Location: Oslo, Norway.
Members: 001, 005.
Type: Bunker, WW2.
Status: Abandoned / Sealed.
Waking up early in the morning, on our Oslo based member 005's couch..I rubbed my eyes twice to figure out where I was. Once up and running 005 made us some coffee and breakfast before we headed out for todays mission. Nothing like some eggs & bacon on a sunday morning. (Thanks!)
Either way..we packed a big thermos of coffee along with a king size plate of chocolate and headed on out into the pouring rain. As usual we don't give away detailed locations, but taking the tram downtown, we switched to an eastbound subway line. We were already quite soaked once we got to the right station. But with our spirits still up, we headed out into the wilderness..destined for the once german "Marineoberkommando Norwegen" bunker complex..
Norway was attacked on the morning of april 9th 1940. Norwegian forces were quickly overwhelmed by the might of the german invaders. We had not taken part in any war for at least the preceding 100 years, and we were not prepared by any measure. What followed was a five year long occupation. I could go on, but you can read up on this yourself. Back on track, we had checked out maps and were looking for a bunker complex built east of Oslo, constructed so that the German Naval High Command had somewhere to retreat if Oslo was under attack by allied forces. After roaming around in the bush for a while, we finally spotted some german concrete.
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| 005 Looking For More.. |
Sometime after the war ended in 1945 the norwegian civil defence took over the structures in the area, and their emblem can still be seen in several places. Unfortunately once they were deemed no longer needed, they weren't just abandoned..they were sealed with concrete, blocking all entrances. But rumor has it that all the bunkers in the area are connected with tunnels through the mountain, with loads of rooms, spread over several stories. There is still a building on top of the hill, but none of us were in the mood for knocking on their door, all soaking wet, dripping with water, asking to see if there was an access throught the basement of the building.
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| Civil Defence Seal |
Though we were disappointed with all the sealed entrances, we carried on in the wet forest to see if we could at least find some smaller close defence positions.
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| 005 Tryin' To Get A Look Inside |
Not finding much we decided to go on top of the hill, aiming to get an overview of the area as a whole. Slippery, wet rocks made the terrain difficult, but after a while it leveled out and we reached the top. Both quite cold and dripping with rain we started looking for a place to have some coffee. We soon forgot about the whole coffee once we spotted this little beauty a little distance away.
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| Top Of The Hill |
Walking around the structure in the picture above we couldn't see any entrance. This fact, combined with seeing pipes sticking out on top of it made us suspect that it might have been some sort of platform, with something standing on top..radar maybe? Later we agreed on the likelyhood that this had to be a water reservoir of some sort.
Leaning up against this little mystery of ours, drinking coffee and scanning the area for more, our cold, wet feeling seemed to disappear somewhat. It's amazing what a cup of coffee can do! Before climbing down the mountain, back in the direction we had originaly entered the area, I decided to have a look on top of this thing. Once up there the whole thing presented itself as totaly flat with the exception of the pipes sticking out of it...and of course...the little hatch I had discovered (!) Yelling back down to 005 to come have a look, he didn't believe me at first..seems just a little to perfect to find a rusty old hatch, just after discovering all else is sealed right? I somehow managed to convince him to get his ass up to take a look for himself.
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| 001 & The Hatch |
Not expecting much, I got a grip and started pulling..and to my amazement it budged.
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| Knock Knock.. |
I can hardly describe how much I cursed myself for not bringing a flashligt from my home city of Skien. But in hindsight, I didn't really expect to find much out here, and draging around big flashlights and lots of exploring gear at a work related conference would only have given me lots of stares. Climbing on down into this structure would have to wait for another day..but you didn't think we would end this expedition without letting you have a peek inside did you? Here you go..
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| Left For Another Day... |
Don't get me wrong..I actually love graffiti, yes, also the illegal sort..but only in certain places. In my humble opinion, this is not an example of it being in the right place. Imagine if each and every single explorer who came on top of this thing could open this hatch and get the feeling that they were the first ones to discover it (?!) Think about it..! The Caveman stance is and will continue to be "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints."
Ok..I'll stop ranting about it now..and instead leave you with this little picture from further down the hill. The entrance of a bunker showing quite clear signs of alternately being sealed, opened, sealed, opened..etc.
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| 005 Questioning His Agility.. |
Damn those missing flashlights..Our lesson of the day was clear:
Always carry a flashlight, bring a backup for the flashlight and a backup for the backup, and batteries!!
-Caveman 001-
