Bunker BH-6 Canal Albert Eigenbilzen

This bank bunker BH-6 is part of the Briegden-Hasselt sector.

The bank bunkers were equipped with two machine guns. To make the front less vulnerable, the embrasures for the machine guns came in the side walls.

Egg camouflage was used to break up the contours, this made the bunkers less detectable.

On the inside, the bunkers look the same as any other bunkers. There are hooks to hang equipment items, shelf supports to put away ammunition, rations and the like. This was all to prevent the floor from becoming cluttered and soldiers from tripping over it in the heat of battle.

Photo 5 also shows the emergency exit. It is bricked en cementd on the outside and therefore not visible. However, on the inside it was closed with steel bars stacked on top of each other. After the war, when the bunkers lost their strategic function for the defense of Belgium, all the iron and steel was sold as scrap. Even the bars for the emergency exit are now gone as a result. With some chopping and breaking, if the door blocked the soldiers could still escape through this way.

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Source

• Text: Joost Verheijden en Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Fedor de Vries (1, 2, 3), Ed Lewandowski (4, 5)
• Les fortifications belges au 10 mai 1940, F. Vernier.