Shooting grounds and practice areas at Eksersisplassen (The Proving Ground) in Nordfjordeid.

Throughout the 300-year history of the Eksersisplassen, of the many officers and regiments who practiced here, Colonel Holtermann is probably the most well-known. From 1895 to 1901 he was the commander of the Fjords battalion. During that time he was responsible for turning the battalion into a national elite and Nordfjordeid into a place of military excellence, which it remained until 1913.

Colonel Holtermann also developed new methods of marksmanship and field training. He created several new shooting lanes (see overview) and made use of large areas around the town centre for field practice (see map, red arrows show the practice areas).

In 1896-97 the army introduced the Krag Jørgensen, a repeating bolt action rifle which carried more powerful ammunition and was capable of a straighter shooting trajectory. According to one story a cow at Taklo (to the left) was killed by a projectile during a shooting practice at Stovehogjen. 

In the year 1900 a new shooting range was developed at Vårsetra, which remained in use until the late 1950s. The pictures to the right are from Vårsetra in 1931. The two pictures to the left are from 2017, and show the front-line trench and the walled staging area for individual soldiers, 100 meters west of this board. There was also another staging area to the east of the mountain pasture. The front-line trench was located below the road, approx.100m further towards the «Utsikten (the Viewpoint).

The range had initially 12 targets, made of iron and prepared with chalk. One of these is still intact and can be found between the houses at the Eksersisplassen.

For security reasons the number of targets were reduced to 9 and gradually the iron targets were replaced with ones made of cardboard.