Defense Bunker NV19

This is bunker NV 19 from sector Neufchâteau-Visé from the 1st line of la Position Fortifiée de Liège (PFL) and belongs to fort Neufchâteau. It is the 19th and last bunker from this sector.

It is one of the fort's 17 defensive bunkers. The other two are observation bunkers and therefore equipped with a turret.

The bunker is located in a meadow. The bunker was equipped with two machine gun emplacements. Bunker NV 19 is one of the two bunkers in this sector that has two gun openings. The other is bunker NV 9. The steel doors and hatches were sold as scrap after the war, when the bunkers had lost their strategic value for the defense of Belgium.

The bunker still shows clear battle marks. Photo two shows the various bullet impacts the bunker had to endure during the fighting from May 10, 1940. The Germans tried to eliminate Fort Neufchâteau as quickly as possible, putting this bunker under heavy fire.

The walls of the bunkers from the PFL line were 1.3 meters thick, and of reinforced concrete. They could withstand shelling with 150 mm shells. They were equipped with two steel doors. Only a few bunkers were connected to the power grid. Most had to be lit with storm lamps.

Now the bunker lies rather plumply lost in plain sight in the middle of the meadow. In the 1930s, the bunker must have been well hidden.

The reinforced position of the city of Liege (Belgium) was a part of an extensive network of fortresses as a protection against an invasion by an enemy. It forms an arc that reaches from Comblain-au-Pont to Visé.

The defence lines around Liege stretched over a length of 60 kilometres and comprised strong ‘modern’ blockhouses (Tancremont, Battice and Aubin-Neufchâteau) and smaller bunkers. The line formed a shield around the city of Liege and was constructed in the period 1934 – 1935.

The reinforced position of Liege was divided in defensive lines:
- The front positions with 65 shelters;
- Defence area Liege 1 included 178 bunkers and the three aforementioned strong blockhouses;
- Defence area Liege 2 consisting of 62 bunkers and 6 modernized old fortresses;
- Defence area Liege 3 with 41 bunkers;
- Defence area Liege 4 with 37 bunkers and 2 modernized old forts.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski en Eric vd Reek
• Photos: Joost Verheijden (1, 2, 3), Fedor de Vries (4, 5)