The Taarbäk Fort

The Taarbaek Fort 1955

The Taarbæk Fort was built during the years 1913 to 1916.

It was a triangular fortress with dry moat and with an underground corridor for the caponiere in the outside of the northern tip of the moat.

To close the flank of the northern front, the fort was built some distance inside the the forrest the Dyrehaven, so that it could both serve as a land fort and a coastal fort. None of these half solutions were especially successfull.

The fort was supposed to protect the coast north of the little town Taarbæk against landing attempts, but they could not observe the coast because of the cliff above the coast and the residential houses along the coast. In addition, it was intended to assist the Middelgrund Fort in preventing enemy ships from sailing into the harbor of Copenhagen, but it did not have adequate views of the Sound.
To remedy this, an approx. 33 m high observation and rangefinder tower, whish made the position of the Fort rather visible for the enemy.

As a land fort it was supposed to cover the Hermitage plain and the area north of it, but as it was hidden behind the highest point of the plain where the Royal Eremitage Castle I situated, most of the fort’s combat area was hidden.

The armament was too weak for a coastal fort. The fort had only four pieces. 29 cm cast iron guns M.1910 with a range of 10,300 meters. These were located on the northeastern part of the deck. It was the same type of haubits that can be seen at Charlottenlund Fort.

As a land fort, the fort had two pcs. of 120 mm quick-firing steel cannons M.1914, which had a range of 8400 meters. The were mounted in armored turrets on top of the fort.
On top of the casemate building was also a concrete trench. For use in this, as well as the other parts of the fort, 34 pieces. 8 mm. recoil guns M.1903, of which 6 in three armored towers. (3 × 2) were available.
For the defense of the moat there were another three pcs. of 37 mm. revolver cannons M.1880.

The armament:

4 pcs. of 29 cm. Iron Haubits (coastal defense) M / 1910
2 pcs. of 120 mm. Quick-firing steel cannons L / 15 M / 1914.
3 pcs. Of 37 mm. revolver cannons M / 1880
34 pcs. of 8 mm. Machineguns Madsen M / 1903
4 pcs. of 46 cm. floodlights.
6 pcs. of 30 cm. Floodlights 30 cm.
1 pcs. of 20 cm. Floodlight.
Crew (1915-1918) 258

After the the Taarbäk Fort was abandoned, it was completely covered. Today just as a small hill in the terrain tells of the position.
Below the surface, the fort is intact, and in collaboration with Danish Television there were people in there in 2013 in connection with a TV program.

It has been possible to get the opportunity to bring some pictures from this visit, which subsequently have made it possible to trace the visit in the fort.