Open verdedigingswerk, Koningsweg bij 13 C

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Description

SITE with LAYOUT. The soil of Diogenes and surroundings consists of sand and forms part of a relatively flat area in the southern Veluwe pushed up by glacial ice. The camp lies north of the Koningsweg, a straight road running roughly east-west along the southern side of the Kemperberg. This road would date in rudimentary form from the last quarter of the 17th century - the time when Stadtholder Willem III was King of England. The Koningsweg remains present as an important connection and as a spatially structuring element, also because it functioned as a basis for land clearance and settlement. East of the Kemperberg, from the middle of the 19th century onwards, on either side of the Koningsweg, particularly on the lands of the local nobility and/or large landowners, (land clearance) estates were established with (tenant) farms. In practice, farming on the poor Veluwe soils proved not easy and especially on the south side of the Koningsweg, forestry quickly became dominant and large-scale game hunting was also carried out here. A large part of their hunting and waste lands acquired since 1909 north of the Koningsweg and west of the Kemperbergerweg was in 1935 designated by the shipowner couple Kröller-Müller as the National Park De Hoge Veluwe, which was transferred to the state in 1937. Diogenes was laid out on the sandy soils west of the land clearance farm Rijzenburg, west of the entrance to the National Park De Hoge Veluwe. The southern part of this site was around 1940 intersected by a network of forest lanes running at right angles to each other and diagonally. At approximately 100 m north of the Koningsweg, within an existing network of forest lanes at right angles to each other, the main bunker Diogenes was constructed and to the southwest of it - and close to the road - a second, much smaller bunker. The road pattern was largely maintained and in the western part also left unpaved to this day. As far as the main bunker is concerned, the existing path was however significantly modified. This bunker was founded at depth and was partly constructed below ground level, with the result that the access road sloped downwards in a northerly direction. The through connection was interrupted by the creation of a steep bank on the north side of the bunker. Directly east of the bunker came a still existing, relatively narrow position area; both the sloping access road and the position area were constructed in concrete; the position area also borders a steep bank. The steep bank was possibly created to shield against air attacks from that direction, while the existing, rising planting was maintained with the aim of the greatest possible camouflage. The access road led on the east side along the bunker, in order to reach a large entrance on the north side of the bunker with (freight) vehicles. The main bunker was meanwhile connected via a straight, diagonal, concrete path running to the southwest - with possibly cable and other connections in the substructure - with the smaller bunker; the path is still clearly visible in various places in the wooded surroundings, despite the fencing erected after the war. Also on the west side of the Diogenes bunker there are some concrete slabs at ground level, which possibly served as position areas for (private) vehicles. Also at ground level, there are at both the main bunker and the smaller one, some tubes closed by concrete covers, with climbing irons inside, suggesting underground spaces or connections. Both the pattern of originally existing forest paths, and the concrete roads, connections, position areas and tubes are still present or recognisable in the field, while the intended character of the layout is also still clearly recognisable.

Valuation

SITE with LAYOUT of Diogenes, of general importance as a relatively intact component of a major military airfield from the Second World War, set up by the German occupier, by virtue of: urban planning, historical-geographical, military and cultural-historical and complex and ensemble values, which can be demonstrated inter alia through the components and details characteristic of the construction period, through the elements incorporated in the design, some already present in the landscape, through the authentic course and partly likewise execution of roads and paths, through the concrete rearrangement of roads on the existing ground plan for the special purpose, through the camouflage realised by means of steep banks and through the coherence with and of the total military airfield concept.