The Lundebanen ( German : Lunde-Bahn ) was a military narrow-gauge railway near Farsund in Norway operated by the German occupying forces during World War II from 19 April 1943.
103-484: The route ran from the quay at Lundevågen to the construction site of Lista Air Station , with a branch to a quarry at Mabergåsen, where there was also a workshop. The construction work was led by Captain Buwick. Due to delivery difficulties, no nails were available to fix the rails to the sleepers. Therefore, 11,000 nails were forged on site. Two Henschel steam locomotives from Wilh. Wahmann Tiefbau, Bochum, were used for
206-571: A Freya radar were installed at Lista from May 1943, along with one at Flekkerøy . Meanwhile, a bearing station and jamming station were also installed. Lista Air Station was primarily used by fighter aircraft throughout the Second World War. Its main task was to provide support for the North Sea and Skagerrak areas along the coastline. The squadrons and aircraft stationed and dispatched to Lista varied over time, and often Lista
309-461: A Wassermann radar , situated on the site of Farsund Radio . A second Wassermann radar was located at Grimsby. These were used both for detection and to aid fighters during night operations. Communications with fighters took place by a transmitter at Vere, which had a range of 200 kilometers (120 mi). The site also featured a bearing station and a jamming station. Following the NATO expansion in
412-544: A change to the way the military sold properties. The Norwegian Armed Forces never considered the suitability of Lista as an air base prior to the Second World War, despite its natural suitability in a flat, open landscape. The German occupation of Norway started on 9 April 1940 as part of Operation Weserübung . Lista was initially not prioritized by the Wehrmacht . The first landing of fifteen troops took place on 24 April, in an action to secure Lista Lighthouse . Lista
515-482: A cinema and storage areas. The most elaborate building is the officer's mess, which remains today as a listed building. The two-story building features a roofed colonnade , a hipped roof and cob-worked log walls. The entire base consisted of about 300 buildings. The airbase and surrounding area were connected by a narrow-gauge railway , the Lunde Line. The location of the anti-aircraft defenses varied throughout
618-446: A commando bunker from the Second World War. The facilities which have remained since the war and were still used at the end of the air station's operation were the hangars, the officer's mess hall and Mark. Three of the six main hangars have survived. These were standard German types. The one consisted of a lean-to roof supported by a truss. The other two had a semicircular arch roof. Both were built with wooden walls and roofs. Given
721-478: A designated area. An anti-aircraft defense was established as part of the runway extension, manned by reserves and equipped with a Bofors 40 mm gun . The reserve status was never removed and the base was never home to any squadrons. The air force's recruit school was moved to Lista in 1963, replacing the weapon-technical school, which moved to Kjevik. The latter was gradually closed down between 1982 and 1984 and moved to Gardermoen Air Station . However, due to
824-581: A dozen destroyers were operational) were divided among the victors by the Tripartite Naval Commission . The US used the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in 1946 as a target ship for the Operation Crossroads . Some (like the unfinished aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin ) were used for target practice with conventional weapons, while others (mostly destroyers and torpedo boats) were put into
927-475: A field kitchen for supplying the construction workers, who were inscribed with propaganda poems, was also presented. The main purpose of the railway was earth movement and transport of building materials for the bunkers and Lista Air Station . The German Air Force had already begun construction of the air field in September 1940. It was part of a large military fortification, the so-called Lista Fortress, which
1030-661: A heavy ship suitable for offensive warfare on the high seas while still abiding by the letter of the treaty. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hitler soon began to more brazenly ignore many of the Treaty restrictions and accelerated German naval rearmament. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 18 June 1935 allowed Germany to build a navy equivalent to 35% of the British surface ship tonnage and 45% of British submarine tonnage; battleships were to be limited to 35,000 tons. That same year
1133-554: A legitimate military target, resulting in the deaths of 117 civilians. Germany did not admit responsibility for the incident until after the war. Lemp was killed in action in 1941. U-247 was alleged to have shot at sunken ship survivors, but as the vessel was lost at sea with its crew, there was no investigation. In 1945, U-boat Commander Heinz-Wilhelm Eck of U-852 was tried along with four of his crewmen for shooting at survivors. All were found guilty, with three of them, including Eck, being executed. In 1946, Hellmuth von Ruckteschell
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#17327909223151236-484: A major re-armament of the navy (Plan Z) was planned, and initially begun, the start of the war in 1939 meant that the vast amounts of material required for the project were diverted to other areas. The sheer disparity in size when compared to the other European powers navies prompted Raeder to write of his own navy once the war began "The surface forces can do no more than show that they know how to die gallantly." A number of captured ships from occupied countries were added to
