Boom with a view

As we drove out we were told that the pay machine had been fixed yesterday and all the number plates written down. We think there may be a fine waiting for us when we get home. There were a couple more stops en route. First was the Storeitveit School for Karel's article. Sadly I got the wrong one,but more of that later. Then to the cemetery where the casualties were buried. I found the German war graves so there would have been some there, and the Norwegian war graves, but I suspect civilian victims won't be in there. Noone I asked knew where they might be. Had I done more homework I would have found the grave of the German Gestapo agent who was killed in the Telavag incident the other article covers.

Norwegian War Graves

German War Graves. Most are from 1940 but the 20/4/44 dead are sprinkled amongst them.

We were heading to Taelavag which is the location for most of the article's pictures. It's on the coast west of Bergen so will be the western most point of Scandinavia that we'll visit. It's also open to this poor weather we are encountering.

However, there was another stop on the way - Fjell Festning, aka Fortress Fjell. There the Germans mounted one of Gneisenau's turrets in order to protect Bergen harbour. 28.5cm guns had a range of 30-odd kms. Their Russian slave labourers built all sorts of defences around the guns as well so there're bunkers and emplacements galore. The museum itself was disappointing compared to the last one as there was very little information and the only staff was a young person running the cafe. However, they did have some good models, and a lovely view (spoiled by the cool air). The turret was only removed in 1967. One of the other Gneisenau turrets ended up in a Danish battery in Stevnsfort, and another in Austratt in Norway.

The turret cavity

A cartridge in the lock...

...and its front end on the other side. The lock prevented blast from reaching the ammunition rooms 

A model of the turret complex

Steel plates from the turret

View from the emplacement. Telavag is off to the left and our camp for the night is straight ahead 

The concrete is the original emplacement, while the glass building caps the turret ring

There were defensive works over a large area that we could have walked around had we got there earlier (and on a nicer day).

Our stop for the night was at Movik, near the coast. 

We stopped at a grocery store to top up. How is that there can be 5 Teslas in a back-blocks grocery store carpark? They're luxury cars in Britain,so you wouldn't see 5 even in a London Waitrose carpark, let alone a Lichfield Morrisons. They're everywhere, to the extent that Norway must have most of their production on the roads. I'm guessing that the government must have given some pretty heavy incentives to buy an electric car, Tesla or otherwise,  because they are very common despite Norway's huge oil production. I'm obsessed by this so if anyone has any info on it please comment.

Showerometer 19

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After the Battle haven't covered Fjell Festning but have covered several of the places we've visited (numbers are issue and page):

NORWAY 

Austråt Batterie Austråt 44 36 

Gardermoen Saga of the lost German Bomber 28 20 

Harstad Trondenes Battery at Harstad 95 46 

Kaafjord The Search for the X5 17 35 

Kirkenes Soviet Victory in the Arctic 99 1 

Norway The Norwegian Campaign 126 2 

Oslo King Håkon Returns 132 2 

Oslo The Sinking of the Blücher 101 44 

Storvatnet Lake Wreck Recovery Heinkel He 111E 6 46 

Vermork Telemark Re-Created 45 1 

Vermork The Heroes of Telemark 45 13 

Trondelag The German Skagerrak Batteries 106 52 

Vaagso The Raid on Vaagso 109 2

DENMARK 

Aarhus The Aarhus Attack 54 42 

Aalborg The Aalborg Attack 72 1 

Anholt U-534 – The Mystery Boat 83 22 

Copenhagen The Shell House Raid 113 3 

Stevensford The Gneisenau Fires Again 95 52