Bunker PL 16 Oupeye

This is bunker PL 16 form sector Pontisse-Lixhe from de 4th line of defence for the city of Liège (PFL 4) and belongs to fort Pontisse.

The bunker is located a ridge and had perfect view over the village of Oupeye, the town of Visé, the river Meuse and part of the city of Liège.

The text in one of the gun openings, St Vierge (Holy Virgin Mary) has been applied by local inhabitants when the gun opening for years was used as an altar. There were flowers and statues of the Virgin Mary.

On photograph 5 the foundations of the fence are still visable. The bunker would be cordoned with a fence to keep the area clear.

The walls and ceiling of the bunkers from the PFL were standard 1.30 m. thick and of reinforced concrete. They had to be able to withstand shells of 150 mm. To illustrate, the caliber of shells a Königstiger could fire was caliber 88 mm. Thus, only heavier caliber field guns could penetrate the concrete and potentially destroy the bunker.

The bunkers were built in the 1930s.

After the war, when the bunkers lost their strategic value for the Belgian army, the plots of land on which they stood were sold. All the metal of the hatches and doors was sold as scrap metal. Hence the that most bunkers are now on private plots. This bunker would had a turret, but after the war when the bunker became out of use, the turret was sold as scrap.

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Source

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