Located on the high ground north of Isques and overlooking the south eastern side of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Stp246 Ginster featured four artillery gun casemates, two observation posts, and an ammunition bunker.
Two of the casemates are of the R669 type, small buildings for 10cm calibre guns, and stand at the northern sector of the site. One is completely overgrown and not accessible, but the second can be visited with care. Inside you can see it has been subjected to massive internal explosions.
You can find many casemates in this state in the Pas de Calais region as they were used to either destroy left-over ammunition once the sites were captured or purposely destroyed to ensure they couldn’t be used again.
The R611 casemates at the southern side of the site are much larger and were designed for heavy calibre 15.5cm guns. These buildings featured a small crew room plus rooms for ammunition, and a rear defensive embrasure for a heavy machine gun.
Today, one of the R611 casemates stands as a base for three aerial masts and its inside can’t be accessed.
The other R611 can be viewed and you can see it’s in a poor state having been subjected to controlled explosions inside knocking out sections of the dividing walls of the ammo and personnel rooms.
A R120a type artillery observation posts stood to the north of the casemates and would have provided target information for the four guns. It once featured an armoured steel observation cupola on top giving protected vision of the surrounding area, but this was removed for its scrap metal value after the end of the war.
This building would have featured a commander’s room, a crew room, and a space where there would be a map table. It was protected at the rear with a close quarters combat embrasure.
The R120a, along with a single R607 ammunition storage bunker situated behind the casemates is no longer visible.
The site stands on private farmland and cannot be accessed without permission.