Observation Bunker MN 25

This is bunker MN 25 of the PFL 1, the 1st line of defense of the 'Position Fortifiée de Liège'.

MN refers to the sector 'Les Margarins-Neufchâteau' where it is the 25th of a total of 31 bunkers.

The bunker is located by the road in a meadow. The bunker was bricked up, but was later broken open. The bunker used to be equipped with two steel doors, but they were sold as scrap metal after the war, just like the remaining iron of the hatches. However, a part of the breech is still present, on which the machine gun could move from left to right. The metal arch on the mount has disappeared. For an example of this arch, see bunker MN 22 photo 2. Shelf carriers and equipment carriers are also still present.

Unknown is whether this bunker was damaged as a result of wartime operations, or whether the damage occurred after the war.

As general information, it can be mentioned that this bunker like most bunkers of the PFL are made of reinforced concrete and were built in the early 1930s. The walls and ceiling are 1.30 m thick. They had to withstand shelling with 150mm shells. Only the walls at the rear are slightly less thick, because in principle they were not exposed to enemy fire.

The holes above and below the gun opening served for ventilation. When both doors of the bunker were closed and the machine gun was firing, the smoke had to get out quickly and fresh air brought in. That is what these ventilation holes, in addition to the gun opening, served for. They are laid out in the concrete in such a way that they do not have a straight connection from outside to inside. They run through the concrete in the shape of a periscope, so to say.

When the bunkers lost their strategic value for the defense of Belgium after the war, the metal of the hatches and doors was sold as scrap metal. Most of the plots on which they stood were also sold. Bunker MN 25 now sits in a meadow.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Jos Birx (1, 3, 4), Ed Lewandowski (2), Fedor de Vries (5)
• La Position Fortifiée de Liège, Coenen & Vernier