One of the early German bunker sites built following the occupation of France by the Germans in 1940, Widerstandsnest Reinhilde stands shoulder to shoulder with more than a dozen defensive strongpoints and resistance nests which line the length of the beach and marshland between the east of Calais and the west area of Dunkirk.
Wn Reinhilde, like most of these sites, has several round Pilz buildings - machine gun pillboxes – which are the first buildings you see when you drive into the car park area.
There are four Pilz at the site although two are now almost completely buried by sand and vegetation, and these covered the road exits from the beach. On your drive into the site, you can also see two personnel shelters – both made of brick and partially buried in the dunes.
The most difficult building to see though is also the largest, a double embrasure R219 gun casemate which featured a captured 7.5cm LAG field gun.
With an embrasure facing to the east and a second to the west, the gun could be manoeuvred inside the concrete casemate to cover the beach and marsh in both directions while still being protected from seaborne shelling by a thick outer wall and two flanking walls.
Getting to see the inside can be tricky with shrubs and brambles lining your route in from the nearby footpaths.
This is also the place to visit if you want to get up close to concrete tetrahedron beach defences in almost new condition with eight of them acting as blocks for modern vehicles entering the marshland.
Beware though, the area to the west and east of Reinhilde is a waterfowl, bird shooting area and so the car park can be heavily used by hunters during the shooting season. You can still walk along the paths nearest to the agricultural fields to the bunkers where you can look seaward at dozens of artificial ponds. Here decoy ducks are tethered with shooting hides on most of the waters.