Vardøhus Fortress

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Vardøhus festning
Vardø, Norway

Officer's quarters at Vardøhus festning.
Type Star fort[1]
Built 1306, 1450-1500, 1940-1944
Construction
materials		 Brick, earth, sand, stone and wood[2]
In use 1306-present
Controlled by Norway
Nazi Germany (1940-1944)
Garrison The commander and four soldiers[3]
Battles/wars Norwegian Campaign 1940

Vardøhus Fortress is located in Vardø municipality in the county of Finnmark on the Barents Sea on the mouth of the Varangerfjord in northeastern Norway near the Russian border.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1251 an embassy from the Republic of Novgorod to king Haakon IV Haakonson of Norway complained of clashes between the Norwegians and the Karelians in northern Finnmark. A Norwegian embassy was dispatched to Novgorod where a treaty (the original of which is unfortunately now lost) was signed to conclude a peace between the two countries, including the Novgorod tributary land of Karelia.[4]

The Finnmark coast was originally important as a source of furs from the trade with the Karelians, but this trade dropped off as the Hanseatic League increased the fur trade through their Novgorod center. Finnmark remained important as a fishery; the fish was shipped as stockfish to Bergen and traded there with the Hansa merchants.[4]

[edit] Varghoeya

The first fortification was erected by Haakon V Magnusson in 1306 and was called Varghoeya. It is not known how long this fort was manned, but in 1307 the Archbishop for Trondhjem went to Vardøhus to consecrate the church. The earliest record still extant which defines the border between Norway and Russia 1326. In 1340 records show the Archbishop made further efforts to improve conditions there.[5]

[edit] Østervågen

The second was the fortification Østervågen (East Bay) which was erected between 1450 and 1500. This fortification was rectangular with two corner bastions (Kavli 1987). It appears on the various maps from the 14th and 15th century.

The Captain of Vardøhus owned a share of the fishery. In 1511 Erik Valkendorf, while visiting, wrote: “the country would not be habitable for Christians were it not that the catch of fish is so plentiful as to attract people to settle down there. And this dried fish, which they call ‘stockfish,’ is so valuable and excellent that it is exported to nearly every Christian country.”[6]

In 1583 the Norwegian rights to the Arctic Sea were formally recognized by England; the agreement stipulated that each vessel which passed into the White Sea was to stop at Vardøhus to pay duty.[7]


In 1597 Boris Godunov ('de facto' regent of Russia from 1584 to 1598 and Tsar from 1598 to 1605) wrote Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, asserting that Vardøhus and "the Lapp country (as far as Tromsø) was from ancient times a perpetual patrimony of the Czar.” In 1600 Gudunov refused to ratify the Treaty of Tyavzino which resolved conflicting Swedish and Russian claims to the Kola peninsula to the east of Vardøhus as well as other territories both claimed. This treaty did not acknowledge the Norwegian presence at Vardøhus or the Norwegian claims to this territory. As a result of these border conflicts with Russia, Christian IV of Denmark-Norway asserted Norway’s historic ownership and visited Vardøhus in 1599 to instruct the governor of Vardøhus to collect taxes from Russians in his province including the Kola peninsula and to exclude the Swedes, who were also attempting to claim the territory based on the Treaty of Tyavzino.[8]. At this time Vardøhus was so decrepit that he continued to live onboard his ship, Victor. His name has been preserved as it was carved on a beam from the 1599 fort to commemorate the visit.[9]

[edit] Vardøhus

By the 1730s Vardøhus had become decrepit. The seat of government of Finnmark was transferred from Vardøhus to Altengaard. Major upgrades on the current fortress began in 1738..

[edit] Modern history

Vardøhus never saw advancing enemies until the 20th century. The last time the fortifications were on active anti-invasion duty was during the First World War. World War II saw the fortress used as an anti-aircraft site and as a POW camp before the German occupation.[10]

[edit] World War II

During the period from the beginning of World War II to the German invasion of Norway Vardøhus Fortress was an active unit under the command of Naval District no. 3 in Tromsø.[11] For a time during the Winter War 15-20 Finnish soldiers were interned at the fortress after being pushed across the border from Northern Finland by Soviet offensives.[12]

[edit] Norwegian Campaign

At the outbreak of the German invasion on 9 April 1940 Vardøhus was under the command of Captain J. B. Basilier. The garrison consisted of one retired lieutenant, two privates, ten non-combatant military personnel and two civilians.[10]

The weapons at the disposal of the garrison in 1940 were:[10]

During the evening of 9 April, 1940 Capt. Basilier received orders to mobilize a small additional number of soldiers to guard the fortress. With the announcement of general mobilization on 11 April further troops were called in for service.[10]

Captain Basilier, who had been suffering from poor health since Easter that year, took sick leave on 13 April and was replaced by Navy Lieutenant B. Bjerkelund. From this date a full mobilization was carried out in the Vardø area, in addition the members of the local rifle association were deployed to guard duty at important objectives. Soon the entire island was under guard, and coast guard and air observation posts were operational. All the different outposts were connected to the fortress via telephone lines. The machine guns at the fortress were readied for use with improvised anti-aircraft mounts produced by a local blacksmith.[10]

A few days after the full mobilization began a force of 150 men were at the disposal of the commander of Vardøhus and by the 10 June cease-fire around 215 men sorted under Vardøhus Fortress.[10]

[edit] POW camp

The first contact with the enemy came for the garrison on 24 April when the 1,382 ton steamer D/S Nova[14] arrived in port with 155 German POWs that were to be held at the fortress. Most of the German prisoners were crew members from the Kriegsmarine destroyers sunk during the Battles of Narvik. The prisoners were housed under guard at the Quarantine Detention building until they were shipped back south again on D/S Nova on 13 May. Most, or all, of the POWs were probably transferred to the UK before the Norwegian surrender.[10]

Other military activities at the fortress included the establishment of a 12-bed field hospital and a radio station. From 23 May the fortress came under the command of the newly established East Finnmark Naval District responsible for all RNoN units in eastern Finnmark.[10]

[edit] Air attacks

The fortress' sole actions with the German invasion forces came on 4 and 6 June. Since early May German aircraft had overflown the area without incident, but on 4 June a single Luftwaffe bomber made an attack. The bomber missed its intended target, the radio station, but damaged the church and the commandant's quarters. After expending its bomb load the bomber went low and strafed the area, riddling the radio hut and other buildings with bullets. In response to the attack Corporal Bøve returned fire using the 65 mm Hotchkiss gun with case-shot. After a while the fortress' machine guns also fired back at the aircraft. With at least one of the case-shot rounds damaging the German bomber it limped away from the area[10] with a wounded navigator.[3]

A second attack on the radio station occurred in the early hours of 6 June, when a German Focke-Wulf Condor appeared over Vardø at around 0200 hrs. The long-range bomber dropped between 12 and 15 bombs at the radio station, all hitting an open field near the fortress without causing any damage. After expending its bomb load the aircraft spent the rest of the 20 minute attack strafing the town, hitting several houses but causing no casualties on the ground. The anti-aircraft weapons at Vardøhus returned fire throughout the attack, although without any noticeable effect. According to German reports one crew member was wounded during the attack.[15]

Following the first attack work began on the construction of a new anti-aircraft position on the nearby hill Kirkeberget. The position was completed but no armaments were installed before the cease-fire came into effect.[10]

[edit] Surrender and transitional period

On 8 June Lieutenant Bjerkelund was informed that the fighting in Norway was coming to a close and given the opportunity to evacuate to the UK. Seizing this option, Bjerkelund left for Rosyth that same day on the patrol boat Nordhav II. Bjerkelund was replaced as commander by coastal artillery lieutenant H. Johannesen later in the day. Of the ten officers and NCOs and 214 men at the fortress all but 12 of the men were demobilized on 9 June. The officers, NCOs and the dozen privates were to continue to serve until the arrival of German occupation forces.[10]

[edit] "Flag war"

With the first Germans arriving only on 17 July, Vardøhus became the last armed unit under a Norwegian flag to lay down their arms during the Norwegian Campaign.[16] This occurred on 20 July, when German soldiers took down the Norwegian flag. Between 20 and 25 July no flag flew over Vardøhus, as the Germans had ordered the Norwegian soldiers not raise the flag again.[17]

However, since the Norwegian interpreted the order as only to not raise the State flag, they instead raised the Civil ensign on 25 July. From that day until 7 November the Norwegian flag flew at least part of every day, five times being removed by German soldiers who raised their own, but replaced when they left. Each time the Nazi flag was burnt.[17]

During this time Captain Rynning was the fortress commander and served as a symbol of Norwegian sovereignty and as a buffer between German military authorities and the Norwegian military and civilian authorities. This, and "the flag war", continued until Rynning was arrested on the order of Reichskommissar Josef Terboven on 7 November. Rynning spent the next two years as a political prisoner at Grini and Møllergata 19 in Norway. In December 1942 Rynning was given prisoner of war status and deported to camps in Germany and Poland for the rest of the war, returning on 7 June 1945.[17]

[edit] German occupation

During the occupation the Germans improved the fortifications in the Vardø area, amongst other things building two coastal artillery batteries. Vardøhus was utilised by the occupiers as a barracks for the crews manning the modern German-built fortifications.[18] In 1944, as the Germans retreated from Finland through Finnmark before the advancing Russian armies, General Lothar Rendulic ordered a scorched earth policy. Vardø was burned, with only a few houses remaining.[19] Even though the German coastal artillery batteries were demolished before the Germans left, Vardøhus was left intact, although in a miserable state of disrepair.[18]

[edit] Post-WWII

[edit] Prison

During the immediate post-war period, from 1945 to 1947, the fortress was demilitarised and used as a prison for people convicted of treason in the post-war legal purge. In 1947 Vardøhus was returned to fortress status manned by a commander and a few privates.[18]

[edit] Salute fortress

The command of the fort is now the responsibility of the Royal Norwegian Navy, with a commander and four soldiers stationed there. Today the fort has few practical military purposes and serves primarily as a salute fortress, firing gun salutes on Norwegian Constitution Day (17 May), dissolution of the Union with Sweden Day (7 June) and on all royal birthdays.[3]

The fortress is unique for the fact that on the winter day that the sun can again be seen from the fortress walls after the period of continuous darkness the fortress guns fire a two round salute. The gun shots announce to the school pupils of Vardø that they have the rest of the day of in celebration of the return of the sun.[3]

[edit] Commanding officers

(incomplete listing)

  • John Cunningham (1619–1651)
  • Captain Trost (1802–1807)
  • Captain Ole Brock (–June 24, 1812)
  • Christian Hiorth (June 24, 1812–1815)
  • Captain Johan Frey (1815–)
  • Lieutenant Haldor Lykke (1831?)
  • First Lieutenant Ross Peter Heiberg (born 1789–died 1838) July 12, 1833–November 2, 1838)
  • First Lieutenant M. B. Hall (1854–)
  • Captain Carl Schultz (1867–)
  • Major M. C. Arnesen (1884–1914)[20]
  • Major A. F. Holster (1915–1934)[20]
  • Captain J. B. Basilier (1935–13 April, 1940)[20]
  • Lieutenant (Navy) B. Bjerkelund (13 April–8 June, 1940)[20]
  • Lieutenant H. Johannesen (8–18 June, 1940)[20]
  • Captain (Navy) Ronald Rye Rynning (June 18, 1940–November 7, 1940)[20]
  • 1945–1947: No commander, used as prison.[18]
  • Lieutenant Commander P. M. Jakobsen (1974–1980)[20]
  • Lieutenant Commander Per Evensen (1980–1987)[20]
  • Lieutenant Commander F. Th. Erichsen (1987–1988)[20]
  • Lieutenant Commander A. Hallaren (1988–1991)[20]
  • Lieutenant Commander S. H. Kristiansen (1991–1993)[20]
  • Lieutenant Commander R. S. Kvien (1993–)[20]
  • Commander Ivar Olaf Halse (–June 2003)
  • Commander Lasse Haughom (June 2003–June 2005)
  • Commander Lars Andreas Rognan (June 2005–)

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ National Fortresses of Norway: Development of the Fortress (Norwegian)
  2. ^ National Fortresses of Norway: Materials used at Vardøhus (Norwegian)
  3. ^ a b c d National Fortresses of Norway: Vardøhus Fortress - history (Norwegian)
  4. ^ a b Stagg 1952: p. 61-63
  5. ^ Stagg 1952: p. 61-65
  6. ^ Stagg 1952: p. 75
  7. ^ Stagg 1952: p. 83
  8. ^ Stagg 1952: p. 84-90
  9. ^ Niemi 1988, p. ?
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fjeld 1999, p. 211
  11. ^ Administrative order of the Royal Norwegian Navy's third district, 8 April 1940
  12. ^ Fjeld 1999: 210
  13. ^ Norwegian weapons: 8.4 cm field gun m/1887 (Norwegian)
  14. ^ Warsailors.com: D/S Nova
  15. ^ Hafsten 1991: 305
  16. ^ Fjeld 1999, p. 212
  17. ^ a b c Fjeld 1999, p. 213
  18. ^ a b c d Document detailing the history of Vardøhus Fortress (Norwegian)
  19. ^ Stagg 1952, p. 197
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fjeld 1999, p. 404

[edit] Literature

  • Fjeld, Odd T. (ed.): Klar til strid - Kystartilleriet gjennom århundrene, Kystartilleriets Offisersforening, Oslo 1999 ISBN 82-995208-0-0 (Norwegian)
  • Hafsten, Bjørn; Larsstuvold, Ulf; Olsen, Bjørn and Stenersen, Sten: "Flyalarm - luftkrigen over Norge 1939-1945", Sem og Stenersen AS, Oslo 1991 ISBN 82-7046-058-3 (Norwegian)
  • The Northern Wars, 1558-1721 by Robert I. Frost; Longman, Harlow, England; 2000. ISBN 0-582-06429-5
  • Norges festninger by Guthorm Kavli; Universitetsforlaget; 1987; ISBN 82-00-18430-7
  • Christian 4.s Finnmarkreise in 1599 by Einar Niemi, Foreningen til Norske Fortidsminnesmerkers Bevaring, Oslo, 1988.
  • North Norway by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1952.

[edit] External links

Vardøhus Fortress (Norwegian)

Coordinates: 70°22′20″N, 31°05′41″E