During the Cold War, the mountain between Kvistrum and Munkedal was to house the battle command for Sweden and secretly also NATO. Also for civil authorities topped with the government and part of the Riksdag. A mountain retreat existed for the royal family – before they fled by submarine.

Two large hospitals in the mountain closest to Munkedal and food supplies that would last for months. Also a communications center for radio and telecommunications.

Buses and trucks drove into kilometer-long tunnels. Also about sixty railway cars to refuel aviation kerosene from the mountain’s fuel lakes.

Probably the largest of its kind in the West.

Anders Karlsson presents his former military rock fort Greger in Kvistrum as a unique and large-scale legacy from the Cold War, with both military and civilian significance. He highlights the enormous size of the facility – an estimated 2 million cubic meters of rock, space for 4,000 people and comparable to some of the world’s largest underground military facilities.

“My mountain contains many hundreds of thousands of square meters of rock cavities, which I have not yet entered,” says Anders Karlsson. “If we succeed, the idea is to use the entire interior of the mountain as a defense museum in the future.”

Karlsson emphasizes that Greger was not only a military command center but also designed as a ”national fortress” to protect Sweden’s state leadership and royal family in the event of a nuclear war.

Well-attended screenings

In his presentations, lectures and tours, he tells about the history of the facility, its role as a command center for Marine Command West and the coastal artillery, and the top-secret operations that were conducted there. He describes details such as shock wave tunnels, gas-tight steel doors, advanced computer systems and the so-called “church” – the large command center with operators and officers. 

Karlsson has also interviewed many former employees and collected stories about life and work in the mine during its active period.

Anders Karlsson presents Greger as a security and historical Kinderegg: ”It was a military base, protection for state leadership and a logistical hub” l

Anders Karlsson grew up in the shadow of Kvistrumberget, by the Saltkällefjord in Bohuslän. Even as a child, he saw military vehicles roll by and soldiers disappear into the mountain, and he was fascinated by the secrets hidden within.

Bought the mountain for a pittance

Decades later, when the Swedish Fortifications Agency sold off old defense installations, he had the chance to become the owner of a piece of Sweden’s hidden history. For 42,000 kronor, he became the owner of the land – and of what turned out to be one of the country’s most legendary military mountain forts: Greger B380.

When Anders first stepped into the mountain, he was greeted by humid air and dense darkness. With a headlamp and curiosity, he made his way through the labyrinth of passages and rooms – over 180 in number, spread over two floors and extending a hundred meters into the bedrock.

Here were traces of a life in readiness: dining room, radio equipment, living quarters, blown-up tanks for diesel and fresh water. During the Cold War, this was the place where the defense of Bohuslän would be led if war came, isolated from the outside world and protected against bombs and nuclear weapons.

The coldest mountain in the Cold War

But Greger is more than a radio communications center. Over the years, Anders has surveyed every room and interviewed former employees. He has discovered that the radio station was only a small part of a much larger system.

His research suggests that beneath and behind the known rooms lie further caverns – enormous spaces where thousands of people could take refuge in the event of war. Here, both military and civilian leadership, and even the government and royal family, could gather to govern the country in the event of an emergency.

Berget Greger, completed in 1962, was part of Sweden’s so-called Joint Protected Headquarters (GPL) – facilities built to withstand nuclear weapons and chemical weapons, where the total defense could be conducted for a long time, isolated from the outside world. Secrecy was total; only a few had access, and many who were stationed here did not even know where the facility was located.

There are many rumors about the mountain. There is talk of two million cubic meters of primary rock being excavated, of tunnel systems extending to Munkedals mill, Saltkällefjorden and the forest above Hensbacka farm. It is said that Stig Wennerström, the notorious spymaster, is said to have provided information about Greger to the Soviet Union – but much is still shrouded in mystery.

Soon a museum?

He now wants to turn Greger into a Cold War museum, focusing on its size, technology and security significance. Together with others, he is also planning a film project to document and show the opening of the previously closed part of the facility. 

When the Swedish Armed Forces left Greger in the early 2000s, the entrances were walled up again. Anders Karlsson began his own journey of discovery, and has since invited groups of visitors to lectures and tours of the mountain. He dreams of one day opening the entire facility to the public – to make Greger a museum of the Cold War, where size, technology and security policy heritage can speak to posterity.

/ By Ingemar Lindmark