Bunker MM 12 Thimister-Clermont

This is bunker MM 12 of the PFL 1, the 1st line of defense of the 'Position Fortifiée de Liège'.

MM refers to the sector 'Manaihant-Les Margarins-' where it is the 12th of a total of 20 bunkers.

This bunker is one of two observation bunkers at the Battice fort. The other was bunker MM 305. Because it was an observation bunker, the bunker had a turret. however, this was removed. The space is full of debris and pieces of asbestos-containing ! corrugated epernite sheet. The entrance is also full of debris and mud up to a height of one and a half meters.

The bunker is attacked by the Germans during the first days of the war. The bunker manages to hold out under difficult conditions in which they are poorly supplied until May 20th, 1940. The other observation post in front of the Battice fort , MM 305 is already eliminated by the Germans on May 18, 1940.

Bunker MM 12 is accessible but no longer has a turret. It is unclear whether the turret was removed by the Germans during the war years or by the Belgians in years after the war. Or did the Germans also destroy this cupola with a hollow charge as at bunker MN 29 at Charneux? Among other things, the Germans removed the turrets for reuse in the Atlantic Wall. After the war, when the bunkers no longer had any strategic value, the Belgian army stripped the bunkers of metal, including the dome, and sold them as scrap metal.

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.

Remarkably, this bunker has no vents on the front. Whether they were in any other position cannot be seen due to the layers of soil against the bunker.

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 MM 12.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski
• La Position Fotifiée de Liège, Coenen & Vernier
• https://18daagseveldtocht.be