Bomvrij militair object, Wassenaarseweg Katwijk

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

Introduction

Light ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE or FLAK POSITION south of Katwijk (Bureau Registratie Verdedigingswerken Katwijk, position F, drawing 557), built by the German occupier and to be dated circa end 1941 through summer 1942, situated at the edge of the dune area and on the dunes north of the Panbos and northwest of the Wassenaarseweg, consisting of 23 works. The FLAK position was built by the Luftwaffe after the capture of Valkenburg airfield (May 1940) to protect the captured airfield and the newly to be constructed air camp at the Wassenaarseweg. Typologically and organisationally, the bunkers are to be classified under the bunker series as used by the "Luftgaukommando Holland" for the defence of the coast: Küver bunkers, namely troop shelters of the 400 series. Protection and expansion of air bases and surveillance of approach routes to German targets was initially the primary objective of the Luftwaffe. The completion of Valkenburg airfield - as a lynchpin in the organisation of attacks on England - fell under this objective.

From March 1941, cooperation between the three different branches of the armed forces became more strongly coordinated. From December onwards, work commenced on the "Neue Westwall", whereby a two-front war threatened by the invasion of Russia was to be prevented. Given the existence of Küver bunkers in the position, the position already played a role in the Neue Westwall. From 13 August 1942, first plans are documented for the strengthening of the "Atlantikwall", the successor to the aforementioned Neue Westwall, which would ultimately run from the Bay of Biscay to Norway.

Links in the Atlantikwall were the so-called Stützpunktgruppen. The light anti-aircraft defence forms part of the Stützpunktgruppe Katwijk, one of initially (1942) seven Stützpunktgruppen in the Netherlands - a number that had risen to twelve by 1944. The Stützpunktgruppe Katwijk consisted of a sea front, a land front and air defence. The terrain covered approximately 10 by 5 kilometres and included, among other things, Valkenburg airfield, two coastal batteries and a heavy anti-aircraft battery. Valkenburg airfield was incorporated in the autumn of 1942 into the Stützpunktgruppe Katwijk and thus into the defence structure of the Atlantikwall. In this way, the form of this Stützpunktgruppe was also determined by the somewhat inland-located airfield. The existing defence clusters for the airfield that the Luftwaffe had established were incorporated into the Stützpunktgruppe.

The increasing threat of a British air attack led to the rendering unusable of landing areas between sea and land fronts to prevent enemy landings. A corresponding order was given on 22 March 1944 by Field Marshal Rommel. The importance of Valkenburg airfield to the Luftwaffe had been minimal since 1943 and was thereby rendered effectively negligible. From April 1945, the airfield received a new purpose as a dropping location for food parcels in operation Manna.

In various respects, the light Flak position did not meet the regulations as they were issued from September 1942 onwards, for example the wall thicknesses (feldmässiger Ausbau FA and verstärkt feldmässiger Ausbau VF), the open positioning of guns and the failure to sink entrances to prevent oil from fire bombs from flowing in. In 1943, existing positions not sufficiently conforming to the guideline were to be modernised ("Richtlinien für den ständigen Ausbau von Flakstellungen" dated 17 April 1942). On the other hand, attention was simultaneously drawn to the importance of numerous Flak positions.

Works of the Luftwaffe are relatively scarce in the Netherlands because the navy predominated. The lighter structures (FA and VF) are still incompletely inventoried and moreover more vulnerable than the heavy concrete works. The Flak positions of the Luftwaffe during the time of the Neue Westwall distinguish themselves from the navy Flak positions in that they were always built on top of a shelter bunker (Unterstand), rather than beside it. This also applies to this Flak position. Superstructure (bedding) and substructure did not always fit seamlessly together. The open beddings are four-sided (in this case) or eight-sided, rather than round or eight-sided as with the navy.

The guns belonging in the Flak beddings have not been preserved; in a survey by the resistance group Albrecht (observations on the defence works of Katwijk from 28 September 1944 to 2 March 1945, no. 17 on the accompanying map), it is already stated that there are "no pieces present" (P. and D. Harff, 2001, p. 224). The same applies to the finishing with doors, windows, pot stoves, equipment with telecommunication apparatus and other furnishings. Here and there isolated wiring (aluminium) has been found, both inside and outside the works; the same applies to detached iron components, such as ventilation grilles, etc.

Of the original position currently missing (2009): foundation of a garage F5a, a garage or kitchen F5, the privies F10 and F18, the garage F11. In 2009 it was not possible to visit and assess: the bunker F26 with demolished bedding, of which the substructure resembling F19 is suspected to be in the dune. The bedding covered the entire bunker roof here, since the substructure was smaller than with the other bunkers with bedding F17, 21 and 25. Not located and assessed is the water tank storage F27. Outside the position searchlights were placed; these have not been traced. The northeastern part of the position is now hidden in a small wood, some of whose trees cause damage to the works.

The protection extends over the entire immovable property: exterior and interior.

Description

The ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE consists of 23 currently visible works. The Flak bunkers for the guns are situated on the dune tops; other functions, particularly accommodation buildings, are situated at some distance in lower terrain. All works were worked into the dune sand, whereby only the open beddings, light/emergency shafts, windows, doors, chimneys and access stairs were visible (previously there was presumably camouflage with nets).

The works were partly VF designs (verstärkt feldmässiger Bau: splinterproof, but not resistant to direct hits, partly FA fieldmässiger Ausbau.

Most of the works in the FLAK position are provided with BRV numberings from a few years after the war, in a number of cases both in paint and in pencil. In many cases there are still traces of an ochre-coloured interior finish visible. The spaces are plastered, very carefully in some bunkers. On various places remains of frames are preserved. The bricks and limestone used for the brickwork differ per type and sub-cluster in size and kind. This also applies to mortar bonds and in some bunkers carefully executed cut joints. All this points to the employment of different workers, contractors and/or suppliers and/or different building periods. The splinter walls are partly of brick, in the "residential cluster" F1-F16 predominantly of filled formstones of gravel concrete.

The bunkers are treated in the order of the BRV numberings, with similar types grouped together:

The BRV nos. F1, F2, F6, F7, F8, F9, F13: troop shelter and storage, two entrances via stairs leading down, on one side one living room and one sleeping room with window and light/emergency shaft, accessible through one door in the corridor, on the other side two small storage rooms, each accessible via its own door from the corridor. The living rooms were heated by a shared pot stove which stood at a low opening in the dividing wall. F1 and F2: the storage rooms accessible through one door from the corridor (X87804/Y466222, X87830/Y466223); F6: in deviation from the others with an arched opening for the stove (X87815/Y466195); F8: modified by later reuse (87796/Y466181); F13: has no door between the two living rooms, but two doors from the corridor. Beside the doors two connections for pot stoves (X87784/Y466170).

F3 and F4: similar to the previous, but with one large living room and one storage room on the other side of the corridor. In F3 floor finish preserved (X87813/Y466218, X87794/Y466223).

F12 and F23: troop shelters with two entrances via stairs, of limestone, brick and concrete. In deviation from the other models, the light shafts are not located on the stair sides and the corridor does not run through due to a cross-placed partition wall. At the foot of the stair (from the north) is on the right a residential space with six columns on which benches or beds could rest, a stove connection in the wall towards the small room next to it: a small intermediate space with a niche between chimney and corridor wall. Door opening to the second, shorter corridor section. F23 is located between the bunkers with Flak beddings (X87808/Y466156, X87710/Y466099).

F14: a foodstuffs storage, with two access stairs and corridor together forming an L shape, of brick with full mortar joints. A storage room with light/emergency shaft. The space is double-walled by a clamp of stones on edge with ventilation holes above and below (X87802/Y466135).

F15: a storage of limestone with cut joints, one room with one entrance protected by a splinter wall and a continuous concrete roof (X87787/Y466140).

F16: a storage of concrete limestone, one room with one entrance, protected by a free-standing splinter wall built up from filled formstones of coarse concrete (X87803/Y466121).

F17, F21 and F25: troop shelters with storage and open bedding for guns. The troop shelters with two entrances with stairs flanked by concrete limestone brickwork with brick courses, between the stairs a straight corridor. On one side a living room and a sleeping room interconnected by a door and opening for pot stove, each with a light/emergency shaft with climbing bars, accessible via a door from the corridor. On the other side of the corridor a storage room, a storage room with ventilation, a stair well with quarter turn to the open bedding. From the bedding a storage room above the first-mentioned storage room of the substructure. Outside the bedding chimneys are observable (most clearly at F21); in the concrete edge of the bedding ventilation openings for the living room. The bedding occupies a smaller surface area than the roof of the residential bunker. There are remains of wooden frames (X87721/Y466150, X87721/Y466103, X87687/Y466118).

F19: troop shelter with three storage areas, two entrances via stairs with a straight corridor in brick, on one side a living room and a sleeping room each with a light/emergency shaft, connected by a door and opening for shared pot stove, accessible via one door from the corridor. On the other side of the corridor three small rooms, one with light/emergency shaft, and one with ventilation shaft (X87717/Y466132).

F20: an eight-sided Ringstand or Tobruk accessible via an inclined climbing shaft with climbing bars and a small shelter room. The steel rim of the Tobruk has been preserved (X87676/Y466164).

F22: a storage with two parallel entrances in limestone opening onto a connecting corridor, from which one door to a storage room. The space is provided with hooks in the ceiling and a light/emergency shaft; wooden window frame (X87737/Y466080).

F24: bunker with sleeping and living room. The bunker is accessible via a stair down, via two right angles one reaches a door opening (door not preserved), then a corridor. From there access to the carefully plastered living room in brickwork with stove connection, ceiling provided with wooden slats for fixing points, two light openings to a light/emergency shaft, a window opening to the corridor at the stair well. From the corridor further accessible a square sleeping room in VF execution (12 persons) with connection for air purification (two channels) and half-round emergency shaft with climbing bars. On the other corridor side a heavy concrete wall to protect the entrance of the sleeping room. At the end of the corridor a half-round emergency shaft; from the sleeping room a horizontal shaft running diagonally in the direction of the emergency shaft; the shaft is still provided with formwork. At the front of the corridor at the height of the living room a recess in the wall for a cable distributor and fuse (not preserved) (X87707/Y466118).

F28 and F29: bunkers with sleeping and living room closely similar to F24, however executed in mirror image. These two bunkers have a smaller living room with only one window opening, a smaller, rectangular sleeping room (6 persons), no emergency shaft at the end of the shorter corridor (but the diagonal shaft with formwork from the sleeping room). At bunker F28 the roof is tarred; due to a layer of earth this is not observable at F29 (X87705/Y465851, X87706/Y465805).

Evaluation

The ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE is of general importance - because of cultural-historical value as an example of a development phase important for military history of German coastal defence and the changes that occurred in it, whereby a Flak position of the Luftwaffe from the Neue Westwall is incorporated into the Atlantikwall, which is relatively rare. - as a relatively well-preserved position for light anti-aircraft guns of the Luftwaffe, whereby the mutual functional relationships of the various buildings and the strategic structure within the position are recognisable. - because of the recognisability as a Flak position - because of ensemble value as part of the larger whole of the Atlantikwall and the Stützpunktgruppe Katwijk, a cluster within the German Atlantikwall. - because of the intact location in the dune landscape that was used in the Stützpunktgruppe for camouflage, whereby a military landscape was created.