The railroad battery at Bredene
On top of the dunes
at Bredene lies the remains of two strongpoints of the railroad battery E690.
History
From 1941 German
maps mention the presence of two railroad batteries at Bredene to protect the
S-boat base of Oostende, namely the batteries E690 and E694, each with 2
x 28 cm (E) L/40 KzB (Kurze Bruno) guns.
A map of Nov 1942 shows that battery E694 was incorporated into battery
E690.
The Bruno guns were
placed on a turntable to have a traverse field of 360°. The preparations commenced in 1941 with the
construction of a railway just behind the dunes. The railway was connected with the station of Oostende.
The commander
was Hauptmann Eugen Eimermann who commanded the battery from 1941 till July
1944. Then Oberleutnant Karl Fusbahn
replaced him. The battery was completed
with the addition of ammunition stores
and crew bunkers.
The battery
was spread over two strongpoints : Stp
Bruchmüller and Stp Goltz.
The
Organisation Todt completely changed
the Stp between 1942 and 1943. They
built about thirty bunkers. The battery
had crew bunkers type : 502, 622, 621,
a kitchen bunker 134K, observation and firecontrol bunkers , types 613 en 636,
and engine bunker 607SK and different Vf’s and Wellblech’s added.
For beach defences they built two 667's for a 5
cm KwK, a 612 for a field gun (LAG) and several Tobruks.
At the end of
the summer of 1943 the battery was subordinated to HKAA 676 (E) whereby the
command post lay in Duinbergen.
Observation
bunkers stood in Raversijde (637) and in Wenduine (636).
In 1943 the battery
received 2 x 10 cm Le FH 14/19 (t) light howitzers.
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, accompanied by General der Infanterie Von und zu Gilsa
visited the battery during an inspection tour on the 21st of December 1943.
In 1944 the
battery was transferred to the 204. MAA.
Moreover they
received AA-guns : 1 x 2 cm FlaK Vierling
and 5 x 2 cm FlaK 30. This set was
completed with a 60 cm search-light.
In the
beginning of September 1944 the E690 left Bredene and moved to Zeeland.
On the 8th
of September, the Canadian 12th Manitobe Dragoon entered Oostende at
1300 Hr. The next day the Canadian
tanks advanced further to De Haan.
On the 14th
of September E690 was shipped with four guns from Sas-van-Gent to Dordrecht.
After the war the
Belgian Navy took over a part of the Stp and installed electronic equipment in
the 636. A generator was placed in a
621. The rest of the bunkers
disappeared. They called it Punt 50.
The Navy abandoned
the site in 1998.
What remains
On top of the
dunes lies the battery’s fire control
post , a Regelbau 636. An armoured door
434P01 (the only remaining one ) closes the bunker. During my last visit the bunker was still accessible. On top of it there is the pit for the range
finder. The internal situation of the
bunker is good because it was in use by the Belgian Navy.
This kind of
bunker was manned by 2 officers, 9 to 12 NCO's and soldiers.
Next to it
stands an empty brick building.
A bit more to
the east lies a personal bunker completely under the ground. It is a Regelbau 621. The bunker is accessible via a staircase
that ends in a mini-basement with two rooms and, of course, the bunker.
The bunker has
still a bunker number :
Ost-O
016-68
More to the
west of the 636, you can see the edge of a bunker that has 98% disappeared under the sand. It could be a 621.
Somebody has said
that there must be a fourth one, behind the 636 in the bushes. Also under the sand.
