829 Sentences With "pillboxes" | Random Sentence Generator

The authors suggest that perhaps smart pillboxes might be effective when combined with other interventions.

There appear to be dozens of them; two dealers are plainly visible, dishing out the content of orange pillboxes.

Mr. Ciotta, who was awarded the Purple Heart, was assigned to crawling up to the pillboxes and blowing them up.

The bulldozer also became a weapon, riding over Japanese pillboxes in the Pacific, crushing the bunkers with the soldiers inside.

A series of pitted concrete pillboxes and bunkers, the city's wartime defenses sit neglected in amongst the trees and vines.

"Pillboxes, make-up, prescriptions and love letters combine to show Monroe as she truly was — her habits, her challenges, her fierce intelligence," executive producer Nick Kent tells PEOPLE.

Cielo's design is efficient and a bit more chic than those plastic, drugstore pillboxes so there's no need to feel embarrassed toting it with you wherever you go.

The shelves in the library are full of John Couric's books; a vitrine side table in a guest bedroom holds pillboxes collected by Ms. Couric's mother and grandmother.

You needed to race armored cars full of troops across lethal killzones, storm enemy redoubts and knock out their pillboxes, and use teams of tanks to knock out superior enemy armor.

Boucheron is no stranger to wood, having first used acacia wood for pillboxes and cigarette cases in the '3043s, but Ms. Choisne said she was not interested in rehashing the past.

The researchers sent patients either one of two styles of low-cost smart pillboxes, or a regular old-fashioned no-tech version, then monitored adherence to a pill regiment for nearly two years.

This clutter helped to naturally conceal the Japanese pillboxes — small, concrete guard posts with small slits for weapon fire — making it extremely difficult for ground troops to locate and destroy them before it was too late.

"This is hallowed ground," he said near a beach where young soldiers hunkered down under pillboxes, awaiting Japanese fighter planes during the World War Two Battle of Midway, one of the most-studied battles in military history.

Strewn about are half a dozen pairs of eyeglasses, 913 dog leashes, six La-Z-Boy chairs, more pillboxes than I could count, a giant box of Wheaties with Steph Curry on the front, four bicycles, 10 fleece blankets, three television sets (two on).

After World War II, tiny Albania became a hermit state, rigidly controlled by a Stalinist dictator, Enver Hoxha, who broke with both the Soviet Union and Maoist China, desecrated the country's mosques and churches and planted the beaches across from the Greek island of Corfu with pillboxes before his regime collapsed in 1990, five years after his death.

Pillboxes are initially neutral and will shoot at any tank that approaches them. Like the supply bases, pillboxes can be shot at until destroyed, after which a player can restore it, making it friendly. Unlike the bases, pillboxes can be moved around the map by the players. Inside the tank is an engineer, who places mines and moves pillboxes.

The concrete nature of pillboxes means that they are a feature of prepared positions. Some pillboxes were designed to be prefabricated and transported to their location for assembly. During World War I, Sir Ernest William Moir produced a design for concrete machine-gun pillboxes constructed from a system of interlocking precast concrete blocks, with a steel roof. Around 1500 Moir pillboxes were eventually produced (with blocks cast at Richborough in Kent) and sent to the Western Front in 1918.

A complex of six pillboxes with mortars in support held up the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines' attack across the airfield, inflicting many casualties. Two M4 medium tanks went forward to knock out the pillboxes. The tanks both hit landmines and were put out of action. Maj Paul Treitel, commander of 1/24, needed support to destroy the pillboxes.

In addition, a few pillboxes are located on Diamond Head's summit.

Rupnik Line pillboxes in Žirovski Vrh Svetega Antona The Rupnik Line, a line of fortifications and weapons installations, was built in the area in the 1930s. Several pillboxes from the line are preserved in the village's territory.

Enemies include: formations of enemy biplanes, zeppelins, pillboxes, turrets, and enemy buildings.

Mopping-up the remaining pillboxes failed, due to casualties and a shortage of ammunition. It began to rain and at Germans were seen massing for a counter-attack. Reinforcements were called for and rapid fire opened on the German infantry but the attack reached the un-captured pillboxes on the right. The British artillery replied as infantry reinforcements arrived, the Germans were forced back and the last pillboxes captured.

The defences included a large number of pillboxes, trenchworks, and minefields.Foot, 2006, p209-217.

Taking grenades, he reportedly destroyed the other two pillboxes. The regiment was able to advance after the destruction of the pillboxes. Guliyev received the Order of the Red Star for this engagement.Order of the Red Star citation, available online at pamyat-naroda.

Pillboxes are often camouflaged in order to conceal their location and to maximize the element of surprise. They may be part of a trench system, form an interlocking line of defence with other pillboxes by providing covering fire to each other (defence in depth), or they may be placed to guard strategic structures such as bridges and jetties. Pillboxes were hard to defeat and required artillery, anti-tank weapons or grenades to overcome.

There are two World War II pillboxes (gun emplacements) on the A625 road opposite Yeoman Hey Reservoir. The pillboxes were built into a rock outcrop in c.1940 as part of defences against a possible invasion. The pair are connected by an underground passage.

One of the pillboxes and gun mountings remained intact on the roof as late as 1991.

During World War II, two pillboxes were constructed on the castle site, which have since been removed.

During the Second World War Messel served as a camouflage officer, disguising pillboxes in Somerset. According to his fellow officer Julian Trevelyan, he revelled in the opportunity to give his talents free rein. The disguises of his pillboxes included haystacks, castles, ruins, and roadside cafes.Hamilton, James; Robinson, William Heath.

These pillboxes were clearly designed to repel invaders coming from the sea. The U.S. invasion beginning on July 21, 1944, however, was further to the south and west; the area of these pillboxes was over-run by U.S. forces coming from the south, on about August 2, 1944.

Surviving elements of these fortifications include two concrete pillboxes (one unfinished), and an unfinished battery of 4-inch guns.

They included a number of pillboxes, landmines and flame fougasse installations. The beaches were protected with extensive barriers of scaffolding.

The northern fence was taken down in 1942, but the fortresses and pillboxes remained along the length of the road.

The division was now pinned down under fire from artillery, riflemen hidden in shell craters, and from machine guns in German pillboxes on the higher ground ahead. Although some of these pillboxes were taken, the division's attacking troops were back at their start line by the afternoon, having suffered heavy casualties.Liddle, pp. 221, 281–2.

The area was dominated by machine-guns in a group of pillboxes at Lewis House; the centre battalion could not keep pace with the barrage and it was stopped well short of the pillboxes. Troops began to converge on the area near Lewis House, which caused crowding and gaps in the line. An attempt to outflank the pillboxes failed and the brigade fell back to its assembly positions. The 20th Brigade attacked astride the Menin Road, the right battalion crossing marshy ground that deepened into waist-high mud towards the Kroomebeek creek.

This ridgeline contained numerous pillboxes which were well hidden and mutually supporting. On 25 July the attack on Bartley's Ridge commenced.

The tunnel has a total combined length of 2,315 meters. It is equipped with air raid shelters, ammunition depots and pillboxes.

Little was done in the way of digging trenches, placing barbed wire entanglements or laying minefields beforehand. About four hundred concrete pillboxes were constructed. Most of these were placed along a forward line of defence, directly behind main obstacles. To provide some depth, about a kilometre to the west a second line of pillboxes was present.

They included a number of pillboxes. The beaches were protected with unusually extensive barriers of scaffolding and large numbers of anti-tank cubes.

A few of them have been restored and are cared for, but many others were demolished. Some pillboxes are still being destroyed nowadays as the authorities do not consider them to have any architectural or historic value, despite heritage NGOs calling to preserve them. About 28,000 pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications were constructed in England in 1940 as part of the British anti-invasion preparations of World War II. About 6,500 of these structures still survive. Pillboxes for the Czechoslovak border fortifications were built before World War II in Czechoslovakia in defence against a German attack.

The Japanese bunkers, actually log and earth pillboxes, proved resistant to artillery fire.Frierson, The Admiralties: Operations of the 1st Cavalry Division, pp. 103–116.

Also located at intervals along the sea wall are Type 2 pillboxes that were built to defend the estuary during the Second World War.

The most recent monuments are World War II pillboxes. The monuments are listed below using the titles given in the English Heritage data sheets.

There were several relics of World War II such as pillboxes and manholes along the canal: these were demolished when the canal was filled in.

Whiting (1976), p. 89 The attackers were slowly able to cross the Wurm River and engage German pillboxes with flamethrowers and explosive charges.Whiting (1976), pp.

