Tourlist AW Netherlands 23.01.2005

On Sunday the 23 th of january 2005 was a special occasion to visit the fortisland in the channel leading from the north sea to Amsterdam . The entry fee will be given to victims of the flood in south-eastern asia . The fortisland is located in the harbour section of the city of Ijmuiden . Once the old dutch fort defended the entry to this important channel. During the second world war the germans build here one of the few Kernwerke. This Kernwerk saw no action until the end of the second world war. In the sixties of the last century plans were realised to minimize the shape of the island due to the traffic situation on this important water way. More than half of the island were broken down together with a large number of buildings. Since this time the island remained nearly unchanged until the second half of the 1990’s. At that time work started recovering and restoring the old dutch fort and also the remaining german bunkers. The fortisland is accessible only on special occasions. The island is owned by the dutch government, the department which is responsible for the waterways, the “Rijkswaterstraat”. Due to this fact the bunkers are generally in a good condition. The  Werkgroep Onderzoek Verdedigingswerken Ijmuiden (WOVIJ), a group of dutch bunker friends startet digging up the last remaining R 644 on the fortisland in 1997. Meanwhile this bunker is restored in a very nice way and houses also a small exhibition. Other realized plans of the WOVIJ are the digging up of the R 631 and R 635 and the cleaning of the bunkers.

Baupunkt 73    MKB Kernwerk 1 x R 631 SA (frontwall and roof in 3,0 m), 1 x R 635 SA (roof + walls in 3,0 m), 1 x R 644, 1 x R 671 SK (entry at the side), 1 x R 668 SK (2 floors, lower floor accessible via Niedergangsklappe), 2 x M 170 + R 656 SK (connected via huge concrete staircases with the old dutch fort), V 191 (depth charge thrower), Vf 1a, dutch MG bunker, anti tank obstacles, old dutch fort, Brunnen Galerie (infantery access gallery to the old fort).

More information about the WOVIJ, the Festung Ijmuiden and especially the Kernwerk under:

http://www.wovij.vuurwerk.nl/

Festung Ijmuiden

Baupunkt 81    MKB Heerenduin  4 x M 272, 1 x M 178, 2 x R 134, 1 x feldm. UStd with OB lei Fla, 2 x OB main armament

Baupunkt 82    M.Fl.B. Olmen 1 x Fl 244 + Fl 304 SK

Stp.Grp. Zandvoort

Landfront         1 x anti tank wall, 1 x anti tank wall climbing up the hill, 1 x Walzkoerpersperre, 1 x Rs for tankturret, 4 x Rs 58, 1 x MG post in the anti tank wall near the railway line, 1 x double MG post in a corner of the anti tank wall