Stützpunkt 120 Pommern – Wissant, France
Stp. Pommern or Stützpunkt 120 Pommern was a German defensive position on the French coast. It was situated on the beach just south of the French town Wissant. The defensive position is named after a German historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea.
History
Stützpunkt 120 Pommern started out as a defensive position with rows of barbed wire fences in 1940. It became a Widerstandsnest 6 with open gun emplacements in 1941 and 1942. In 1943 the anti-tank wall was situated at the foot of the dunes, and the bunkers on top, its name then was Stützpunkt 146 Pommern . In 1944 some open gun emplacements were replaced by the R612 bunkers and two 5 cm KwK guns. One on the Regelbau 600 bunkers, the other in an open gun emplacement. A Tobruk was added into the anti-tank wall together with a Vf beobachtung – Schnabelstand observation post. In 1944, when it was under command of 3 Kompanie/Grenadierregiment 115/47 Infanteriedivision, the strongpoint was renamed to Stützpunkt 120 Pommern. While allied forces closed in after the D-Day invasion on 6 June 1944 the German forces left Stützpunkt 120 Pommern behind, demolishing as much of Stützpunkt 120 Pommern by exploding their ordnance and destroying the bunkers.
Bunker types in Stützpunkt 120 Pommern
Stützpunkt 120 Pommern consisted of the Regelbau 501, 502, 600, 612 and 630 bunkers, an anti-tank wall, open gun emplacements, mine fields, barbed wire and other defenses.
The two Regelbau 501 were a Gruppenunterstand für 10 mann, two group shelters for 10 soldiers each.
The Regelbau 502 was a Doppelgruppenunterstand für 20 mann, a double group shelter for 20 soldiers. This bunker is not in the photos, it lies more inland in the dunes.
A Regelbau 600 was a Geschützstellung für 5-cm KwK, a gun position for 5-cm KwK (Eng. Kampfwagenkanone – 5 cm tank gun). The type 600 is a bunker with an open bedding on the roof. In this bed was a gun with a caliber of 5 cm (KwK). The underlying crew quarters was manned by 1 non-commissioned officer and 5 soldiers. The bunker had a length of 10 x 9.90 meters and was 6 meters high.
The two Regelbau 612 were a Schartenstand für Lande- und Sturmabwehrgeschütze ohne Nebenräume (Eng. Notch position for landing and anti-assault guns without adjoining rooms). The type 612 was a flanking gun bunker for both the 7.5 cm guns and the 10.5 cm guns. A single 612 bunker had a length of 9 by 9 meters and was equipped with 2 ammunition rooms in addition to the gun room. Approximately 500 grenades could be stored in these rooms.
The Regelbau 630 was a M.G. – Schartenstand mit Panzerplatte (Eng. Machine gun Notch stand with armor plate). The type 630 was a combat bunker which was equipped with a heavy machine gun. The bunker had a single flanking effect and was equipped with an armored steel plate for the gap. There was also a waiting area in the bunker for the service personnel, which consisted of 5 men. The bunker had a length of 10.40 by 10.70 meters and the height of the bunker was 5.10 meters.
A Vf Beobachtung or Schnabelstand (Eng. observation post) and a Tobruk machine gun stand both integrated in the anti-tank wall and a separate Vf Pak Garage (Eng. Anti-tank gun garage).
There are different ideas on the combination of bunkers of this Stp. Pommern. Some sources mention a double Regelbau 630 bunker, or only one Regelbau 501 and one Regelbau 502, or two Regelbau 600 bunkers etc. We found our information years ago on an old map and redrew it. On our map are two Regelbau 501, one R 502 personnel bunkers and two Regelbau 612 flanking bunkers on each end of the anti-tank wall.
Visit
This is not possible anymore. Well, you can go to the beach for a lazy day.
Unfortunately Stützpunkt 120 Pommern became a hazard for visitors and beach loving tourists. The bunkers steadily angled more and more, erosion and sand displacement made them unstable. Therefore the French authorities decided that they had to be demolished. The bunkers on the beach were removed between 2013 and 2015.
We posted this article for all to see and read and to enjoy a part of lost history on the Atlantic Wall.
A small suggestion – say where wissant beach is. I know I have no clue, as the Atlantic Wall ran theoretically from border of Spain and France up to Norway!
Hi Tom, thx for the input. We are still working on the site and will sure make locations available. In our previous site we had a Gmap location added to the post. We will add these in the new one too.
Cheers!
Sadly the bunkers have now been removed from the beech
i visited the camping in Wissant, which lies very close to the lake mentioned in the text. there are 2 bunkers there you can still enter and are in a quite good state. the area all around wissant is scattered with bunkers and is a really good place to go bunkerseeing.
I remember playing in the bunker with the two staircases when it was well back in the sand dunes away from the sea. It had a mechanical lift inside it I remember.
When we visited one of the large cross Channel gun emplacements at Cap Gris Nez in the early 60s it still had a large pile of rusting hand grenades on the plinth in the middle.
Enjoying your articles on Atlantik Wall. Visited Wissant about 2010 and intended to return. I was amazed to see that they had disappeared from Google earth! Thanks to you, I now know what happened. Cheers. Similar sites near Boulogne have just fallen into sea and Neville Battery near Cherbourg has just about gone. I used to take family there camping.