On my trip through North Holland in 2021 I could visit a bunker of the standard construction type M219 on the last day before departure. Two bunkers of this type belonged to the sea target battery Zanddijk near Julianadorp in the defense area Den Helder.
One of the two M219 bunkers is currently being converted into a museum and can already be visited. I can highly recommend a visit to the bunker, because the history behind the sea target battery Zanddijk is not only very interesting, it is also explained with a lot of passion during a guided tour (note: the tour is also available in German).
Furthermore, more bunkers of the installation will be made accessible to visitors in the future. At this point I would like to express my gratitude to the bunker team, because all the work on the site is done on a voluntary basis and all costs are self-financed by donations and entrance fees.
The installation
The sea target battery was part of the Atlantic Wall and was built to prevent enemy troops from landing. For this purpose, heavy artillery guns were stationed near the coast to fight enemy ships.
The special feature of this installation is that the two M219 bunkers were specially designed and built to house the heavy 15cm gun turrets of the decommissioned battleship Gneisenau. Each of these gun turrets had two 15cm gun barrels with a firing range of 28Km. The gun turrets were rotatable 360 degrees and could therefore also act inland.
For each M219 bunker a crew of 30 men was required. With two bunkers of this type this makes 60 men for the operation of the cannons alone. In addition, the installation was secured against infantry (e.g. paratroopers) with machine gun emplacements. For the accommodation of the crews there was a group shelter as bunker for every 10 men. In addition, there were anti-aircraft emplacements, a canteen, a medical bunker and a command post from where the distance to the target could be measured and the firing orders could be given. Then there need to be technical facilities for water and power supply.
The M219 Bunker
The M219 bunker consists of two floors. Wall and ceiling thickness of the reinforced concrete is 2-4m. The 15cm gun turret protrudes from the bottom edge about 10m into the ground. Deep down directly at the inner rim of the gun turret there were rooms for shells and cartridges. These were transported up to the cannons by a special elevator.
Due to the ammunition storage, it was necessary to heat or cool the rooms or the entire bunker. Likewise, a self-sufficient power supply was ensured by an aggregate. There was also an electrical ventilation system (in emergency operation also manually) to be protected against gas attacks.
Andre Lange
Map (coming soon)
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