Brusand is a village in

Hå Hå is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is the southernmost municipality in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Varhaug. Other villages in Hå include Brusand, Hæen, ...

municipality in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The small village is located on a small

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmu ...

of land between the lake Bjåvatnet and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. The village sits along the

Sørlandet Line The Sørlandet Line ( no, Sørlandsbanen) is a railway line between Drammen (though this is connected to Oslo by means of the Drammen Line) via Kristiansand to Stavanger. The line is long between Oslo and Stavanger. History The railway was cons ...

(traditionally called the

Jæren Line The Jæren Line ( no, Jærbanen) long railway line between Stavanger and Egersund in Jæren, Norway. The name is no longer in official use and the section is regarded as the westernmost part of the Sørlandet Line. Owned by the Norwegian Railw ...

) and it is served by the

Jæren Commuter Rail The Jæren Commuter Rail ( no, Jærbanen) is a commuter train service operated along the westernmost part of the Sørland Line in Jæren, Norway. It is operated by Go-Ahead Norge with nine Class 72 electric multiple units. The service acts as ...

which stops at the

Brusand Station Brusand Station ( no, Brusand stasjon) is a railway station located at Brusand in the municipality of Hå in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located on the Sørland Line. The station is served by Jæren Commuter Rail between Stavanger and Egersund. ...

. The village is about southeast of the village of

Vigrestad Vigrestad is a village in Hå municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located about northeast of the southwestern coast of Norway, facing the North Sea. The village sits about southeast of the village of Varhaug and about nor ...

and about northwest of the villages of

Ogna Ogna is a village in Hå municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located immediately north of the village of Sirevåg on the shores of the Ognaelva river. The village was the administrative centre of the historic municipality of ...

and

Sirevåg Sirevåg is a village in Hå municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located in the southeastern part of the municipality, about northwest of the village of Hellvik in neighboring Eigersund municipality. The village of Ogna si ...

. Brusand is located next to the large Brusandstranda beach which has a nice sandy beach, plus a good-sized area of

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

s. There is also a camping site near the shore. The village has a population (2019) of 430 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of .

Hitler's teeth

On the south side of Brusand, just across the highway, one can still see the

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first deve ...

obstacles erected along the coastline during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. These are called Hitler's teeth ( no, italic=yes, Hitlertennene or ''Hitlers tenner''), and they were erected by

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

and other

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

ers, in order to stop an allied invasion of Norway during the Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945. The Germans found it likely that an allied assault would happen on the beaches of

Jæren Jæren is a traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway. At about , Jæren is the largest flat lowland area ...

, both for its close proximity to

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and because of the topography. They are made of stone and concrete and run for several kilometers with up to 4 rows of obstacles. The Norwegian prisoners sabotaged several "teeth" by mixing more sand into the concrete in order to make them weaker.

References

Villages in Rogaland Hå {{Rogaland-geo-stub