French Bunker Ghyvelde "Vesoul"

Between the Belgian border and Bray-Dunes you can see on the right side this French WW1 bunker, which was re-used and adapted by the French during the sitting war (1939-'40) and briefly saw heavy action when the Germans where advancing on Dunkirk in May 1940. Although under heavy enemy fire, the French Zouaves where able to withstand the Germans from this bunker and make it impossible for them to cross the canal on this point for several long hours.

Of this type of bunker (and its version for personel) many more can be found in the Bray-Dunes and Ghyvelde region. This specific bunker is the only bunker of its type with a basement. Each of these French bunkers where named after a French city or town; the specific name of this bunker is ''Vesoul''. The personel of this MG-bunker was quartered in the personelbunker which once stood on the innercourt of the nearby farm.

During WW2 the Germans occupied the farm and therefore possibly also re-used these bunkers, although little is known about the German activity here and no clearly visible German adaptations can be found.

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Source

• Text: Jan Verpoorte
• Photos: Bart Pluym