The naval coastal
battery MKB Ramien
The Naval battery was located on the eastern bank of the Yzer estuary near the lighthouse.
A
drawing from 1942 made by the
resistance already mentions a battery on this spot.
Starting
from 01 February 1943 onwards the
Germans constructed the naval coastal battery Ramien on this
site. It was designated 4th battery of
MAA 204 and was equipped with 4 x 10.5 cm FK L/20 (p) guns. Initially the guns stood on open
emplacements, but one year later gun casemates were constructed for them, which
were ready in May 1944. From the 1st of
April 1944, the battery received 4 x 10.5 cm SK L/40 guns. Shortly after the war the gun-casemates were
demolished. Arial photos taken in 1953 no longer showed them. But some bunkers for various other functions
remain until now because they were situated on military ground. They actually number seven. Their method of construction tell us that
these are no standard constructions from 1943 or later, but early navy designs.
The
only bunker with walls of 2 m thick (St) is a nice, very interesting kitchen-bunker, Regelbau 645 (1). This model was built from the first quarter
of 1943 on. The garage serves as
the mobile kitchen. Behind the garage is the storage room.
Kitchen
bunker (1) Regelbau 645 Inside the large personal bunker (2)
The
largest one is Vf bunker for crew and NCO's, and maybe also officers (2). Inside the bunker there are two large
crew-rooms separated by an alley. At
the end of the alley there is a T-junction with another alley. Here you see smaller rooms for NCO's and
officers. We found another such model to the north of Boulogne.
A smaller Vf crew-bunker (3) lies just behind the kitchen-bunker and has two crew-rooms. It has the floorplan for a 622, but without rifle embrasures.
A
third small Vf crew-bunker (4) lies to right of the kitchen-bunker. This lies completely under the ground and
has a room for an officer or two NCO's and a crew-room for ten soldiers.
The small Vf personal bunker with the scheme of a 622. The largest, well preserved trench section
A
small Vf-bunker with one room was probably intended for ammunition (5). Debris (6) let us suspect that a second bunker of that kind has been demolished.
The
fact that there are here two WC-bunkers (7,8) demonstrate that the battery was
manned with a lot of men. Moreover, the
kitchen bunker and the two toilet-bunkers prove that the navy (Kriegsmarine)
paid a lot more attention to the coastal batteries than the army (Heer)
did.
Finally
you find here also two well preserved trench systems with firing positions and
a Tobruk.
Today it is now a nature reserve "Vlaams
Natuurreservaat Ijzermonding" with sheep.
Contact
: Vlaamse Gemeenschap Afdeling Natuur, Tel/Fax :
32/(0)59/51.87.43
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