Fortress Helgoland
When Heligoland was still British crown colony and the century long Danish dominion had almost fallen into oblivion, Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the German national anthem here in 1841 .Virtually a symbolical process, if you have in view what should happen within the next 100 years.
Neither the Danes nor the British had any military interest in the island, contrary to the German point of view which was very conscious of the island for the strategic situation. Already in 1848 a Dr. Clement wrote in the Deutsche Marine Zeitung (German navy newspaper), that the existence of a naval port and with that the possession of Heligoland is "essential". In 1870 Bismarck investigated whether the British were prepared to exchange or to sell the island. But the echo from Whitehall was negative. Only July 1, 1890 a contract was signed which exchanged Heligoland for Zanzibar. On August 10 the island was submitted officially and Emperor Wilhelm II insisted upon taking part at the first service and review a parade of the 3 000 marines and sailors. The island was put under the authority of Prussian law. Early the Prussian exchequer started to purchase properties from private hand. The poor islanders did not recognize the purpose and thought of a charitable support sooner than a concept. It should not last long for the last citizen on the rock to figure the real objective.
Drawn up plans which intended to develop the island to a fortress were already available in February 1891. Wilhelm II signed a personal order in June 1891 which provided the assembly of four 21 cm of cannons L/35 and eight 28 cm of howitzers as well as the making of bullet proof shelters. The development started in summer of the same year. At first a navy mole was built to ease the transport of material. The construction of a tunnel from the lowland to the upland followed next. With the tunnel one avoided the problem of hauling heavy goods such as guns and armour-plates over the cliff. Tracks and winches completed the tunnel.
Within the next years Heligoland was armed systematically. But already in 1906 it was obvious that the rapid development of weapon technology forced the authorities into a fundamental renovation of the coastal fortification. It started with the extension of the harbour. Until 1914, 20 hectares of a new land arose from sand flushes. Another 35 hectares were secured by new port walls. The new space was used to build new ports for torpedo- and U- boats, the installation of the gun emplacements then started.
At the upland the north and south group were fitted with two 30.5 cm in double barrel turrets, manufactured by Krupp in Essen. Furthermore two 21 cm firing positions were installed and a battery of 28 cm howitzers with eight guns put into place. The command post for the north and south group was erected at the northern end of the islands upland. All positions were connected with each other via small tunnels. Anti-aircraft batteries protected the guns from air raids. The so-called "Untertreteraum", lower stepping room, with command post A.I and B.I. was under the south group. The "Raumanlage", a huge underground facility was located a bit further to the west. Finally, a bombproof power plant was built right next to the cliff at the southern end of the unterland. The plant had an output of 1 800 hp and supplied the entire island with energy. A sea plane base was also fitted out within the port area.
When the war broke out, the complete island population was evacuated within 24 hours. They remained on the mainland for four years. The first real action happened August 28, 1914. British warships had approached Heligoland close and sank the German cruisers "Cologne", "Ariadne" and "Mainz" as well as the torpedo-boat "V 187". The fortress was silent, however, because of dense fog! Three months later November 24, 1914 four destroyers were sighted in the north west . By 11.15 am the ships had closed in and the north group opened fire with their 30.5 cm turrets. These were the only shots which were fired from Heligoland during the whole war. In the further course of the war Heligoland lost its meaning because of the large mine fields in the Deutsche Bucht.
Due to the Versailler contract the British started to destroy the port with all its constructions. All high-rise buildings were taken down, the guns scrapped and the tunnels and underground storerooms blown up .The power station and equipment were sold, command posts filled with concrete. Despite a few blasts, the "Raumanlage" the huge underground facility, remained intact. The "inter ally subcommittee for Heligoland" left the island September 30, 1921. The population which already returned directly after armistice on November 9, 1918 was shocked. Four years of war had wrecked most of their homes.
The peace phase after the end of the World War I was too short for the people of Heligoland. Shortly after the introduction of the general conscription in 1934 planning started for the rearmament. The cleaning-up operation started a year later. Navy workers restored the port in 1937. Autumn 1937 the fortress "Schroeder" became ready for use. 1938 started with the work on the battery Jacobsen. In the same year the anti-aircraft gun batteries were ready for use. However, their guns were mostly from World War I and were exchanged for brand new flak in 1939.
The most gigantic operation which was planned in Heligoland got the code-name "Hummerschere", lobster claw. Obviously the planning staff had no idea about Hitler's war plans yet because the first stage of construction should start only 1941/42. The second sector was scheduled by 1944, the third one for 1948. In 1937 the supreme commander of the German navy, Admiral Raeder, released a memorandum. His plan saw an extension of Heligoland around the three to fourfold. New moles should extend up to 3, 6 km on both sides of the rock and dune island in a northerly direction. Between this sand should be washed up. This "operational base Heligoland" would have been big enough to be the home of almost the entire high sea fleet. The quays were already dimensioned in such a way that the biggest battleships of the H class could draw alongside. To the protection of this gigantic port two more batteries of the size of "Schroeder" were supposed to be built on the main island and in the middle of the new northwest mole. An additional 17 cm battery in the new port area as well as doubling of the anti-aircraft gun was considered.
Already in 1936 three 30.5 cm guns from their native battery "Friedrich August" were taken from the island of Wangerooge to Heligoland. These guns, constructed in 1913, could either shoot heavy shells (cargo load weight 405 kg) up to 32 km far or lighter ones up to 51,4 km. In July 1937 the guns were set up and shot in. Apart from a traditional optical range finder the tracking radar system "Würzburg Riese" was responsible for the aim search. Underground connection corridors connected all three gun turrets with the rest of the Batterie. A crew of 35 was necessary for the operation of this giant. Commander in chief was Leutnant ( lieutenant) Dr. Huppert. The old cannons were scheduled to be replaced by 40cm guns at the end of the war. The preparations had already taken place.
