Mont Kemmel – The Lettenberg Bunkers

Restored British bunkers on the slopes of the Kemmelberg.

And these are the signs, once you get there, to look out for if you wish to find them.

May 1918 map with the four bunkers marked beneath the red circle, just to the north of Mont Kemmel (in green), all now in German hands, although little more than half a mile from the front line during the early summer of 1918.

The Kemmelberg, up until the spring of 1918, was a – probably the – crucial British observation post in Flanders, and some time towards the end of 1916, British tunnellers began excavating beneath the Lettenberg, a small hill on the northern side (and thus shielded from the enemy) of Mont Kemmel, to create an underground headquarters complex.

Information board and basking bugs.

There has been a certain amount of restoration to these bunkers over the years,…

…and I think that, for once, the concrete sandbags, now considerably aged, work quite well.

This first bunker shows evidence of fighting, although, thinking about it, from which war, who knows?

Presumably Great War, but there could well have been small actions around here in 1940, too.

The interior shows clearly the method of construction,…

…concrete being poured onto metal sections of what were actually known as ‘Large English Elephants’,…

…but tend to be referred to simply as sections of ‘elephant iron’,…

…creating the shape within that you now see, although the iron itself is long gone in this particular bunker.  The entrance, or entrances, to the tunnels beyond would have been where the dark earth has tumbled in, here on either side, protecting any men immediately beyond from shells landing just outside the entrance.

These bunkers – to be more accurate, these bunker entrances – were built in the spring of 1917, by which time the excavations beneath the hill included, at the very least, troop billets, a first aid post and a brigade headquarters,…

…all of which are presumably still there beneath the wooded slopes behind,…

…although now long blocked up.

If you look at photos of this bunker taken during the restoration,…

…the red cross seen here is very clear, painted on the outside wall.  Now, it is close to fading away entirely, and shows up better in photographs than in reality.

The entrance to bunker number three,…

…shows evidence of more bullet holes to the right of the doorway,…

…and inside,…

…much of a section of Large English Elephant still remains, as well as, top left,…

…one of the central metal sheets, still clinging to the roof.

On to the fourth…

…and final bunker,…

…where, if we take a look inside,…

…the elephant iron-shaped concrete can again be clearly seen, a small piece of actual iron still hanging on in the top right foreground, along with two more of the thin metal sheets at the roof’s apex, and the (fairly) recently shored-up rear wall, the entrances to the tunnels beyond now obscured from view.

Roof close-ups (above & below) where the metal plates are missing showing the concrete in close-up,…

…and outside, another information board,…

…with fewer bugs this time, and a photograph (bottom right) taken at the time the bunkers were being restored.

A weary Baldrick – without whom, of course – heads back to the car.  Should you have arrived here whilst on our tour of the Kemmel cemeteries, click here to continue that tour.