Like many of the Atlantikwall sites in the Pas de Calais area, Heeres Kusten Batterie (HKB) Merlimont was a German Army coastal batterie built for French guns captured following the occupation of the country in 1940.
Located 2.2km back from the beach near Merlimont Plage this site featured four 15.5cm heavy field guns, originally positioned in open emplacements with the view to constructing four concrete casemates to protect them from aerial attacks at a later stage.
The four bunkers were earmarked to be R669 type casemates but, like many sites, not all of the planned constructions were completed here and only one R669 can be seen today.
Inside is a bit of a wreck but you can still see two small niches where ammunition for the gun would have been stored along with some of the of the remaining ventilation pipework which would have helped removed some of the gases created during firing.
HKB Merlimont stands in an old sand dune system which has gradually been eaten away by modern developments and many of the supporting structures around this once large site are now either buried within housing or in the pine woodlands which surround this holiday town.
The exception is the rare R128 type twin group bunker – only seven were built on the entire Atlantikwall – which stands almost directly in front of the gun casemate.
This personnel building is worth the visit alone, despite the need to crawl on your knees in order to get through one of the two main entrances, as it is rich in original inscriptions on its walls and still has the armoured plates in place on the defensive embrasures covering each entry.
Both entrances feature a protective outer wall of brick but, due to the ingress of sand, the inside of the shelter can be tricky to move around in if you’re tall!
Inscriptions include instructions for using the air-filtration system along with markings for the different vent types and which filter to use in the instance of a gas attack.
The R128 has two large main crew rooms connected by a short passage plus two small store rooms – one designed for personal weapon ammunition and the other for a stove/heater.