Festung Hoek van Holland

The city of Hoek van Holland is situated at the entrance to the port of Rotterdam. The location was strategically important for the Germans and the hole area was throughout the war, strongly fortified.

The name "Festung" was only used, by the Germans, if they considered a area to be impregnable.

At the northern end of the town, overlooking the harbor entrance, a command bunker was built and several crew bunkers. It was from this bunker, the fight in the event of an Allied invasion, should be controlled.

Batterie Vineta

South of the command bunker there was an old Dutch gun battery which the Germans had taken over. In 1943, the four 150 mm. guns that before stood in the open ring position, were moved into each of their own built pillbox.  The fire control post was of dutch origin and around the dunes were located ammunition bunkers, crew bunkers, a hospital bunker, Air defense bunker and two gun bunkers to protect the backside of the gun battery.

Because of a massive port expansion after the war, most of all bunkers in Hoek van Holland were destroyed. This was particularly all bunkers in Navy gun battery Rozenburg, which was equipped with three 280 mm. guns from the German battleship Gneisenau. These were mounted individually in armored turrets, as in gun battery Großer Kurfürste, and located on the Peninsula De Beer just south of the harbor.