Austrått Fort, a powerful World War II German artillery battery in Norway

It made its last shots in 1953 and is in excellent condition After the outbreak of World War II, Norway became a target for nazi Germany due to its important strategic position.

Kristiansand: an enormous World War II German cannon turned into a museum
Kvarven Fort: an artillery battery that took part in a brief World War II combat

On the one hand, Norway has a key position in the access between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Furthermore, its northern coasts were of enormous importance in being able to interrupt the maritime supply route that led to the Russian port of Murmansk (although at that time Germany and the USSR were allies, Hitler surely already had in mind that That alliance would not last long). Finally, Norway offered sea access to Sweden’s iron mines, whose supplies were very important to the German war machine. Because of this, Germany invaded Norway in April 1940.

A shot of the tower of Austrått Fort (Photo: Battlefieldsww2.com).

As soon as it occupied the Nordic country, Germany began to work on the construction of fortifications on the Norwegian coast, mainly to protect German supply routes, but also to prevent Allied landings in that country. These fortifications were the northernmost section of the so-called Atlantic Wall, built by the Germans in the occupied countries and which began in the south of the French Cantabrian coast.

A photo of Austrått Fort during World War II (Photo: brage.unit.no).

One of the fortifications built by the Third Reich in Norway was Austrått Fort, whose construction began in 1942 in Ørland, to protect the approaches to the Trondheim Fjord. This battery was equipped with a three-gun SK C/34 28 cm naval turret, taken from the German battleship Gneisenau. The battery had a range of 38 kilometers and had a garrison of 117 soldiers.

After the end of World War II, Austrått Fort passed into the hands of the Norwegian Army, firing its last shots in 1953 and being deactivated as a military position in 1968, but its maintenance continued until 1977. In 1991 the old battery was restored and a year later it was converted into a museum, thanks to which this battery is today in an excellent state of conservation.

The channel WW2HistoryHunter has published an interesting video touring this battery:

You can see some screenshots from the video here. Here we see what looks like a foxhole, or perhaps a position for a mortar.

The large triple tower of Austrått Fort. Very few batteries from the Second World War are preserved in such good condition.

The three 28 cm SK C/34 guns from the tower of Austrått Fort. This type of cannon was designed in 1934 as a naval cannon. They had a great rate of fire, being able to fire a shot every 17 seconds.