Archive for the ‘France’ Category
Regelbau 648 discovered near Audierne
In September the remains of a 648 for Czech Einschartenturm were discovered in the Panzerstützpunkt at Lézongar, near Audierne, France. The Czech-gone-German cupola type 817P5 was already partly cut up, but the original three Czech embrasures can still be seen. Only three intact 648 exist, all of them located in the Festung Saint-Nazaire, so this is […]
In: Demolition/Disappearing, France, News · Tagged with: 648, 817p5, cupola, cupole blindée, czech, demolition, einschartenturm, regelbau, reuse
Ar 36, Phare Cap Ferret
6202 a photo by félixlechat on Flickr. GRAMASA, the local bunker association in the south west of France has uncovered a fantastic 622 with all the camouflage paint still on the walls. The same paint was used to draw this man smoking a pipe. Must be original?
In: France, News · Tagged with: 622, ar 36, arcachon, atlantikwall, cap ferret, gramasa, regelbau
Bunker near Arcachon unearthed
Two years ago we mentioned the renovation of an anti-tank bunker in the south west of France. In May of 2012 the plans were finally put into action. The bunker’s armoured plate was behind bricks but still there including the protecting lifting plate in front. The ball mount for the 4.7cm Festungspak 36 (t) is […]
In: France, News · Tagged with: 506b, ar 234, arcachon, atlantikwall, blockhaus, gramasa, gujan-mestras, les landes, pays basque, regelbau, type, westwall
Bunkersite.com update: The story of a Marineflak veteran
Some weeks ago we came into contact with a Marineflak veteran which was stationed at Trégastel, south of Brest in Bretagne, France. Wolfgang Weber came in from the Flakschule at Misdroy at the Baltic Coast at the age of 19. His story combined with our fieldwork can be found here. I must say, you do know […]
In: Articles, Bunkersite update, France, News · Tagged with: 1944, 811, atlantikwall, bofors, brest, duits, german, marineflak, mflak, Trégastel, veteraan, veteran
Bunker for sale in Audresselles
In Audresselles, on the sea wall, a 612 casemate is for sale. Attached is a house. http://www.immobilier-lariviere.com/456352/56862465/detail,sento.htm?lang=fr
In: France, News · Tagged with: ambleteuse, atlantikwall, blockhaus, bunker, koop, sale, vendre
Practising inside Hitler’s old headquarters
French rescue teams use the tunnels of Margival to practise on emergency cases. http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/aisne/lancien-qg-dhitler-devient-lieu-de-sauvetage
In: France, News
Cupola 24P8 restored and on display
In June we posted about two ‘Kleinstglocken’ 24P8 found in the south of France. One of them was obtained by the Association de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Historique Militaire in Le Wantzenau, near Strasbourg. And what they did was fantastic. They’ve meticulously renovated this turret to a mint condition and put it on display outside their museum, on […]
In: France, News · Tagged with: 1941, 24p8, alsace, armoured, cazaux, cupola, gruson, kleinstglocke, panzer, renovation, turret, wantzenau
Karola from the air
Fantastic video by Olivier Benoit using a Canon 5d MkII and a drone (small remote controlled plane) of the Karola fire control tower on Île de Ré. More of his work on http://noibix.com/blog/
In: France, Photography · Tagged with: 5d, aerial, blockhaus, canon, drone, film, france, hd, Île de Ré, karola, photography, s497, tower
Save the tower of Saint-Marc, send this letter
The city of Saint-Nazaire is known for its ignorance towards World War 2 heritage, destroying many unique bunkers and truncate the U-Boot bunker. But all of this would be peanuts compared to the plans to destroy the Marineflak headquarters at Saint-Marc. The bunker, a huge and very rare Fl 250, consists of a big bunker […]
In: Demolition/Disappearing, France, News · Tagged with: 250, aa, anti-aircraft, atlantic, atlantikwall, atlantique, beton, blockhaus, bunker, concrete, dca, demolition, disappearing, Flak, heritage, kriegsmarine, marine, monument, mur, muur, naval, possible, saint-marc, saint-nazaire, st-marc, st-nazaire, tour, tourists, tower, wall
Stop the looting of Bt Karola
Looting bunkers of the Atlantikwall by so-called collectors has been the case since the eighties of the last century. However since less and less complete bunkers are present the rate of looting speeds up. This is especially the case with the heavy Marine Batterie Karola on Île de Ré. Alain Durrieu, writer of several books about the Atlantikwall, now […]
In: Demolition/Disappearing, France, News · Tagged with: 20.3, ars, batterie, battery, bunker, charente-maritime, cm, fire control bunker, france, frankreich, frankrijk, Île de Ré, karola, kriegsmarine, Leitstand, looting, mkb, msb, pillage, pilleurs, plundering, regelbau, robbery, rochelle, s497, stealing, toren, turm, vendée