The Strategic Position of Denmark.

 Denmark's position as "The Cork in the Baltic Sea" was vital for both NATO and the Warsaw Pact through the Cold War. The

 only way out of the Baltic Sea was through Danish waters. No transport- or warships could get through the Danish waters
 without either being observed or shot at. Towards the Baltic Sea was in the early fifties built two new Coastal forts.
 The Stevns Fort, whose primary task was to protect the important minefields in the southern part of the Øresund and Fakse
 Bay and prevent enemy passage of the narrow straith of the Øresund.
 The Langelands Fort was supposed to protect the minefields of the southern part of the  Storebælt and prevent enemy access
 to these waters.

 
 The building of the Fort.

 At the southern end of the island of Langeland, the large farm Holmegaard with its 170 acres of land, was acquired for the
 purpose and on the 22nd of March 1952.  the contruction was initiated by Admiral E.M. Dahl, the Earl of Tranekær Kay
 Ahlefeldt-Lauervig and the engineer Lehrmann from the Army Building Dept.
 The existing buildings of the farm were extended to become the barracks.

The farm  Holmegaard

Admiral E. M. Dahl

 
 The Fort became active on the 15th. of september 1953, but the constructions were not complete untill august 1954.
 

The situation of the Fort

The situation of the Fort on the southern end of the island of Langeland.

The Fort and the barracks        to the left (west).

 
 14 major buildings were built in concrete:
                          - 4 gun positions with firing control, ammunition storage and rooms for the crew below.
                          - 2 bunkers with diesel generators for emergency power supply.
                          - 1 command and firing control bunker.
                          - 6 batteries for the local defense with firing control, ammunition storage and rooms for the crew below.
                          - 1 firing control bunker in advanced position at the coast east of the Fort.

 The ammunition storages and transportation routes were made flame resistant, operations and command centers were
 secured against gas attack, vital installations were made shock resistant and the machinery bunker was equipped with an
 alarm system for radioactivity. All bunkers were equipped with steel doors and entrances were secured against attack.
 The fort was had sufficient protection against both shelling from the sea and air attacks with conventional weapons.
 The plants were secured against gas by overpressure in the building, made by the ventilation system and with special gas
 filters.  
 

Gas Filters.

 The Operations Bunker
 
 To manage and coordinate the efforts, there was a center of Operations. It was situated below the surface at the northern
 end of the Fort. Here all information from all observation posts, the MPG-radar and the gunfire  controls were received.
 This Operations center was connected to the national coastal defense and superior authorities.

 

The Road to the Operations Bunker

The stairs to the Bunker

The Kings Monogram ( HM Frederik IX)

The entrance to the bunker

Opening for machinegun

Position of the machinegun for            the  defence of the Bunker

The Corridors

The Ventilation and Gas filter room

The Kitchen

Room for the CO on Duty

Room for the CO on Duty

Control Room of the Local Defense

Control Room of the Local Defense

Communications Room

The  Communications Room

The Operations room

The Operations room

The Plotting Table in the Operations room    Originally placed at the Stevns Fort

 The Armament of the Fort.

 The fort was equipped with 4 pcs. of 150 mm. P.K.L. L/55 model M/1930 guns. The original designation was 15 cm S.K. C/28
 L/55. The guns were mounted in gun-mountings Küst MPL C/36 for the coastal defense. Although construction year was
 1928, it was a fully modern piece of artillery, clearly on par with other countries' artillery.
 The history of the guns is as follows:
 In the end of the WW2, the Germans had built a battery on Fynshoved. The guns at the Langelands Fort vomes form this
 battery. The guns were manufactured by the Skoda factory in Pilz in Czechoslovakia. Around the turn of 1944-45 to 8 guns
 type 15 cm SK C/28 in gun-mountings Küst MPL C/36 were sent to Denmark. All were without armored shields as steel 
 could not be obtained for for this. The shields were not mounted until they were delivered to the Langeland Fort.

 In 1957, a 127 mm. PK L/45 M/1934 was mounted at the beach as a lighting battery for the main battery. It was in 1962-64
 replaced with two pcs. of 150 mm. guns of the same type as the main battery. These two guns came from another German
 WW2 battery Hesbjerg at Gilleleje and had come to Denmark on same late stage of the war.
 In 1973, the main battery was abandoned, but crews were still trained to operate the guns.
 

