FBG News Forts & Bunkers Group

Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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Hello audience, As you can see, the newsletter has a new name and a new logo. WMF News is no more and it’s now FBG News of the Forts & Bunkers Group. Enjoy!

SPAIN

The coastal batteries of Cartagena

Last spring, when we visited family who live nowadays in the province of Alicante, I had the opportunity to visit two batteries of the defence circle of the port of Cartagena. It concerns the batteries Castilllitos and Jorel. It sounded interesting, but when I arrived there, it was a real surprise to see that the guns were still in place! From the 18

th century, a series of gun batteries were built around Cartagena Bay from Cabo

Tinoso to Cabo Negrete to defend the port from attacks. The First World War had resulted in enormous technological advances which made the defences of Cartagena obsolete. At that time, Cartagena was already the headquarters and main military port of the Spanish Navy. In 1926, a new Defence Plan Primo de Rivera advised the setting up of a new defence system, including the construction of tens of new fortifications around Cartagena to protect the base against attacks from sea and air. On the cape Cabo Tinoso that lies about 25 Km to the west from Cartagena, the Spanish built three batteries, Atalayon, Castillitos and Jorel .

1 Bateria de Atalayon 10 Bateria de Santa Ana Acasamatada 2 Bateria de Castillitos 12 Bateria de Costa Trincabotijan Alta 4 Bateria de la Podadera 13 Castillo de San Julian 5 Castillode Fajardo 14 Bateria del General Ordonez 6 Bateria de Roldan 15 Bateria de Aguilones 7 Bateria de la Parajola 16 Bateria de Conejos 8 Castillo de Galeras 17 Bateria de la Chapa 9 Bateria San Isidoro y 18 Bateria de Cenizas Santa Florentina

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Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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The Castillitos battery

Castillitos was one of the two major batteries of Cartagena. The other one was the battery Las Cenizas near Portman to the east of Cartagna. Both were equipped with two huge 38.1cm guns. The guns are officially designated as 38.1 cm /45 Model 1926 Naval guns. The design is also known as the Vickers-Armstrong 38.1 cm (15 inch) Mark B. The gun was initially intended to form the armament of the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo. 18 guns were purchased by Spain for use as coastal artillery.

Gun number 1

The guns could fire an armour-piercing shell weighing 860 Kg at a velocity of 2500 m per second or a high-explosive shell weighing 802 Kg to a range of 35100 m. The guns were mounted in armoured turrets and they have a traverse of 300° and an elevation from -5° to +40°. The guns could fire 2 shots per minute.

Gun number 2, with its observation post.

Castillitos was built between 1933 and 1936 on the ridge between Atalayon and Jorel at 250 m above the sea level. The earth removal started in1929 under the supervision of Colonel of the engineers Mariano Campos following the project of Captain Nicanor Martinez Ruiz. On 27 Feb 1935, the transport of the heavy material started to the ridge. At the beginning of the Civil War, the battery was almost operational, only lacking its fire-control system.

FBG News Forts & Bunkers Group

Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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On 25 April 1937, the battery fired one shot at a squadron of the Nationalists. It was proof that the guns could create a disaster if they proceeded, which they didn’t. In 1942, a new fire-control system and range finders were installed.

View on both turrets.

In 1945, the battery was officially called Battery C-1. A new fire suppression system was installed in 1949. The battery remained in service until 1994 when it was decommissioned. Since then the battery was dismantled, except for the two huge guns. A few years later, on 7 Aug 1997, it was protected as a monument of cultural importance. It took several years before the battery was somewhat restored during 2010 / 2011. It’s still owned by the Ministery of Defence. When you see the front building of the battery, you think that you have arrived on the set of Disney movie. It looks like a castle of a prince, complete with little watch towers! Even the adjacent buildings were built with attention to architecture. When you climb the staircases, still wondering if this is real, you see the two black, huge guns. Next to the guns there are small elevators for the ammunition. Behind the gun turrets there are two small observation posts. The battery was equipped with the classic buildings like ammunition stores, an engine room, a fire control post, barracks, a sanitary block etc.

The Disney Land looking entrance for both turrets.

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Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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The barracks of the battery.

View on the back side of the turrets and the ammunition hatch.

The Jorel battery

From the battery, you see the second battery somewhat further on the land end and a bit lower. This is the Jorel Knoll battery that is situated 218 m above the sea level. It was equipped with four 15.24 cm Vickers guns. The battery was built as a part of the Defence Plan Primo de Rivera of 1926. The wharf started in 1929 and the four guns were installed between 1931 and 1932. The battery was ready in 1933. It was active during the Spanish Civil war. In 1945, it was officially called Battery C-2 and the last shots were fired under the supervision of Captain D Francisco Artega Esparcia on a target tugged by a tug boat on 10 Mar 1992.

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Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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View on the battery with the three remaining guns.

