Some locations are just so AMAZING. Hope you liked this little trip back in time. BTW : What is the incredible fast light going from right to left in 2.12 minutes ?
What a great place you found. Did you do any metal detecting while you were there? At 17:24 in your video, it shows some concrete that appears to go in the direction of the bunker. Could that be a ventilation shaft for a underground bunker or was it just rocks that looked like concrete? Just curious. Thank you again for the great videos you and your family put. Be safe out there. David
The electrical box was mostly for wifi connection and to charge cell phones and laptops. It was very important for the troops to keep up with their Netflix shows
@NPC #303 its amazing the effort they had to go through to brainwash people with propaganda back then, now they just slip it into your daily news and entertainment.
NPC #303 I remember when the news stations reported unbiased news and not injecting opinions and pushing agendas. Those days are long gone. Unfortunately people just take on the opinion of the person they watch on tv. No more free thinkers.
@NPC #303 CNN, DAILY MAIL, GUARDIAN, DAILY MIRROR, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BBC, THE EU, GREAT BRITAIN, USA, CHINA, EVERYWHERE ....... This is George Orwell speaking, a repeat from 1984, but it was delayed due to the Cold War, Chechnya and the Gulf Wars.
I am so envious of your closeness to so much WWII history. What I would give to explore some of the sites you find. Here in Wisconsin, I am relegated to RU-vid exploration. And I always smile when I locate an Atlantic Wall site, which is familiar, only because you took me there previously in your searches. Anyway...thanks for your time and sharing!
I totally agree with your premise that relying on things such as the Atlantic Wall, the Maginot Line, the Siegfried line, to by themselves totally stop an enemy advance is foolishness. To quote General Patton " If mountains and oceans can be overcome, anything built by man can be overcome." However they do have merit in that they cause the enemy to expend resources and adjust their plans accordingly, and also as a delaying tactic. As an example, note the tremendous casualties suffered by the Allies towards the end of the war, attacking a much depleted and undermanned Siegfried line. Manned by an Army on its last legs. The Atlantic Wall certainly complicated the Allies Invasion plans. Unfortunately for the French, the Maginot Line brought about the successful implementation of the Von Schlieffen Plan. For which they were unprepared. Sometimes it doesn't work in your favor.
my take would be more nuanced, because both in the case of the Maginot line and the Atlantik wall, the defenses were breached in unfinished part of the fortifications infact, the Germans never went through the Maginot line as it only extended along the Franco-German border, the French were building a fortification line along the frontier with Belgium and Luxembourg, and only light blockhouses were in service by the time of the german attack
If the French had used the Maginot Line to protect their flank that would have been good use. At the time of the invasion of France the French not only had more tanks than the Germans but the French tanks were Superior. The problem was with the French military High command were prepared to fight World War 1 a second time. A mistake often repeated in history armies are always ready to fight the last war.
The Schlieffen Plan was WW1 not WW2. In WW2 the German plan was basically to let the Allies think that Germany was repeating the Schlieffen Plan of WW1 and attacking through Belgium (plus this time also the Netherlands), whilst the real main attack was further south through the Ardennes Forrest which the Allies considered to be impossible to cross with tanks. There were also various defensive lines and fortifications in Belgium and the Netherlands. The fortress of Eben-Emael a linchpin in the defenses of Belgium was knocked out by German airborne troops who landed with gliders on top of the fortress.
The Maginot and Siegfried line construction reflected defensive thinking still stuck in WW1 tactics - long lines of static defences The rapid development of modern mechanised troops and armour piercing weapons and air power soon made them obsolete. Patton also reportedly said "Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity." As the Belgians and French found with Fort Eben-Emael and the Maginot line, you can just go round them or fly over them, or drop paratroopers on top of them. And once you've bypassed them, they're ineffective. The Maginot was never defeated. By June the line was cut off from France and when Weygand signed the surrender the line fell. The German Army attacked and captured a few smaller ouvrages from the rear, but were unsuccessful in capturing any significant fortifications. The Westwall (Siegfried Line) was pretty much abandoned after the fall of France - bunkers used for storage and metal doors taken off for the Atlantic Wall (which would have been formidable had it actually been completed). It was only reactivated in 1944. But it wasn't without its issues. The Aachen-Saar 'Dragons Teeth' tank traps on the Siegfried Line looked formidable but when the US Armored units arrived they just bulldozed dirt over the top of them and drove on through. They did have merit from a general population moral perspective though. You can sell the idea of formidable impenetrable defenses to keep the happy.
