I presume this is the Heeres-Küsten-Batterie 4./448 Kongsfjord (of Heeres-Küstenartillerie Abteilung 448, Artilleriegruppe Unterabschnitt Eismeer). Jan Egil Fjørtoft (user "JEF" on this forum) states in his book "Tyske Kystfort i Norge" that the battery was established in Nürnberg in november 1941 an moved to Kongsfjord in december.
There's already a topic covering this battery here:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1614Martin in Wales wrote:
How many other fortresses of this sort were built along the Finnmark coastline?
I have logged over 460 locations of german coastal batteries (both army and navy, including torpedobatteries), but that number includes locations being abandoned or evacuated during the war. I think the maximum muber of batteries at any given point during the war was about 300 (ca 60 in Finnmark).
The attached zip contains a Google Earth-file showing the german coastal batteries in Norway (not 100% complete, but as far as I can tell, all batteries in Finnmark are included).
Martin in Wales wrote:
What were the types and numbers of weapons employed at the fortress? And what was the range of the artillery located at this site?
According to JEF's book, the battery was armed with five
15,5cm K416(f) guns (range 17000m). There would also have been some close-defence and anti-aircraft weapons, but I have no knowledge of types and numbers.
Martin in Wales wrote:
Were Soviet Prisoners of Wars (and other POWs) used in the construction and maintenance of the site?
Probably - soviet POW's should have been "available" by december 1941.
Martin in Wales wrote:
When the German troops abandoned the site, did they take guns and ammunition away with them, or did they destroy weapons? (It seems that the Veines fortress was not systematically destroyed by the departing Germans.)
The battery relocated (with it's guns) in october 1944, to Mele in Lofoten.
Martin in Wales wrote:
Am I correct in thinking that scrap metal (including large amounts of barbed wire) was collected from the fortress after the War?
Yes, certainly.