No European trip is complete without visiting Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm is the biggest archipelago in Sweden, and consists of about 30,000 islands that are peppered in the city’s east and south regions, and flow into the Baltic Sea. When you visit the city you can certainly enjoy some of the popular summer retreats there. The shores are chock-full of vacationers visiting the resort towns. However, you definitely should include Öja, the southernmost island. It contains one of the most progressive military batteries during the Cold War. Interestingly, it didn’t become open to the public until January 2013. It’s approximately a three-hour trip from central Stockholm.
The Landsort battery is located among the bushes and boulders of the region. The battery doesn’t seem to be very complex when looking at from outside. In fact, it is the home of 20 residents, and also a bird sanctuary. But quite the opposite is true. The Landsort Battery was completed in 1977, and was utilized until the end of the Cold War, in 1991. It consisted of 38 installations that are nearly completely buried. Today, five of those installations still exist. A crew of 325 soldiers and artillery were used to defend it. Visitors can enjoy tours of the battery throughout the peak season.
Each of the doors of the battery contains walls that are 1.5 meters thick. There were a few reasons for this. It would be able to withstand a nuclear blast. The second function was to keep gas outside the battery. There was even a shower located a little inside the doors, to treat any soldiers who were hit by a blast. Nearly 25 years after 1991, the rooms in the battery seem to be as they were left. The artillery is full of ammunition that was prepared to be loaded in the gun dock.
In many regards, it seems that the Landsort battery has not changed in the only quarter of a century since it was manned. However, its structure and contents reveal that much planning was conducted to design the battery. In fact, one can find interesting artifacts in the battery, which are remnants of its history. They include a container of coffee that has solidified over the years. Such items should arguably not be removed, so visitors are able to experience the battery’s environment during the Cold War.
It is somewhat ironic that the battery exists, considering that Sweden remained neutral during the Cold War. However, the country was concerned about the possibility of a conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union. If that were to happen, the Soviets would march from east-to-west. The Swedes were so fretful about such an event that 20% of the national budget was allocated to defense. Today, that figure is a mere 2%. Although the price of the battery was a steep 600 million krona, it could be argued that the network of pricy artilleries was a success. That’s because they were never needed during the Cold War. We should all be thankful that that is a fact.