The port of Dunkirk was the first major port to be captured as German forces swept across France in 1940 and a building program for defensive structures was implemented almost immediately to protect their newfound territory.
At Stp Eduard – in the northeast area of the town - you can find a large range of defensive casemates and personnel buildings, plus one of the largest bunkers built in the Dunkirk area.
These constructions were created as a defensive position for the locks which allowed entry along the Canal de Bourbourg into the port’s main docks area.
At the heart of them is a huge, special construction bunker which featured two large pens for German ‘Schnellboots’, the torpedo-armed fast boats which patrolled the narrow English Channel between Dunkirk, Calais, and the south coast of England.
This two-storey building measures over 65m long and 60m wide with a large observation deck on top and would have provided protection for up to four S-Boats. Around 250m inland, at the end of the short canal is a second, smaller S-Boat building. Both are currently in industrial use and undergoing redevelopment so access inside it no longer possible.
On the seafront looking out towards the East Mole – that used by the British Expeditionary Force during the evacuation – are several large, early-type casemates for defensive weapons, plus two R501 personnel shelters and two R134 ammunition storage bunkers.
Inland, and now almost buried by vegetation you can see a large storage bunker and a R621 group shelter.
Please be careful if visiting this site as it is currently being used by large construction vehicles involved in dock development.