From 1942 to 1944 Nazi Germany built the so-called Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion from Great Britain - an extensive system of coastal defense and fortifications along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia. Landmines were planted along great swathes of the West Coast of Denmark. There where more landmines per square meter on the Danish west coast than any other location along the entire European coast. Hitler was convinced that the Allied invasion would come via the Danish west coast since it is the shortest route to Berlin.
After the capitulation of Nazi Germany, the British liberation forces offered the Danish government the opportunity to enlist German POWs to defuse mines along the length of the Danish Western coastline.
The German POWs were neither educated nor equipped for this task and many belonged to the so-called Volkssturm, a national militia set up by Hitler towards the end of the war to conscript those not already serving for the German forces. Many were very young or old. The youngest were 13 years old.
To force German POWs to defuse mines was a violation of the 1929 Convention relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War prior to the amendment to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. By calling the German POWs 'voluntarily surrendered enemy personnel' British and Danish commands bypassed the rules of the Convention.
The work began on Saturday, May, 5 1945 and was completed on Thursday, October 1945.
According to historian Thomas Tram Pedersen, the exact number of the losses will never be known due to the chaos of the first months of peace. There are discrepancies between the Danish and German records.
After the war more than 2,000 German POW's were forced to remove over 1.5 million landmines from the west coast of Denmark.
The relationship between the German POWs and the local population was poor - the prize for five years of occupation under Nazi rule. There was no proper accommodation provided and food was constantly scarce.
In 64 countries around the world, there are an estimated 110 million undetonated landmines still lodged in the ground.
Since 1975, landmines have killed or maimed more than one million people.
On average, 20 people die every day due to landmine blasts.
Even with training, mine disposal experts expect that for every 5,000 mines cleared, one worker will be killed and two workers will be injured by accidental explosions.
The only way to deactivate a landmine is by individual removal at a cost of US$ 300- 1000 per mine according to the United Nations.
