Noordwijk

The Atlantikwall Museum Netherland in Noordwijk is set inside a system of underground military bunkers that were built by German troops occupying the town in WWII.  By the end of 1943 the Germans had constructed an elaborate arrangement of observational bunkers that looked out onto the North Sea from the sand dunes.  The Germans hoped that these bunkers would help them defend the beaches should an anticipated allied invasion materialise.  After the end of the war in 1945 the bunkers became a playground for local children and were eventually locked up for safety reasons.  It seems the bunkers were rather forgotten about for a time, but in 2004, and after a period of restoration, parts of the bunker system were finally opened up to the visiting public. 

Similar bunkers to those which can be seen in Noordwijk were built all the way along the western coastline of Europe; stretching from the French-Spanish border and up into Norway.  This extensive system of coastal fortifications, constructed by the German army, was known as the Atlantikwall, and consisted primarily of batteries, bunkers, and minefields.  The protective wall was never totally completed, and only a few bunkers have survived into the 21st century.

The Netherlands was invaded in 1940, and suffered 5 years of Nazi-occupation.  The town of Noordwijk held an important strategic position, sandwiched between Germany and the North Sea, and even when much of Western Europe had been liberated from Nazi control, Holland remained under German control until May of 1945, when it was finally liberated by American and Canadian troops.

There are two main parts to the Atlantikwall Museum in Netherland.  The first is a museum which sits inside a former ammunition bunker.  Amongst other memorabilia, the museum displays parts of a Mustang plane which crashed landed in the Noordwijk area in 1944.  The pilot was an American airman who survived the crash, and aided by local DR (Dutch Resistance), was kept hidden for 3 weeks before rowing across the North Sea to England, a journey that took 36 hours!

The second part of the museum is a guided tour around observational bunkers, and canon bunkers.  There is an extra charge to book a place on the tour, but the cost is minimal and the tour is fantastic value.  Remember to call ahead to book a place on the tour as the Museum is very popular, especially in peak season. 

There are no exhibits in this part of the museum, just a maze of underground tunnels, rooms, and bunkers that are navigated with the tour guide.  The main bunker is a huge expanse of concrete, with gun rooms, sleeping quarters, and observational decks that seem to sprout in every direction.  Apparently this main bunker took only 10 weeks to erect, using local Dutch men for much of the labour.  The main tunnel runs underground for at least half a mile, with sub tunnels that develop into large rooms and bunkers every few hundred feet.  Some of the tunnels have been crushed over time under severe weight from the sand above; but the majority has been restored, and to this day restoration work is continuing to repair bunkers and tunnels a few hundred metres up the coast.

The sheer scale of the bunker system is as startling as it is unnatural – and there is a rather eerie feeling down in the bunkers; surrounded by the 3m thick bomb proof walls, mesh grenade nets, canon positions, and observation decks.  But despite the heavy subject matter the fact is that a visit to the Atlantikwall Museum Netherland is a truly educational experience and a ‘must see’ for anyone visiting Noordwijk.