Lettenberg bunkers

In the Lokerstraat, level with the Kattekerkhofstraat, there are a number of concrete shelters on the left hand side of the road. Like many hills in the front region, the Kemmelberg and its spurs were used to construct and conceal underground networks of tunnels and bunkers. In April and May 1917 the 175th Tunneling Company dug a command post and shelters for a platoon of infantry under the Lettenberg, a spur of high ground running off the main Kemmelberg ridge. These four ‘dug-outs’ (at one time there was probably a fifth) were made by pouring reinforced concrete over a basic structure made from elephant sheeting, with its characteristic undulating form. Sandbag walls provided extra protection.

The Germans captured the Kemmelberg in April 1918. They also made grateful use of these shelters, and the red cross that can still just be seen above one of the entrances was put there by a German medical unit.

There is now a path from the road leading to the shelters. Each one has an entrance and a window opening. One of the shelters is now used as a winter hibernation place for bats.

Vl. Toeristisch bezienswaardigheden