MSB Nordwijk

The dunes North of Katwijk were the site of a coastal battery, StP. XXXIII M 7./201 Marine Seeziel Batterie [Navy Coastal Battery] “Nordwijk”, comprising four captured French 15.5 cm K418 (f) cannon with a range of 19.5 kilometers, manufactured in 1917 by the Fillioux Company. The guns were operated by navy artillery unit 201. The battery’s garrison counted three officers, thirty NCOs and one hundred thirty-seven enlisted men. Its weaponry consisted of four cannon in casemates on the beach and two in bunkers at the rear of the position, two anti-aircraft guns, twelve flame throwers. There were two search lights.

The artillery was installed in the summer of 1940, in open emplacements with a diameter of well over seven meters. At the time, the battery’s purpose was to protect German convoys sailing along the coast. At the center of the emplacement was a masonry fire control post. During the winter of 1942-1943, an emplacement was constructed for each of the cannon. In addition, each site featured two interconnected ammunition bunkers: a type M158 and a type FL243a. The fire control was directed from a large type S414 fire control post. In the fall of 1943, roofs and walls were built around the open emplacements to protect the artillery against bombing and shelling. The control post and the four artillery bunkers were linked by underground tunnels. Two large type FL246 ammunition depots were also part of this group. The battery commander’s accommodations were located in the personnel bunker (type M151) at the rear of the position. Nearby were two type 612 field artillery bunkers that defended the battery’s east side. This first line of dunes further contained two gun casemates (a type 671 variant and a type 667). Tobruks outfitted with machine guns and flame throwers provided defensive support. The complex, which counted over 100 structures further comprised masonry depots and shelters and such noteworthy structures as a swimming pool and an aquarium.

After the war, several of the bunkers were put to good use by mushroom growers and boy scout troops. The southern ammunitions depot was refurbished as a war-time fine art storage facility. The vacant structures were a popular playground, even after being the site of a fatal accident in 1967. After the disastrous 1953 flood, the first line of defense works in the dunes was removed. The southern part of the battery (except for the ammunition bunker) was demolished in 1953 to make way for luxury residential real estate. The complex’s core remained intact and has lain hidden under the sand since 1984. In May of 2005, the Atlantic Wall Museum, built within a former ammunition bunker, opened its doors to the public. Visitors can take guided tours of the artillery casemates and the fire control post.