Sunday 12 August 2012

WWII week: tysk (fleirtyding)

Previously, we had seen many of the coastal fortifications, still mostly intact, along the beaches of the Baltic, in the Normandy and in the harbours of the Bay of Biscay, and we were surprised to discover what an extensive network of defenses from World War II are yet to be found with some searching in Norway.
Unlike the pillbox concrete installations that defy erosion and the slippage of the decades (at least on human terms) as essential reminders spanning much of the continent and beyond, the Norwegian continuation of the Atlantic Wall, built under the orders of Nazi German to stave off an anticipated Allied invasion, are hewn into the very geology, cut into cliffs and granite boulders, like these
labyrinthine emplacements of trenches, bunkers and batteries found at Fort Nordberg and along the trek up to Fort Varnes and spread across the beach at Ny Hellesund all in the southwest part of the country, and commanded a strategic view of important berths and navigable points, bottlenecks and hiding spots, along the unfamiliar network of fjords. The title, tysk (fleirtyding) is Nowegian for German, Deutsch (disabiguation, [Begriffsanklarung]) to signify that Norwegians do not believe that the German people are unchanged or all the same.