Observation Bunker MN22

This is bunker MN 22 of the PFL 1, the 1st line of defense of the 'Position Fortifiée de Liège 1'.

MN refers to the sector 'Les Margarins-Neufchâteau' where it is the 22nd of a total of 31 bunkers.

The bunker is located in a meadow where cows normally graze. It is a bunker with two gunchambers and is accessible. Inside, the two affuits to which the machine gun was attached are still present. Special about this bunker is that the emergency exit is clearly visible. This was closed from the inside by stacked steel beams. From the outside one could not see at all that the bunker had an emergency exit. Should one have to leave the bunker through this emergency exit, the soldiers had to remove the steel beams and a piece of thin concrete. From the outside, this weak spot could not be seen.

Inside the bunker you can still see the access to the grenade gully, which was used to throw hand grenades from the inside through this chute to the intruders who were standing in front of the door. the plankcarriers and equipmentcarriers are also still present.

The masonry parts were intended to disguise the shape of the bunker and make it look more like a general building.

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 fired, the smoke had to be able to get out quickly and fresh air supplied. 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 speak.

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. Also, most of the plots on which they stood were sold, so many bunkers now stand on private plots. Like bunker MN 22.

The original entrance door to the plot is also still present.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski
• La Position Fortifiée de Liège 1, Coenen & Vernier.