German Waterbunker Hollerath

The numerous water bunkers of the Westwall served to supply the bunker crews with fresh water. The water bunker west of the hiking trail stands in a spring hollow and contains a well chamber. It was used to fill the elevated tank 350 metres away on the Heidekopf, near today's sports field. Both bunkers were built in 1939/40 to supply water to the section of the Westwall west of Hollerath. If necessary, water could be pumped out of the elevated tank and transported to extraction points near the bunkers using pipes or water transport vehicles. Although the water supply for the bunker crews was essential, only 165 (approx. 5.5%) of the almost 3,000 bunker complexes of the Westwall in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia had wells inside the bunkers. This made the 396 wells and spring catchments all the more important.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Hans Tasma