SKÅNELINJEN - Amazing WW2 Military Bunkers in Sweden

In 1939 Sweden built an astonishing 500km line of fortificactions along the entire south coast. These armoured bunkers were intended to prevent a possible invasion by Hitler's German army. This front line was called Skånelinjen (Skåne Line), or Per Albin-linjen after the Swedish prime minister during WW2.
Fortunately the invasion never came and Sweden remained neutral during the 2nd World War. many of these bunkers are still standing today as a reminder of those grim times.
In this video we will explore some of the bunkers to the east of Ystad, Skåne and I'll tell you the story about their construction, design, usage and decommision.
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[@AndrewAHayes]

Those Germans were never going to get their towels laid out on the beach with those side facing machine guns LOL

[@WoodyPianoShack]

andrew, you need to come work for me and write my scripts! what a gem :)

[@AndrewAHayes]

@@WoodyPianoShack Yes I was quite proud of that one!

[@calikokat100]

Sweden looks like a beautiful place to live

[@arcanics1971]

I'd love to see the ones that are preserved. It's hard to imagine what it would have been like for around 6 men in these cramped spaces. Fascinating stuff, Woody.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

hello scott, thanks for the encouraging comment as always. i'd love to check out the preserved ones, they are about 2 hours away, but looking for a good angle to sell the idea of a fun outing to the rest of the family... :/

[@jazzplayer59]

Interesting..thanks for sharing.

[@Flornmonk]

I live in Helsingborg. These are everywhere. I never would've guessed you lived in skåne!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

you must have missed my previous announcements, yeah, I'm down south since august, will come and visit your city some day soon!

[@kristofferhellstrom]

Really interesting video! didn't know we had so many bunkers. Make more videos like this :)

[@SamNiverba]

wow Woody, you covered my favorite history topic WW2. plus extra Swedish Bunkers. Awesome video my friend :) "Lovely beach view btw"

[@WoodyPianoShack]

maybe you already told me that, but I forgot, so really glad this was interesting for you!

[@tonato17]

Great video Woody. I missed your content! Take care

[@dessiplaer]

That was very interesting. You're right about the scenery as well. It was beautiful. More please!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

thank you for the encouragement jon!

[@petter5721]

The costal artillery further inland would fire at the ships and landing boats. Bunker were there to fight beached enemies. They was also a lot of smaller pillboxes and trenches in between the bunkers along the coastline.

[@musicbycandlelightmbc3225]

You two are going 'Bunkers'....hahaha. I love these old remnants of the past from ww2. Normandy still has a bunch of these as well. Some groups of men in Russia as well go out and try and find buried remains or artifacts from the war there too. They had dug up hundreds of shells, German iron crosses, helmets,, guns, and the list is endless. Those are really interesting looking bunkers Woody. The first one was pretty artistic with that stone work. How do you like the smell of the ocean/Baltic Sea? Stinky huh? Smells worse in summer. I am surrounded by the Pacific ocean. And those fired gun shots on each video section...lol. You are sooo dramatic Woody haha. The view is awesome there and I love Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other European countries. Fantastic video as always Kompis. PS: I would like a big bag of Swedish Licorice please Santa...ty. hahaha.

[@barryward7633]

Thanks for the tour Woody, cheers.

[@davidmartin123]

Nice scenery, very interesting history. What are those rows of variously colored small houses or shacks commonly seen along the path?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

what an excellent question, they were puzzling to us. do you lift them onto the beach when it is summer? apparently not, but you can buy one for about USD 30,000 and keep your beach towels and sun loungers in it.

[@davidosolo]

Nice one Woody! Keep them comin´!

[@LB-pp7pu]

This new type of videos are really cool, I'm very interested in WW2 since I was a kid (I'm italian). Also the video camera quality is amazing

[@WoodyPianoShack]

so glad to hear that, i will pass on your info to my son who did the filming!

