Bunker Lock Petit-Lanaye

A small bunker was built in the lock at Petit-Lanaye. It is so well incorporated into the design of the structure that it hardly stands out and can be recognized as a bunker.

The bunker is part of the defense line of the Albert Canal. Numerous bunkers have been built along this canal that runs from Liège to Antwerp. The bunker has a perfect view of the northside of the lock in the direction of Maastricht (NL)

The bunker has a formidable 1.30 m thick reinforced concrete wall at the front. It had to withstand impacts from 155mm shells. The two sidewalls are 1 m thick and the rearwall 60 cm. The bunker had a machine gun and was equipped with a grenadegully for closecombat defense. See photo 4.

Through an opening on the inside, one could drop a grenade through a gully to the outside. However, the strange thing is; how could the soldiers inside the bunker see that this enemy was at the rear? There is no way to look outside except through the gun opening at the front. There are no other openings.

As usual, the bunker has two doors. An armored steel outer door and a so-called "porte persiennes" an iron slat door. See, for example photo 4 of, bunker SB 9 for what these doors looked like.

The original door has been replaced by a PVC-door. The gun opening is also hidden from view by having a perforated plate placed in it. Probably to keep pigeons or other birds from building their nests here.

Photo 2 shows the Caestert massif in which fort Eben-Emael was built. On top of the massif, in the upper right corner of the photo just barely observation bunker 01 with cupola can be seen. This was the most remote bunker from the fort and was connected to the corridor system.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski
• Les fortifications Belges au 10 mai 1940, F. Vernier