A piece from the Mariniers Perron...

We had a very interesting walk today with IVN ... a lot of information about the nature area of the German line, the pools that lie aside of it. About old forests that are slowly being restored. The old bullet trap from Volkel Air Base, and an old bunker that is now inhabited by bats. Especially about the bats was surprisingly much and interesting information. Never knew that they eat so many insects in one night ... Thank goodness for the bats... although they sometimes give me the creeps...

The history about this piece of "the German Line"
Air base Volkel was constructed by the Germans during the Second World War. In the last days of the war, the airfield was used by the Allies as the airbase for their offensive against the Germans, but when the front landed further into Germany, the airport was abandoned. In 1946 it became a navy camp, where marines were trained before being sent to Indonesia. The Marines traveled via the Zeeland stop, which was quite far from the camp. That is why the camp commander asked in 1947 whether the military trains could stop closer to the base. The NS agreed: the NS built a platform on the free track and placed an abri for the duty officer, defense hardened the road to the camp and provided lighting.
In 1949 the conflict in Indonesia was over and Volkel was again used as an airport. Somewhere before 1955 a sidetrack of the main rail was laid and an extra platform; in 1972 it was completely demolished.

Today, the two platforms are still clearly recognizable in the landscape and an information board, a bench and a piece of rails have been placed.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and stars for yesterdays Blip! Xxx