Die Rote Zone (red zone) paralleled the Westwall. It averaged 10 kilometers (~6miles) wide and is shown on this map by parallel red lines extending into Germany (Deutschland) from the heavy red line that designates the Westwall.

Panzerwerk Katzenkopf was a Type B bunker built at Irrel, Germany. When fully manned, it had a crew of 180 men. This is the front facade on the cliff side facing the Irrel valley and the town of Irrel.




As can be seen in this cross-sectional view of the Panzerwerk Katzenkoph (armored installation 'Cat's Head') was underground. All that could be seen from enemy observation planes flying overhead were the round gun turrets and flamethrower on the sod covered roof. Even these were camouflaged with netting and/or plant cower. The first underground level housed the bunker's command center. Living quarters, including the kitchen and latrines were on the second underground level. The deep well that provided fresh water and the service tunnels were on the lowest level. The service tunnels gave access to stell ladders that the gun crews used to get to the roof top gun turrets, and one of the the service tunnels provided a hidden exit from the bunker so the crew could escape unseen if the enemy managed to breach the bunker's defence.




This Sechsschartenturm atop The Panzerwerk Katzenkopf was a machine gun turret with six gun ports. Inside was a machine gun type 20P7 on a rotating platform that allowed the gunner to fire from any one of six gun ports.

The Katzenkopf bunker had two service tunnels like this one. A steel ladder led up from this tunnel to the machine gun turret on top of the bunker.




This picture depicts typical living quarters in a Westwall bunker. At best, living conditions were spartan and cramped.




In the large type B bunkers, access tunnels like this led to the steel ladders by which machinegun crews climbed up to their turrets atop the bunker. They also connected bunkers together so that soldiers could move from bunker to bunker unseen by the enemy. Usually, one tunnel also provided an emergency escape route from the bunker in the event the enemy overran it.




This bunker is a small twelve man bunker at Bad Bergzabern in the Southwest Pfalz region og Germany. This bunker housed a field howitzer of the the same type the Wehrmacht (WWII German army) took with it onto the battle field. Like the larger Type B bunker at Irrel, this bunker also had a Sechsschartenturm (six port machine gun turret), however this one was not on top of the bunker, but was at ground level fifteen or so meters distant from the front of the bunker. The gunner who manned the type 20P7 machine gun crawled through a tunnel leading from the underground level crew quarters of the bunker to the gun turret.




    The machine gun turret at the Bad Bergzabern bunker.




One of the MG 20P7 machine guns used in the six port gun turrets of the Westwall bunkers.





This picture shows a portion of the small artillery banker at Bad Berzabern. The black object with the silver colored pipe in the corner is a wood burning stove to heat the room. The large brown, triangular shaped object with the crank is a conveyor belt used to remove spend ammunition from the bunker.










The interior doors of Westwall bunkers were air and gas tight when closed against the rubber gaskets set into the doorframe. In the event of a gas attack, these doors were closed and sealed and decontaminated air was drawn into the bunker using ventilator units like the one shown in the next picture.













"Ventilation - Turn Slowly" The Westwall bunkers could be sealed "air tight" in the event of gas warfare. Ventilators of this type were used to draw in air from the outside and remove poison gas from it. Many of these ventilators were electrically powered, but all had hand cranks so they could be used during power outages.







The Westwall bunkers were of several different types with different configurations based on the type of weaponry they contained, and upon the tickness of their walls and ceilings. Moreover, they were separated from one another by a considerable space of open ground, but were close enough together that they could provide overlapping areas of fire in front of them. Additionally, the area between bunkers was protected by water filled ditches that served as tank traps, and pyramid shaped reinforced concrete structures the allies called dragon teeth which also served as tank traps. These were augmented by mine fields, stretches of barbed wire, and open air gun emplacement of the type shown here.




The Höckerlinie (hump lines) were what the allies called 'dragon teeth' tank traps. This map shows the Siegfried Switch Line (the Germans called it the Orscholzriegel.




Part of the HockerlinieOrscholzriegel near Trier, Germany. The 'humps' (Hocker) are made of reinforced concrete. They are so shaped and spaced that a tank would slide off the top so the vehicle's under carriage would hang up high enough on them that the treads could get no traction.
These 'dragon teeth' have not been removed because to blow them up would damage the nearby church.



Most of the Westwall was in the French Zone of Occupation when World War II ended. To the extent possible, the French blew up the Westwall bunkers and many of the Höckerlinie. As a result, most of the bunkers now look much like this one in a forest near St. Wendel in the Saarland.

Since the occupation ended, German history groups have restored some of the bunkers as living museums to educate people to the consequences of allowing a regime like that of the Nazis to come to power.

---

---

You may click on links at blue column on left and go to other sections

Copyright 2008 © WWW.AGOODWORDTAILOR.COM
All Rights Reserved. All text and images appearing in this site are the exclusive property of
Malcolm (Mac) Taylor and may not be  reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated
without the written permission of Malcolm (Mac) Taylor.

This website launched on March 20, 2008 and last updated on May 26, 2008