Bunker D - Advanced Position Grunhaut

The defense lines of the city of Liege, known as "La Posistion Fortifiée de Liège" consisted of 4 defense lines built around the city of Liege. It consisted of 16 forts with numerous line bunkers in between.

In addition to these line bunkers, there were also so-called 'Position Avancées' forward positions. These were located in Beusdael, Bilstain, Dolhain, Goé, Grunhaut, Henri-Chapelle, Hèvremont, Hockai, Hombourg, Jalhay, Limbourg, Malmedy and Stavelot.

This bunker 'D' belonged to the forward position of Grunhaut. This position consisted of 3 bunkers, B through D. Bunker A was never built.

The bunker is located in a forest plot at an intersection of two fields and the forest plot, near the Rue de Près. As with the master bunkers, the steel access door and gun shutter was sold as scrap metal after the war when the bunkers lost their strategic value for the defense of Belgium.

Bunker 'C' from the same forward position is located only a few 100 meters south, also at an intersection of 2 fields and the forest plot.

Presumably they served as observation and protection bunkers for the frontier cyclists stationed in nearby barracks of the of the 'Gardes Frontière'. These barracks were located in Hombourg and Henri-Chapelle, among others.

The 'cyclistes frontières', frontier cyclists, who guarded the frontiers, moved by bicycle on patrol and to the surrounding bunkers in adjacent sectors.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski