What to see

This site is located in Octeville on the south west edge of Cherbourg and is largely hidden to the public by dense vegetation and is definitely a site off the Normandy tourist routes!
It features just one building – a rare L434 type Luftwaffe Squadron Command Post – which features 17 rooms in the main bunker, plus an additional annex which served as an observation platform.
The observation annex was on two levels, with a small concrete room below the outside platform, but it wasn’t internally connected to the main bunker. However, it is only a few steps away from one of the two main entrances to the L434.
Today the bunker is surrounded by brambles and wild vegetation which renders the annex very difficult to access, but you can tread a path to one of the main entrances and climb inside the L434 through a tiny hatch in the partially sealed doorway – if you’re small enough!
Inside you can see there is a lot of rubble, dirt, and rubbish blocking the second entrance and also the first main room on the right of the southern entrance and gaslock which was where an electricity generator would have been.
The gaslock leads to a short corridor where a right turn takes you into the Officer’s Room and left takes you into the room where the ventilation system was located.
Hanging from the ceiling are the original pipes for the heating and ventilation systems – usually removed for their scrap value after the war but still in place inside this bunker, largely because of its secluded nature.
Off this room you can go into the room where the heating system once stood, and a small store room, likely to have been used for fuel storage.
A set of steps from the heating room leads to a small room for a defensive position which featured an embrasure for a weapon which would cover both main entrances.
The Officer’s room leads directly to the main Operations room which fills the central position within the bunker and is the largest of all the spaces within the building. This room features three brick columns to help support the ceiling.
The Ops room connects to five other rooms which included a large communications/radio space, plus rooms for officers and crew, maps, storage, and a switchboard.
This bunker was taken over by US forces after the liberation of Cherbourg at the end of June 1944 and used as a medical facility for Allied soldiers injured during the battle for the port city.