1339-543: A new navy was established and was referred to as the Bundesmarine (Federal Navy). Some Kriegsmarine commanders like Erich Topp and Otto Kretschmer went on to serve in the Bundesmarine . In East Germany the Volksmarine (People's Navy) was established in 1956. With the reunification of Germany in 1990, it was decided to use the name Deutsche Marine ( German Navy ). By the start of World War II, much of
1442-473: A reference elevation of 9 meters (30 ft) above mean sea level . During the Luftwaffe period the airport was gradually built out, changing character over time. The main runway was concrete and measured 1,571 by 80 meters (5,154 by 262 ft), aligned 09/27. It was connected via a network of taxiways which measured a total 3,620 meters (11,880 ft). Their width was 15 meters (49 ft). The runway
1545-821: A result, the submarines had much success for few losses (this period was dubbed the First Happy Time by the Germans). Italy entered the war in June 1940, and the Battle of the Mediterranean began: from September 1941 to May 1944 some 62 German submarines were transferred there, sneaking past the British naval base at Gibraltar . The Mediterranean submarines sank 24 major Allied warships (including 12 destroyers, 4 cruisers, 2 aircraft carriers, and 1 battleship) and 94 merchant ships (449,206 tons of shipping). None of
1648-471: A runway extension, which was built between 1955 and 1959. Lista was designated a reserve airbase throughout the Cold War . The RNoAF's recruit school was located at Lista from 1963 to 1984. Thereafter it was mostly used for conferences. Lista Air Station was closed on 6 June 1996. The sale of the base, in which the military paid to the new owners to buy the property, resulted in a series of investigations and
1751-691: A small number of targets in the area throughout the conflict. (By comparison the Italian Regia Marina operated 58 submarines in the area as part of the Sottomarini Legionari .) The Kriegsmarine saw as her main tasks the controlling of the Baltic Sea and winning a war against France in connection with the German army, because France was seen as the most likely enemy in the event of war. But in 1938 Hitler wanted to have
1854-784: A telegram to the German Navy's Baltic Command in Kiel , which stated that he wanted 100 SS and fifty Schutzpolizei (protective police) men sent to Liepāja for "quick implementation Jewish problem". Kawelmacher hoped to accelerate the killings, complaining: "Here about 8,000 Jews... with present SS-personnel, this would take one year, which is untenable for [the] pacification of Liepāja." Kawelmacher telegram on 27 July 1941 read: "Jewish problem Libau largely solved by execution of about 1,100 male Jews by Riga SS commando on 24 and 25.7." In September 1939, U-boat commander Fritz-Julius Lemp of U-30 sank SS Athenia (1922) after mistaking it for
1957-593: A torpedo research program in Sweden where the G7e torpedo was developed. Even before the Nazi seizure of power on 30 January 1933 the German government decided on 15 November 1932 to launch a prohibited naval re-armament program that included U-boats, airplanes, and an aircraft carrier. The launching of the first pocket battleship , Deutschland in 1931 (as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought battleship Preussen )
2060-429: A weapon-technical school. The latter opened in 1948 and the former the following year. They used existing German barracks for their quarters and two hangars for their classrooms. The 100-hectare (250-acre) artillery range Marka was designated as part of the reopening, which was used both by the artillery and by the air force. It was commissioned on 1 March 1951. The artillery range was found to be unsuitable and instead
2163-501: Is argument, this has been noted. The main combat ships of the Kriegsmarine (excluding U-boats): Construction of Graf Zeppelin was started in 1936 and construction of an unnamed sister ship was started two years later in 1938, but neither ship was completed. In 1942 conversion of three German passenger ships ( Europa , Potsdam , Gneisenau ) and two unfinished cruisers, the captured French light cruiser De Grasse and
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#17327909223152266-648: Is part of a Ramsar site . The nature reserve was established in 2005 and in 2014 three small lakes were artificially recreated. The site was bought by the Ministry of the Environment in 2013. Farsund Airport, Lista is situated on the flat section of the Lista peninsula in Farsund, Norway. It is situated between the villages of Vanse and Vestbygd , and 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from Farsund. The aerodrome has
2369-700: The German Mine Sweeping Administration (GMSA), which consisted of 27,000 members of the former Kriegsmarine and 300 vessels. The destroyers and the Soviet share light cruiser Nürnberg were all retired by the end of the 1950s, but five escort destroyers were returned from the French to the new West German Navy in the 1950s and three 1945 scuttled type XXI and XXIII U-boats were raised by West Germany and integrated into their new navy. In 1956, with West Germany's accession to NATO ,
2472-697: The Gneisenau was heavily damaged by a British air raid in 1942 and the Scharnhorst was sunk in the Battle of the North Cape in late 1943. The second pair were the 15-inch gun Bismarck class , consisting of the Bismarck and Tirpitz . The Bismarck was sunk on her first sortie into the Atlantic in 1941 ( Operation Rheinübung ) although she did sink the battlecruiser Hood and severely damaged
2575-515: The Kriegsmarine in Norway were seldom involved in these attacks, because of the inferiority of German radar technology, and because Hitler and the leadership of the Kriegsmarine feared losses of these precious ships. The most effective of these attacks was the near destruction of Convoy PQ 17 in July 1942. Later in the war German attacks on these convoys were mostly reduced to U-boat activities and
2678-414: The Kriegsmarine were modern ships: fast, well-armed, and well-armoured. This had been achieved by concealment but also by deliberately flouting World War I peace terms and those of various naval treaties. However, the war started with the German Navy still at a distinct disadvantage in terms of sheer size with what were expected to be its primary adversaries – the navies of France and Great Britain. Although
2781-612: The Reichsmarine was renamed as the Kriegsmarine . In April 1939, as tensions escalated between the United Kingdom and Germany over Poland , Hitler unilaterally rescinded the restrictions of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. The building-up of the German fleet in the time period of 1935–1939 was slowed by problems with marshaling enough manpower and material for ship building. This was because of
2884-685: The Second World War it was predominantly used for fighter aircraft and served as part of the Atlantic Wall . Most of the buildings at the station date from this period. It was taken over by the Royal Norwegian Air Force in 1946. It was at first closed and then reopened, originally serving a weapon-technical school and a shooting and bombing school. The latter utilized the shooting area at Marka. Lista received North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) funding for
2987-414: The evacuation of East Prussia and Danzig from January to May 1945. It was during this activity that the catastrophic sinking of several large passenger ships occurred: Wilhelm Gustloff and Goya were sunk by Soviet submarines, while Cap Arcona was sunk by British bombers, each sinking claiming thousands of civilian lives. The Kriegsmarine also provided important assistance in the evacuation of
3090-530: The Atlantic coast at Brest were evacuated back to German ports for deployment to Norway. The ships had been repeatedly damaged by air attacks by the RAF , the supply ships to support Atlantic sorties had been destroyed by the Royal Navy, and Hitler now felt that Norway was the "zone of destiny" for these ships. The two battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen passed through
3193-728: The Battle of the Barents Sea, which convinced Hitler that large warships were useless. All engineering of the aircraft carriers like catapults, arresting gears and so on were tested and developed at the Erprobungsstelle See Travemünde (Experimental Agency Sea in Travemünde) including the airplanes for the aircraft carriers, the Fieseler Fi 167 ship-borne biplane torpedo and reconnaissance bomber and
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3296-830: The English Channel ( Channel Dash ) on their way to Norway despite British efforts to stop them. Not since the Spanish Armada in 1588 had any warships in wartime done this. It was a tactical victory for the Kriegsmarine and a blow to British morale, but the withdrawal removed the possibility of attacking allied convoys in the Atlantic with heavy surface ships. With the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 Britain started to send Arctic convoys with military goods around Norway to support their new ally. In 1942 German forces began heavily attacking these convoys, mostly with bombers and U-boats. The big ships of
3399-649: The German Navy was heavily involved in the invasion of Norway , where it suffered significant losses, which included the heavy cruiser Blücher sunk by artillery and torpedoes from Norwegian shore batteries at the Oscarsborg Fortress in the Oslofjord . Ten destroyers were lost in the Battles of Narvik (half of German destroyer strength at the time), and two light cruisers, the Königsberg which
3502-427: The German fleet as the war progressed. Though six major units of the Kriegsmarine were sunk during the war (both Bismarck -class battleships and both Scharnhorst -class battleships, as well as two heavy cruisers), there were still many ships afloat (including four heavy cruisers and four light cruisers) as late as March 1945. Some ship types do not fit clearly into the commonly used ship classifications. Where there
3605-516: The German fleet at the beginning of the war was not even 20% of Plan Z. On 1 September 1939, the navy still had a total personnel strength of only 78,000, and it was not at all ready for a major role in the war. Because of the long time it would take to get the Plan Z fleet ready for action and shortage in workers and material in wartime, Plan Z was essentially shelved in September 1939 and the resources allocated for its realisation were largely redirected to
3708-453: The German heavy cruiser Seydlitz , to auxiliary carriers was begun. In November 1942 the conversion of the passenger ships was stopped because these ships were now seen as too slow for operations with the fleet. But conversion of one of these ships, the Potsdam , to a training carrier was begun instead. In February 1943 all the work on carriers was halted because of the German failure during
3811-541: The Home Guard. Due to the restructuring of the military in the 1990s, Parliament voted on 8 June 1994 to close Lista Air Station. Effective from 1 June 1996, the military was set to retain ownership of the facility for ten years. Parliament granted the Defence Estates Agency the right to sell the air station for market price as part of a large-scale sale of defunct military estates. The condition
3914-427: The Mediterranean submarines made it back to their home bases, as they were all either sunk in battle or scuttled by their crews at the end of the war. In 1941, one of the four modern German battleships, Bismarck sank HMS Hood while breaking out into the Atlantic for commerce raiding. The Bismarck was in turn hunted down by much superior British forces after being crippled by an air-launched torpedo. She
4017-519: The Navy'). Among the Kriegsmarine 's most significant ships were its U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. Wolfpacks were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic , but this tactic was largely abandoned by May 1943 , when U-boat losses mounted. Along with
4120-780: The Republican attack were 31 dead and 110 wounded, 71 seriously, mostly burn victims. In retaliation the Admiral Scheer shelled Almeria on 31 May killing 19–20 civilians, wounding 50 and destroying 35 buildings. Following further attacks by Republican submarines against the Leipzig off the port of Oran between 15 and 18 June 1937 Germany withdrew from the Non-Intervention Patrol. U-boats also participated in covert action against Republican shipping as part of Operation Ursula . At least eight U-boats engaged
4223-543: The Second World War. Flak positions were at various times situated at Vågsvold, Dyngvold, Tjøvrenes, Lista Lighthouse, Venneim, Steinodden, Torp, Østre Hauge, Tjørveneset, Stave and Farsund. These were predominantly 8.8 cm guns , supplemented with 3.7 cm guns and 2.0 cm guns . The various flak positions were built with bunkers serving as quarters and support. The site had a radar complex named "Wolf" situated in Marka. It consisted of two Würzburg radars , one Freya radar and
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4326-511: The Second World War. They were modernized by the RNoAF, but retained their original structure. Most of the buildings were of standard German design and were found both at other Norwegian and other Luftwaffe airports from the era. The operative headquarters were located at the eastern end of the wooden runway. Most of the buildings were located on the west side of the main runway. The facilities included offices, quarters, mess halls, storage buildings,
4429-485: The U-boats, surface commerce raiders (including auxiliary cruisers ) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer and the battleship Bismarck . However, the adoption of convoy escorts , especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of surface commerce raiders against convoys. Following
4532-478: The United Kingdom ( Operation Sea Lion ) in the summer of 1940. There were serious doubts that the invasion sea routes could have been protected against British naval interference. The Fall of France and the conquest of Norway gave German submarines greatly improved access to British shipping routes in the Atlantic . At first, British convoys lacked escorts that were adequate either in numbers or equipment and, as
4635-730: The United States in December 1941 led to another phase of the Battle of the Atlantic. In Operation Drumbeat and subsequent operations until August 1942, a large number of Allied merchant ships were sunk by submarines off the US coast as the Americans had not prepared for submarine warfare, despite clear warnings (this was the so-called Second Happy Time for the German Navy). The situation became so serious that military leaders feared for
4738-443: The base has been listed as a cultural heritage. This includes the runways, the taxiway and the road network, the remaining buildings from the Second World War and Marka. An important aspect when listing was that many of the structures had not been modified since the war. Slevdalsvannet Nature Reserve is situated southwest of the runway. A former lake, it has since been drained. It remains an important wetland area for migratory birds and
4841-652: The battleship Tirpitz , was stationed in Norway as a threat to Allied shipping and also as a defence against a potential Allied invasion. When she was sunk, after several attempts, by British bombers in November 1944 ( Operation Catechism ), several British capital ships could be moved to the Far East. From late 1944 until the end of the war, the surviving surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine (heavy cruisers: Admiral Scheer , Lützow , Admiral Hipper , Prinz Eugen , light cruisers: Nürnberg , Köln , Emden )
4944-686: The battleship Prince of Wales , while the Tirpitz was based in Norwegian ports during most of the war as a fleet in being, tying up Allied naval forces, and subject to a number of attacks by British aircraft and submarines. More battleships were planned (the H-class), but construction was abandoned in September 1939. The World War I-era pre-dreadnought battleships Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein were used mainly as training ships, although they also participated in several military operations, with
5047-640: The brokering of the International Non-Intervention Patrol to enforce an international arms embargo, the Kriegsmarine was allotted the patrol area between Cabo de Gata (Almeria) and Cabo de Oropesa . Numerous vessels served as part of these duties including Admiral Graf Spee . On 29 May 1937 the Deutschland was attacked off Ibiza by two bombers from the Republican Air Force . Total casualties from
5150-461: The construction of U-boats, which would be ready for war against the United Kingdom more quickly. The Kriegsmarine took part in the Battle of Westerplatte and the Battle of the Danzig Bay during the invasion of Poland . In 1939, major events for the Kriegsmarine were the sinking of the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous and the British battleship HMS Royal Oak and
5253-688: The development and deployment of midget submarines like the Molch and Seehund . In the last stage of the war, the Kriegsmarine also organised a number of divisions of infantry from its personnel. Between 1943 and 1945, a group of U-boats known as the Monsun Boats ( Monsun Gruppe ) operated in the Indian Ocean from Japanese bases in the occupied Dutch East Indies and Malaya . Allied convoys had not yet been organised in those waters, so initially many ships were sunk. However, this situation
