Bunker Vi 11 Visé

Bunker Vi11 is located just norht of Visé and protected the road from Mouland to Visé. The bunker belonged to the 3rd line of defence for the city of Liège, la Position Fortifiée de Liège 3, PFL 3.

It is the 11th bunker from the Visé line that consisted of 17 bunkers in total.

The bunkers was equipped with a machine gun and a 47 mm anti-tank gun. This bunker also had an observation turret. This turret was either removed by the Germans during the war and reused at the atlantic wall, among other things, or melted down for reuse of the metal. Or the turret and metal was sold as scrap metal after the war, when the bunkers had lost their strategic value for the defense of Belgium.

Viewed from the front, the right gun opening was for the cannon. The middle opening was for the machine gun. The rightmost, square opening (no longer visible due to vegetation and shielding), for the searchlight. This searchlight had a range of about 225 meters. There were ones that ran on electricity and ones that, if the bunker was not connected to the electricity grid, ran on batteries.

Access consisted of a lock with 2 steel doors. To the right of the gun room for the cannon was an escape hatch built in. However, this was completely hidden from view and covered with a layer of cement. From the inside, this section was barricaded with concrete briquettes and this hatch could be breached in case the doors on the outside had become blocked.

The damage from concrete rot at the rear was caused by the removal of the dome and years of moisture and frost action caused the reinforcement to rust resulting in this.

The metal hooks on the outside were user for camouflage nets. The small square hole on the side was a grenade gully. Through this gully, handgrenades could be dropped outside for proximity defense. On the inside, this gully was attached to a metal hatch. The walls (and ceiling) were 1.30 m thick. The handgrenade then rolled out from the higher position on the inside.

For a more detailed description and explanation of the defense line, see the article about bunker Vi 1.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski