There are dozens of small, identical looking ‘cube’ bunkers located around the Cap Gris Nez area of northern France.
Measuring around 5m x 5m and 3m high, these buildings are known as Kabelschaltestelle (KSS) and were created for the huge network of communication cables used by German occupiers of the area.
This network connected bunker sites with defensive positions, observation posts, command centres, and the largest of the coastal gun batteries – including Todt, Lindemann, and Grosser Kurfurst. Inside they feature just a single room for junction boxes and cabling.
Stp187 Krokodil is a site with one of the most often spotted KSS as it stands next to the D191 road between Audinghen and Grand Maison, in an area near to several radar sites and batteries.
Like many buildings of the era, it’s missing its steel door, allowing you access to the inside of the bunker which is unsurprisingly a cramped affair.
However, this site was more than just a single KSS bunker, around 450m to the north of the road there was also a large R617 bunker. Although now completely inaccessible and covered with vegetation inside agricultural fields, this building was the central telephone exchange where all the surrounding KSS bunkers fed into.
R617s featured rooms for a large switchboard, batteries and charging, cabling, a small workshop, plus a large crew room. There was also a close combat defensive embrasure which covered the main entrance and an observation Tobruk.