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#17327909223155356-643: The end of World War II in 1945, the Kriegsmarine 's remaining ships were divided up among the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping . Some were loaded with superfluous chemical weapons and scuttled. Under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Germany was only allowed a minimal navy of 15,000 personnel, six capital ships of no more than 10,000 tons, six cruisers , twelve destroyers , twelve torpedo boats , and no submarines or aircraft carriers . Military aircraft were also banned, so Germany could have no naval aviation . Under
5459-404: The entire facility for NOK 25 million. In 1999 the agency were in talks with Farsund Municipality, but stipulated a sales price of NOK 200 million. The municipality therefore withdrew their interest. The agency sold the air station to Lista Flypark. They took over ownership on 9 December 2002. The air station was valuated at NOK 11 million, yet sold for NOK 3.5 million. There
5562-532: The facility in November 1945, when it was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Air Force. During the RAF period their troops cleaned up the site, including minesweeping and destruction of ammunition and aircraft. The Norwegian military had no use for the entire encampment and defensive structures, and therefore most of the area was quickly returned to civilian use. However, the air station itself
5665-602: The fleeing German civilians of Pomerania and Stettin in March and April 1945. A desperate measure of the Kriegsmarine to fight the superior strength of the Western Allies from 1944 was the formation of the Kleinkampfverbände (Small Battle Units). These were special naval units with frogmen , manned torpedoes, motorboats laden with explosives and so on. The more effective of these weapons and units were
5768-442: The late 1950s, a new 2,990 by 45 meters (9,810 by 148 ft) concrete runway was built, aligned 14/32. Parallel to this runs a 2,500-meter (8,200 ft) concrete taxiway . This is a rebuilding and extension of the former wooden runway. The German concrete runway was kept, although relegated to serve as a secondary runway. The shooting field of Marka was located southeast of the aerodrome. It features twenty-four bunkers, including
5871-455: The latter bearing the distinction of firing the opening shots of World War II. Zähringen and Hessen were converted into radio-guided target ships in 1928 and 1930 respectively. Hannover was decommissioned in 1931 and struck from the naval register in 1936. Plans to convert her into a radio-controlled target ship for aircraft was cancelled because of the outbreak of war in 1939. Three O-class battlecruisers were ordered in 1939, but with
5974-422: The limited catchment area which only covers Lister. Kriegsmarine The Kriegsmarine ( German pronunciation: [ˈkʁiːksmaˌʁiːnə] , lit. ' War Navy ' ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic . The Kriegsmarine
6077-498: The loss of Admiral Graf Spee at the Battle of the River Plate . Submarine attacks on Britain's vital maritime supply routes ( Battle of the Atlantic ) started immediately at the outbreak of war, although they were hampered by the lack of well placed ports from which to operate. Throughout the war the Kriegsmarine was responsible for coastal artillery protecting major ports and important coastal areas. It also operated anti-aircraft batteries protecting major ports. In April 1940,
6180-418: The major hangars burned down in 1947. The air force concluded in 1948 that it needed to upgrade eight of the rudimentary bases which they had abandoned after the end of the war, including Lista. This was part of a strategy to spread out the squadrons in more locations. In particular, Lista was selected as a suitable site for parts of the air force's schools. This consisted of a shooting- and bombing school and
6283-457: The mass of the allied freighters reached their destination in Soviet ports. The Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942 was an attempt by a German naval surface force to attack an Allied Arctic convoy. However, the advantage was not pressed home and they returned to base. There were serious implications: this failure infuriated Hitler, who nearly enforced a decision to scrap the surface fleet. Instead, resources were diverted to new U-boats, and
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#17327909223156386-583: The military spent NOK 53 million on the process of selling the property. Subtracted the sales price, this was what the military spend on operating the base after closure, maintaining it and in various discounts to purchasers for them to fix up the base after the sale took place. The scandal resulted in Parliament changing the sales procedures so that they had to be approved of by the government. The Defence Estates Agency retrospectively admitted their mistake and restructured their processes and organization to better handle sales and avoid future scandals. Most of
6489-414: The naval versions of two key early war Luftwaffe aircraft: the Messerschmitt Bf 109 T fighter and the Junkers Ju 87 C Stuka dive bomber. The Kriegsmarine completed four battleships during its existence. The first pair were the 11-inch gun Scharnhorst class , consisting of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau , which participated in the invasion of Norway in 1940, and then in commerce raiding until
6592-418: The new main airport. However, these plans were rejected by the Chief of Defence . Instead the base was upgraded to take in recruits for the Home Guard . Lista was upgraded Four new quarters were built, along with upgrades to the canteens, kitchens, storage facilities and classrooms. From 1990 it had a capacity for 232 recruits at a time, training them for six months before transferring them to reserve service in
6695-438: The number of Allied ships sunk started to decrease. Radar, longer range air cover, sonar , improved tactics, and new weapons all contributed. German technical developments, such as the Schnorchel , attempted to counter these. Near the end of the war a small number of the new Elektroboot U-boats (types XXI and XXIII ) became operational, the first submarines designed to operate submerged at all times. The Elektroboote had
6798-549: The occupation. They quickly assessed that there would be need for an additional airfield located between Kristiansand and Stavanger . Work therefore commenced on building Mandal Airport , which was completed in August 1940. By then Lista had been assessed as a more suitable location. Planning started in August and surveying was completed by the end of the month. The work was carried out by German personnel through Luftwaffe Bau-Batalionen and German contractors who hired Norwegian workers. Construction began on 2 September. The runway
6901-452: The opening ceremony. Nach des Führers Plan bauten wir die LUNDE-BAHN Räder müssen rollen für den Sieg! The locomotives were imported by ship from Germany and unloaded in the port of Farsund. A total of 14 steam and diesel locomotives were used for operation, but not all of them could be operated simultaneously due to lack of fuel. At the opening of the railway, a train decorated with fir branches with improvised shelters and
7004-489: The possibility of winning a war against Great Britain at sea in the coming years. Therefore, he ordered plans for such a fleet from the Kriegsmarine . From the three proposed plans (X, Y and Z) he approved Plan Z in January 1939. This blueprint for the new German naval construction program envisaged building a navy of approximately 800 ships during the period 1939–1947. Hitler demanded that the program be completed by 1945. The main force of Plan Z were six H-class battleships . In
7107-425: The potential to negate the Allied technological and tactical advantage, although they were deployed too late to see combat in the war. Following the capture of Liepāja in Latvia by the Germans on 29 June 1941, the town came under the command of the Kriegsmarine . On 1 July 1941, the town commandant Korvettenkapitän Stein ordered that ten hostages be shot for every act of sabotage, and further put civilians in
7210-486: The readiness of the infrastructure, Lista was selected as a suitable location for a civilian airport. Prior to the privatization the civilian operations were limited, typically with two trips each day to Oslo Airport, Fornebu and Stavanger Airport, Sola , and operations were carried out by the air force. Braathens SAFE started flights on 6 June 1955. With a few periods without services, they retained flights until 1980. Nordsjøfly, and its successor Norving , took over
7313-456: The region. The heavy cruisers Deutschland and Admiral Scheer , and the light cruiser Köln were the first to be sent in July 1936. These large ships were accompanied by the 2nd Torpedo-boat Flotilla. The German presence was used to covertly support Francisco Franco's Nationalists although the immediate involvement of the Deutschland was humanitarian relief operations and evacuating 9,300 refugees, including 4,550 German citizens. Following
7416-444: The routes, which lasted until February 1988. After the privatization, Air Stord operated services from 1996 to 1999. An aerodrome flight information service was retained until 2007, although the airport saw very limited use. The main client was CHC Helikopter Service , who used it as a reserve base for flights to the North Sea . The main challenge for Farsund Airport has been the proximity to Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik and
7519-527: The sand dunes of Jæren were preferred. The shooting- and bombing school was therefore moved to Sola in 1953. Between 1955 and 1959 the base underwent a major redevelopment. Through funding from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), List was designated a full-scale reserve base. This involved the construction of a new, 2,990-meter (9,810 ft) runway and taxiway and stands for two squadrons of fighter jets, each in
7622-632: The service of Allied navies that lacked surface ships after the war. The training barque SSS Horst Wessel was recommissioned USCGC Eagle and remains in active service, assigned to the United States Coast Guard Academy . The British, French, and Soviet navies received the destroyers, and some torpedo boats went to the Danish and Norwegian navies. For the purpose of mine clearing, the Royal Navy employed German crews and minesweepers from June 1945 to January 1948, organised in
7725-649: The simultaneous and rapid build-up of the German Army and Air Force which demanded substantial effort and resources. Some projects, like the D-class cruisers and the P-class cruisers , had to be cancelled. The first military action of the Kriegsmarine came during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Following the outbreak of hostilities in July 1936 several large warships of the German fleet were sent to
7828-477: The surface fleet became a lesser threat to the Allies. After December 1943 when Scharnhorst had been sunk in an attack on an Arctic convoy in the Battle of North Cape by HMS Duke of York , most German surface ships in bases at the Atlantic were blockaded in, or close to, their ports as a fleet in being , for fear of losing them in action and to tie up British naval forces. The largest of these ships,
7931-572: The then large amount of new buildings at the station, it was used for courses and conferences within the military. It peaked at 12,000 guest-days. From 1988 to 1993 the Air Force's fire protection assistants were trained at Lista. This consisted of five courses per year, each of 25 to 30 pupils. As part of the Oslo Airport location controversy , a 1988 report proposed that Lista be upgraded as an active air station, should Gardermoen be chosen as
8034-622: The treaty Germany could only build new ships to replace old ones. All the ships allowed and personnel were taken over from the Kaiserliche Marine , which was renamed the Reichsmarine . From the outset, Germany worked to circumvent the military restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans continued to develop U-boats through a submarine design office in the Netherlands ( NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw ) and
8137-506: The version of Plan Z drawn up in August 1939, the German fleet was planned to consist of the following ships by 1945: Personnel strength was planned to rise to over 200,000. The planned naval program was not very far advanced by the time World War II began. In 1939 two M-class cruisers and two H-class battleships were laid down and parts for two further H-class battleships and three O-class battlecruisers were in production. The strength of
8240-666: The waters around Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) under the guise of enforcing non-intervention , but in reality supporting the Nationalists against the Spanish Republicans . In January 1939, Plan Z , a massive shipbuilding programme, was ordered, calling for surface naval parity with the British Royal Navy by 1944. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Plan Z
8343-552: The whole Allied strategy. The vast American ship building capabilities and naval forces were however now brought into the war and soon more than offset any losses inflicted by the German submariners. In 1942, the submarine warfare continued on all fronts, and when German forces in the Soviet Union reached the Black Sea , a few submarines were eventually transferred there. In February 1942, the three large warships stationed on
8446-504: The zone of targeting by declaring that Red Army soldiers were hiding among them in civilian attire. On 5 July 1941 Korvettenkapitän Brückner, who had taken over from Stein, issued a set of anti-Jewish regulations in the local newspaper, Kurzemes Vārds . Summarized, the regulations were as follows: On 16 July 1941, Fregattenkapitän Dr. Hans Kawelmacher was appointed the German naval commandant in Liepāja. On 22 July, Kawelmacher sent
8549-449: Was 80 centimeters (31 in) thick, while the taxiways were 25 centimeters (9.8 in) thick. A further 1,380 meters (4,530 ft) of taxiways were made of shingle. Aircraft stands were covered in shingle and wood. Around the airport there were twenty small protective hangars. In the western part of the aerodrome was a 1,700-by-120-meter (5,580 by 390 ft) wooden runway. Most of the buildings at Lista Air Station were built during
8652-566: Was a military airbase situated on the Lista peninsula in Farsund , Norway . It features a 2,990-meter (9,810 ft) concrete runway aligned 14/32, and a 1,521-meter (4,990 ft) runway aligned 09/27. The facility was shared with Farsund Airport, Lista , which remains in operation. The airbase was built by Luftwaffe between 1941 and 1944, during the German occupation of Norway . Throughout
8755-521: Was a step in the formation of a modern German fleet. The building of the Deutschland caused consternation among the French and the British as they had expected that the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles would limit the replacement of the pre-dreadnought battleships to coastal defence ships , suitable only for defensive warfare. By using innovative construction techniques, the Germans had built
8858-601: Was bombed and sunk by Royal Navy aircraft in Bergen, and the Karlsruhe which was sunk off the coast of Kristiansand by a British submarine. The Kriegsmarine did in return sink some British warships during this campaign, including the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious . The losses in the Norwegian Campaign left only a handful of undamaged heavy ships available for the planned, but never executed, invasion of
8961-666: Was built in the area around Langåker and Stave. After leveling, a runway was built with prefabricated wooden elements. It measured 1,700 by 120 meters (5,580 by 390 ft) and westwards it reached the beach at Verevågen. It was at the time the longest wooden runway in Norway. The runway was completed in April 1941, allowing the first aircraft to land. Mandal Airport was closed and the aircraft transferred to Lista. The first anti-aircraft defenses arrived on 27 December 1940, originally placing 88 mm guns at Vågsvold, Lista Lighthouse and at Stave. Four more positions were established in 1941. This
9064-438: Was dug out to create a series of drainage passages. The work resulted in a 1,571 by 80 meters (5,154 by 262 ft) concrete runway, in addition to 3,620 meters (11,880 ft) of taxiways and associated hangars, barracks and other buildings. The work employed more than 10,000 Norwegian workers and several thousand Eastern Europeans. An industrial railway , the Lunde Line, was completed in April 1943. Two Würzburg radars and
9167-554: Was heavily engaged in providing artillery support to the retreating German land forces along the Baltic coast and in ferrying civilian refugees to the western Baltic Sea parts of Germany ( Mecklenburg , Schleswig-Holstein ) in large rescue operations. Large parts of the population of eastern Germany fled the approaching Red Army out of fear for Soviet retaliation (mass rapes, killings, and looting by Soviet troops did occur ). The Kriegsmarine evacuated two million civilians and troops in
9270-568: Was no documentation for why this discount was given. Both Lista Lufthavn and Lista Flypark's contracts were so structured that they had incentives to delay any commercial development of the property. The sale was carried out without public announcement. Eight sections were also sold between 1998 and 2003 without announcement. Avinor asked to take over the control tower and the Directorate for Nature Management asked to take over Slevdalsvannet, but both of these requests were ignored. All in all
9373-517: Was not formally declared, leading to the sinking of the USS ; Reuben James . This course of events were the result of the American decision to support Britain with its Lend-Lease program and the subsequent decision to escort Lend-Lease convoys with US war ships through the western part of the Atlantic. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent German declaration of war against
