The Tour of Denmark

The numbers refers to locations I visited at which day according to headings in the post below

After concluding my previous blogpost about Bolærne Coastal Fortress with some ranting about bunkers and Coastal Fortresses with narrow gauge railways, it came to my mind that there are actually a couple of places to visit if one wants to experience that. -And not only to see the tracks in a bunker environment, but with working trains as well. One of these Coastal Fortresses is in Norway and is located at Møvik outside Kristiansand. The other Coastal Fortress is the 'twin fortress' to Møvik and is located on the opposite side of Skagerrak (the strait between Norway and Denmark) on the Danish coast on a place called Hanstholm as part of the Atlantic Wall. Since I had one week of summer vacation left and my motorcycle was newly serviced I decided to go to Denmark and check out Hanstholm. Besides the Danish Armour Museum had moved indoor to new facilities which I wanted to see. Last time I was there the exhibition was outdoors. 

The heading has nothing to do with the Danish multi-day professional road cycling race with the same name, which coincidentally was held during my own 'bike tour'. Denmark is not a very large country, but there are a lot of interesting places to visit if you are into railway or military history.  So there were a couple of other places I could stop and have a look during this tour as well. After driving off the ferry in Hirtshals  it was just a short ride to Aalborg...

Day 1, Aalborg 

The city of Aalborg is located in northern Jutland, and there are a couple of military museums there. The first one was the Armed Forces Museum of Aalborg Garrison, with a collection spanning from 1864 to present day. The museum is located on a WW2 German Airfield for seaplanes:

They have a small exhibition and a large diorama showing one of the battles in the Second Schleswig War between Denmark and Prussia/ Austria over the southern parts of Denmark. It didn't go to well for Denmark and those regions are part of Northern Germany today. It's also made a Tv-series about this war.

Danish Forces were fighting German Invaders the 9th of April, and were involved in several skirmishes. They were ordered to cease fire 08:00 am, but the fighting continued until 11:45 when the German occupation forces had seized Denmark. It's also made a Danish movie from 9th of April 1940.

In Aalborg there has also been a military Airfield, and they have a collection of real and model aircrafts which has been in Danish service:

They have also a large collection of arms used by Danish forces...

...and I had no idea that there were made so many different versions of the Danish Madsen Sub Machinegun. This is the type the 'Soviets' used in the movie Ice Station Zebra, which you can see on Man of Tin Blog Two.

You could even pick up an hold some of the weapons. The Madsen Sub Machinegun was surprisingly light weighted, but the Madsen LMG similar to the one used by Norwegian Forces in 1940 was surprisingly heavy:

They also had a collection of models of Danish Police cars. Their Black and White scheme was similar to the Norwegian:

They also have a large collection of vehicles which has seen service in the Danish Armed Forces. I've been to this museum earlier, and then I think their outdoor collection of vehicles was larger and in even better condition before:

Outside they have also an original command bunker from the the time this was a German Airfield for seaplanes, But they've also constructed more modern temporary defense positions the visitors can enter:

Times are changing when 'modern' F16s either go to Ukraine or museums:

And off course a photo of the museum store. They actually sold Airfix figures in H0/00 and old kits (built up):

Very close to the Armed Forces Museum there is Aalborg Naval and Maritime museum. The first that met me when entering was this nice diorama. Aalborg is located near the Limfjord and therefore a natural placement for Viking settlements. 

Between 1672 and 1917 The Danish West Indies was a Danisch colony in the Carabean, before being sold to U.S.A. and became the Virgin Islands in 1917. This model is from the early days of this colony, but was in a really bad condition. It's been recently conserved by a professional model builder whic kept as much of the original materials as possible:

I know some of my readers are found of monitors, so here is a photo of an American one and the Danish counterpart:

They also have an outdoor exhibition with ships you can enter:

The Vosper Torpedo boat was in such a bad condition that visitors was not allowed to enter anymore:

Model Villages are pretty common in Denmark, and the one showing old buildings from Aalborg is located at the Maritime museums outdoor exhibition area:

And this is the museum-shop. Not many kits, but mostly Cobi (Polish 'Lego'):

Another place I wanted to visit while I was in Aalborg was the train station. There you can see a model railway the public can run buy paying a symbolic amount. It's made as a Danish layout with some elements from Aalborg. It's made so 3 different trains could be run independently:

Day 2, Hanstholm Bunker Museum 

At day 2 I went to Hanstholm to visit the Bunker Museum there, which was the originally purpose with this trip in the first place. Hanstholm Fortress was part of the Atlantic Wall and it's main purpose was to seal off the entrance to Skagerrak together with the Møvik Fortress in Kristiansand in southern Norway. The few hundred meters which wasn't covered by the big guns range on either side of Skagerrak was covered with mines:

To be able to shoot that far, Hanstholm was equipped by 4 large German 380mm ex-naval Guns. The Fortress in Møvik on the Norwegian side had 3 similar guns (the 4th was never mounted). After WW2 the guns at Hanstholm was dismantled. The guns on the Norwegian side was kept until 1959 as part of the Norwegian Coastal Artillery. After being closed down only one gun was kept as a museum iat Møvik in Norway. This is how the guns at Hanstholm looked like:

One barrel is preserved at Hanstholm

As a small digression; the Germans started to make another Coastal Fortress on Vardås at the island of Nøtterøy close to were I grew up. It was supposed to have three 380mm guns of the very same type as the ones at Hanstholm and Møvik. Vardås Coastal Fortress was supposed to cover the entrance to the outer Oslofjord if any vessels managed to slip through the Hanstholm/ Møvik barrier. This Coastal Fortress was also supposed to have a small narrow gauge railways to carry the heavy grenades to the guns. Vardås Fortress was never completed according to the German plans before the war ended, and was used only a short time but the Norwegian Coastal Artillery. A model of one of the mounted 380mm guns at Vardås can bee seen at the Coastal Artillery Museum at Bolærne:

The emplacements for these big guns are still at Hanstholm and on top one of them it's established a Bunker and a local WW2 museum. The last time I was there was in 2000, but the present museum is very much expanded and improved since then:

This PaK 37 reminded me that I've got unfinished projects on my workbench, which I'll have to catch up again when not going on trips or running trains in the garden. Please follow my blog and find out.

From a wargamer's point of view this was an interesting artifact. It's a German WW2 wargame. It have similarities with Chess, but you played with Blue and red tokens 'to learn tactics'. Perhaps something similar to a simplified version of the Portable Wargame by Bob Cordery?

From the museum at top of the emplacement, you could go down in the emplacement it self and see what the daily bunker life was like:

The 380mm shells are enormous and very heavy. No wonder why they needed an own railway to bring them from the ammunition bunkers to the gun emplacements. More on that shortly.

Down in the emplacement there were even some more specific exhibitions. One of them was from the Danish movies The Olsen Gang (which was also made in Norway and Sweden as well). The Olsen Gang in Jutland (1971)  (where they are searching for a hidden Nazi-treasure) was mostly shot at Hanstholm. The Norwegian movie had many scenes from the Danish takes which was just cut directly into the Norwegian version:

Someone had even scratchbuilt a G-scale version of the train which is used in the Danish movie

There was even a small exhibition on Railway Guns. All the models was made to 1:35 scale:

But it was the real trains which actually brought me to Hanstholm, so, to the trains:

The red and yellow lines shows the 600mm gauge railway network on Hanstholm Coastal Fortress, going between the ammunition bunkers and the gun emplacements. -Going through the bunkers:

The railway line goes through the gun emplacement which house the museum, and is also a part of the Bunker exhibition:

...And out on the other side of the gun emplacement (museum)...

..where it connects to preserved parts of the line, which is operated by a train open for visitors:

The original trains:

The railway runs through the original bunkers and has very close clearances:

Some of the 'scenery' which the railway runs through:

And the museum store. More Cobi:

Day 3, Oksbøl

The next day I went to Oksbøl where the Danish forces operates a Tank and Artillery museum at the premises of their 'tank school'. Last time I was there the exhibited tanks were placed outside, and there was no artillery. So this was another expansion and major improvement:

Danish Post War uniforms

The first Post War Danish tanks were Sherman M4s

The Danish Leopard 1 tank in UN scheme to the right was used in offensive operations against Bosnian Serbs in Operation Bøllebank in 1994

Models of different tanks and armored vehicles used by Danish forces:

Another very interesting model showing a Cold War Warsaw Pact BMP Motorized Rifle Regiment (to the right) and the Danish sufficient 'counter measure', the Armoured Infantry Battalion, to the left. It was considered to be sufficient due to the western quality instead of eastern quantity:

They also had a little proving ground outside, which they operated different vehicles from their collection:

The museum-store had several 1:35 kits of tanks and vehicles used by the Danish Army:

After visiting the Tank and Artillery Museum I stopped by another huge concrete emplacement located in Blåvand near by. This big structure was supposed to support one of the (complete) gun towers from Tirpitz as a Coastal Battery. It was never completed though. Their museum-shop used to sell the Airfix Gun Emplacement and Coastal Defence Fort. Too bad they didn't anymore:

Day 4, Hadsten

Modelbane Europa or Model Railway Europe in Hadsten is very small on the outside, but large on the inside. Established in 1996 this used to be Northern Europe's largest public model railway layout. MiWuLa in Hamburg didn't open until 2000. It has since then got a lot of new 'competitors' in a lot of other Northern European countries displaying a lot larger public model railway layouts, but this was one of the first and largest of it's kind:

This room shows the originally public model railway layout, which is not largest anymore. This section just goes under the name 'The German Section'. 

Over the years the enthusiasts at Hadsten has been building on a Danish H0 layout heavily influenced by Hadsten, it's surroundings and Eastern Jutland in general. This has become an impressive layout:

Hadsten Stationbuilding

Hadsten High Street

The Danish model railway is computer-operated and fully automatic, and the public can start any train on the layout or in the fiddleyards with the click of a button:

...and there are really many trains to choose between...

...all with classical and prototypical Danish rakes representing different eras and periods:

Here are some of them in action:

They had also started to restore another Danish H0 layout. It looks promising:

They also have layouts kids (and grown ups alike) can operate:

Modelbane Europa had not only improved but also expanded, and had opened 2 new rooms to the public:

In in one of them where the fiddleyard for the  'German Section' is located...

...they have started to build a brand new North American H0 layout. It looks really promising, so I guess there will a reason for another revisit here sometime in the future:

The train-lengths are very prototypical

In this room there were also placed several older winter layouts. What was most impressive with them was that they could all be operated by the push of a button:

I enjoyed a cup of coffee in their train-styled cafeteria before hitting the road again...

... and taking a shorter crossing with the smallest car-ferry in Denmark:

Before coming to Hvidsten Kro, and old Inn from 1634, and been in business within the same family since 1884. Another interesting thing about Hvidsten Inn is that it was the location for the early Danish resistance movement during WW2, involving the owner, his family and some of the locals. Too bad the members of the Hvidsten Group was eventually revealed by the German forces and all of them was arrested. All the males was later executed for their resistance work. Since I was there last they had made a WW2 memorial Resistance museum in one of the outbuildings. It's made 2 Danish movies about the Hvidsten Group; Hvidsten Gruppen og Hvidsten Gruppen II - De Efterlatte.

It has become a kind of tradition to enjoy a traditional Danish meal at Hvidsten Kro when visiting Denmark. This time was no exception: 

After an lovely meal it was about time to hit the road again. I drove past a heritage railway site in Mariager, and they had been out running an old DMU that day:

The tour was coming to an end, and I decided to spend the last night in Aalborg again, as that's a good position for catching northbound ferries the day after. When arriving Aalborg I saw that Aalborg was hosting the Tall Ships Race 2026, located next to my hotel:

Day 5, Fredrikshavn 

My initial plan was to take the same ferry from Hirtshals to Larvik, which I came with, but the return was about twice the price as the ticket from Norway. Therefore I decided to take the (much cheaper) ferry from Frederikshavn to Gothenburg instead and ride my motorcycle from Gothenburg to home which is just some 220 km. This was a better choice as at Bangsbo just outside Frederikshavn there is located another museum at a German WW2 Coastal fortress which is in pretty good condition as it was in use by the Danish Coastal Artillery for several years after WW2. The fortress it self is located at the heights overlooking Frederikshavn. It's dug in, so it's not so easy to get an overal idea how it looks:

Luckily there is a 1:200th scale model of the entire Coastal Fortress in the museum-building. They also provide you with a map as many of the bunkers are open to the public:

Then it was just to head outside again and take a look at the real thing:

Entering the the bunker area...

...I went to the main Command bunker first:

Then I visited one of the numerous living bunkers on the area. One of the rooms was decorated in German WW2 style, and the other was decorated as a Post War Danish Coastal Artillery room:

The Fire-control bunker was located above and between the gun emplacements:

The Fortress has 3 gun emplacements with casemates , and one open (with no gun):

The open gun emplacement. It had storage for ammunition underneath (which you could climb down and enter)

There were entrances to several living bunkers between the gun emplacements. Everyone was equipped with a Tobruk MG-position:

The radar bunker. The radar used to be located on top of the bunker:

The ammunition bunker. There was no train to carry the munitions on this Fortress:

One of several Anti-Aircraft bunkers. This was the only one equipped by a gun though:

They have hired a platoon of gardeners to keep the vegetation down:

This museum shop also carried Cobi-kits. -Even a bunker one. I guess they're usable for wargaming and remind me of some of the battle reports by John Yorio at 54mm or Fight! blog.

At the museum its also a ship located at land called 'Lappedykkeren'. It's not a real ship and have been made to educate and train crew onshore and have been in use 1959 - 2018:

The ferry taking me from Frederikshavn to Gothenburg later that day was a seagoing vessel however.

Puuhh!!

If you got this far I'm very impressed. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. This was a long blogpost for a pretty short trip, and a lot longer than I imagined before starting it. Earlier, when I've gone to Finland and Sweden I've been riding for thousands of kilometers. This trip was just about some 1200 km. -But still a very interesting one.
At some point I guess I'll have to revisit Møvik Coastal Fortress outside Kristiansand and have a look at the military narrow gauge railway there again. It won't be this year as the last train of the season has left.

It's a very fascinating idea to create a narrow gauge model railway in a military setting like a Coastal Fortress. Perhaps in 009 gauge with 1:76 and 1:72 scale miniatures and accessories. Perhaps something could be created around Airfix Gun Emplacement and Coastal Defence Fort. -I've seen some really interesting conversions, combinations and kit-bashes of those Airfix sets. Coincidentally Bob Cordery recently posted a video of his 009 gauge Mucking Flats & Fobbing Marsh Light Railway layout, which actually runs close to a Coastal Battery.

If you consider to visit Denmark, I would highly recommend you to do so. It's a lovely country with a lot to offer for both adults and kids and the Danes are really friendly people. 🇩🇰