I am on holiday in Denmark at the moment - the last time I visited Jutland`s west coast was in 1977. Back then, as a boy, I was fascinated with the bunkers on that coast line. Coming back now I realize how late in the war the Germans continued their bunker building efforts on this stretch of the Artlantikwall. Take a look at this: The "Tirpitz-Stellung" in Blavand - it was started in July 1944. It was supposed to accomodate 38 cm guns in twin turrets of the disused battleship "Gneisenau" to protect the harbour of Esbjerg. Apparently two of these emplacements were planned - only one is visible and accessible because it houses a museum nowadays. The emplacement was never equipped with the guns - the barrels had been delivered but remained on a train in a nearby train station.
In book by a Danish author I found out more about the Atlantikwall in Denmark. All in all 7000 concrtee structures were built after 1942 - the Dieppe raid had left an impression on the Germans. Major construction work was undertaken 1943/44, with many bunkers built after D-Day in Normandy. The bunkers - all along the Atlantikwall - were built after standard designs, the German term was "Regelbau". Standard pattern bunkers were built relatively quickly, the drawings were standardized and readily available, the amount of material was known and could be planned ahead. So what looks a bit haphazard when you see it in the field or along the coastlines is actually something "off the shelf". Take this one, for example: My "pet bunker" in Denmark. I discovered it in 1974 on a hill in the woods near the holiday apartment we had rented back then. I came back to check just a few days ago - it is still there and unchanged. This, I found out, is a "Regelbau 58c". I believe you would call it a "Tobruk"... The opening on top (here on the left of the top) was closed after the war and could - in its original form - accomodate a machine gun.
I took this picture yesterday, on Houved Strand near Ringkjobing. On the left is a "Regelbau" R 636 - a bunker used for observation and command. It was heavily affected by floods over the decades. Originally it would have been integrated into the first row of dunes - but the North Sea is gnawing at the Danish coastline. So the bunker is in rather bad shape now - below an impresssion of what a R636 would have looked like while still in use:
Here's more on the concept of "Regelbau": Regelbau - Wikipedia And this link will take you to a Danish site - if you scroll down a little you'll find a list of all "Regelbau" models - and there were quite a few... Time to brush up you Danish for all you Anglo-Saxons! Regelbau - Database med alle bunkere i Regelbauten programmet.
By the way, being stationed in Denmark was the best thing that could happen to a German soldier in WW2. Not too much danger - plus: Denmark was the land of butter and cheese, good beer and pretty girls. Butter was a rare commodity in Germany during WW2. The Germans saw having plenty of butter on your bread as a sign that life was good. So, no real butter on your bread indicated that not all was great in Germany. I read many accounts about German soldiers sending butter from Normandy or Denmark to their families in Germany. Valuing butter continued well into the 1960s... it was in the 70s that butter became a dangerous enemy to be held in check..
Here`s another model - a "Regelbau L 409A", built near Nymindegab/Denmark. "L" stands for Luftwaffe, the "409" was designed to accomodate the German 37mm AA-gun, the concrete walls had a thickness of 2 metres - the actual bunker with strong walls was underneath, these pictures only show the open gun pit on top. I don't quite get the idea - the crew is only protected when hiding below, the gun is unprotected and so is the crew when it is operating the gun....
Curious coincidence: I know exactly this beach, when we were there in 1980 on family vacation - and especially the R636 light flak needs an open field of fire - there are not so many possibilities of placement However, I find 2m thick underground bunker walls rather over-engineering. I wonder if they served more as a load-bearing foundation?
... Actually it is Houvig strand, not Houved as I wrote. Wonderful beaches on this coastline ... in the 1970s we spent holidays a bit further to the south, in the Nymindegab area ... my trip this year had nostalgic overtones, coming back after 44 years.
I have rummaged a bit: Due to a shortage of steel, there was a switch to tamped concrete (Stampfbeton) without reinforcement, which offered good to even better protection than reinforced concrete, albeit with considerable wall thicknesses. According to the (unavoidable) building regulations*, Regelbau 409A was a "staendige Anlage (St)/permanent facility" for which a wall thickness of 2 m was prescribed. * D. 570/1+ Vorschrift für den Bau ständiger Befestigungsanlagen (B.st.B.) see also: Ausbaustärken