Defense Bunker Vi2

Bunker Vi2 is located just south of Visé and protected the road from Dalhem 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's the 2nd bunker from the Visé line which 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 left chamber of the bunker contained the cannon and the right the machine gun. However, the gun openings are no longer visible. They are below ground level. Above the machine gun room at the rear was the turret.

The square opening on the far right (photo 1) was for the searchlight. This searchlight had a range of about 225 meters. There were ones that ran on electricity and ones that ran on batteries when the bunker was not connected to the electricity grid.

Photo 4 shows part of the ventilation system. On the inside, a manually operated fan was present at this spot to quickly clear the bunker of smoke and gases when machine gun and cannon were fired. The bunker could then quickly fill with smoke and poison the soldiers. The ventilation system allowed additional fresh air to be supplied.

The entrance consisted of a room with 2 steel doors. To the right of the entrance door was an escape hatch. However, this was completely hidden from view and covered with a layer of cement. From the inside, this part was barricaded with concrete briquettes and this hatch could be breached, in case the doors had become blocked form the outside.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski