Vara battery

In order to block the Skagerrak strait that separates Norway from Denmark, the gateway to the Baltic Sea, the Germans erected two heavy batteries on either side of this 120 km-wide arm of the sea. To the south, a battery of 4 380 mm guns at Hanstholm in Denmark, and to the north, near Krisrtiansand in Norway, an almost identical battery at Movik. The small problem was that the range of these two batteries did not cover the entire passage, leaving a 10 km pass which was mined by the Germans.
The Norwegian battery at Krooden became the VARA battery in tribute to Major-General Vara, who died in 1941. The Vara structure is equipped with 3 bunkers and a casemate for 38 cm SKC34 guns on Mle 39 mounts. Originally, 4 cannons were to be positioned on the site. Only three were actually installed. The structure can be visited