9476-432: Was of interest to the air force and was kept as a military installation. In December 1946 the military concluded that there was no need for the aerodrome and started the process of closing the facility. The wooden runway was dismantled and given as building supplies to the local population. Most of buildings were dismantled and moved elsewhere. The concrete runway was kept as an emergency airfield for civilian aircraft. Two of
9579-612: Was one of several airbases in Southern Norway used by a division at any given time. The 2nd Group of Jagdgeschwader 77 (2./JG 77) was the first unit based at Lista, from March 1941. It became 2./JG 5 in January 1942. Lista was one of several bases used by the ad hoc Jagdgruppe Losigkeit to escort the German cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer along the coast in February. From August 1942 to March 1943 Lista
9682-636: Was one of three official branches , along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe , of the Wehrmacht , the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945. In violation of the Treaty of Versailles , the Kriegsmarine grew rapidly during German naval rearmament in the 1930s. The 1919 treaty had limited the size of the German navy and prohibited the building of submarines . Kriegsmarine ships were deployed to
9785-566: Was part of the Atlantic Wall . The first construction phase, opened in April 1941, consisted of a 1,700 by 120 metre long wooden runway. The second construction phase was completed in 1944 with a number of service buildings and a 1,571 x 80 metre long concrete runway. Three of the hangars built at the time are still standing today. 58°05′01″N 6°46′25″E / 58.083731°N 6.773573°E / 58.083731; 6.773573 Lista Air Station Lista Air Station ( Norwegian : Lista flystasjon , IATA : FAN , ICAO : ENLI )
9888-471: Was regarded as crucial to secure the safe transport of convoys along the coast. By 22 May 60 men had been stationed in Farsund. The first work on establishing defenses in Lista commenced later in the summer by the Kriegsmarine in what would later develop into Nordberg Fort and part of the Atlantic Wall . Guns were installed by October, making the coastal artillery operative. The Luftwaffe's took control over Kjevik Air Station and Sola Air Station upon
9991-1024: Was regularly used by 8./JG1 , operating Messerschmitt Bf 109 F and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A. From August to October 1943 the base was used for 10./JG11 to escort convoys along Skagerrak using the Bf 109T. From October the base was used by a detachment of Seenotgruppe 5 using Dornier Do 24 seaplanes. From November 1943 to June 1944 Lista was the base of 11./JG 11 with Bf 109T. They were replaced in June with 10./JG 5 Messerschmitt Bf 110 G and Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegian with Junkers Ju 88 G and Messerschmitt Bf 110 G, who remained until March 1945. These were sometimes supplemented with Zerstörergeschwader 26 , also with Bf 100G. 13./JG 5 and 15./JG 5 and their Bf 109Gs were moved to Lista in November 1944. Luftflotte 1 /120 used Lista for its Junkers Ju 88 D and Junkers Ju 188 F reconnaissance duties from December. Lista Air Station remained under German control until Royal Air Force troops arrived on 22 May 1945. The RAF retained control of
10094-408: Was reorganized in 1943, when some of the units were moved out of Lista. Next work started on the main part of the air station. Contracted to Ed Zublin, the first part of the work was to drain the vast mires located throughout the peninsula. The terraforming proved difficult and work ran gradually for three years. Several smaller hills were demolished and moved to fill up where necessary. The landscape
10197-462: Was sentenced to 10 years in prison, reduced to 7 years on appeal, for the illegal sinking of ships and criminal negligence for failing to protect the downed crew of the SS Anglo Saxon . Ruckteschell died in prison in 1948. After the war, the German surface ships that remained afloat (only the cruisers Prinz Eugen and [Nürnberg] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |4= ( help ) , and
10300-484: Was shelved in favour of a crash building programme for submarines ( U-boats ) instead of capital surface warships, and land and air forces were given priority of strategic resources. The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (as for all branches of the armed forces during the period of absolute Nazi power) was Adolf Hitler , who exercised his authority through the Oberkommando der Marine ('High Command of
10403-521: Was soon remedied. During the later war years, the Monsun Boats were also used as a means of exchanging vital war supplies with Japan. During 1943 and 1944, due to Allied anti-submarine tactics and better equipment, the U-boat fleet started to suffer heavy losses. The turning point of the Battle of the Atlantic was during Black May in 1943, when the U-boat fleet started suffering heavy losses and
10506-491: Was subsequently scuttled after being rendered a burning wreck by two British battleships. In November 1941 during the Battle of the Mediterranean, German submarine U-331 sank the British battleship Barham , which had a magazine explosion and sank in minutes, with the loss of 862, or 2/3 of her crew. During 1941, the Kriegsmarine and the United States Navy became de facto belligerents , although war
10609-488: Was that any other state or public uses be given priority and that the sale take place through an open sales process. In June 1996 the Defence Estates Agency signed a ten-year lease on the entire air station with the latter company for an annual rent of 10,000 Norwegian krone per year. The agency retained the responsibility to maintain the property. Lista Lufthavn received an option for the company to buy
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