What an amazing little grotto to hang out waiting for certain death. From my understanding from reading german soldier journels most on the beach didn't expect to live. They knew they would be over-run and the real defense would take place inland. At least that would be a nice view and relaxed days waiting for the end...
Clearly considered a VERY strategic defensive position. I am very impressed with your film making and editing, from the start you captured the location perfectly. Keep it going my friend.
Love your videos! Not just for the things you find and film, but for your excitement and descriptions. You have a lot of knowledge on much of the material, but at other times you aren't afraid to say, 'why did they do THAT?' It's refreshing and fun to watch you discover as you share with us. Keep up the great work!
Great video and a truly amazing location I am thankful that I found your channel. I've always been interested in world war 2 sense I heard my great uncles story's from when he was in the war (United States Army). He was in from Normandy till he was wounded at the battle of the bulge. After that he became a guard watching over the captured german soldiers. And i will never forget when he said that the german soldiers were not as evil as they teach you in school (at the time i was in high school) and he always told me that the captured german soldiers were some of the nicest and most intelegent people he ever encountered during the war and that he never held a grudge or felt hatred towards any german soldier. He just always said that they were soldiers and they were just following their orders like I was. And he always ended it with don't blame the soldiers for their leaders decisions.
.... I think one exception would be what the American soldiers called "the SSers." These were the true believers who believed in what is known as "Endsieg," or Nazi victory at the last gasp in spite of everything that would oppose it. One fellow I knew who was an American unit said about how after they reached a part of Germany there was one guy who said "this is where my family came from this Village I'm going to go visit my cousins and uncles." He said "okay I'll stand outside here for a few minutes." His buddy stepped inside and not quite two minutes later he came running out while a couple of the women of the household were busy yelling hitting him with things and trying to claw his face and his hair and he was all bloody in the bargain. "SSers! SSers! They're all damned SSers! Let's get out of here!" So too heavily armed American soldiers full magazines of ammunition grenades all of it turned in hightailed it down the road to get two blocks away to their unit. A fella told me that they told them "let's take another way around here" and led them on a sort of detour to reach their objective. So I would say there were probably a few German soldiers like there were a few other soldiers here near who were... well, just assholes.
Rocks piled on the side prevent a person from standing/hiding up against the building out of view where the could throw in a grenade or attack in some other fashion
Another absolutely wonderful video. When your video started I took in the scenery (clear blue water and the beach) and in turn you showed and commented about the view on top of the bunker. Beautiful view yet set up for a deadly purpose. I thank you again for your helping us to understand better and to remember our bygone history. Please continue the fantastic work my friend.
As a formwork carpenter specialising in concrete structures this would have been extremely difficult to build. Look at the damn thickness of those walls! And they managed to pour all the concrete without the use of zbars to tie it all together. Very impressive.
As an engineer I don't agree. It's height that creates problems with placing concrete. The width is irrelevant. And it was all rough work. The extra storey shows just a bit of too much time on someones hands.. Concrete does not do well with cold joints and that whole extra top barrier would fly off sideways... with a good explosion nearby.
Hearing the echo in your voice, I couldn't imagine the noise with all positions full with active machine gun fire like you mentioned!! Incredible, its wonderful to see this detail in a video : )
I see there’s a lower entrance, in the last shot, and from overhead a secondary flak/pak 40 etc position underneath the mg range. Could be that the fixed position wasn’t good enough and it was rebuilt on top of the hex-bunker. Nice video HH
I think the position underneith the MG Hexagon bunker (as seen at the end of video), would either be their bunker headquarters or where they ate. Couldn't be a sleeping unit because they rarely been put together with these hexagon bunkers (mostly about 20 meters in-land for their own safety in case of bombardements). And I think, the gun nest made on top, has multiple purposes. Those little storage units are also built that way, because in case of pressure of explosions, it would have 'sticked' inside that nest when it was full of concrete. It's the same as with mines and grenades when they explode; there is logic behind it. Same way they built 2 exit units in the hexagon bunker; it's for safety like being told in the video, but also due to explosion dangers and how to deal with the pressure of the explosion. That's also the fact for the ceiling/roof not being flat. It's some sort of technique and chemistry. Looks like they were prepared. German Engineers were a long way ahead of us (Netherlands et cetera) back in World War 2 era.
Any kind of curved ceiling acts as a force distributor of the forces above, pressing down on it, the walls. Think of it this way, your body is supported by your legs, spread your legs on ice and your legs will slip in to a (comical) split. IN this particular case, i think it has more to do with any potential drop the top structure rather than actual weight forcing it down. IE if something exploded up there, that's force that spreads in to the structure, IF insufficient means to distribute the force are not present in the design, it will collapse. The best way to think of a bunker, outside of tough materials able to suck up the explosion, is a structure that can hold double, triple, quintuple its own weight (depending on math based on what the designers think the enemy might use against them).
Absolutely fantastic collection of adventures. I've learned a lot. And now I have a group of young teenagers who get together at weekends to look for Pill boxes and WWII radar installations ... over here in the UK! Keep up the good work HH.
WW2HistoryHunter I have always enjoyed watching your videos. still wished I lived in Germany. I lived in schweinfurt for 5 years and never got to do much exploring while I was there.
The top is used for mortar crews usually mounted with a 8 cm GrW 34 type it could cover an area of 1300 yards that coupled with usually 3 mg34s or 42’s it could dominate an area. The top of the bunker would have been surrounded with sandbags and covered by a cam net and almost undetectable at range
Prepped Combat and survival i dont have proof but i doubt its for a mortar, mortars are support weapons and not meant for being directly in the frontline but rather behind it. But ofcourse that is just my interpetation and logic. That mg bunker would be allready a prime target for incoming fire and even when its a bit shielded on top i doubt they would jeopardize a mortar team unnecessary. Mg bunker pinning down the infantry and then use mortars from a protected invironment to be highly effective. Then again that is just my sense of logic speaking, you could be right as well.
PitbullTerror88 the effective range of an mg42 is around 2200 yards the range of the mortar is 1300 yards. With an elevated bunker like that unless you could get close enough to grenade it or attack it with mortar or artillery the guys will be quite cosy up on top with a ton or two of sandbag protection around them
They build those rocks like that to funnel (force) the enemy to get in to the line of sight of the gunner. And to prevent blind spots in the defense. Gotta think of bunkers as modern castles. They can't have machicolations, so they improvise. :)
I feel the urge to complement you on your videos and knowledge: I recently discovered your channel and have been hooked ever since. WWII history is very interesting and you provide me/us with great details and accuracy with many of your postings! Vielen dank von Norwegen, mein freund.
Those pegs in the wall could be the supports for a runner rail for a mg. to enable on or two mg’s to cover a bigger field of fire. Also more cost effective, you probably don’t need 8 machine guns in 1 pill box
Another fine job my friend. Did you notice, at the beginning, as you were walking up the road ,on the left, there was some metal pieces sticking out of a tree? 0:55 What is that? That's weird.
MrMitchB, I did noticed that as well. Looked like a can/drinking cup, split by the growth of that tree. But I can be way off here. There are some pics online with a Russian helmet with a tree grown through it.
My friend if I can say that? I've seen all your videos, commented & your so nice to answer back. Thank you!! As always great video, production & great info!!!! Best on RU-vid!! I thank. This is a technical question, I just watched a documentary called Nazi Mega Weapons on PBS on the Atlantic Wall, the amount of rebar & concrete is just mindblowing!!! (My question is did they use a specific mix? I would thank w/the thickness, it would take yrs to completely cure??? But yet they did on a mega scale. The Hoover dam that was built same time was built in section they added a pipeline to run cooling solution for it to cure & on the tour I was told its still curing! How did they do it? Amazing German engineering!! Also are you planning a trip to the British channel islands? Only British territory held by the Nazi's & it's all one big fortress, sorry long question. Thanks.
I have read that the Germans were masters of this kind of work and they also took advantage oof local knowledge at different locations to get the work finished quickly. Channel Island will happen yes :) Thanks
Hi there, I watched a documentary years ago on the Todt organization regarding the construction of concrete structures and particularly along the beach coast line in Europe, one of the problems that was evident at the time was the shortage of raw materials, particularly sand which is a key ingredient of the binding method (process) of the cement to form concrete extra. The Nazi engineers, utilized local beach sand as a substitute but found within a short period of time (months) that the concrete structures were crumbling. After some experiments they found that the salt within the beach sand was effecting the mechanical binding of the materials which resulted in a poor strength concrete. They found if they washed the sand prior to mixing (batching) and removed the salt the cement would have similar mechanical interlocking property's to common cement using raw materials at that period.
depend of locations... bunkers of the atlantik wall are preserved but same bunkers in the meditteranean shore (côte d'azur) are heavily abraded by the local Mistral wind... strong wind with sand destroy a bunker in 100 years.
Very interesting location that HH. I'm most curious to know whether there is another structure underground on that site. At 17.20 minutes I spy a partially concealed opening.
Top video again HH u never fail wit top quality footage & ur passion 4 the world war 2 time frame. No kids on this little adventure there the future & there passion for history that bug hunger has rubbed off on them i look forward to seeing if they follow ur footsteps & make there own videos in the future take care & happy hunting 👍☘🇮🇪
Are you sure there where steel doors? I don't see any structure to hold them in place or hinge......just a frame.....could just as easily hang something there in its place.... if the enemy got to your rear door your goose was cooked anyway.....i have seen in other bunkers another gun mount on that splinter wall going into the bunker entrance......any thoughts???
I'm astounded that on the closeup inside shots of the bunker walls there are no airpockets you see many times in poured concrete.....this structure was exceptionally done.......with great care also being so old and at close proximity to the sea there is very little deterioration.....on both the inside and outside......
Thank you so very much for taking time to connect with history and for taking time to watch and comment. Also appreciate Your kind support by becoming a Patron. Highly appreciated and a huge Greeting from us to you. Ww2HistoryHunter
Back in the early 70's I worked with a retried mailman ,he was replacing me as a tool and cutter grinder,one day I never forget he started talking about his experiences first wave D day Normandy he saw a buddy get machine gunned he was caught in barbed wire,with his back pack still on,so Marty told me he ripped his backpack off as fast as he could the hell with that ,wasn't going to happen to me.but he got wounded mortar shell on his shoulder I forget if it the same day?But after being wounded he was shipped back to England where they were going to amputate his arm scared shit,he went A.Wall, hospital,the mps found him hiding in latrine after cleaning he didn't want his arm amputated the doctor said okay we have a new medicine will try out on you it's called morphine and saved him from losing his arm
Interesting story. Morphine is not new though, it was used since the 1880s at least. Also it just dulls pain and doesn't help the healing. I guess he was just strong or lucky enough.
My grandfather was RAF and on D-Day attacked the gun battery bunkers at Mont Fleury (armed with four 122mm guns captured from the Russians). They got direct hits but didn't do much damage with 500lb bombs. Later on in the day the bunkers were captured by one British army guy with a sten gun! The bunkers were superbly engineered but the soldiers in them weren't stupid. They knew they had no chance and putting up any kind of fight against infantry was a death sentence.
love the his lication too awsome view the Ariel footage from the drone made the video complete love the different angles of fhe bunker and how you expkained every thing another great job my friend history revealed thank you
It looks like a nice place to be stationed, however the military is pretty good at making things miserable. The allies probably made the post a little less comfortable too.
Excellent stuff as usual. An upwardly curved "ceiling" will always be stronger and able to resist impact better than a flat one which would just collapse from the centre.
A very tidy solid structure. Beautifully calm and bright weather. Nice amount of light on everything 👍 fire position on roof is agreed a clever potentially custom feature. Keep up the good work 👏 wishing you and tour family safe and happy trails 👍✌