Germany's Operation Sea Lion plan included crossing the flat marsh during an invasion across the English Channel. The government planned to flood the area to prevent troops and equipment from crossing the area. Thousands of concrete pillboxes were built in Kent; 6,500 of the crumbling structures remain standing to this day. The ancient Royal Military Canal was well guarded with troops, pillboxes and barbed wire.

A pillbox can be found built in Manikata at the rear of Għajn Tuffieħa Camp. Pillboxes were the last type of fortification to be built in Mellieħa and Malta. These types of military structures were constructed in nearly every part of the Island. It seems that the largest number of pillboxes was built in Mellieħa and fortunately the largest number of them survived to this day.

The French Maginot Line built between the world wars consisted of a massive bunker and tunnel complex, but as most of it was below ground little could be seen from the ground level. The exception were the concrete blockhouses, gun turrets, pillboxes and cupolas which were placed above ground to allow the garrison of the Maginot line to engage an attacking enemy. Between the Abyssinian Crisis of 1936 and World War II, the British built about 200 pillboxes on the island of Malta for defence in case of an Italian invasion. Fewer than 100 pillboxes still exist, and most are found on the northeastern part of the island.

Fresh battalions resumed the advance, captured two pillboxes in Berlin Wood, two unexpected pillboxes and then captured Berlin Farm. The 1st Brigade attack on the left, veered north beyond the Hanebeek and was fired on from Aviatik Farm and Dear House, which were taken by a trench mortar and grenade attack. Fire from the Winzig, Albatross Farm and Winchester blockhouses, in the 48th (South Midland) Division area further north (and from the Bellevue spur up the Stroombeek valley), delayed the advance until they were captured. More pillboxes at Boetleer were taken by the left flanking battalion of the 4th Brigade and the red line (first objective) was reached.

Some Ram tanks were used in the 1950s as static pillboxes in the IJssel Line, their hulls dug in and embedded within two feet of concrete.

Several pillboxes remain along the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, one at the old junction with the Chard canal, and one on the embankment of the Chard railway.

On February 13, as the 11th Airborne Division approached the fort, it encountered a strong enemy fortified sector. The sector was composed of cement pillboxes armed with .50-caliber dual-purpose machineguns which defended the entrance to the fort. Upon the realization that the pillboxes (Blockhouses) were withholding the advance of his division, Pérez took it upon himself to charge the fortifications and blast them away with grenades.

Davidson had fired so accurately, he was able to put rounds through the pillboxes' apertures. For his actions on Iwo Jima, Davidson was later awarded the Navy Cross.

Pillbox, Lozenge shaped, AtwickThe Second World War defences constructed in and around Atwick have been documented by William Foot. They included a heavy anti- aircraft battery and several pillboxes.

Ten of these buildings remain along Boulevard Charles de Gaulle. During the German occupation from 1940, small pillboxes with machine guns were built in the point of each bastion.

Halfway up, mines and bomb craters brought them to a halt and the infantry had to fight their way through a maze of trenches, pillboxes and casemented gun positions.

Former airfield dispersals are also evident in the same vicinity. During the Second World War the airfield was defended with eight pillboxes, at least six of them Type 27 pillboxes, one rectangular and the other Type 22 or Type 24. BAE Systems operate the Typhoon Training Facility (North), which is home to four Emulated Deployable Cockpit Trainer (EDCT) flight simulators. The expansion of the facility from two to four EDCTs was completed in April 2018.

For water's edge defense to work, it needed support from the air and sea, none of which the Japanese Imperial Navy was capable of mounting at this point anymore. However, other military branches, especially the navy, were still insistent on the water's edge defense and demanded that Kuribayashi see to it. In the end Kuribayashi had some pillboxes built at the beach as a token measure. The pillboxes were destroyed by American bombardment.

Another attack at reached Nile on the divisional boundary with the 3rd Division. German troops trickling forward to Riverside and Otto pillboxes were stopped by artillery and machine-gun fire.

Captain Terry's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > 1st Lt. Terry was leading an attack against heavily defended Zebra Hill when > devastating fire from 5 pillboxes halted the advance. He braved the hail of > bullets to secure satchel charges and white phosphorus grenades, and then > ran 30 yards directly at the enemy with an ignited charge to the first > stronghold, demolished it, and moved on to the other pillboxes, bombarding > them with his grenades and calmly cutting down their defenders with rifle > fire as they attempted to escape. When he had finished this job by sealing > the 4 pillboxes with explosives, he had killed 20 Japanese and destroyed 3 > machineguns. The advance was again held up by an intense grenade barrage > which inflicted several casualties.

