The bunkers at Harlingen were part of the Atlantic Wall: the more than 6,000-kilometer-long German defense line from Norway to Spain. The Atlantic Wall is one of the largest structures of the 20th century.
The line was built during the Second World War between 1942 and 1945 to prevent an Allied invasion of the Western European mainland from the sea. The Atlantic Wall was a series of separate smaller and larger support points that could give each other fire support.
In many cases they consisted of bombproof bunkers, sometimes with a wall and roof thickness of at least two meters of reinforced concrete. Due to a lack of labour, equipment and fuel, only 510 bunkers of the planned 2000 had been built in the Netherlands. In the English Garden in Harlingen is a German bunker that was part of the Atlantic Wall. It concerns a Communications Command Post with which the Germans coordinated the Frisian coastal defences.
Foar dizze sprong doch ik in berop op dyn ferbyldingskrêft. We steane by it reade bankje en geane werom nei it jier 1540, yn deselde tiid as de bou fan de Stins dy’t we niiskrekt seagen. Gean mar eefkes rêstich sitten ast dat noflik fynst.
Bist safier? Okee dêr geane we. It is de tiid fan de reformaasje en ek Fryslân keart him tsjin it Katolisisme. It is de tiid fan de “hagepreken” en rûnom steane tsjerkjes ferskûle. Sa ek op it plak wêr’t letter de snackbar en it terras stean soene, stiet in skûltsjerkje yn de foarm fan in âld skuorre. Dit is ien fan de earste Doopsgezinde gemeentes. Fan bûten liket it op in âld skuorre, mar binnen wane je jin yn in tsjerke, kompleet mei in preekstoel. It hûs rjochts fan de Pastorij is de âlde pastorijwente. ’t Far rint hjir omhinne en wêr’t letter it pleintsje kaam is, steane noch in pear húskes oan it wetter. Dizze húskes wurde pas yn de jierren sechtich fan de 20ste ieuw ôfbrutsen. Okee, eefkes bekomme? We geane wer fierder!
De yllúzje fan tiid learde ús al dat wy oer wetter rinne kinne en dus rin mar mei tusken de grutte balstiennen troch nei de T-splitsing. Stopje hjir mar eefkes.