland. The True Story of German Bight. The Island that Britain Betrayed . Sutton, Stroud 2002, ISBN 0-7509-2600-7 , pp. 183-214.
- Michael Herms: Change of flag on Heligoland. The battle for a military outpost in the North Sea . Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-86153-260-3 .