Bunker Belt Bruggenhoofd Gent – Support Line Bunker D19

Belgian bunker, part of the Ghent Bridgehead. This defensive position was constructed between 1934 and 1938, eight kilometres south of Ghent. Its construction was part of the fortification policy that Belgium pursued after the First World War.
The actual bridgehead consisted of two resistance nests – Betsberg and Muntekouter – and three strong points – Semmerzake, Eke and Astene.
The resistance nests and strong points were connected to each other by a curtain consisting of three defence lines.

There were 19 bunkers on the Wetteren territory, of which 8 have been demolished. Of the remaining ones, several are on private property or in the industrial zone.

D19 was a support line bunker along the Ostend-Brussels railway line, between C17 (565 m) and D20 (445 m). The two loopholes had an angle of approximately 75 degrees between them.
One loophole was aimed at the railway line towards Brussels. The other looked in the direction of the fields behind the site of Mariagaard and the current motorway.
On the inside and outside, clear traces of the battle of the May days of 1940 are still visible.
The bunker was originally walled with bricks. At the lock, it was partly cemented with the motif of bricks.
It had a hipped roof covered with mechanical red tiles. It looked like a small house or railway building next to the train tracks.
The loopholes were camouflaged with shutters and looked like false windows.
The bunker consisted of two interconnected rooms and a lock. There was a difference in level of approximately half a metre between the two rooms. Each room was equipped as standard for the installation of a Maxim machine gun, but also for a Hotchkiss or Colt machine gun.
The bunker is located 1.5 meters from the first tracks of the busy Ostend-Brussels railway line. It can be reached via the Steenbergstraat, the field path past the Kwatrecht cemetery. Where you come to a crossroads at a farm, you should continue on foot to the left.
The bunker can also be reached from the end of the Geerbos path (at the same farm).

Extensive information about this bunker belt can be found on the site Bunkergordel Bruggenhoofd Gent. It also contains photos, plans and technical data of the bunkers. A map shows the locations per municipality.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck