Bunker MN 5 Les Margarins

This is bunker MN 5 of the PFL 1, the 1st line of defense of the 'Position Fortifiée de Liège'.

MN refers to the sector 'Les Margarins-Neufchâteau' where it is the 5th of a total of 31 bunkers.

The bunker is located in a meadow where cows graze. The entrance has been bricked up, but reopened partially.No so-called "DN" (Defense National) posts were present anymore. The military plot was cordoned off with four of these posts and a fence to indicate that it was a military domain.

However, the opening of the grenade trench can still be seen to the left of the entrance. This was for closecombat defense. Through a hatch on the inside, a hand grenade could be rolled out through a chute to disable attackers standing in front.

As general information it can be mentioned that this bunker like most bunkers of the PFL are made of reinforced concrete and were built in the early 1930s. The walls and ceiling are 1.30 m thick. They had to withstand shelling with 150mm shells. Only the walls at the rear are slightly less thick, because in principle they were not exposed to enemy fire.

The holes above and below the gun opening (not visible here) served for ventilation. When both doors of the bunker were closed and the machine gun was firing, the smoke had to get out quickly and fresh air brought in. That is what these ventilation holes, in addition to the gun opening, served for. They are constructed in the concrete in such a way that they do not have a straight connection from outside to inside. They run through the concrete in the shape of a periscope, so to say.

When the bunkers lost their strategic value for the defense of Belgium after the war, the metal of the hatches and doors was sold as scrap metal. Also, most of the plots on which they were situated were sold, so many bunkers are now on private plots. Like bunker MN 5.

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Source

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