This comprehensive, illustrated account also contains a complete listing of all remaining bunkers and pillboxes in Belgium and France.

PILL BOXES ON THE WESTERN FRONT: A Guide to the Design, Construction and Use of concrete Pillboxes, 1914-1918

History

Oldham, Peter

Americas

Pen and Sword Military

The Hindenburg Line, or Siegfriedstellung, achieved almost mythical status in the minds of the British public: the strongest defense system the world had then seen, scientifically designed by fortification experts with only one aim, to keep at bay the British Army. So pleased and delighted were the British that church bells were rung when the Line was pierced at Cambrai in November 1917. The new wonder-weapon, the Tank, had shown itself to be capable of great deeds and British Generals were seen to be capable of showing the Germans what Tommy could do when properly organized. The initial elation was followed by disappointment as the Germans fought back and the Hindenburg defences were retaken when the Germans used "defense-in-depth" and "elastic-defense", both new concepts to the British who were to learn from their mistakes. The British were to witness triumph and joy again, when, towards the end of the Great War, the Hindenburg Line was to be broken by men from the Midlands. This book examines the reasons for the German's decision to fall back to a strong defense line while their Navy starved Britain into submission, and the "burnt earth" policy of devastation in the area evacuated. The design and layout of the Hindenburg Line, and the Battles for its possession in 1917 and 1918, are given: with numerous maps covering different sectors and the struggles for each village and farm, together with the part played by many British Regiments. The maps contain information on how to find all remaining vestiges of both German and British defenses in the region, most of which are rarely visited and many of which have not been seen by British eyes for many years. No book since the Great War has examined this area in such detail, nor has any single account contained so much for the battlefield visitor to see. The sites of individual acts of bravery, including the winning of many Victoria Crosses are featured, and existing locations of battle lines, headquarters, artillery observation and machine gun posts are also included, together with an absorbing narrative which also guides the armchair reader.

The Hindenburg Line (Battleground)

Military

The battle for the possession of the villages of Messines Ridge, Messines, Wytchaete, St. Eloi, took place in 1914-17, and the final battle for Messines in 1918. The 1917 Battle of Messines was preceded by 19 giant mine explosions and was the biggest military mining effort in history. This book gives comprehensive details of what happened where and when, together with what can be seen today, including maps of all the remnants and sites.

Messines Ridge: Messines - Wystchaete - St Eloi (Battleground Europe)

The British Army and her commonwealth Allies went to war in 1914 with little knowledge and experience of constructing permanent, shell proof protective structures. Some masonry fortifications, such as defensive blockhouses in South Africa, had been built but the Royal Engineers of the Army were more versed in simple temporary defenses suitable for mobile warfare. Home defenses were a limited number of forts around naval ports, and Martello Towers on the east coast. It was considered that the Navy was quite able to defend Britain’s coasts.The Germans, on the other hand, as with the other continental countries such as France, Belgium, Italy, Holland, Poland, Austria, etc. had been constantly renewing and updating border forts for several centuries. They had also maintained fortification and siege elements of their armies, who were experienced in designing and constructing strong shelters. Both German and French armies began the war with a degree of expertise in what was to become a static war with little movement. However, by 1918 the British were to surpass both enemy and her allies in the design and construction, with supply and logistics, of such shell proof cover for troops and defensive positions.This book gives the history of development and innovation of concrete bunkers, pill boxes, blockhouses and general concrete constructions during the First World War. Many of these structures – some showing obvious signs of war damage - still exist in France and Belgium today.All the existing structures, with photograph (except for some which are impractical, because of dense vegetation,) are shown within. Many entries have contemporary maps showing how they fitted into a defensive system, whilst for others the location can be identified from the text. GPS coordinates are given for each entry, except for a few which are on private land and where privacy has been requested.

Armageddon’s Walls: British Pill Boxes 1914-1918

Europe

When the First World War froze into a static line of trenches stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss border, the most obvious means of protection against the murderous machine-gun fire which both sides inflicted upon each other was some form of shell-proof shelter which from which fire could be returned in safety, hence the development of the pill box. The idea was certainly not new but the technology required to build them under the prevailing circumstances presented problems hitherto undreamed of. In this remarkably absorbing study of what at first seems a somewhat arcane study of what at first seems a somewhat arcane subject, Peter Oldham, himself a concrete technologist, examines the problems of the design and construction of the pill boxes of the Western Front. He describes how the innumerable difficulties involved in what might to the untrained eye seem to be a fairly simple structure, were gradually overcome. Containing as it does, a gazetteer of the remaining pill boxes and bunkers still to be found in Flanders and Picardy, this book will prove an invaluable guide to the members of many clubs and societies which annually make pilgrimages to the battlefields of the First World War and certainly add a new dimension and interest to their visits to the Western Front.

Pill Boxes on the Western Front: A Guide to the Design, Construction and Use of Concrete Pill Boxes, 1914-1918