Bunker SB 8 La Reid

Bunker SB 8 is located on the edge of two meadows. The bunker belongs to sector Sougné-Becco (SB) of the 1st defense line for the city of Liège, la Posistion Fortifiée de Liège 1, (PFL 1).

The bunker is located in small untouched forest plot among meadows and is partially overgrown. It is a bunker with two machinegunrooms next to each other. In both rooms there is still a part of the mount on which the machine gun could be moved left and right. The walls of the bunker are 1.3 meters thick on all sides, of reinforced concrete.

The bunker is accessible and still has its original steel entrance door and shutters. The lamella inner door has been removed.

Photo 5 shows a small sealed opening. This opening came out at a hatch in the bunker and gave access to the grenade gully, for proximity defense. One could drop a handgrenade through this gully. It then fell out through this opening in front of the the bunker. This opening has been sealed after the war.

The hooks on the wall were for hanging the soldiers equipment. The shelf supports were meant to put materials away so that one could not trip over them. It should be remembered that these (and most bunkers) were not connected to the electricity grid. A storm lamp could be hung from the ceiling, on a hook provided for that purpose. This was the only lighting in the bunker.

Furthermore, this bunker has an emergency exit. This is fully opened at this bunker. See photo 1, the square hole next to the door.

As with most bunkers, after the war when the bunkers had lost their strategic value, the metal hatches and doors were removed and sold as scrap metal. There were also instances during the war when the bunkers were stripped of iron by the Germans and melted down for other purposes. If cast-iron observation turrets were present, they were reused at the atlantikwal, among others.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski