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    #1

    Oscarsborg Museum Optics Collection

    There seems to be some interest in the pictures from this museum, so here you have it.

    Oscarsborg Museum is the Norwegian coastal artillery museum, is located on a small island in the Oslofjord. The fortress on this island with it's 28cm artillery and torpedo battery helped sink the German heavy cruiser Blücher on the 9th of April 1940, the day of the invasion of Norway.

    http://www.oscarsborgfestning.no/
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscarsborg_Fortress

    Some of the German equipment shown here has been in use from 1945 to the late 90s. It' incredible that the swastikas weren't destroyed.





























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    #2
    Bloody brillant , could spend hours there biting my tongue !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Comment

      #3
      I'd be there photographing every square centimeter of these beauties.

      Comment

        #4
        Wow


        Andy

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          #5
          Note that the exibition of optics and firecontrolsystems are not open for public access: You need to get access by request through museum staff. Ie: get in touch with the museum before going there to make sure you will be able to see the exibition.
          Same goes for the torpedo battery, although there are scheduled guided tours there as well during the summerseason (again: check ahead before your trip there).

          Comment

            #6
            Just wondering if these two is still in the bunker between the canons like it was 2 years ago

            Comment

              #7
              Wiking, Thanks for that advice. I wanted to go there and see that collection. I didn´t know it wasn´t public. Would have been bad to stand there and look at an old surface gun and nothing more...
              I could see as much, when I go with the ferry from Copenhagen. That trip gives a nice view of Oscarborg. And a feeling like that the germans in the Blücher must have had. The ferry virtually sail over the wreck on a daily basis.

              As the norwegian commander of the fortress was reported to have said when his incredulous crew asked, Are we really going to shoot: Gu faan ska der skjutes.
              Goddam, firing shall take place.

              And then the crew, pulled from the bakery, who apparently had little knowledge on torpedo handling, fired at the Blücher. The ordinary crew was not on the fortress.

              At least that is the story I once read.

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                #8
                Yes it isnt public . I did have to go back the other day when I visit the Museum 2 years ago.

                At the first day did a crewmember on the boat show me the 2 binoculars in the bunker . It wasnt public and it seems to be that it wasnt normally shown even if someone did ask for it .

                Comment

                  #9
                  There are actually several museums and exibitions at Oscarsborg (collectively known as Oscarsborg festningsmuseum - "Oscarsborg Castle Museum"):
                  • Festningsmuseet (the castle museum): Covers the military history of Kaholmen from the first blockhouse was established in 1640. Open for public access.
                  • Kystartillerimuseet (the coastal artillery museum): Covers the history of the norwegian coastal artillery from 1899 until it was laid down in 2007. Open for public access.
                  • Firecontrolmuseum: Exibition of firecontrol equipment (and related optics) used in the coastal artillery. Access only by booking in advance.
                  • The torpedobattery at northern Kaholmen: Preserved in the state it was when it was laid down in 1993. Access only by booking in advance (there might be scheduled guided tours during the summer season though).
                  • The gun display area: Shows almost all guns used by the coastal artillery post WW2 (including ex-german guns, like one of the two surviving twin 15cm guns originally intened for the german aircraft-carrier Graf Zeppelin). Open for public access.
                  • The East battery: Three english Armstrong-guns from the 1870's. Open for public access.
                  • The Main Battery: The four 28cm Krupp-guns from the 1890's ("Moses", "Aron", "Joshva" og "Metusalem"). Open for public access.



                  Practical info regarding opening hours, ferryschedule, prices, maps etc (norwegian only):
                  http://www.forsvarsbygg.no/festninge...ksinformasjon/

                  The museum's web-site (norwegian only):
                  http://forsvaretsmuseer.no/Oscarsborg

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Originally posted by zeissasembi View Post
                    Just wondering if these two is still in the bunker between the canons like it was 2 years ago
                    Probably, yes.

