The Netherlands
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On the cycle path you are standing at, you come across a small square bunker as part of the Atlantikwall. This bunker serves as a telephone exchange point that linked Landfront bunkers with other positions within the Vlissingen defence area (Verteidigungsbereich).
Nearby, the watercourse takes a bend and changes into a former anti-tank trench, you can see machine-gun bunkers on either side of it. The anti-tank trench originally took a bend northwards at this point, but this section has been filled in. As you continue your journey, you come to an artillery bunker for a mobile anti-tank gun. From this bunker, the gun commanded the bridge over the tank trench.
When crossing the Abeelseweg, two more bunkers can be seen. One was built using wooden formwork and the other using concrete blocks. This is where the tank trench ran towards the Canal through Walcheren. Nowadays, this section has also been filled in.
Continuing along the road towards the canal, a tank obstacle can be seen on the Vlissingseweg. This consists of reinforced concrete ‘dragon’s teeth’. Geologically, a tank trench was not feasible here. The barrier extended right up to the canal embankment. This section has disappeared as part of infrastructure improvements.
Behind this lies a bunker where a piece of anti-tank artillery could be stored and in which the occupying forces had a shelter. Defence was not carried out from within the bunker, but from prepared positions outside it.
Continuing along the road to Vlissingen, at the corner of the junction with the Abeelseweg, one comes across a bunker for ten men. During the war, this bunker served as company headquarters. Immediately after its completion, the bunker was disguised as a house by painting windows onto the walls and adding a pitched roof. Today, the Dutch Bunker Preservation Foundation has removed this camouflage.
Continuing along the road to Vlissingen, there is a watercourse that served as a tank moat for the fortress of Vlissingen in early 1942, before it was expanded to its final form.
Address
Bunkerpad 4386 NE Vlissingen, Nederland