Regelbau 20 Ausbaustärke B, Geschützstand für Pak 35/36. (Marked on the map as 4/10.) This was a bunker for a 3,7 cm Pak 35/36, it had an entrance for the anti tank gun as well as an entrance for the crew. Inbetween those was a flanking defense loophople. Groundplan. (Copyright by Kees Leijsens) View of the "Eingangshof", the entrance for the crew, with a few stairs going up, is to the right, then comes the loophole and to the left of it, out of sight, is the entrance for the AT gun. The flanking defense loophole. Crew entrance with gas lock. Concrete platform for the gun mount. As you can see from the bedding around the firing port in the wall, there was a steel "Schartenplatte". The destroyed entrance for the Pak 35/36. All the separation walls inside the bunker have been destroyed. The inside of the flanking defense. On the left side one can see the frame of the door leading to the gas lock. The emergency exit. View from the flanking defense into the gas lock. Close up of the conrete platform, as so often all the metall parts that could be removed have been pilfered. Close ups of the bedding of the armoured plate and the firing port. View of the firing port from outside the bunker. It was only on a second visit to the site I found this well-like construction I missed the first time, It is the emergency exit. In the days it was filled with sand thet the soldiers trapped in the bunker would have had to dig out.
Regelbau 10 a, Ohne Kampfraum mit Hangschutzmauer im Hof. (Marked on the map as 4/12) This "Gruppenunterstand ohne Kampfraum, mit Hangschutzmauer im Hof" = Group shelter without fighting compartment, with slope wall in the entrance court is from the "Limes-Programm". Luckily it was not dynamited by the french combat engineers. As with all the bunkers it has been thoroughly pilfered so the armoured steel doors have disappeared. It is located just a 60 meters to the north of the previous bunker and most probably they were connected with a trench. The remnants can party be seen but as inbetween the two bunkers is a small patch of agricultural grasland the biggest part of the trench has been refilled with soil, the remnants can only bee seen in the wood. Groundplan.(Copyright Kees Leijsen) View of the entrance court and the slope wall from up the slope. The soil cover that was put on top of the bunker for camouflage. The soil was retained by a ledge moulded in concrete along the edge of the roof. Views of the entrance court from different angles. The "Hangschutzmauer" and the left hand entrance. The left hand entrance and gas lock. The loophole in the left hand gas lock. View from the left hand gaslock, on the left is the entrance to the rest rooms. The right hand entrance. Niche for a field telephone next to the right hand entrance.
The right hand gaslock. The separation wall inbetween the rest rooms. The left hand restroom, on the wall can be seen the fixations of the folding cots. The right hand rest room. "Entlüftung" = ventilation "Baujahr 1938-39 LI 8/406" = Construction year 1938-39 and the number of the bunker, can't tell you anything about the meaning of the code though. Loophole Another ventilation pipe. Drain to retain the water that oozes through the walls. Detail of a loophole. "Achtung! Feind hört mit!" = Attention! The ennemy is listening! In the upper left corner is the stove pipe. Another interesting detail I missed on my first visit: a strand of barbed wire grown into the tree!
"Regelbau 11 mit angehängtem Kampfraum" Bunker[/B] (Marked on the map as 4/11) This bunker from the "Limes-Programm" was a "Doppelgruppenunterstand" = Double group shelter for 27 personnel. There was an annexed fighting compartment with a separate entrance as well as a flanking defense that was accessible from the main bunker. Groundplan. Side view of the bursted fighting compartment. Back view of the fighting compartment. Machine gun firing port of the fighting compartment. Entrance to the fighting compartment Loophole for individual small arms at the side of the fighting compartment Nature is reconquering it's ground. Steel beam In the background you can see one of the two stairs that went down into the gas lock. What is quite interesting is the ash in the foreground, the two shafts going down are roots that went down to the ground, and grew a bark, because the tree could get not enough water and nutrition from the concrete wall where it grew. A chunk of the ceiling. View of the side of the bunker. The emergency escape tunnel, it is a feature oif the RB 11 that the emergency escape is inside the concrete wall. Most often the emergency escape was just a small square at the base of a side wall where the concrete was weaker. The trapped crew had to break through the weak spot of the wall with picks and then dig their way through the soil up to the surface. The front side of the "Doppelgruppenunterstand". The trenches and dugouts around the bunker can still be seen.
RB 395 Observation bunker. (Marked on the map as 1/5) I found this interesting observation post by chance. It is a Regelbau 395 type which has more of an Vf. field fortification then a regular Regelbau bunker. it is made of poured concrete, without steel reinforcements and "Heinrichrahmen" corrugated steel sheets The observation cupola as seen from the front, nowadays the sight towards the river Sauer and Luxembourg is obstructed by hedgerows, before the germans must have a had a very good panoramic view. Close-up detail shots of the concrete cupola. The back side of the OP as seen from the road, the entry has been covered with soil and debris. Well hidden and hard to spot. There are some pieces of old concrete lying next to where the entrance must have been, it's hard to tell if it was part of the OP-bunker or if it is just debris that was dumped there later The inside of the observation room, the front wall. The inside of the roof of the cupola. The lower part and the floor of the observation room The small connection from the observation room to the rest of the bunker. The interior of the bunker with the corrugated steel sheets covered by a layer of concrete. Destroyed bunker of an unknown type. (Marked on the map as 1/6) This is just 20 meters up the road from the OP-bunker away. There was a bunker that has been totally destroyed and covered with soil. Destroyed bunker of an unknown type. (Marked on the map as 1/10) Fifty meters down the road there was another bunker that has completely vanished.
Regelbau 26 bunker. (Marked on the map as 1/7) The "Regelbau 26" of the "Limes-Programm" was a bunker who had two separated fighting compartments for machine guns, each one fitted with an armoured loophole plate, a "Schartenplatte". The groundplan. Copyright: Kees Leijsen There's actually a hiking trail that goes over the ruin of the bunker and there is also an old picnic table on the roof. The roof, the railing has been fixed after the war to prevent hikers from falling down Close-up of the corner of the roof. Views of the front side of the bunker from the right to the left The firing port of the left hand fighting compartment The left hand firing compartment as seen through the firing port. In the right background is the flanking defense. The flanking defense had an armoured plate with loophole fitted. In this close-up you can still recognize the bedding of the plate and the fixing bolts. The interior of the right hand fighting compartment.
The main room. Three pics of the destroyed gaslock and the entrance. These three shots were made from the inside of the bunker through the entrance showing the outside of the flanking defense My guess would be that this seat has been dumped into the bunker after the war. The left hand fighting compartment. Close up of the bedding of the big armoured "Schartenplatte". There were wooden laths moulded into the concrete so it was possible to fix cupboards etc with screws to the walls.
Destroyed bunker of an unknown type. (Marked on the map as 1/8) I already had walked past the ruins when something struck me as odd, the surface of the rock grown with lichen, gras and flowers was just to flat, it's form was to regular!! When I turned around and looked closer I noticed it was a giant flab of concrete, the collapsed roof of the bunker I was searching. "Hohlgang" in a forest on the backslope of the main defense line (Marked on the map as 1/9) This "Hohlgang" = tunnel with concrete reinforced walls, was used to store supplies.
Bunker of an unidentified type. (Marked on the map as 1/11) Alltough I'm not sure about the Regelbau type it seems to me like it could be a variation of the Regelbau 26 type.
B-Werk Besseringen This is a similar Bunker then the ones at "Katzenkopf" and "Nimswerk", but it's in a nearly mint condition. Luckily it was used as a HQ Bunker by the french during the occupation so it was not blown up. After the french passed it back to the germans they covered it with soil and a few years back it got dug out and renovation works started. All in all there were 32 "B-Werke" built. The three I presented here are the only ones left. All the others have been completely destroyed, and with few they are even not sure if they know the right location of the Bunker. A few views from the outside The "Eingangshof" (entry court). Cuppola for the "Maschinengranatwerfer M19" automatic grenade launcher. The right hand armoured tower and the observation cloche. The left hand armoured tower. Cuppola for the "Festungsflammenwerfer FN" flamethrower. The observation cloche "Beobachtungsglocke 90 P 9". Details of the "Sechschartenturm 20 P 7". The emergency exit which had a few slight transformations inorder to fulfill todays security regulations. Airintake. The recess for a fieldtelephone next to the right hand entry. The right hand entry with an original armoured door and the flankng defence. Detail of the armoured door. Groundplan of the upper floor. (Source: "Der Westwall Band 2" Dieter Bettinger & Martin Büren) 1) Armoured tower "Sechsscharten-Panzerturm 20P7" 2) Ready room 3) Observation room with "Kleinstglocke 90P9" cloche. 4) Ready room 5) Sechsscharten-Panzerturm 20P7 6) Ready room 7) Staircase 8) Room for Staff officers 9) Command center 10) Communications room11) Hauptflur 12) Ammo supply for the M19 13) Grenade launcher work station 14) Armoured tower for the "Maschinengranatwerfer M 19" 15) Filter and engine room 16) Guard 17) Gas lock 18) Ready room 19) Flamethrower 20) Ready room 21) Flanking defence 22) Fall pit 23) Decontamination cubicle Groundplan of the 1st lower floor . (Source: "Der Westwall Band 2" Dieter Bettinger & Martin Büren) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) Vertical cross section. (Source: "Der Westwall Band 2" Dieter Bettinger & Martin Büren) Groundplan of the 2nd lower floor. (Source: "Der Westwall Band 2" Dieter Bettinger & Martin Büren)
The Gaslock. Filling nozzles for water and diesel fuel. Fall pit and decontamination cubicle. The bucket for the contaminated clothes. Flanking defence loophole of the gas lock. The left hand fall pit. The main gas lock. Speaking trumpet from the guard room to the flanking defence. Flanking defence loophole from the guard room to the left hand gas lock. Corridor.
Ready room. Interior of the left hand armoured tower. Room for staff officers, note the elaborate painting simulating a wall paper and the washing sink. The interior of the observation cloche tower
10) Communications room 11) Hauptflur Entrance to the grenade launcher work station 13) Grenade launcher work station 14) Armoured tower for the "Maschinengranatwerfer M 19" Electrical cells. Ready room 20) with old airfilters. Folding cots on the left side of the ready room. The stairs lead to the flanking defence. Gas-tight cupboard. Inside of the flanking defence 21) with the steel firing table for the Schwarzlose MG 08 Another view into the flanking defence. Original inscriptions: "Sprachrohr" = Speaking trumpet "Zum Bereitschaftsraum" = to the ready room "Zur Wache" = to the guard Details of an airfilter View from the flanking defence firing port. The steel firing table where the heavy MG was installed.
Room where the flamethrower was installed 19). Immediately after the end of the combat actions a few civilians ventured into the bunker to hunt for food. They were using an open light, in the flamethrower room the leaked gas exploded killing two or three civilians. The black soot from the explosion can still be seen on the walls. Sketch of the "FN = Festungsnahkampfgerät" = fortress close combat device. Two more views of the FN room. The stairway to the lower floor. Ready room 2) The staircase to the lower floor. The first aid station More pics of the first aid station
More pics of the two storey engine room. The lower floor emergency exit was located in the engine room Washing room and toilets. The well Another view of the toilets. http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w310/theholeinthedonut/Bunker/Westwall/B-Werk% 20Besseringen/2008_06150121.jpg Another accomodation for staff officers. Recreated ready room for the enlisted men.
Folding cot. Gas tight cupboard. Rack for the K98's. Wehrmacht torchlights. Another emergency exit. Original electrical circuits. Dräger airfilter.
This shelter was part of the "Orscholzriegel", a blocking line, to the front of the main Westwall line, that ran from the Moselle river at the south-eastern tip of Luxembourg to the village of Orscholz at the Saar river. The Orscholzriegel was built quite late, from 1939 to 1940 in order to close a natural entry gap towards Trier. This bunker is one of the 500-series, also known as "Kriegsregelbauten", they were built after the beginning of WW2 and they were characterized by the extreme measures that were taken to save building materials, the volume of the rooms was much smaller, there were no flanking defenses, no observation cuppolas, hardly any armoured steel parts. It was built quite late in 1940. After the war the shelter was not dynamited but only covered with soil.The bunker was bought and refurbished by Sebastian Kirch, a young inhabitant of Sinz. He did not get any public funding and all the work was done by himself and a few volunteers. All the furniture and equipment are original pieces from WW2. The entry court with the entry, the bars are original ones. Two views of the single-room shelter. Bunker telephone. The "Lüfter", a manual air intake pump and the electricity connecting board. Note the recess built on purpose to put in the carbide lamp. A "Bunkerofen" (Bunkerstove) The flanking defence loophole into the gas lock. Map of the "Orscholzriegel". The emergency exit. One of the 24 steel beams that were fitted to close the emergency exit. Telephone connecting board. Views of the interior An old MP44 Sebastian has found in the storm drain in front of the entrance. Another view of the room. Gas tight cupbopards to store food and provisions. Detailed pics of the fixations of the bunks. Gas tight door. The bunker toilet in the gas lock, in the recesss behind it was a rack for pioneer tools.
The rifle rack in the gas lock. A pistol loophole in the armoured door. Close-up of the locking mechanism of the 434PO1 armoured door. Showcase with documents from a Wehrmacht combat engineer who fought at the "Orscholzriegel" in 1945. Gasmask and Wehrmacht soap. A bunker light and emergency candles. View of the gas lock. Outside view of the flanking defence loophole. On those foundations rested a french guard shack that guarded the border with germany during the pre-WW2 occupation of the Rhineland by french troops. Ten meters away is another RB501 covered with soil, Sebastain's next project! He wants to open it but does not plan on renovating the bunker, so the visitors can see the difference.
