German coastal artillery in Norway. Photo by Bildberichterstatter Gundlach.In the beginning of the Norwegian campaign, there were 6 Marineartillerie-Abteilungen: MAA Horten, MAA Kristiansand, MAA Stavanger, MAA Bergen, MAA Drontheim, and MAA Narvik. These units were to man captured Norwegian Coastal Fortresses. In June 1940, the MAA’s got number designations, the first ones for just 1 month, before they got permanent numbers.
The German MAA’s were divided into companies, each company manned a battery. Each MAA usually consisted of 6 companies, but this could range from 2 – 12 coys. The commander of a MAA was usually Korvettenkapitän, but could also be Fregattenkapitän or Kapitänleutnant.
Army artillery units designed for coastal defense appeared in Norway in 1941. They established several Heeresküstenartillerie-regimenter (HKAR), Heeresküstenartillerie-Abteilungen (HKAA) and 160 Heeresküsten-Batterien (HKB). At the end of the war, there were 221 batteries divided into 29 units & 10 regiments. The Germans had serious problems in commanding and controlling this effectively. The mix-up between army and naval artillery also caused serious problems when it came to effective command.
The Heeresküstenartillerie had standard army OOB, but had guns of varying quality.They were also equipped with tanks, mostly French captured ones, like the Somua. The coastal defense had a big need of men. In 1930, the whole Kriegsmarine counted 15000 men. In Norway, the total number of Army / Naval Coast defense personnel was about 65000 (1945). Artillery Schools were established several places, amongst them Rauöy in the Oslo-fjord, and Stavern.
Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
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https://www.feldgrau.com/ww2-german-norway-coastal-defence/
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