[@JonathanDotExe]

Nice. Regular uploads again 😁

[@WoodyPianoShack]

2 in a week yes. not sure I can keep that up tho ;)

[@JonathanDotExe]

@@WoodyPianoShack No pressure. Good luck with building your house👍

[@ww2_panzerbricks269]

Awesome video man🔥 since u seem to live in Ystad, I’d recommend trying to find the remains of the city’s defence, that often were regular basements converted to small gun emplacements with even anti tank guns. Another thing I’d recommend checking out is the city Helsingborgs city defence, with tones of bunkers from ww2. Greeting from Sweden 🇸🇪

[@WoodyPianoShack]

glad you liked the vid, yes, i'm aware of the city defense but haven't discovered anything yet, thanks for all the tips and watching!

[@ww2_panzerbricks269]

@@WoodyPianoShack that’s awesome to hear 👍 would love seeing a video on it one day soon

[@CSGraves]

Not something I would've expected to see on this channel, but fascinating regardless.

[@seratonin7004]

The most interesting random video of my day! Cheers 🇦🇺

[@WoodyPianoShack]

Sera, yes, I bet it was!

[@MatheusTiciani-z4y]

Great video Woody! I've been interested in this subject since your Instgram bunker photos a while back. I was so ignorant I never thought Sweden was so close to Germany. If you're able to show those other bunkers you mention, please by all means do it!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

yep, just a few hours by boat across the baltic sea to the north germany coast, also poland coast is just over the water!

[@Mr0031]

looks amazing. the map you have, could you give out the link? Thanks mate

[@freyjulundr]

there is like 4 in my town in karlsborg i grew up with these hehe loved the vid as usual and in karlsborg we have a fortress thats 200 years old

[@WoodyPianoShack]

weird place for a fort, to defend from the paople on the other side of the lake? :)

[@fisk0]

@@WoodyPianoShack Karlborg was meant to be the reserve capital in case of war back in the day, so the fortress was supposed to protect the king, the riksdag/parliament and other important functions. I think that idea survived up until WW2 when they realized they needed new bunkers capable of surviving a nuclear attack.

[@rodmorrison47]

I'd definitely like to see inside one of these.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

you and me both!

[@Duke_Silver]

I think you should try to explore the other side of the Baltic sea if you`ll have a chance. I recommend Gdansk- also there`s a lot of interesting bunkers in Poland including the Wolf`s Lair and the "Riese" complex. I`m pretty sure you can get to the other side of the sea simply on a ferry.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

yaah, many boats a day leave here for Poland, an astonishing number of trucks and cars. what is the purpose of the bunkers in Poland, did the germans build them, and for what?

[@Duke_Silver]

@@WoodyPianoShack Yes, most of them were built by the Germans. The Wolf`s Lair was the headquarters of "Mr.Hilter" between 1941-1944 where the famous assassination attempt has taken place, and the Riese complex is the largest bunker/underground complex built by the Third Reich. Riese is in the South of Poland, Wolf`s Lair in the North.

[@Barry101er]

I lived in Bath, U.K. and you would stumble across the odd bunker and tank trap in the woods. I wondered if at he time some of the building may have been for morale?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

yeah, i think you might be onto something there!

[@w0mblemania]

I only play a military strategist on television, but even so, I have serious doubts about the efficacy of these bunkers. They seem to have a simple, natural enemy: the hand grenade.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

i'm doubtful that a couple of machine guns every 200m would have stopped the mighty german army, but maybe more of an exercise in moral....?

[@dykodesigns]

Are some of them still accessible? I have been in some german bunkers in recent years that where built locally, as the germans built a few airbases in the Netherlands. After the war, these airbases where rebuilt / patched up by the allied forces. The former Twente airforce base near Enschede and the Deelen airport near Arnhem where originally built by the germans, some of structures they built still exist.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

hi dyko, some have been preserved/restored in an area managed by a museum I think. not too far away, but hard to sell it to the family as a fun outing...

