Mammut Gerät Moritz

In the Westduinen near the Kwartellaan lies Stützpunkt XXXXV L, a Luftwaffe radar complex for detecting allied airplanes. It had a big Mammut radar screen of 10×30 meters, weighing 150.000 kilos, resting on a custom-made VF command bunker and a generator bunker (Gerät- und Maschinenbunker). The German forces named the radar post ‘Moritz’ for tactical messaging. The radar installation was built in the spring of 1942 and fully operational in the summer, being one of the first operational Mammut radars in World War II.

The Stützpunkt was self supporting, containing troop bunkers, storage bunkers, machine gun positions and anti-aircraft guns. Some bunkers are vandalised but the command- and generator bunker are still in a relatively good condition, as they lay safely under the earth. The command bunker has been on fire which probably happened shortly after the war. It still contains a rare phase-shifter which was used to control the radar screen. With Stichting Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen we had permission to uncover the two bunkers for research, and afterwards sealing them again.