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The Atlantic Wall & Air War Bunker Museum Antwerp is a military war museum in Park den Brandt, Wilrijk (Antwerp) in Belgium which preserves fortifications of the Atlantic Wall dating to the Second World War. In the Park a total of 8 bunkers are to be found.
The Bunker Village was built during the Second World War for the Atlantic Wall in Belgium comprises eight bunkers of which three are open to the public. In total, two of the three bunkers developed into a full-fledged war museum with the Atlantic Wall and Air War as specialization.
The actual museum of the bunker village is located in the Sonderkonstruktion 1 (SK1) bunker also the main command bunker of the Atlantic Wall in Belgium. In this museum are numerous archaeological pieces on display from several fortifications, a lot of documentation relating to the Atlantic; Air War and Antwerp itself during the war. The museum is unique in and around Antwerp thanks to its engine room that is almost entirely complete and in which machines are made functional again. As well parts of the V1 and V2 Weapons are free to visit, so you get a unique look at how these bombs worked.
During World War II this bunker village was built as the main command for the Atlantic Wall in Belgium. The command ran from the French border to Walcheren. The troops which were in the bunkers and surrounding stationed was the LXXXIX. Army Corps led by General Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa and his staff. Not only von und zu Gilsa, but also General der Panzertruppen Alfred Ritter von Hubicki and even Generalfeldmarschall Rommel spent time visiting the Bunkers. Both Generals von Hubicki and von und zu Gilsa probably stayed in one of the houses around the park.
The bunkers were built in 1943 and after the landings in Normandy, on 29 August 1944, a few days before the liberation of Antwerp, the bunkers were abandoned by General von und zu Gilsa and his staff. After the war, in particular on 1 July 1947, all the furniture and equipment both inside and outside the bunkers were sold through auction. Afterwards, on 19 July 1947, plans were drawn up to demolish the bunkers but the plans were called off on March 20, 1948.
Before 1985 the command bunkers were still used by the Civil Protection, but moved afterwards.
Eventually the bunker village was recognized as Monument on June 11, 2004.
A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of city, meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. They were used extensively in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities. Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes.
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from the United Kingdom, during World War II. The manning and operation of the Atlantic Wall was administratively overseen by the German Army, with some support from Luftwaffe ground forces. The Kriegsmarine maintained a separate coastal defence network, organised into a number of sea defence zones.
A fortification is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere.
The Siegfried Line, known in German as the Westwall, was a German defensive line built during the late 1930s. Started in 1936, opposite the French Maginot Line, it stretched more than 630 km (390 mi) from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the western border of Nazi Germany, to the town of Weil am Rhein on the border with Switzerland. The line featured more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps.
Het Steen is a medieval fortress in the old city centre of Antwerp, Belgium, one of Europe's biggest ports. The surviving structure was built between 1200 and 1225 as a gateway to a larger castle of the Dukes of Brabant which was demolished in the 19th century. As the first stone fortification of Antwerp, Het Steen is Antwerp's oldest building and used to be part of its oldest urban centre. The words "Het Steen", translated from Dutch mean "the rock" in English, although that is not the equivalent etymological meaning.
The National Redoubt was a strategic defensive belt of fortifications built in Belgium. The National redoubt was the infrastructural cornerstone of Belgian defensive strategy from 1890–1940.
The Züschen tomb is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist, it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to the late 4th millennium BC, it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture. The presence of incised carvings, comparable to prehistoric rock art elsewhere in Europe, is a striking feature of Wartberg culture tombs, known so far only from Züschen and from tomb I at Warburg.
The Fort Hommet 10.5 cm coastal defence gun casemate bunker is a fully restored gun casemate that was part of Fortress Guernsey constructed by the forces of Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1945.
The Longues-sur-Mer battery is a World War II German coastal artillery battery approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) north of the village of Longues-sur-Mer in Normandy, France. The battery is sited on a 60 m (200 ft) cliff overlooking the Baie de Seine and formed a part of Germany's Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications, between the Allied landing sectors of Gold Beach and Omaha Beach.
The M-19 Maschinengranatwerfer is a German 50 mm mortar which was used during World War II. The mortar was developed in 1934 for the purpose of defending permanent military bases. It had a maximum rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute and a range of 750 metres.
Nachtegalen Park is a park located in the Antwerp, Belgium municipality of Wilrijk. It served as the archery venue for the 1920 Summer Olympics.
Antwerp is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third largest city in Belgium by area at 204.51 km2 (78.96 sq mi) after Tournai and Couvin. With a population of 536,079, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of over 1,200,000 people, the country's second-largest metropolitan region after Brussels.
Maybach I and II were a series of above and underground bunkers built 20 kilometres south of Berlin in Wünsdorf near Zossen, Brandenburg, to house the High Command of the Army and the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces during the Second World War. Along with the military fortress complex Zossen, Maybach I and II were instrumental locations from which central planning for field operations of the Wehrmacht took place, and they provided a key connection between Berlin’s military and civilian leadership to the front lines of battle. The complex was named after the Maybach automobile engine.
Köllnischer Park is a public park located near the River Spree in Mitte, Berlin. It is named after Cölln, one of the two cities which came together to form Berlin; the park location was originally just outside it. Approximately 1 hectare in area, the park came into existence in the 18th and 19th centuries on the site of fortifications. It was redesigned as a public park in 1869–1873 and was further modified in the 20th century with the addition of first a bear enclosure, the Bärenzwinger, and later a permanent exhibition of sculpture, the Lapidary. The park is a registered Berlin landmark.
The Citadel of Liège was the central fortification of the strategic Belgian city of Liège, Wallonia, until the end of the 19th century. It is located in the Sainte-Walburge neighborhood, 111 metres (364 ft) above the Meuse valley. Together with Dinant, Huy and Namur, the Citadel of Liège forms part of the so-called Meuse Citadels.
The Atlantic Wall Open Air Museum is a military museum near Ostend in Belgium which preserves fortifications of the Atlantic Wall dating to the First and Second World Wars. The section of fortifications owned by the museum - over 60 bunkers and two miles of trenches - is among the best preserved sections of the defensive line in Europe. The fortifications survive because they were built on land belonging to Prince Charles, Count of Flanders who decided that they should not be destroyed after the war, but be kept as a national monument.
After the Wehrmacht occupied the Channel Islands on 30 June 1940, they assessed the existing defences to determine if they would be of use. The Germans found the Islands' fortifications antiquated and woefully inadequate for modern warfare.
The Azeville battery was a World War II German artillery battery constructed close to the French village of Azeville in the Manche department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It formed a part of Germany's Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications and was involved in the Normandy landings and shelled the US landing beach UTAH for three days after D-Day, 6 June 1944. The battery was heavily bombed on 9 June 1944 and fell to the Americans the same day. The site is owned by the local council and one of the battery's gun casemates now houses a museum.
The LXXXIX Army Corps was an army corps of Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II. It was active from August 1942 until March 1945. Its commander surrendered to United States Army forces on 2 April 1945.
