Gun Battery Skagen

In 1941 the German navy started construction of a gun battery located north of the harbour at Skagen, Denmark's northernmost point. It had four 120 mm. guns. The guns were Danish and had a range of about 10 km. In 1943 the area was heavily reinforced and four of the guns were moved from their open positions into concrete pillboxes (M272). Pillboxes for crew, ammunition, fire control (M162a) and close defense were also built.

To the west of the gun battery the German air force built a large radar station and the entire "Grenen" (the area north of town) was covered with pillboxes, minefields and trenches for close defense by the German army.

The gun batteries built by the German navy were generally close to the coast as the navy wanted to take a stand against enemy warships, while the batteries built by the German army were generally a little inland since the army had more experience with attacking enemy forces on land and their guns were not suitable for moving warships. Therefore today most of the naval gun batteries are on the beach.