Sechsschartenturm, Heavy MG bunker, La Mare Mill Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids 4-S WaKoFest, Wn La Mare Mill
Part of Atlantic Wall
La Mare Mill, St. Ouen's Bay, Jersey
The well camouflaged turret
Flag of German occupying forces
Coordinates	49°12′47″N 2°12′43″W / 49.212989°N 2.212072°W / 49.212989; -2.212072
Site information
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Restored, retains turret
Site history
Built	1941-45 (1941-45)
Built by	Organisation Todt
In use	1941–45
Materials	Concrete, steel
Events	Occupation of the Channel Islands
Garrison information
Garrison	Heer

MG34 on mount, originally there would have been two in the turret

The Sechsschartenturm, heavy MG bunker, La Mare Mill, also known as 4-S WaKoFest, Wn La Mare Mill, is a special military building. It has a unique turret with six openings and a separate room for soldiers. A German construction group called Organisation Todt built it. They followed the strong building standards of the Atlantic Wall. This bunker was placed in a key spot near La Mare Mill during the time Germany controlled Jersey in World War II.

These "sechsschartentürme" turrets were very common along the Atlantic Wall. The Germans built nine of them in Jersey. Today, only this one and another at Mont Mathieu are still standing. The Channel Islands Occupation Society now runs this turret and bunker as a museum.

The Turret: A Strong Steel Shield
- How the Machine Guns Worked
The Bunker: A Safe Hideout
Location: Guarding the Coast
Photographs
See also

The Turret: A Strong Steel Shield

A sechsschartenturm is a turret that does not spin. It is made of very thick steel, up to 12 inches (30 cm) thick. It has six openings, called loopholes. Through these loopholes, two MG34 machine guns could fire.

This specific turret at La Mare Mill only has four working loopholes. The other two were sealed because they faced a cliff and were not useful for defense. Inside the turret, the walls were painted in six different colored sections. Each section also had a number. This system helped the gunners aim their machine guns. One gunner would aim using the colors, and the other would use the numbers.

How the Machine Guns Worked

The MG34 machine guns were placed on special mounts that could move. This made it easy for a gunner to pull a gun back from one loophole and slide it along a rail to another. This was one of the few times the soldiers inside might be seen from outside.

The gun mounts had special sights to help with aiming. The turret also had a periscope and a searchlight that could be used from inside. Each MG34 machine gun fired 7.92mm bullets very quickly, over 1000 rounds per minute. They could hit targets up to about 1500 yards (1370 meters) away. The gun mounts also had a chute to collect the empty bullet casings in bags below.

The Bunker: A Safe Hideout

This bunker is an early version of a design known as Type 632. You can only find this specific type in the Channel Islands. It has several rooms inside a large concrete structure that looks a bit like a triangle.

Rooms Inside the Bunker

The first large room is the command room. Soldiers also slept here. Beyond this room is a smaller, rectangular room. This was the magazine, where all the bunker's ammunition was stored. The last room is round. This is where bags of empty bullet casings were kept. The turret sat right above this room.

Protecting the Entrance

The entrance to the bunker is down a narrow alley cut into the rock. This alley offered no cover for attackers, making it very hard to get in. The entrance was defended by one MG34 or MG42 machine gun. This gun fired through a small opening called an embrasure.

The entrance defense was the most open part of the bunker. Because its loophole could not be sealed as tightly as the turret's, engineers added several gas-proof doors. These doors separated the entrance area from the rest of the bunker.

Air System and Safety

When the bunker was in use, air was constantly pushed into it. This made the bunker "pressurized." This pressure had two main jobs:

It would keep out poison gas if enemies used it.
It would push out almost all the smoke from the guns when they fired. This meant the soldiers could see and work well, even when shooting a lot.

The pressurized air also meant that empty bullet casings had less gas on them. They could be sent out of the turret through pipes into bags without making the bunker smoky.

Escape Route and Inside Look

Like most bunkers along the Atlantic Wall, this one had an escape shaft. To escape, soldiers had to remove a metal door, then two rows of steel bars. After that, they still had to dig through some soil and break down a brick wall. It was not an easy escape route. However, with good air flow and very thick concrete walls, it was unlikely they would ever need to use it.

The inside of the bunker was very simple, except for some wooden panels. These panels helped to quiet the sounds inside. We don't know if this was planned or just a happy accident.

Topside Defense

On top of the bunker, there was a "tobruk." This was a concrete foxhole where another MG34 machine gun could be placed. Later in the war, a railway was built nearby. This railway blocked some of the bunker's view for firing. This might have been a temporary change during other building work.

Location: Guarding the Coast

The turret is about 10 meters (33 feet) above the road. It sits halfway up a headland, which is a piece of land sticking out into the sea. From this high spot, it could watch over the flat land between the headland and the beaches. The turret also protected two roads that led into the island.

Several of these bunkers were built along the headland of St. Ouen's Bay. They overlooked the lower areas below. Their positions allowed the bunkers to cover each other with their gunfire. Other defenses like anti-tank ditches, barbed wire, mines, and good camouflage made the area very hard to attack.

If Allied landing craft had tried to land here, they would have faced artillery fire from the cliffs. Then, soldiers would have had to climb an anti-tank wall and deal with more bunkers and anti-tank positions. After the beach, they would have met minefields, barbed wire, and flooded areas, all while still under fire from artillery and the sechsschartentürme. Luckily for the Allied soldiers, their leaders decided to invade Normandy instead of the Channel Islands.