Tuesday 5 December 2017

Bunkers at Verclut (St. Catherine)

What evidence can we find of German activity near St. Catherine's Breakwater?

A very obvious bunker is probably the first one you think of.
It's a type 670 casemate bunker where a field gun was installed. Behind it, a tunnel ("HO17 Mole Verclut" with several rooms near the front here) curves around to...
.. the exit behind the rock, amongst all this mess.
The exit door.
OK, what else is fairly well known? The path up the hill leading to Flicquet has pieces of old railway track to block access to any liberating forces, I believe that's quite well known.
And you can't really miss this one as you drive towards the cafe...
.. did you spot the entrance on this side though?
The curvy bit at the front was probably a mortar pit? Or MG? Expert info welcomed, please comment :)
Maybe you've wondered about this door...
.. which goes through to here...




.. yes, that looks rather German in there.
Spotted this one by the public toilets?
Looking back, it's obviously of WWII origin.... a store or shelter?
Ok, more obscure now. See that wall on the right?
Worth a little climb up...
.. turning right, oh this is looking bunker-ish!
Not much headroom in here... bent over double I made my way to the far end and found...
.. yet another 'wriggly tin' shelter. Now, to the right of here, but I don't recall any internal connection...
.. is yet more concrete. In the middle of this pic...
.. looking inside.




On the left of the pic before, hidden inside the greenery, a half blocked entrance. This was a fairly recent find, for me!
Want more? Get climbing... there are steps opposite the new bus shelter...
.. up there, sorry to say I'm not sure what this was all about.
.. but keep going to above the cafe, and hooray, a defensive position...
.. with side store.
Looking towards Fliquet.
If under attack, the soldiers could run along inland to a shelter...
.. where somebody has made themselves a home...
.. closer. Looks like there's probably a wriggly tin shelter in there, but we obviously weren't welcome.
Nice views up there though, well worth a climb on a windless day. View to Flicquet...
.. and here's the end of the breakwater.

Comments and extra information welcomed... it's not tricky, and would be much appreciated... thank you :)





I did climb up the rock back in 2009, so there are more photos at crapaudmatic.blogspot.com/2009/04/climb-up-above-st-catherines.html

Return to bunkers index page