@CMoore Yeah we did and most of them are still there, although decommissioned. Most of the ones in the southern part of the country were built during WWII as a first defense from invasion and are spread along the coast, especially in areas that are accessible from the sea. Then we continued to build defenses during the cold war as, so these things are spread along our entire coastline and with 2400 kilometers we have a lot of coastline, that's about 400 kilometers longer than the coast of California.
Approximately 1000 bunkers of the type here were built in my part of Sweden (the very south) during WWII and our coastline accounts for about 1/5 of the total but we're also the ones closest to Germany, then occupied Denmark and also the former Soviet Union.
Walking around looking at them (the bunkers) is pretty interesting. A lot of them are placed right on the beach with others placed onbhigher ground in land, often in what has now become residential areas. Theybare staggered sobthat the ones in land overlook the ones on the beaches.
Great Reply..... Thank You
I forget that Sweden has a coastline.....i guess i get it confused with that other WW2 neutral country that starts with the letter 'S'
Oh Wow...... it depends where you look, the entire Baltic States are there.
I guess if you are in Sweden and look across the Baltic that would be......Finland.
Oh Wow...... it depends where you look, the entire Baltic States are there.
Not to mention Poland and Germany.
Very interesting part of the world.
I love the study of WW2, it remains a fascinating time.
Thanks Again
@CMoore yeah, we have the longest coast in the Baltic and during the cold war the opposite coast was for the most part the Soviet Union. We along with Finland, both small nations with small pupulations had a pretty cool defense system based on conscripts, where pretty much every male person pver 18 was conscripted and given military training, in order to be quickly drafted in the event of war. Every civilian ship including ferries built for service in Swedish waters were built with mine rails and reinforcements for guns, to be used in case of war. They were not just built to be used if required either but they each had a designated role as part of our defense. If you bought an SUV, a truck or any other vehicle that could be used for military purposes, you were given a paper slip with a location of where you were to hand over your vehicle to the military in case of war.
Most adults with key roles in the industry or society (firefighters, hospital staff etc.) had a slip with a location of where to report for duty in case of war and there were dug down storage facilities that contained food, medicines and medical supplies for 90 days, for the entire Swedish population.
That has all been decommissioned today though, something that (rightfully) got a lot of bad publicity with the Corona outbreak, when all those supplies would have come in pretty handy.