Bunker B - Advanced Position Henri-Chapelle

This is bunker B of the Position Avancée at Henri-Chapelle.

The bunker belongs to the forward position Henri-Chapelle. This line consisted of 11 bunkers, A through M. However, bunkers A, F, L and M no longer exist. They were demolished in the years after the war. Bunker G was never built. Seven bunkers remain from this forward position.

Bunker B is located on a side path from the main road in forest plot. The bunker was repainted in camouflage colors in later years. It was not the original color.

Like most bunkers, the steel shutters and door were sold as scrap after the war, when the bunkers had lost their strategic value for the defense of Belgium. There were also instances during the war when the Germans removed and remolded the steel to be reused elsewhere.

Presumably they served as observation and protection bunkers for the frontier cyclists stationed in nearby barracks of the of the "Gardes Frontière. These barracks were located in Hombourg Visé and Henri-Chapelle, among others.

The 'cyclistes frontières', frontier cyclists, who guarded the frontiers, moved by bicycle on patrol and to the surrounding bunkers in adjacent sectors

There were several forward positions; Beusdael, Bilstain, Dolhain, Goé, Grunhaut, Hèvremont, Hockai, Hombourg, Jalhay, Limbourg, Malmedy and Stavelot. They provided small shelters. These bunkers could accommodate 4 soldiers with machine guns. These positions did not belong to a specific sector of any of the 4 lines of defense for the city of Liège, la Position Fortifiée de Liège (PFL). As a sector, they had an independent position.

The line of forward bunkers totaled 65 bunkers.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski