Hurtgen Forest trip 2010

This is german bunker No:139/40. I'd wanted to visit the place ever since reading an account by a soldier of the german VGD272 regiment of his time there.

The bunker was initally used as a command post, but as the americans drew closer and the fighting around the area became more intense, it was also used as a first aid station.

The bunker is situated in the region known as Der Buhlert and depending on which way you approach it, it can be either a short or long walk to reach it. So guess which route we took to get to it?...The long way!

After a lot of walking along pathways, firebreaks and boggy tracks, we finally reached our destination. And boy it was well worth the trek!

Apart from its steel doors being removed, the bunker is intact and is one of only five in the area that was not destroyed by US engineers.





The interior of the bunker


I took a moment in this room to imagine what it must have been like there during the heat of battle


A door lintel made by Krupp complete with their three ring logo (the writing is actually back to front on the lintel!)

 

That's a really great find - many thanks for posting those pics !

I keep reading that many of the WestWall bunkers have been destroyed ; it's good to see one in such detail.....

 

When walking through the forest you often come across relics that have been found previously by other searchers and then discarded.

Parts of US ammo tins




One side of a US communications cable reel


Part of a boot, not sure if it's US or german?

 

Although I'm by no means a boot expert, I've been studying my copy of 'Deutsche Soldaten' and have to say that this doesn't look German - it has too many lace holes to be a German ankle boot, and also the German heel plates were usually horseshoe-shaped without the bridging section visible in the photo....

 

Very impressive stuff! Especially the bunker... very good thing that 5 of them have not been destroyed.

Was there any evidence of wartime damage on the bunker? Given that it sounds like it was at points very close to the action, one would think there might have been some visible evidence of battle damage... but the photos make the bunker look to be in suprisingly good shape.

Good on the points on not keeping any of the ordinance, etc. Those are more or less the reasons I figured.

But come on, Martin... what better way to liven up a saturday afternoon than blowing up antique ordinance in one's backyard? Really, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Martin, I also noticed that the heel plate was not typical german.

CrazyD, there was some damage to the exterior of the bunkers but it was not a substantial amount. It appeared to have been caused by small calibre fire.

A little way down the forest track from bunker 139/40 is bunker 132. This too is also in very good shape. It is a Type 10 bunker and would have been manned by 15 soldiers.

The bunker was taken by the americans on 5th February 1945.



That doorway is only 4ft high and was a struggle to get through.


MG embrasure




I think this says not to illuminate the room when the embrasures steel hatch is open


This room had evidence of blast damage to the walls

 

What about the hobnails on sole? As I recall the Germans wore hobnail boots. The metal heel plate is interesting though.

 

Wow- awesome stuff, jagdpanther. That second set of pics (which are of bunker 132, if I understand correctly?) are great. Nice clear view of the front of the bunker and the interiors.

Still interesting- in both cases, as you note, the exterior damage seems pretty minimal. Even the room with the possible blast damage- that doesn't look too severe.

Between how intense the battle for Hurtgen was and the simple passage of time, it's impressive the good condition those bunkers are in.

Related question- say someone was in the area on vacation or some such and wanted to check some of this out. Having no experience in the area and no foreknowledge of the land and such- what would one be looking at in terms of a trip to see some of this? You mentioned a fair amount of hiking- we talking a couple hours total, a half day, an 8am-8pm epic?
Would one be able to even find some of this without the foreknowledge and having been there before?

 

As mentioned before, we took the long way round to get to the bunkers and it took us around 2 hours which included visiting two destroyed bunkers along the way, and also sheltering from the rain in one of them for 15 minutes!

I suppose it could have been a lot quicker to get to the bunkers had we just headed straight for them. But, as is the usual when we are there, we get sidetracked and find something else to look at or explore.

The easiest and shortest route to the bunkers would be to park in the village of Simonskall and go from there. This route however would involve a fair amount of uphill hiking from the valley that Simonskall sits in but would lead you past other Westwall bunkers, albeit destroyed ones.

With a little foreknowledge gained from the internet, most of the bunkers can be found with ease.


This is one of the tracks we walked along to get to the bunkers.

 

In another part of the Eifel region forest we found a number of these structures.

They are a simple wall and embrasure.

I have never seen anything like them before.

This one is almost intact




And this one is partially destroyed.

 

Someone needs to mark all these locations with a GPS and list them.

 

I actually tried it and couldn't get a GPS fix due to the tree canopy obscuring the signal.

Most of the locations are instead logged in the location finding section of my brain...and also marked on a map!

 

Interesting to see again the metal loops for affixing camouflage, similar to Atlantic Wall structures....

 

Jagdpanther- good info, and more good pics!

 

Well at least you gave it a shot! Thanks for posting the pictures!

 

Hello

I will be in Hurtgen Forrest in next week. We would see some intresting places. Would somebody send me GPS for those bunkers and this grave?

Thanks

pawel

 

The grave is in the forest next to a car park at what was known as Heartbreak Crossroads. If you do a search on the internet i'm sure you will find info on how to get to the location.

You will also find bunkers scattered all around this area.

 

Here's a few more of my finds.

A tag from a US shell powder charge.



Sachets that from US ration packs that once contained Nescafe coffee and Boullion soup powder.







I found a lot of these sachets in just one foxhole which leads me to believe that the soldiers who once occupied it were there for some time.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures - much appreciated!

 

These are amazing pictures. Thank you for sharing them!