Staelduin Forest is a wooded area on the north side of the former Festung of Hook of Holland, safe distance from the coast. Recognizing the advantages of the location, the German army built two headquarters and a small artillery position there. The oldest complex in the forest consisted of seven thin-walled munitions bunkers. An infantry regiment headquarters which later served the commander of the entire Fortress was built along the road leading up to these bunkers.
The lay-out of the complex is noteworthy. A type 608 command bunker is situated centrally, with a set of type 501 group shelters located across the road. In a circle around the central bunker are three type 134 munitions bunkers, three type 502 group shelters, a type 118c hospital bunker and four masonry storage buildings. Oriented along the central thoroughfare are two more type 502 group shelters, a rare type 142 communications bunker for recharging accumulators, and other masonry structures that included a canteen with kitchen and dining room, a bath-house and barracks. Placed seemingly at random are two more munitions bunkers and two shelters making a “bunker village” with a total of sixteen heavy bunkers. Five garages are interspersed between this “village” and the seven ammunition depots. Most of the masonry buildings on this site have been cleared but the concrete structures remain intact.
The other headquarters site in the north-east corner of Staelduin forest is not accessible. It consists of a type 610 command bunker that included crew quarters and four type 134 and four type 502 shelters. After the war the Dutch Defense Department used both headquarters mostly for storing ammunition. Today the Staelduin forest is managed by the “Stichting het Zuid-Hollands Landschap” foundation for nature preservation. Many species of bats now make their home within the heavy walls, and over thirty types of rare moss thrive on the structures’ surface.