Looking back at WWII trough the scope of a 1025L
Entering the cannon is like crawling trough a jungle that is too dense, except this is not something soft and green, but rather hard and cold. The rain that drips on the metal around me have made the levers unusable as the nature have made the once shiny metal go brown and rusty. Through the scope i can see the entrance to the fjord where Nazi-Germany arrived in 1939.
During WWII on the 9th og April in 1940 German soldiers arrived the bay in their ship. Their operation was called "Operasjon Weserübung" with the goal to conquer Norway. The two cruisers that arrived was called "Kôningsber" and "Kôln".
As nazi soldiers entered the bay, 33 generals and 279 soldiers where defending the fort. They started immediately to fire at the two german ships, which contained 1900 soldier. As they where shooting they discovered the terrible shape of the Norwegian weaponry. The cannons fired, but all the 30 missils missed, except one which did not blow up when it hit the german cruiser...
Meanwhile shooting... the nazis sent a message, "stop shooting", the soldiers asked each other if they should stop.. the Norwegian general then said " Hell NO! you are going to keep shooting". A couple of hours later the Norwegian troops gave up and the fort was taken, because of the lack of military training of the Norwegian troops...
What is left today is ruined caves that the german soldiers made as protection from British bomb-attacks, rusty cannons and a forest growing and hiding what is left.
The cannon that i am sitting in is made in 1914 by Fried Krupp and the model is 1025 L. The location is Fort Knarven in my hometown Bergen, Norway.