An extensive bunker site on the Les Monts high plateau overlooking Wissant, Wn129 Kiel has an interesting mix of bunker types, and most can be visited with care. Permission from the local landowner is required but not always granted, we believe.
Taking the path from the village of Hervelinghen up to the hill to the site the first thing which strikes you is how heavily overgrown the sites is and this means you have to look carefully for the buildings which are well concealed – just as they would have been over 80 years ago.
Several of the buildings contain original artwork in remarkably good condition on the walls, likely due to the remote nature of the location.
The site features three Vf2a personnel shelters – two of which are accessible with care. On the walls of one Vf2a shelter you can see the feint outlines of several phrases which have become almost indistinguishable except for an idyllic scene of a German soldier on a bicycle with trees overhead and the phrase which loosely translates to ‘This bunker is a quiet shelter, only the noise of the telephone disturbs it’ written around it.
Further inscriptions can be found in the nearby Vf2a where there are the remains of the supports for soldiers’ bunks. In each bunk position there are soldier’s names which have been inscribed onto the walls in pencil. It’s incredible that these have survived for so long, but the walls of these buildings seem to be less damp than shelters at similar sites.
Inside the R120 artillery observation bunker there are also writings on the walls in several areas – each listing the site’s stocks of ammunition – with several in the main crew room and one near to the defensive embrasure in the commander’s room.
If you are visiting this site, please be respectful to the artwork on the walls and take nothing but photographs.
Access to the R120 is tricky but not impossible, but please be careful on the steps down to the entrance. Inside, the bunker is in a poor condition, the worst room being the one where the steel observation cupola once stood. This was removed by force at the end of the war and sold for its scrap metal value, leaving a huge hole in the roof of the bunker.
On top, you can also see the brick surround and ladder rungs from the R120’s escape shaft.
Located on a ridge on the top of the plateau this location offered incredible views of the coast, long sandy beaches, and town of Wissant. A few yards away is a Michelmannstand for a heavy machine gun and there wouldn’t have been many spots this weapon couldn’t cover on the ground below.
Behind the frontal ridge is a tunnel-like air-raid shelter which is buried in the hillside. There are two entrances – one a dog-leg design – but what will strike you the most is how narrow the tunnel is. Just a couple of feet wide and with several internal walls to give protection along the line of sight from one end to the other, even walking through the tunnel with a professional sized camera bag is tricky! Sadly, the artwork in here isn’t original but there are the names of rock bands which have long since stopped performing, which gives you an insight into how long ago the graffiti was written!
An open emplacement at the southern edge of the site – near to a second accessible Vf2a – was used as a searchlight post, suggesting there also would have been at least one anti-aircraft gun located at the Widerstandsnest here too.
Between many of the buildings is a network of partially filled in trenches and, along with the spiky vegetation, these can make walking around the site difficult.