here are pictures of the inside of K3 with the German ceiling crane that was s maintained by the French after the war and still works.
a question on the Flak apperatures Skip with loading bays for ammo, you think 8.8cm or larger .....your # 3 pic on thread # 20 ? great impressive shots
I believe tha tis correct. Considering the large socle I'd say 88mm for anti bomber defense on the roof and 20mm along the docks to prevent diving stafing aircraft from coming too close. I think the 20 mm were twinned or even quadruple mounted , but I'm not certain about that because they were also used by the French after 1945
Skipper, thanks again from someone who will probably never get to see this in person. It's a poor substitute, but it gives me a better understanding of the setup.
Hi Skipper, absolutely great new additions to this thread. One of these Centuries, im going to have to pull out all the pics I took of the U 181 Vets while attending their 9th reunnion-as well as all the pics I too of Remy and his Wife and of various artifacts in his home and also of Susanne and my strictly accidental meeting of GJ RKT Michael Possinger at the Forsthaus Graseck in Oberammergau. Forgot to mention i also have reat shots of suff in Wilhelmshavn, Bremerhaven, Laboe, Moltenort, Rothenberg O.d.T, Heldeiberg, Solothurn, Switzerand and sem other stuff ;-))
While on the roof of k3 I could sport the eastside of the Bay and noticed the opulant villas that were occupied by the Kriegsmarine Officers during the war. They are some kilometers away from Keroman and you have to drive back in land until you find a bridge. Of course the kM alos used a shutte by sea which was much shorter but this was stopped fo most officers when the air attacks increased. Some villas still belong to the French army (Doennitz's Villa) and are still used by navy officers nowadays, but many are private properties and one (Villa Margarath) is turned into a pub for tourists. The village is a luxourious tourist resort and has one of the highest intact bunker concentration I have ever seen ( bunker pictures from this place will be posted later) . I have also posted apicture of the view the officers had on Keroman and one of the old fisherman beach, this gives you an ambianc eof the comfort the officers experienced while their men were in the bunkers opposite.
Here are some coastal defense bunkers and storage warehouses I spotted on the Eastbank of the Lorient Harbour. several are still used by local associations, clubs , companies etc... and some even have a postal address so you can actually send mail to former Atlantikwall bunkers! Other are smartly camouflaged in the urban landscape with flowers, paint , stairs etc..
This book is very interesting about these matters: Hitler's U-boat Bases Publisher: Sutton ISBN-13: 9780750945554 Author: Jak P. Mallmann Showell Binding: Paperback Pages: 224 Size: 170x240 mm If Za -as technic- see these images can help us in one question that intrigued me for many years: Is the concrete degraded for the abandone and short manteinance? Seems that various surfaces are attacked by the enviromental agents..... Jan.
You are correct. Time is taking its toll and iron netting is covering some fragile parts to prevent concentre to fall down on tourists. The cammo part I showed earlier is one of the last parts that still has the original paint. Thank you for the book ref.
More from the inside of Keroman 3 . This will give you a better idea of the huge size of this bunker.
I also focussed on smaller details . Only one other guy stopped to take these kind of pics, probably a WWII buff as well. I am not certain the other seven noticed these scenes. 1) a bunker lamp 2) a sand coloured wall that I believe to be a relic of original Todt paint
A couple of links in french language with a lot of information The U-Boot Base: Base de sous-marins de Keroman Villa Kerozen, the residence of Gross Admiral Dönitz: Larmor-Plage, Kernevel (le), Maison dite Villa Kerozen Jan.
Cheers Jan, my holidays from last August. I have many more pictures, but since this thread died out a few months ago I stopped posting them and focussed on other things. They however comprised much of the things you see in the links you provided.
Wow, such nice pics. I'll never forget sabotaging the base as an allied spy in Medal of Honor: Frontline. Are the shelters deteriorating? Or did the Germans build them well?
The Lorient U-boote base was build under supervision of Jacques Stosskopf (27 November 1898 – 1 September 1944) Previous the war he held the post of deputy director of naval construction at the Lorient arsenal. From September 1940, under the guise of collaboration with the Germans, he used his position to inform Allied forces of submarine movements at Lorient but he was denounced and arrested by the Gestapo in 1944. He was executed at Struthof camp in Alsace. He was posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour in 1945. The submarine base at Lorient was given his name in July 1946
Stosskopf was denounced by a member of the "reseau Alliance" who gave his name to the gestapo after having been tortured. He was captured the 21 february 1944.
I have followed in Skipper's footsteps.....here are my pictures of a very memorable afternoon in Lorient. The weather was quite beautiful which is helpful when photographing old concrete.... The bunkers are very easy to find and it felt good to finally park with the famous buildings right in front... As Skipper says, the buildings are very impressive and are in the scale of the big V2 installations or Hamburg/Berlin flak towers. Here is Keroman II... If you look at the righthand side, you can just see a litle group of people standing next to a tiny cabin ' the billetarie'. The riot is about to begin.... The wait gave me time to examine some interesting details - one of the armoured doors protecting an entrance..... The rear of Keroman II.... The remains of one of the blockships in the river...