Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

K.V.U.Gruppe Vire · AOK 7 Normandy · France

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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 was happy to allow us.
Its now a Gite complex of several holiday houses, offices and a working farm.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

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

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

German map

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

The entrance to the farm.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

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

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

The entrance with the ammunition room on the right.

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Ammunition room.

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2018

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

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Note the details around the lip of the mortar pit.

12 October 2018

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

F f S - I presume S = South.

12 October 2018

Wn73 Vierville's mortar Tobruk painted lip.

You can see the painting on this bunker.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Unsure what sort this one is, maybe another Ic116.

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

You can just see the gun room through the trees.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Gun room.

12 October 2018

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Entrance passage still with its 19P7 lightly armoured door.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

Crew inside sat on fold-able table and chairs.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

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

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

The way out.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

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

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

AIR 37/864-2 Coastal Defence Fortifications in the Cherbourg Peninsula’

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Stahlrost 200mm breather vent.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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!!

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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

12 October 2017

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

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Gun commanders viewing slit.

12 October 2017

Gun commander looking through his viewing slit.

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Gun commanders viewing slit.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

Vent pipe set into the wall.

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

This is interesting, what is it????

12 October 2017

Wn92 Géfosse-Fontenay, Wigwam

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).

12 October 2017