Three guns remain of the land end, but the fourth was dismantled and transferred to the Artillery Museum in Cartagena. The battery was also decommissioned in 1994 and it is, just like his huge brother, classified as a monument of history.

The plan of the battery.

The view on the battery from the road is splendid. The three turrets are clearly visible on their open emplacements. We don’t find a Disneyland architecture here, although the Spanish spent quite some attention to the finishing touch of their buildings. It’s a rather strange approach for a modern battery. Next to each gun, you notice the ammunition elevators. When you walk through the building under the guns, you can make assumptions of the various functions : barracks, engine room etc.

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At this site we found a plan of the battery. We can only regret that such a plan wasn’t available for the Castillitos battery.

Gun number 3.

Gun number 1 with both ammunition elevators.

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Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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Road map

How to get to the land end with the two batteries? Follow the E-22 road from Cartagena to Mazarron. You drive between the hills. When you see the sea in the distance again, you’ll have a crossroads with a road on the left. That’s the RM-E23. Follow this road and on a Y-crossroads, keep left. Finally, you reach a small parking and you walk further. The batteries are visible from the parking. The battery Atalayon lies above the parking, but has no guns anymore. The other 38.1 cm barrels

At the other side of Cartagena, there’s the other heavy battery with 38.1 guns, the Las Cenizas battery near Portman. This battery has also its guns, but it’s not that easy to reach. To get there you have to walk for 6 Km up the hill. Where are the other 38.1 cm guns? 8 guns were originally installed at Ferrol and A Coruna. The guns of the battery Cape Rior were scrapped in 1997, the ones of battery Monte San Pedro are still there and the ones of Lobarteiras were

removed. The guns of Campelo Alta were transferred in 1941. At Minorca, there were originally 6 guns. The guns of Favarix were transferred in 1994, but the 4 guns of Mahon and Llucalary are still present.

The buildings for the various functions were built with attention for architecture.

Gun number 2.

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Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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THE HOLLANSTELLUNG, 1917

Bunker has to be rebuilt! It concerns a German bunker from the First World War from the Hollandstellung. In 1916, the Germans realised that a break through might come via the river Scheldt with an assault in their back. To avoid this, they set up a plan to fortify the Belgian-Dutch border from the North Sea to Antwerp which they called the Holland Stellung. The next part from Antwerp to Turnhout was called Antwerp-Turnhout Stellung. The defence line with bunkers was built in 1917. In June 2013 a man demolished one of these bunkers in Ertvelde without permission. All the bunkers are noted in an inventory of the Ministery of Monuments and Landscapes. A judge

sentenced the man to pay a penalty of € 3000. Moreover, if he doesn’t rebuild the bunker he has to pay an extra penalty of almost € 18000! According to the owner, the bunker stood in the way on a parcel of building land and there was no permission needed to demolish it. Source : Het Nieuwsblad

ATLANTIKWALL

Lastest news

Trenches found in Nieuwpoort Bad A small trench, partially being a tunnel was found on a parcel of building ground in the Henri Crombezlaan 13. Following Pierre Nowak, it should be a part of WN Goliath. That was the name that the Belgian Engineers attached to the strongpoint. Although it’s too small to classify it as a monument of history, it would be nice to see it reviving in a garden.

Photo : Marc Dewilde

A similar bunker in Ertvelde. Photo: Inventaris Onroerend Erfgoed

FBG News Forts & Bunkers Group

Edition 2 of 2017 Composed by Frank PHILIPPART

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Concrete WW-1 bunker of the Antwerpen battery found Tristan Cools reported to me the following : On the site of the former camping Petit Bruxelles, at the Duinenstraat 93, 8400 Oostende, there’s a concrete Wellblech bunker which was once the only concrete bunker of the German World War One battery Antwerpen. That battery was equipped with six 10.5 cm guns. It was installed on 25 Nov 1914. On 14 Oct 1917, two guns were transferred to a battery in Zeebrugge and in 1918 another was removed to Zeebrugge. Finally it was decided to make from the battery an anti-aircraft battery and the remaining guns were removed, but no others were installed. On top is a square concrete open emplacement, but it’s not clear if this is an addition of the First War or the Atlantikwall. Actually, an investigation of the city was done to remove the buildings of the camping. In an attempt to save the bunker, we sent an argumentation to the authorized deputy. Latest news : the plan is to repair the dunes. The shed will be destroyed, the bunker will be kept.

Bunkers in the city park of Antwerp There are three bunkers in the city park of Antwerp, two command bunkers, Regelbau 608, and one crew bunker, Regelbau 622. The latter was used as a transmission bunker. The crew stayed in one room and the other room was used for the equipment. I’ve heard that the city has the intention to open the 622 and one 608 during 2018. Thanks to Yvonne Mayo for the spell check.

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Photo :Tristan Cools