The Western Defences of Copenhagen - The West Wall - from fortification to idyl

"Vestvolden"(The Westwall) or Vesteinceinten as it was also called, was part of a new landward facing concrete fortification built around Copenhagen from 1886 to 1893. The fortification consisted of five forts and eight batteries to the north of the city, a comprehensive flooding system, and Vestvolden situated to the west of the city (to the east and the south was the sea). The Westwall itself was built from 1888 to 1892.

The reason for building the forts to the north and a wall to the west was due to the topography of the landscape. The Westwall stretched from Avedore Islets in the south, to Utterslev Moor in the north. It was constructed as 23 straight lines each of a length of 600-650 meters, All lines were transposed a little to the others, to give the Wall its curved outline. The start and end point of the 23 straight lines were numbered with a Roman numeral from 0 at Avedore Islets to XXIII at Utterslev Moor.

Facing the enemy was first a glacis, then a wet moat and then the Westwall itself. The wet moat could be held under flanking fire from 15 caponiers. These caponiers were armed with 75 mm Quick Firing Guns and two barreled machineguns. In 1912 and 1913 these caponiers were supplemented by 26 smaller and much less well protected caponiers. Ten permanent gun batteries topped the wall, each with its own well protected powder and shell magazine. The batteries were armed with from four to eight 12 or 15 cm guns behind a concrete parapet. In peacetime the artillery was stored close to the batteries in artillery magazines built of wood and corrugated iron. There was also a railway track running to the rear of the wall, making way for the first (and only) Danish railway battery of six 15 cm guns.

This book is the lavishly illustrated history of the Westwall - a detailed description of the entire wall and its components, lavishly illustrated with ca. 150 photos, drawings, plans and maps - of which many are in colour. The book is written in Danish, but with an Engish summary.