replaced the German guns. Another consequence was that in mid-February, 1941 the naval high command decided to stop work on the battery at Bornholm. The immediate reason was that the delivery of the guns had been delayed, but at this point the naval high command realised that the decision to attack was definite, and thus there was no longer any need for coastal batteries in Bornholm. Consequently, the work on Bornholm was throttled down, so that only two of the large gun bunkers were partially completed. In Hanstholm, the building project continued, however, and the battery was ready for action in the late summer of 1941. Coastal Defence in Denmark During Operation “Barbarossa” : March - November 1941
Inspection of part of the crew for a 38 cm gun at Hanstholm, summer 1941 (© MM)
The German attack on the Soviet Union, “Operation Barbarossa”, on June 22nd, 1941 would decisively influence coastal defence activity in Denmark. The tasks of the coastal artillery were expanded and divided into two opposite categories: 1) Increased protection of the coast facing the North Sea to reduce the risk that the British might exploit the thinning of the German troops in the west by carrying out offensive operations. 2) Blocking the exits of the Baltic for Soviet ships, which might try to flee to British ports after the German attack. The risk of British raids against the coast was underlined by the attack on Svolvær on Lofoten on March 4th. This attack caused the army commander in Denmark, who was not informed about the preparations for the attack on the Soviet Union, to ask for more coastal batteries and to strengthen the surveillance of the coast by posting small army troops at important points. Furthermore, a revision of the army’s concept of defence was undertaken, and from then on, an emphasis was placed on stationing units of up to company strength at vulnerable points along the coast, and on the preparation of defensive positions. The first step in strengthening the defences of the exits of the Baltic was taken in March 1941, when naval high command ordered the emplacement of a battery with Danish guns to guard the northern end of the German net barrage between the German coast and the southern tip of the Danish island of Falster. In the beginning of May construction of a battery with four Danish 12 cm guns started at Gedser, and after just a month it was ready for action. At the end of April, the army high command further allotted the Danish area ten new batteries, which were equipped with captured French 10.5 cm field guns. The batteries were so-called “army coastal batteries”, which were manned by army personnel and equipped with guns from army depots. 233
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