MKB Fort Lapin, Calais

This WW2 gun battery is located on the dunes near Bleriot Plage, Calais. It consists of a M176 casemate, which would have held the gun, behind which is a 19th Century fort which appears to have been utilised as a shelter. The fort is in a poor state with the roof partially destroyed, although a gallery of casemated rooms still survives, as does a bunker, which was probably the control room for the battery during WW2.

This battery site is on open land, but care must be taken if visiting as there are hidden hazards.

The M176 casemate

Rear of the casemate, with a gun port protecting the entrance

Steps going into the rooms inside the casemate

Passage inside linking the rooms

The remains of the old 19th Century fort

Entrance, which has a swastika and 1941 written in the concrete

Passage into the old fort

Inside

Looking through the rooms, which were probably accomodation

Inside one of the casemates

Inside another

Passage behind the casemates

Possibly a magazine, below the main passage

Remains of more rooms

The front of the fort

The date '1860' can be seen here

Inside the WW2 bunker next to the old fort