                    This is just one example of ex-german materiel being reused post-war in the norwegian coastal artillery:
                    The peilstand/-säule has seen numerous use as platform and sensor for different types of firecontrol equipment. This example has two ex-german binoculars with a modern (1970's) Ericsson laser rangefinder in the middle. For the BODIL system I guess.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Mikedenmark View Post
                      As the norwegian commander of the fortress was reported to have said when his incredulous crew asked, Are we really going to shoot: Gu faan ska der skjutes.
                      Goddam, firing shall take place.
                      And then the crew, pulled from the bakery, who apparently had little knowledge on torpedo handling, fired at the Blücher. The ordinary crew was not on the fortress.

                      At least that is the story I once read.
                      These events are well covered by reports and detailed descriptions found at the norwegian national archives (I have copies of both reports from Colonel Birger Eriksen (commander of Oscarsborg) and Commander SG Andreas Anderssen (commander of the torpedobattery).

                      The quote of Eriksen should be:
                      «Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!
                      Enten blir jeg stilt for krigsrett eller jeg blir behandlet som krigshelt. Fyr!»

                      My attempt of a translation: "Goddamn, of course there shall be fired with live ammunition!
                      I will either be court-martialled or treated like a warhero. Fire!"

                      The crew of the torpedobattery were not bakers, but NCO-students that had been serving for only a week or so. The commander of the torpedobattery was on sickleave at the time of the german attack, but colonel Eriksen had brough a former commander back to service: Commander SG Andersen did originally retire in 1928, but the torpedoes and the equipment was still the same, and he was able to give the NCO-students the necessary training to prepare and launch the two Whitehead Vd torpedos at Blücher.


                      It's worth mentioning that there's a movie covering these events in production: "Three Days in April" will premiere in december 2015 (I don't know if there will be an international version, but normally most "high end" norwegian films will at least have english subtitles on DVD/BD releases):
                      http://www.dagbladet.no/2014/04/08/k...oppe/32722714/
                      http://www.klikk.no/produkthjemmesid...icle902233.ece
                      http://www.budstikka.no/kultur/nye-k...borg-1.8374464

                      For help with translations:
                      https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&...e=UTF-8#no/en/
                      Last edited by Wiking_NOR; 06-26-2014, 04:15 PM. Reason: Typo...

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Thank you Wiking. Now that I read it, I recall that second sentence about being either court martialled or be a war hero.
                        I must have mixed up the bakers into this. Still, almost untrained personnel.

                        To me, this officer should have received the highest possible reward for his deed.
                        Not only for the deed, but for doing it under the circumstances.
                        No war was really expected. Denmark, maybe, but Norway ?
                        After a long period of peace, he reacted correctly. Under uncertain conditions, he took a decision, that cannot have been easy to make.

                        A lesser man would have called his superiors to ask for orders, sat down and waited.

                        There were cannons outside the Copenhagen harbour, and they might have made a difference when two german ships landed soldiers inside Copenhagen harbour. One hour later, the german flag was hoisted on the danish General Army Command at Kastellet in Copenhagen.

                        As far as we know the only resistance was two police officers, who were on a morning patrol. They were later given their pistols back after having been disarmed as a precautionary measure.
                        We know this now because german film footage of this was found in Norway a couple of years ago.

                        The ships were spotted, and contact attempted, but they ran in without any light, or communications. An event duly recorded in the journal at the forts.
                        Here too, the men at the forts were newly drafted and completely untrained.

                        In Copenhagen the sergeant with the key for the ammunition bunker on the active forts had left the fort north of Copenhagen the night before. He went home to sleep and they were still looking for him, when the order to lay down arms was received.

                        Since that day, the history about the cannon that clicked, when it should have fired, have been part of the April 9th folklore.
                        Small wonder disgusted danish officers later joined the Waffen-SS to prove their worth. Even in 1941, they hadn´t learned, who the enemy was.

                        Some of the cannons are still there, btw. I am unsure which forts were manned that morning in 1940.

                        http://www.spangsberg.net/sms/fort/Charlottenlund.html
                        Last edited by Mikedenmark; 06-27-2014, 09:27 AM.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          A danish movie about april 9th, 1940 and the german invasion of denmark is presently being made.
                          Judging from rumours, it will be very close to the real deal.

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