A famous 4.7cm Festungspak 36 (t) gone..
Through the French Atlantikwall Forum I read the sad news that the very special 4.7cm Festungspak 36 (t) in a 612 at Kerbascuirl near Plouhinec (south of Bretagne) has disappeared.
Although it was a miracle the gun was still there after so many years it’s still very disappointing. At the moment there’s no info on who removed the gun.
The gun from Czech origin was brought from Czech fortifications in large quantities after the German annexation of Sudetenland in 1938. The ‘4cm kanon Škoda vz.36’ was renamed to the german 4.7cm Festungspak 36 (t) and special Regelbauten were built for it (139, 506). In the Atlantikwall the gun was widely used and new Regelbauten (642, 631/631B) replaced the older ones, although the old Regelbauten were still built too. Besides the St bunkers, a large amount of Vf bunkers were built for the gun. These structures differed in shape and layout from region to region.
The example in Kerbascuirl was unique in that the gun was placed in a 612 casemate which is a regular bunker for a field gun. The Festungspak was strangely mounted and still had its protective shield and ‘Kugelkopf’.
Addition 24 May 2021
Twelve years later, by a funny coincedence, I found out through the Wikipedia page about the weapon, that this example is now located in the Czech fort MO S-5 „Na trati” near Bohumin in the Czech Republic. So it’s back to its ‘original owner’, although I don’t know if this specific cannon was among the first batch in 1937 which was actually built in.
The gun on its mount in 2005 (Photo: Arthur van Beveren)
The transfer to the Czech Republic was legal – a gift from the town of Plouhinec. The cannon was reconstructed without the machine gun to approximately match the “Q” version that was previously in MO-S 5. Fb of the museum: https://www.facebook.com/bunkr.bohumin/posts/2781047085265104
Thank you Tulda for clearing this up. Are you involved in the museum?
No, I’m generally interested in what’s going on around our fortifications. However, in the book about the bunker MO-S 5 near Bohumín there is a picture with the mayor of Plouhinec and I think there is also a donation deed.