The command bunker on the Badhuisweg

Among the trees lie the remains of a command post. Along the Badhuisweg the occupier built sixteen bunkers, with a type 608 command bunker at their heart. From that bunker, and from requisitioned villas on the Nieuwe Parklaan, the Verteidigungsstab under SS-Oberführer Erwin Tzschoppe directed Stützpunktgruppe Scheveningen.

 

In the German plans The Hague held the second highest status of the entire Atlantic Wall. The city was a seaside resort and a seat of government at once, which made it an attractive target for a landing. The defence works covered much of the city's territory and part of neighbouring Wassenaar.

 

On either side of the command bunker stood bombproof quarters for forty men, along with an ammunition bunker whose walls of reinforced concrete were three metres thick, camouflaged with painted windows and doors to pass for a house. Between the villas stood an air raid shelter of eleven by forty-five metres, which soldiers could reach at a run during a sudden attack from the air.

 

Volunteers have cleared and furnished the command bunker, a crew bunker and a latrine bunker. The command bunker is largely in its original state and can be visited on Sundays during the summer season.

 

A little to the east, behind the trees, lies the Westbroekpark with its rose garden. The next stop is there.