Battery Oldenburg, Calais, France

Battery Oldenburg is a German artillery battery, built during World War II as part of the Atlantic Wall, and situated east of Calais. The battery began in 1940 with artillery guns in an open emplacement. The Organisation Todt built casemates around two 240mm guns during the war.

Both casemates or Turms (towers) are 35 meters long and 15 meters high, positioned in a slight offset from each other to gain a broader range with both guns. Turm East and Turm West housed guns of Russian origin that were captured by the German army during World War I and re-chambered by Krupp from 255mm to 240mm.

Both casemates are 35 meters long and 15 meters high above ground level. The western of the two casemates, Turm West is two storeys deep, while the eastern casemate, Turm East, is three storeys deep.

Besides the two casemates, battery Oldenburg has a combined fire control and hospital bunker, which still has a beautiful fresco and other paintings, ammunition bunkers and personnel bunkers. Behind the two casemates and fire control bunker is the barrack site used by Organisation Todt.

Battery Oldenburg surrendered to Canadian forces in 1944.

References:

Wikipedia

Castles and fortifications in France

User Reviews

karen bull (10 months ago)
Historical place to visit if you're in Calais.

Adrian Schneider (14 months ago)
Impressive

Fra (2 years ago)
It's like my second house I love to go there

Dawid Koziol (3 years ago)
Interesting dark place

Bryan “DeMewi” Marwi (3 years ago)
Nice bunker, hard to reach though. You have to trust your GPS

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Noémie 59

Historic Site of the week

Château d'Olhain

The Château d'Olhain is probably the most famous castle of the Artois region. It is located in the middle of a lake which reflects its picturesque towers and curtain walls. It was also a major stronghold for the Artois in medieval times and testimony to the power of the Olhain family, first mentioned from the 12th century.

The existence of the castle was known early in the 13th century, but the present construction is largely the work of Jean de Nielles, who married Marie d’Olhain at the end of the 15th century.

The marriage of Alix Nielles to Jean de Berghes, Grand Veneur de France (master of hounds) to the King, meant the castle passed to this family, who kept it for more than 450 years. Once confiscated by Charles Quint, it suffered during the wars that ravaged the Artois. Besieged in 1641 by the French, it was partly demolished by the Spaniards in 1654, and finally blown-up and taken by the Dutch in 1710. Restored in 1830, it was abandoned after 1870, and sold by the last Prince of Berghes in 1900. There is also evidence that one of the castles occupants was related to Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, the person Alexandre Dumas based his Three Musketeers charictor d'Artagnan on.

During the World War I and World War II, the castle was requisitioned first by French troops, then Canadian and British soldiers. The current owner has restored the castle to its former glory.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

Battery Oldenburg

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

House of the Dragon Filming Locations

Historic Landmarks of Sicily

Rhodes, The Island of Knights

Historic Site of the week

Château d'Olhain

Looks like you are a history fan!