4 real historical locations · Denmark
A Danish film based on the true story of German prisoners of war forced to clear over two million land mines from Danish beaches after the war ended. Boys, mostly, sent to clear the deadly legacy of their own nation's occupation — many dying in the process.
CinemaMapped has mapped 4 real historical locations where the story takes place, spanning Denmark.
After Germany's surrender, young German POWs — many still teenagers — are forced to clear the 2.2 million mines buried in Denmark's beaches.
Denmark's post-war mine clearance by German POWs is one of the most morally controversial Allied decisions of the war's aftermath. The Geneva Convention prohibited using prisoners to clear mines; Denmark and Britain p...
View location →A second stretch of German-mined Danish coastline where young POW soldiers are put to work clearing the deadly Atlantic Wall fortifications.
The Germans planted over 1.5 million mines along the Danish coast as part of the Atlantic Wall. After liberation, Denmark used 2,000 German POWs — many of them teenagers — to clear them. Over 149 were killed and 1,402...
View location →The German prisoners are held near the port city before being sent to the beaches — the administrative center of the mine-clearing operation.
Esbjerg was Denmark's largest North Sea port and a key German naval base during the occupation. Its fortifications included extensive minefields that required systematic clearance before the coast could be safely used.
View location →The most heavily mined stretch of the Danish coast — a barren sand spit where boys on their knees probe the ground with thin rods.
The Skallingen peninsula south of Blåvand was particularly densely mined as it guarded the approach to Esbjerg harbor. The mine clearance work here was the most dangerous on the entire Danish coast.
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