[@GTexplores]

There are only so many times I can click on like suscribe etc, however, more of these videos will be most welcomed by me.

[@darthsuitcase6166]

Have around 6 bunkers within walking distance, but two of them are so deep in the sand and covered in moss that you can't see them. Over here though, I think some of the ones by the beach is aimed out to sea. Maybe because it's too shallow for landing crafts, and the troopers would have to disembark long before they reached the waterline?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

interesting, i dunno! maybe they just refined the design over the months... where are yours?

[@darthsuitcase6166]

@@WoodyPianoShack Helsingborg. I'll try and remember to snap some picture, or a video, next time I walk by the beach.

[@seratonin7004]

What are all the little huts on your right as you ride along?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

hi, little beach huts, except they are placed in the forest, forest huts...? people put beach stuff in them anyway :)

[@seratonin7004]

@Woody Piano Shack thank you! That's all I could think they might be... Are they owned by individuals who keep their beach things there, or rented for the day...? They're so adorable!

[@ramdynebix]

That’s Wallander country, isn’t it?

[@darthsuitcase6166]

Correct, though the rape seeds were harvested months ago, so no more fields of yellow until next year.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

indeed. i never watched an episode yet myself, but overheard the wife watching the other day and was truly disappointed that all the characters had stockholm dialects? what's up with that?

[@runecanberger913]

The music is Norwegian!!!!!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

haha, you're right, well spotted!

[@jacobrosen]

TIL about Skånelinjen

[@WoodyPianoShack]

i bet you already knew all this!

[@jacobrosen]

@@WoodyPianoShack this is the first I've ever heard of it!

[@marcobassini3576]

This defensive line built in 1939 seems as useful as the Maginot line in France. Perform a flanking maneuver and take the enemy from behind! Since mid 1940 the Germans had occupied the whole Norway and guess what, what would have been the easiest way to invade Sweden as well, if just they wanted to? A curiosity, who supplied Sweden with food, fuel, raw materials, ....., during the war? It was fully encircled by Axis held territory from 1940 to most 1944.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

that's an interesting topic in itself, there were some contreversial arrangements with hitler for transportation and sale of materials for german war effort (iron ore) and moving german troops on swedish railways. perhaps that's how they were able to obtain food, fuel etc, and avoid occupation...

[@marcobassini3576]

@@WoodyPianoShack Thanks. I have visited similar bunkers (this time German built) around the Norwegian port of Narvik (home of the north Atlantic fleet in charge of sinking American convoys to UK and Russia). But all these bunkers cannot compare to those built in Normandy and Pas de Calais region. Especially spectacular is the Longues sur mer battery (search the internet for photos), overlooking the cliffs, equipped with 4 massive bunkers (+ observation post bunker to direct the gunfire) each one enclosing (still today!!) a naval gun (20 km useful range). This battery, during D day, shelled Omaha and Gold beaches, and fiercely engaged many major ships of the landing fleet. It was captured from inland on D-Day + 1. The site and the bunkers themselves (including the guns) can be freely visited. I did. Highly recommended.

[@Nubbpiraten]

Sweden was pretty self sustaining during the war, in those days we had lot of farms for food and put gas stoves on the cars, trucks and busses to drive them on “wood gas”. Also due to the threat from Germany attacking from Norway we also built defensive lines with bunkers and such further north, for example the “vänerlinjen”.

[@wreckage-vs5jv]

"neutral during WW2" lol

[@atlet1]

Sweden never had at serious threat from Germany. Ones there was a german plan to invade Sweden, but Generals have planes on everything. But as a neutral country Sweden have to show it was prepared to defend against every possible attacker. The real military force was in the north and on Gotland, because the threat from Soviet Union and Britain was real. Sweden broke the german codes 1940 and could read every massage they sent in clear language. So there was no real preparation against Germany, only a showof. But if Soviet would get the upper hand, a protection against them at the south coast would be necessary.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

interesting, thanks for watching and commenting arne!