Bunker BV 5 Jevoumont

This bunker BV 5 from sector Becco-Vesdre is located in a meadow near the village of Jevoumont and is part of the 1st line of defense for the city of Liège, La Position Fortifiée de Liège, PFL 1, and belonged to the line of Fort Tancrémont.

The bunker is located in small untouched forest plot in the middle of a meadow and is partially overgrown. It a smaller bunker with one gun opening for a machine gun. The four corner posts are still present. The letters 'DN' stand for 'Defense National' and indicated that it was a military plot.

The bunker is accessible. The walls of the bunker are 1.3 meters thick on all sides, of reinforced concrete. Inside, part of the inner plate is preserved. The inner plate protected the soldiers when the outer plate was open. Furthermore, it had a supporting function for the Maxim machine gun. This kind of plate is a rarity!

The two round holes above the gun opening are ventilation holes. On the one hand for fresh air, but on the other hand for exhaust of fumes resulting from machine gun salvos. The room would be full of smoke gases for the foreseeable future, which was intoxicating for the soldiers present.

The hooks on the wall were for hanging equipment. The shelf supports were meant to put materials away so people 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. This bunker even still has one of the original wooden shelves, almost 90 years old ! (2024)

As with most bunkers, after the war when the bunkers had lost their strategic value, the metal shutters and doors were removed and sold as scrap metal. It also happened that during the war 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