A concrete wall tail in the dune

At the tip of the island, in the middle of the Stützpunktgruppe, the battalion staff was accommodated in twenty structures on either side of the Moolweg. On one side of the road, a high dune ridge allowed them to observe the command area, while the lower deciduous forest on the other side provided good camouflage. The large brick kitchen bunker along the path contained a separate dining hall, kitchen, and storage rooms for food supplies. Due to the large number of soldiers in the Slotbos, five additional supply depots were located nearby.

Further on, five brick residential bunkers housed sixty soldiers under the cover of the trees. There were also two latrines and three water sources. At the base of the dune, the staff worked from two wooden barracks, located near two residential bunkers for the battalion commander and other staff officers. Only in case of a threat or attack would they leave their spacious, comfortable barracks for the high, bombproof command bunker to coordinate combat operations. The bunker’s location was ideal because of its panoramic view. From a protected steel observation cupola on the roof, personnel could observe several kilometres away using a periscope.

The command bunker contained fifteen rooms. The operational heart consisted of rooms for combat planning and telephone and radio communications. Staff had several work and sleeping quarters. Notably, there was a machine-gun emplacement behind a twenty-ton armoured shield — thirteen times the weight of an average car. A metre-long wing wall anchored the bunker firmly into the dune. Over time, wind-blown sand exposed much of this wall, giving the bunker, when viewed from the side, the shape of a whale’s tail in the sea. Locally, it is known as the “Whale Bunker” or “Wing Bunker.” A few years ago, sand was restored beneath the tail.

At the Whale Bunker, you can climb to the right to find a small concrete structure. This is a so-called Tobruk. This fighting bunker has a circular opening at the top, from which soldiers could observe or fire. The Tobruk takes its name from the city of the same name in Libya, where the Germans first saw the originally Italian design and later copied it as a model. Thousands of these small bunkers were built around bunker complexes along the entire Atlantic Wall as machine-gun positions. At the headquarters on Schouwen, there were three.