A German Concrete Bunker

The bunker discretely situated in the General’s Garden was built by the Germans during the occupation 1940-45. It was built just after the attack on the small Danish army on 29^th August 1943, probably as headquarter for the suppression of Copenhagen. Before this the Germans kept the impression, that they were merely “protecting” Denmark, but after this date they regarded Denmark as an enemy. Thus they prepared for an uprise. But the situation had changed before the bunker was finished. The concrete casting of the bunker of the type ”Regelbau 608” had finished on January 7th 1944, and all remaining work could have been done quickly, but before this could be done, Hitler himself ordered the German headquarter moved to Jutland, so it may be that it simply wasn’t finished before the end of the war, or at least only in the last few months.  As the German Headquarter was moved to Jutland, the much bigger bunker used by them before could be used by the local headquarter, minimizing the need for the bunker in “Kastellet”.

Instead the bunker got it hay time during The Cold War, where it was used as headquarter for the local forces defending Copenhagen and Zealand, and from this bunker up to 16.000 men would have been led in case of an attack on Zealand.

The plan shows the arrangement of the bunker in this role. But after the end of “The Cold War” it was realized, that stationary bunkers like this no longer were impregnable, and it was given up as a military headquarter.

Today it is in civilian use as a club and rallying point for the Danish Veteran Organization “Danmarks Veteraner”, formerly “The Blue Berets”.