Bunker VM 34 Petit-Rechain

This is bunker VM34 of the 1st defense line of defence fot the city of Liège, La Position Fortifiée de Liège, PFL 1.

It is the 37th of a total of 34 bunkers in this sector, Vesdre-Manaihant. Since bunkers VM1, VM24 and VM29 had a “side” bunker, it is the 37th bunker in this sector.

Located in the middle of a meadow, the bunker appears to have been in use as a shelter and is painted white. The original planksupports, wallhooks and gunmount are still present. It is a so-called “Chardome” mount. On this mount a Maxime machinegun could be moved from left to right. The front part of the machinegunmount could be placed on the steel pin that acted as an axle.

The small board (photo 4) was specifically meant to clamp a cartridgefiller onto. The cartridge filler was used to fill the machinegun's cartridgebands. Few of these boards remain in the bunkers. Of the large planks, only a few have survived.

The rest of the wood and steel present, was sold as scrap metal after the war. Once the bunkers lost their strategic value to the Belgian army, all the steel and wood was sold. The plots of land on which they stood were also sold. For this reason, they now often stand in farmers' backyards or meadows and are privately owned.

The bunkers of the PFL were built in the around the 30's. The walls and ceilings of these bunkers are of 1.30 m reinforced concrete. They could withstand shells of 150 mm.

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Source

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