Bunker NV 5 Bombaye

This is bunker NV 5 from sector Neufchâteau-Visé from the 1st line of la Position Fortifiée de Liège (PFL) and belongs to fort Neufchâteau. It is the 5th bunker from this sector.

It is one of the fort's four observation bunkers and is therefore equipped with a turret. In this case of the type 'F.M.' Unlike the 'Guet' type, this turret does not have a periscope.

In most bunkers, either during the war or after the war, the dome and all the other steel present were removed. During the war, the Germans used these turrets for their Atlantic Wall defenses. The other steel was melted down and reused. If the dome had survived the war, it was sold as scrap once the bunkers had lost their strategic value to the Belgian army. As was all the other steel present from the doors and hatches.

Extraordinary that in this case this bunker still has its turret. The dome shows battle damage. Several bullet impacts can be observed. Also the westside of the wall of the bunker and the turret still shows several bullet impacts (see photo 3). From May 10th, 1940, the bunker was in combat with the Germans, who wanted to put Fort Neufchâteau out of action. On May 17th, the fort reported that it had already fired over 6,700 shells. Bunker NV 5 was then already taken by the German attackers on May 15th.

The walls of the bunkers from the PFL line were 1.3 meters thick reinforced concrete. They could withstand shelling with 150 mm shells. They were equipped with two steel doors. Only a few bunkers were connected to the electricity grid. Most had to be lit with storm lamps.

The bunkers were built in the early 1930s.

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Source

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