Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam, K.V.U.Gruppe Vire, Normandie

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wigwam, what a name I have always wanted to visit. We arrived and a farmer was messing around in his shed, so we asked "could we have a look around" and he happily (in a "why would you want to do that, way") let us walk around.
Its Gite complex now of several holiday houses, offices and a working farm.

Skoda bunker.

Ic125 mortar Tobruk.

SK/Doppelschartenstand.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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1 x Vf/Skoda bunker.
1 x SK/Doppelschartenstand.
2 x Vf2a group shelters.
1 x SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.
1 x Vf58c Tobruk.
1 x Ic116 Tobruk s.MG.34.
2 x Ic125 ringstands for mortars.
1 x SK bunker.
1 x 60cm searchlight.
2 x 8.14cm Gr.W.278(f) mortars.
1 x 4.7cm Pak K.36(t) + MG. coaxial Vz37(t).
1 x Pz.T.FT17 MG311(f).
1 x 5cm KwK L/60.

Vf/Skoda bunker.

2 x Ic125 ringstands 8.14cm Gr.W.278(f) mortars.

SK/Doppelschartenstand.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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This is the German map of the area showing the Wn and its Mine fields (Mf.). Mf28 to the south.

 

 

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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The entrance to the farm.

Possibly a guard post here.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Tobruk.

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Covering the rear & entrance is a Tobruk now built into a shed. Ic116 Tobruk s.MG.34.

Plan.

Ic116 Tobruk.

s.MG.34. s. = Schwer or heavy machine gun.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

Details

Next we go to an Ic125 Tobruk for a 8.14cm Gr.W.278(f) mortar.

Plan.

8.14cm Brandt Mortar.

Mortar crew.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

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Ic125 covered over now but once the open ringstand of the mortar pit was wide open.

Ic125 plan.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

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The entrance with the ammunition room on the right.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

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Ammunition room.

8.14cm mortar ammunition.

 

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

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Inside the mortar pit with a centre pin to sit the mortar tube on and the barrel can move 360°s.

How it would have looked in situ.

8.14cm Gr.W.278(f) mortars. French Brandt mortar.

French Brandt-Stokes 8cm  M27/31. 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

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Note the details around the lip of the mortar pit.

A forward observer would call down the mortar fire to where it was needed.

All around the position there would be a laid out plan of where the mortar bombs were to fall and named often A,B,C but using town names or girls names as a code.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Ic125

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F f S - I presume S = South.

Wn73 Vierville's mortar Tobruk painted lip.

You can see the painting on this bunker.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Tobruk

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Plan.

 

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Tobruk

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Unsure what sort this one is, maybe another Ic116.

Plan.

Ic116 Tobruk plan.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Doppelschartenstand

Details

You can just see the gun room through the trees.

SK/Doppelschartenstand.

Plan.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Doppelschartenstand

Details

Gun room. The gun could fire north and south with a flanking wall on the left to cover the gun room from direct fire. On the right is the entrance into the bunker.

SK/Doppelschartenstand.

5cm KwK L/60.

5cm KwK guns ranges.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Doppelschartenstand

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Gun room.

5cm KwK L/60.

5cm ammunition.

5cm KwK L/60.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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Under the water tower (which is behind this tree!!).

Plan

Vf2a group shelter.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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Entrance passage still with its 19P7 lightly armoured door.

Vf2a group shelter.

19P7 door.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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19P7 lightly armoured door it had a small rectangle glass window and a rubber seal to seal against gas. This one is in very good condition.

Vf2a group shelter.

Crew inside sat on fold-able table and chairs.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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Crew room with the four sets of bunk bed hooks on the wall for six bunks.

The bunks hooked to the wall and chain holding them to the ceiling.

Vf2a group shelter.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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The escape. Most bunkers (not all) had an escape tunnel running out through the wall.

Vf2a group shelter.

410P9 door.

Plan of the escape.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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Outside of the bunker and around the side are two fittings for breathing tubes to allow ventilation.

Vf2a group shelter.

Dessinwt80 heater.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

Details

They were shaped so you could not drop a hand grenade. If you did the grenade would fall at your feet.

Vf2a group shelter.

Arrangement of the chimney.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf2a

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The way out.

Vf2a group shelter.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker

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There is no plan that I can find, this bunker would have had a crew quarters, a searchlight garage, a generator room & a Tobruk defence. It was built for a 60cm searchlight to shine across the Vey to watch for Allied ships or saboteurs getting into the port of Isigny.

Plan.

 

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.

Details

On the left the entrance steps up to the Tobruk. The large door is the entrance into the searchlight garage.

Searchlight garage in an L411 bunker.

Plan of the bunker: -
Left --- the garage & generator room..
Middle & right - Crew rooms.

Exhaust vent for generator in an L411 bunker.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.

Details

30 August 1944 photo just after capture and showing its searchlight still in place.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.

Details

Stahlrost 200mm breather vent.

Crew room in an L411 bunker.

Generator in some searchlight bunkers.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.

Details

The second Stahlrost 200mm breather vent. I have never seen a mesh cover over the main vent.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.

Details

60cm searchlight.

60cm searchlight.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
SK/Scheinwerfer Stand (searchlight) bunker.

Details

To get the searchlight up here it probably had to be taken out of the garage and dragged around the side of the bunker and pulled up onto the roof. UH!!

60cm searchlight.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

Plan.

Plan of a Skoda bunker.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

The 4.7cm Skoda gun is a Czech fortress gun. It has a ball socket at the muzzle end and the gun swivelled on the ball socket.

Skoda gun.

 

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

The 4.7cm Skoda gun is a Czech fortress gun.
4.7cm Pak K.36(t) + MG. coaxial Vz37(t).

MG. coaxial Vz37(t).

 

St-Martin-de-Varroville's Skoda bunker plan.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

Gun commanders viewing slit.

Gun commander looking through his viewing slit.

 

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

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Gun commanders viewing slit.

Gun commander looking through his viewing slit.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

The ball joint is still on place, the large hole is for the 4.7cm gun, the next is the coaxial machine gun and last the hole for the optics to view through and aim the gun.

770P4 plate.

Ball joint.

Highlighted the gun sight.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

This is a very early model Skoda bunker. All it has is an oblong room with the gun in one wall and a door in the other. I am not even sure if it ever had a door let alone an armoured door.

Plan of a Skoda bunker.

 

4.7cm.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

The door with a small vent to allow fresh air into the bunker which means it must have had a door but no frame seems to be in place.

Stahlrost130mm.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

Vent pipe set into the wall.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

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This is interesting, what is it????

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

This is inside, the piece of wood running across the wall has nothing to do with the bunker.
The 4.7cm Skoda gun is a Czech fortress gun.
4.7cm Pak K.36(t) + MG. coaxial Vz37(t).

770P4 plate.

4.7cm.

 

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

Under the gun is a tube in the front wall that leads down to a pit in front of the casemate.

Fired bullet cases would come down the tube into the pit in front o the casemate.

You can see the tube running down to the floor.

4.7cm cases.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

The 770P4 metal and you can see the ball joint and the tree holes.

770P4 plate inside.

Skoda ball.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

Details

Gun commanders viewing slit, a bolt could be slid across to close off the open slot.

Viewing through the metal plate.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam
Vf/Skoda bunker

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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The view over the area the Skoda gun would have covered.

Plan.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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There was something here but we were not sure what it was???

Plan.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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A piece of concrete step with a steel lip.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Two concrete shelves???

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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© 2013 Richard Drew