Per Albin Line - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Skåne Line popularly known as the Per Albin Line after then-Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson

Per Albin Hansson

Per Albin Hansson , was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister in four governments between 1932 and 1946, governing all that period save for a short-lived crisis in the summer of 1936, which he ended by forming a coalition government with his...

, was a 500 kilometer long line of light fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

s erected during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

around the coast of southern Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

to protect the country from a possible German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

or Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

invasion. It stretched from Halland

Halland

' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...

across Skåne to Blekinge

Blekinge

' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....

and consisted of two defense lines:

First defense line: concrete bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...

s along the shore, armed with machine-guns and light guns.
Second defense line: armed troops 300 meters inland behind barbed wire, some in concrete bunkers.

In the Helsingborg area the line was reinforced with a second line of rear-facing machine gun tank. As a further enhancement was also a raid shelter consistent with the large shelter room for 24 or 48 man (called SK24 and SK48). This shelter line stretching from Ystad to the north of Helsingborg, and covers about 70's shelters.

At war in 1945 covered the military line of 1,063 different types of protection (shelter not included). The distances between each is 300–400 meters and most of them are located in direct proximity to the sea and are built after a somewhat similar model. (Applies to machine safeguarding of the immediate coastline) During the Cold War the line was strengthened further, with tank turrets with 7.5 cm gun placed in newly constructed tank designs.

Decommissioning began in the late 1990s. Each landowner had to decide what would happen with the military equipment on their property. Many tanks were sealed, a small number were razed. The liquidation is still (2008) not fully implemented and several stretches along the south coast remain. The "liquidation" referred to here is not "physical removal" of the reinforced concrete soon found everywhere along the coast of Scania, but that it is emptied of all military equipment. For instance, only a few of the bunkers have been demolished, to make way for housing. Today the forts are used primarily as artificial rocks for sunbathers in the summer.

In 2008 it was decided to keep 18 different tanks from the line in the Helsingborg area. These bunkers are now managed by the Military Preparedness Museum ("Beredskapsmuseet") and undergoing an extensive renovation. Starting in 2009, the bunkers were opened to the public. The refurbished bunkers were officially inaugurated on May 30, 2009 with battle demonstrations, firing salutes, fanfare and color guard

Color guard

In the military of the United States and other militaries, the color guard carries the National Color and other flags appropriate to its position in the chain of command. Typically these include a unit flag and a departmental flag...

processions.

See also