Heligoland Explosion, the 'British Bang'.

Heligoland.

There is very comprehensive article on Heliogoland in the current issue of the ATB magazine (154).

Construction of Fortress Heliogoland started immediately after it was acquired in 1890 in exchange for Zanzibar from Great Britain.Neutralised by the Versailles Treaty,it was reconstructed by the Nazi regime.

 

Back in the mid 70's I worked in Norway and Heligoland was a favourite destination for one particular Norwegian friend who would sail his boat there and stock up with duty and tax free booze. I don't know if it is still the tax haven it used to be though.
Pete

 

I spent my Birthday there last year. Three great days but extremely windy being April.
Although a military base during WW2, the WW1 U-Boat Bunker was really not up to scratch and was only used for re provisioning and minor repairs if required.
Unfortunately Hitler late in the war dictated the certain places be classified as Festungs or fortresses, to be held at all costs.
Luckily the commander's of many had other ideas.
A tunnel has been excavated but was closed during my visit.
On my list of places to revisit☺.
Regards
Tom

 

The reason why you could not find it is that for some wholly unexplained reason the mentioned previous thread was entitled "Helgoland", rather than "Heligoland".

However, that thread is primarily concerned with an intensive British bombing of the island said to have taken place on 18 April 1945, i.e. during the war, exactly two years to the day before the post-war Big Bang of 1947, giving rise to confusion manifest in the thread.

No-one else so far has commented on the apparent coincidence of the two bombings being on the same date exactly two years apart, and the possibility of confusion between the two.

 

Helgoland is the German spelling.
Heligoland is the British spelling.
The RAF did indeed bomb the island dropping some Barnes Wallis Tall Boys I believe, one of which is preserved outside the museum.
You can still see evidence of the bombing with craters having grassed over.
Regards
Tom