Wn. Tu301 La Dilanne M.K.B. 'Kermoisan' Fire Control Post,

S414 'Grand Bunker'
One mass of concrete. Now leaving the guns and concentrating on the Fire Control Post. This was built for the batterie of four 30.5cm guns when they would have been commissioned. The two railway guns were probably placed here as a standby batterie.

To the north east of the batterie and the FCP I noticed this tower, as there are no significant hills in the area, Could this be an interim fire tower FCP?

Air photo of the FCP with a defence of Flak guns around the south side. They may have been the 7.5cm Flak M33(f).

The steps to the entrance in the rear and the three observation levels looking out over the Loire estuary and covering the entry into the St Nazaire U-boat pens.

Well my Grandson wanted to see a bunker so I found him this one on our summer holiday. Even my wife came along and thats a rare event.

This photo comes from DEFE 44-98 JIB Report on coastal batteries in France. Note the British army lorry used to take the Officers around to photograph the defences.

Mg34 covering the back door through the close combat embrasure.

The stairs down to the lower level which has no windows.

I am not sure if its original but we often find the niches by the doors but never see what was in them. This is a light switch when you enter the bunker..

A special mounting for the Mg34. This room is what may be called a guard room, any body entering and leaving may have signed in and out, also a spare cupboard for all sorts of things. Close combat embrasure.

Why a French soldier and a Label machine gun should be defending the other CCD room. It could be a Fusil-Mitrailleur (FM) Model 1924-M29 with a side mounting magazine.

Wash room.

Later it was camouflaged with windows painted on and a false roof fitted. Look below.

Oversized windows gave the impression that the bunker was smaller and was a house. It would be interesting to know if the camouflage worked?

Thomas taking to bunker hunting with a passion and climbing up this ladder as if he had done it many times before.

This is a German stabilized torpedo guidance optics and would not have been used here, but an example of what may have been used here.
A lovely piece of equipment, needs cleaning but you can view through the lenses. One sailor would stand with the straps under his armpits and look through the eye pieces. Then another sailor would stand at 90degrees to the first and look through a matched pair of eye pieces and by adjusting knurled adjusters the enemy could be targeted.

The view.

More stairs.

Held up with heavy steel jacks which tend to rust out, this one has some smaller extra ones added.

This could be the base of an original range finder.

One of the legs that holds the roof up.

If you can see the the water tower, its above the S741 emplacement

He is off again leading the way.

A Field Gendarme answering the phone.

Radio link.

Wall art.
A copy of a wall painting that was painted on a hotel wall in the area.

This model shows the way the camouflage was painted on and an added roof.

Two hand/electric operated filter sets, a handle not unlike a cars starting handle attached and turned at a steady speed, air is sucked in from outside and filtered of gases (if used) or smoke. and the bunker will then be over pressured so any leakage, gas could not enter the un sealed areas of the bunker.

There is a lot more to see inside, but I want you to go and see and visit these sites and not just look at photos of them.

Thomas showing us a painting removed from a room in La Baule or St Nazaire.
He is 19 and working now.

Beach defences.

Some form of beach defence, possibly a concrete case for an old shell that would have had a simple mechanism when activated the shell would explode.

Anti aircraft gun emplacement.

A French naval boundary stone, when the war ended. A lot of ex German sites were taken over by the French Military. They either used these areas for their defence or for troop training areas.