HKB 7/972 Lattervik

Inka
May 25
3 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

This week I didn`t get any digging done. I made an attempt to repair my pinpointer, but something went wrong and it does not work any longer. I went for a search without it, but I soon gave up as it became too frustrating not having the carrot to pin point the finds. A new one was ordered the moment I was back home, and I hope it will arrive quickly. If I am lucky, Jimmy will lend me his spare pinpointer in the mean time.

Today I had no need for such devices since the GirlfriendWife wanted to test out her new car, and we had planned for a while to make a trip to a local Atlantikwall installation. The Heeres Küsten Batterie 7/972 Lattervik.

It is located on the western side of the Lyngen peninsula, overlooking the Ullsfjord which could give Allied ships access to Tromsø and Balsfjord which both were important areas for the Wehrmacht.

The fort was operational in 1941 and armed with four french 10.5 cm guns, K331 (f), with a range up to 12000 meter, plus two 2 cm Flak guns, several MGs, mortars, stationary flamethrowers, two 4,5 cm Pak (r) and a wide minefield.

We had studied Lidar maps of the site and began our search ca a kilometer north of the main area of the fortress. On a small rise we found a Observation/Mg position, and in a thick pine forest three hundred meter away were four circular positions. They were very overgrown and I don`t know if guns were ever placed in them. It could be they were decoy positions. Perhaps someone with deeper knowledge reading this will chime in..

After scraping the pine sap out of our hair we sat down for lunch in beautiful surroundings, ate and listened to the tiny Bluethroat bird singing his bizarre tunes to us from a tree. Sometimes it makes sounds almost like trickling water. Then we backtracked and found the main area.

Instantly we saw this was a much more interesting place. Trenchlines, MG bunkers, ammo bunkers, shelters and foundations from barracks, and 10.5 cm gun positions all over.

We spent a couple of hours investigating, and I am so glad we did it now, because in a week one won`t be able to see anything there since it will be overtaken by lush green nature.

When we had ran all across the hill it was time to stroll towards the beach, where we found more positions and in one of them a Flak 38 lafette was busy rusting away. We could also clearly spot the small dumps from where the mines had been in the minefield and we could feel the ground sway under our feet from the thick layer of barbed wire beneath the grass and dried seaweed.

Driving back home we stopped for the obligatory ice cream and made plans for a trip to another fortress relatively nearby.

Thanks for reading. Keep Smiling.