Nordmole

Between 1941 and 1942, the German navy built an anti-aircraft battery that they named “Nordmole” [northern mole or breakwater] on what was at the time the western-most tip of the Nieuwe Waterweg [new waterway] canal’s north bank. It contained four cannon installed on open emplacements with shelters and ammunition magazines. A cupola constructed of steel plate protected the gunner from flying shrapnel. The fire control post occupied a central position within the battery. Peripheral to the command post and the gun positions were a total of sixteen battle shelters of which two had reinforced concrete walls and two meter thick roofs. A short distance away in the rear of the battery were large and small munitions bunkers, a kitchen, a washroom/toilet building, a machinery bunker to provide electricity, a guard house, a personnel bunker and a few troop shelters. The grounds were shielded from the waterfront by a high anti-tank wall. Integral to the wall were three artillery casemates for enfilade fire.

After the war the gun cupolas were removed and over time drifting sands began to bury the battery. During construction of the Maasvlakte industrial complex in the early 1970’s suction dredgers removed sand from the shipping channel and various harbors. The sand was deposited on the north bank of the canal as reinforcement of the shore, giving rise to the so-called Van Dixhoorn triangle, a new land area west of the original shoreline. The Nordmole battery effectively became orphaned in a location away from the shore.

Excavation of the bunkers began in the 1990’s. Driving in the direction of the beach along the Strandweg and the Badweg roads, the massive type 625 artillery bunker first comes into view on the left. It was positioned to deliver flanking fire along the all-but-disappeared anti-tank wall. Today it serves as the site of a museum dedicated to the Atlantic Wall.

Dug into the incline of the sand dune to its rear, are the remains of a 1939 Dutch steel-armored machine-gun casemate. The Germans demolished this work to reuse its valuable armor plating. The rest of the battery still lies hidden in the dunes and only a single bedding had thus far been excavated. Adjacent to the site are a few personnel shelters. The battery’s large type FL246 ammunition depot sits adjacent to the Strandweg en route to the beach. The whitewashed structure with a ship mounted on its roof now houses two museums: a life-boat and sea rescue museum (the Jan Lels Reddingsmuseum), and one dedicated to the Dutch ferry service (Nationaal Veerdienst Museum).