Dune du Perroquet
The Dune du Perroquet is an approx. 250 hectare large dune area on the North Sea , which lies between the French holiday resort Bray-Dunes and the Belgian border. Together with this beach, it is the most northerly piece of French landscape and belongs to the natural area Les Dunes flamandes ( Flemish dunes or dunes of Flanders ).
Without the structure of the landscape changes, the closing Dune du Perroquet directly to the western Belgian dunes De Westhoek in which up to the resort to De Panne extends and completely under conservation stands. In the southeast of the Westhoek dunes, these merge into the Calmeynbos dune forest , on the eastern edge of which the De Nachtegaal nature park center was built, which explains the landscapes of the beach and dunes.
In the south, roughly on the border between the dune belt and polders, the railway line runs from Bray-Dunes to Adinkerke , where there is a connection to the coastal tram .
Nature reserve
While a campsite with a sailing club is located in a strip in the east of the Dune du Perroquet, the main part of the dune area of 178.99 hectares has been designated as a nature reserve of the same name since 1985.
In the small area there is an extraordinary biodiversity with more than 350 plant species and 70 bird species living there.
Selection of plants in the nature reserve
Maginot Line and the Atlantic Wall
At the border of the dunes and the beach and in the dunes there are many sunken, tilted, blown and blown ruins of bunker systems. These are the remains and traces of a military-historical feature:
Northern terminus of the Maginot Line
In the Dune de Perroquet is the northern end of the French Maginot Line , with which France wanted to protect itself against a German revenge attack after winning World War I , in which it had gained territories in the south. In contrast to the massively fortified border with Germany, the border with Belgium was rather weakly fortified.
On the one kilometer border with Belgium in the Dune du Perroquet, however, a system of 25 bunkers was built, the French name Blockhouse MOM, 21 of which were machine gun stands, two for 25 mm AC cannons and a gun stand for a 75 mm cannon . An observation bunker made it possible to direct the fire onto the D 60 department road and control it in this way. The facility belonged to the première région militaire and, as part of the Maginot line, to the Secteur fortifié des Flandres . Since the level, constantly drained marshland in the polders south of the dunes did not allow bunkers, the next group of bunkers was built in the Fossil Dunes of Ghyvelde, slightly offset inland . There 24 bunkers of the type Blockhaus MOM and one of the type FCR were built, which were supposed to close the Route nationale 1 .
Even today (2014) the list of the still visible installations at Bray-Dunes at tracesofwar shows four French observation posts, seven shelters, one machine gun position and one gun post.
Atlantic Wall
After the occupation of France by Germany in World War II , which was preceded by an attack on the neutral Belgium , the occupiers built the Atlantic Wall to prevent an invasion from England . It was particularly well developed on the Channel Coast. The captured French structures in the Dune du Perroquet were also included in this fortress system.
The following bases and positions were set up in the Dunes du Perroquet, which belonged to the AOK 15 / KVA B section of the wall:
- Anna base , which mainly included systems of the French Maginot line, in the direct area of the Belgian border.
- ZWN Ahlen also on the Belgian border near the beach
- ZWN Ahrweiler , in the middle of the area near the beach
- Adolph base close to the stand and directly on the border of the current development of Bray-Dunes
- Aster base in the southwestern part of the area
Access
The area is accessible to nature lovers via two marked hiking trails. The Circuit de la dune du perroquet hike stretches for five kilometers and is estimated at 1 hour 40 minutes. This is realistic, as long stretches lead through loose sand.
Web links
Nature reserve and hiking
- Entry of the protected area with the number FR1100130 in the Inventaire National du Patrimoine Nature
- GPS data for the circular route at tracegps.com
Maginot Line and Atlantic Wall
Coordinates: 51 ° 5 ' N , 2 ° 32' E
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr/siteLittoral/172/28-dune-du-perroquet-59_nord.htm
- ↑ http://www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr/siteLittoral/172/28-dune-du-perroquet-59_nord.htm there rider Faune et flore
- ↑ http://nl.tracesofwar.com/country.asp?countryid=4&provinceid=139
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )