| |
The old fortification wall around Copenhagen dating from the 17th
century was demolished commen-cing in 1872, and the construction of a
new defence line began from 1880.
The old naval and coastal forts were modernized, and a number of new
forts north of the capital were constructed together with a new defence
line "Vestvolden"(The Western Rampage) about 12 km south west of
Copenhagen. The shore defences also received some new naval and coastal
forts and batte-ries.
At the time of its construction the defence line was a worthy opponent
for any aggressor with new and modern 15 cm artillery, mitrailleuses and
machine guns which were hidden behind concrete walls. But military
developments went very fast at the time, and just 20 years after its
construction, the defen-ce line was out of date from a technological
point of view. Also it was too close to the capital. The fortifi-cation
needed a lot of manpower to be effective. All the 50.000 men that were
enlisted to protect Danish neutrality in 1914, were deployed around
Copenhagen.
As a result of this knowledge, a political agreement from 1909 became
the basis for a new defence line 30 km west of the city - the Tune
stronghold between the Køge Bugt (Koge Bay) and Roskilde Fjord (the
Fjord of Roskilde). This line is the narrowest point on the island of
Sjælland.
Construction started just after the outbreak of World War I. No more
great forts or big batteries. Now it was dirty and wet trenches and
foxholes.
In 1920 the defence lInes of Copenhagen were abandoned.
The purpose of this site is to tell the story of a dramatic period of
Danish fortification history and the unique way this fortification line
was built.
www.vestvolden.info
Member of
the European fortress network The Fortress Ring and the
worlswide fortress network Site0 |