Shortly before the beginning of the war the planning also started for a submarine bunker. Work started in the winter of 1939/40. It was suspected that Organisation Todt (OT) would have been responsible but it was civilian companies that built the giant bunker. Nevertheless the scheme of this bunker became a prototype for the huge submarine bunkers at the Atlantic coast. The bunker with the name "North Sea III" consisted of three boxes which could take three boats each. A floating dock was put into box A to be able to carry out work under the waterline. The shell was ready in December 1941. It went into service in January 1942. The bunker never did justice, however, to its real meaning since the big bunkers had to carry the main load of the Battle of the Atlantic.
The supreme command of the armed forces (OKW) expected an allied landing at the North Sea coast in 1945. To be able to fend off this landing K units were transferred to Ijmuiden (Holland) and Heligoland. The K units were using mostly small submarines of the type "Seehund" (seal) and "Molch" (salamander). The unit was under the command of Vice-admiral Heye, the later first ombudsman for the Bundestag.
The demolition boats, also called "Linse" (lens) were another K unit. These units, with their idea close to the Japanese Kamikaze, went into battle in groups of three. A command boat with driver and two radio operators formed the core. Further two boats with one driver each, should aim their explosive load of 400 kg onto a target and jump off shortly before impact. The FM radio boats were then steering the explosive boats directly to the target.
The British had an enormous respect for these "Linsen" and tried every still so adventurous variant to smoke out the group in the bunker "Nordsee III". One of these operations carried the code- name "Aphrodite". Behind this code-name were hiding remotely controlled B 24 Liberator 4-mot bombers. These bombers were supposed to fly straight into the bunker. The first attempt was launched on September 3, 1944. At this attack the Liberator was shot into fire by the German anti-aircraft gun and came down on the dune island. The monitoring aircraft, a Mosquito, was hit as well, however, could escape. Another three attacks took place on September 11, on October 15 and on October 30, everyone with the same result. All were shot down.
The arrival of four II D submarines which were running snorkel exercises was the last action on April 30 which the bunker still experienced. After the surrender another three boats actually bound for Norway, made it to "Nordsee III".
The dune also played a large role in the life of Heligoland. At first in 1937 a port was built to land building material. Then sand was washed up which extended the dune immensely. An X shape concrete landing strip which took the first Me 109 on August 21 was built in June 1941. As the landing strip proved to be too short, it was prolonged in 1943 and completed in April the same year, 795 m of concrete strip were available then.
The real wartime started with a British attack when 21 aircraft bombed dune and island December 3, 1939 21. A mine boat was sunk and bombs hit the ground next to the battery “Schroeder", the west mole and the dune. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The islanders saw action again in 1943. The fighter squadron "Heligoland" was transferred to the dune in April. They flew missions against British bombers in October. The squadron consisted of a number of Me 109 t, a type which had especially been developed for use on the aircraft carrier "Zeppelin". The carrier was never finished and dune used as an aircraft carriers now. At first four aircraft were stationed, later up to 16. The fighters "casino" was the restaurant "Mocca Stube" on the uplands which still exists today.
The end for Heligoland and their residents came in form of a devastating bomb raid April 18/19, 1945. Altogether 981 planes flew these senseless attacks. The bombs killed 18 civilians and 50 soldiers. 95% of all houses were destroyed. The first attack on April 18 was flown between 12.25 and 13.55 the second was carried out the next day between 17.08 and 17.36. Attack no. 1 was aimed at the guns, port and dune. Attack no 2 was aimed at the submarine bunker and batteries. Numerous Grand Slam mega bombs were dropped but did not account for a single penetration of the bunker roof. The infrastructure of the island was ruined so much that the fortress commanding officer applied for the evacuation of the 2 000 civilians. This then happened within the nights from 19-21 April 1945. The war was ended few days later. On May 16th, 1945 the last members of the navy, Lieutenant Commander Matthies and 14 men, amongst them the last three islanders left Heligoland. The island was British again.
But the curtain for the last act of the drama was not closed yet. At first the disarming and blowing-up of all military installations was put into action on basis of the Potsdam agreement under the code names "Big Bang". Everything valuable like machines and equipment was dismantled and taken to the mainland. Then preparations for the blow up of all underground installations started. Next to the still available German ammunition another 3 183 t of explosives were taken to the island. Altogether, 3 997 t were deposited in the cavities of the island hoping to blow the entire island into orbit.
The fuse as set April 18, 1947, never before had such a set of conventional explosives been taken to ignition. Because of that seismic logical stations were alerted in a radius of up to 1 000 km. The explosion was then the greatest non nuclear explosion in history according to the Guinness Book of Records. The bang still had been able to be heard in Cuxhaven. But the intention of the British to atomize the isle turned out a failure. The porous rock let the pressure escape up and at the side, blew up the complete south cliff with all underground plants like the "Raumzentrale" as well as the battery Jacobsen, the adjacent 17 cm of gun emplacements and anti-aircraft gun batteries into the air. A monstrous crater which determines the south of the island today arose from the port up to the lighthouse. Within the following years the Royal Air Force used the island as a bomb target area till finally the islanders were allowed to return on March 1st, 1952 .