Gun no. 1. (At the North)

 The guns were mounted in four positions in a north-south line parallel to the coast. One gun in each with associated
 ammunitionstorage and bunker for the crew. The guns had a firing range of 22 km which is far enough to cover the waters
 between Langeland and the island og Lolland.
 A gun with a excellent crew could make ​​6 shots per. minute. The grenades had a weight was 45 kg and the grenades had a
 great armor penetrading effect.

View towards the South from                                        Gun no. 1 to gun no. 2.

 From the ammunition store in the bunker below the gun, the ammunition could be brought up to the gun with a lift. 
 

The stairs to the Artillery      Bunker below gun no. 1.

The Entrance to the Artillery Bunker

The ventilation and Gas Filter Room

The grenade storage

Storage for the Charges.

The Ammunition lift.

Reserve drive to the ammunition lift

The Periscope for Observation

 In the bunker below the guns there was rooms for the crew of 15.

The Room for the Crew

The toilet in the Periscope Room

The artillery crew were equipped with special helmets, leaving room for earplugs or head telephones. They also had anti-flash protection equipment of the face and the hands while firing the gun.

 To control the artillery firing the fort had a MPG Radar which was placed near the operations bunker where the firing control
 was situated.

The  MPG-radar

The MPG-radar

The Artillery Calculator

The Artillery Central and Firing Control

The Artillery Central and Firing Control

The Artillery Central and Firing Control

The Artillery Central and Firing Control

The Power Control of the             Artillery Central

 
 The Anti Aircraft Guns of the Fort. 

 To the defense against ait raids the fort had two stationary anti-aircraft batteries, 1 (north) and 2 (south), located in the
 northern and the southern end of the fort. Their primary role was to defend the fort against attack from the air. But the guns
 also could be used against targents on the surface.
 Each battery consisted of three platforms, each with two 40 mm cannons in one mounting. The guns, of the type 40 mm
 R.K.L./60-M/1936, was an American model of the Swedish Bofors cannon. They were donated to Denmark as part of the U.S.
 army assistance in connection with the Marshall Plan.
 The same type of aircraft guns were mounted on most of the major coastal and naval forts.
 The guns had an effective range of 2,000 meters against air targets and 4,000 meters against targets on the surface.
 Each of the guns in the battery could deliver 240 shots per minute.
 In a bunker below each battery there were three rooms, a ammunition storage, a room for the crew and a firing control.

The Northern AA-Battery

Platform for a 40 mm. AA-gun

40 mm. Bofors AA-gun

40 mm. Bofors AA-gun

The Seat for one of  the Crew

Details at the 40 mm. Bofors AA-gun

  Each battery had a crew of 7 and a couple of men for the firing control tower.

Entrance to the bunker for the AA-crew. The door to the left is the ammunition storage

Emergency-exit to the stairs.

The corridors in the Bunker

Power-boards for the AA-guns.

Firing Control Equipment

Ammunitionstorage

Room for the AA-crew.

The plain Toilet for the Crew.

 The fort also was equipped with aprox. 20 pcs. of mobile 40 mm. antiaircraft guns, allowing to place them where needed.
 These guns were of the same type as the fixed anti-aircraft batteries.

40 mm. mobile AA-gun

   The Power Supply bunkers.

 To ensure power supply to the fort, there was both in the northern and the southern part situated two power supply bunkers.
 they were equipped with two diesel engines to power the emergency generators.
 The engines are two B & W 56 hp diesel engines, each pulling a Thrige Titan 380 V generator. The third engine is an American
 generator unit, UD 24. This Diesel engine was  made by The International Harvester Company.
 Only the Southern bunker is visible, while the northern is in use as a radar station for maritime surveillance.

The Gate to the bunker

The Stairs to the Bunker

The Bunker

The Entrance

B&W Diesel-engine

B&W Diesel-engine

Generator

The Workshop

The Workshop

 In connection with power supply bunker there was a machine gun position to defend this bunker. It was entered by the stairs
 to the right of the entrance to the bunker. It was armed with a 7.62 mm. machine gun M/62. This position was supplemented
 with foxholes in area. 

The Stairs to the Machine Gun Position

The Machine Gun Position.

 In case of a crisis or a war, the crew would be increased to far more than the 400, who had their daily service at the fort.
 For this matter there was an armory of small arms.

The Small Arms Armory

 The Fort was abandoned by the Navy on the 6th. of  April 1993 and reopened as The Cold War Museum on the  16th. of June
  1997