Hi, can anyone give me designs/photos of either French, German, Belgian (if they had them in 1914) or Italian pillboxes in WWI? I'm specifically looking for square/rectangular/hexagonal designs. Thanks very much, Hugh.
-- Edited by Hughbearson on Sunday 30th of May 2010 04:17:30 PM
Hi Hugh, two pictures, the captions only tell where these were, but I presume they are German. Pict.1 near Chaulnes, south of the Somme Pict.2 Varneville, a German one, taken at 22th of October by the Americans
Sources are The First World War, by Hew Strachan, and a compilation of WWI pictures from one of these books you only buy for the photo's, and with rather inaccurate text.
I've searched about my files regarding "pill boxes", and will share a bit of data gathered some years ago. Though my sketching is a bit crude, I'm hopeful you may find the information useful. It's important to know these later positions were designed for occupant survivability during the severe artillery bombardments. In addition to the usual sleeping accommodations, these positions were fitted with rations stowage, a latrine, and a sump. Rushing out to engage attackers from a protected open view aided in preventing the usual flanking maneuvers that so often neutralized strong points in the past. They were told to hold; the inevitable counter attack of their comrades would relieve them.
There's a monstrously expensive book, Pill Boxes on the Western Front by Peter Oldham. Can't find any way of browsing it, but you might be able to get it through the library service.
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...what exactly is the difference between a pill box and a bunker, is it the size?...
Interesting question. According to the Military History Companion the terms are essentially interchangeable.Term for a cylindrical fortification, first used in the Second Boer War, when many British blockhouses were circular. It gained wide currency in WW I, and was applied to concrete bunkers built by Allies and Germans alike, though most were rectangular and so ceased to resemble the traditional round chemist's box. - add "blockhouse" to the synonyms according to that source. I would have thought it was a matter of size/function but maybe not ...
...or casemate, Kasematte in German and kazemat in Dutch... The word comes from the Old Greek, chasmata, referring to the slotted opening. Chasma in Modern Greek is a slot. Romans made casa matta out of it, casa armata in Spanish. In Dutch (Nederlands, the'officially' language in the Netherlands and one of the 3 languages in Belgium) the word got outdated a bit after WW2. It was used for bunker, little or big, with armament or without.
Well done! That one is not so common but still current in English. There will be small shades of difference in meaning1 stemming from the origins of the words and the history of their usage (for instance it seems bunker is specifically meant to be covered/underground, others maybe not) but by and large the terms seem to be interchangeable to all intents and purposes in current usage.
1American author Lester del Rey once said words to the effect "For me, there is no such thing as a synonym," I know exactly what he meant but alas such precision in the language has generally been lost beneath the juggernaut of popular mass media and "common usage". To resist the flow is maybe to descend into unintelligibility for ordinary purposes and before broad audiences - or at least the nicety is unheeded.
-- Edited by Rectalgia on Tuesday 1st of June 2010 07:25:16 AM
...bunker, etymological still not cleared I think, also used for storage room, nautical. Coal bunker in the old steam ship era. In Dutch as a verb, bunkeren: meaning taking in ships-fuel (oil as well) and vulgar for a person who is eating a big portion. But you're right: there are many examples of 'common usage' where only specialists in the branch rise their eye-brows: Jeep for every SUV or Land Rover(or vice versa!), tank for every armoured vehicle, Luger for pistol, Schmeisser...