The French First Army, with the 1st and 133rd divisions and a division of the Belgian Army planned to occupy the Merckem peninsula in stages, with an attack beginning on the south-east of the peninsula and extending to the north. On 26 October, after an intense bombardment, French troops crossed the lower Steenbeek and advanced into Papegoed (butterfly) Wood, Lucannes Farm and the pillboxes between. The French then forced the Germans from the remaining pillboxes to the west of the woods and forded the Corverbeek, which in places was shoulder-high, soon capturing the pillboxes opposite and occupying the Steenstraate–Dixmude road round Langewaede. In the evening, the Germans rushed the 8th Bavarian Reserve Division into the Merckem peninsula as a reinforcement.

First Lieutenant Knight's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > He led his cavalry troop against heavy concentrations of enemy mortar, > artillery, and small arms fire. After taking the troop's objective and while > making preparations for a defense, he discovered a nest of Japanese > pillboxes and foxholes to the right front. Preceding his men by at least 10 > feet, he immediately led an attack. Single-handedly he knocked out 2 enemy > pillboxes and killed the occupants of several foxholes.

They may have formed an inland stop line running north to south. The pillboxes at Hazon, Brainshaugh, Morwick, West Thirston, Earsdon, Longhirst, Bothal Barns and East Moor (and possibly Eshott) form a line with the pillboxes approximately two miles apart. There is a further modified lozenge pillbox in Rothbury. It is a standard "lozenge" except for an alteration to the porch and door, which were built on the left hand side as opposed to the rear.

For these reasons less than 250 were built. Later in the 1950s a side skirt was added, however in the 1960s they were retired, with some serving on the Chinese border as pillboxes.

Most of the Brisbane structures built for the war were removed at the end of World War Two. The saltwater mains, slit trenches, and sirens disappeared, as did the many standard pillboxes that had stood in the middle of the streets of the Central Business District. 156 standard pillboxes were built, but none of the surviving public shelters in Brisbane City Council ownership are of that design. Of the 21 special shelters, only the one on Queens Wharf Road survives.

Many others were built during World War II. Many pillboxes still exist, especially on the north eastern part of the island. A few of them have been restored and are cared for, but many others were demolished. Some pillboxes are still being destroyed as they are not considered to have any architectural or historic value. Ruins of Fort Campbell in Mellieħa The last fort to be built in Malta was Fort Campbell, which was built near Mellieħa between late 1937 and 1938.

Some troops tried to get round the right flank but machine-gun fire from Lewis House and crossfire from the pillboxes on the Menin road and Swagger Farm ended the attempt. Other parties found the condition of the ground so poor that they moved left, towards the Menin road, only to be pinned down by fire from the pillboxes there but the advance captured one pillbox and advanced to within of Gheluvelt Church at the west end of the village. The two battalions advancing north of the Menin road managed to keep up with the barrage and reached its junction with the railway tracks just outside Gheluvelt. The battalions bunched and entered Gheluvelt at the same time; some of the troops cleared several pillboxes along Johnson Trench and one party tried to rush Gheluvelt Château.

Corporal Wilkin's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > He spearheaded his unit's assault of the Siegfried Line in Germany. Heavy > fire from enemy riflemen and camouflaged pillboxes had pinned down his > comrades when he moved forward on his own initiative to reconnoiter a route > of advance. He cleared the way into an area studded with pillboxes, where he > repeatedly stood up and walked into vicious enemy fire, storming 1 > fortification after another with automatic rifle fire and grenades, killing > enemy troops, taking prisoners as the enemy defense became confused, and > encouraging his comrades by his heroic example. When halted by heavy barbed > wire entanglements, he secured bangalore torpedoes and blasted a path toward > still more pillboxes, all the time braving bursting grenades and mortar > shells and direct rifle and automatic-weapons fire.

Little of the wartime station now remains. There are four remaining pillboxes around where the airfield was and a few air raid shelters in the woods. Part of the bomb storage site remains also.

The Shahi Pul is a bridge over the Gomti river at Jaunpur township. It was built by Khankhana in 1564 for Akbar. The bridge is wide. At each end were pillboxes to house stalls.

By the early morning of 16 December, 9th Infantry Regiment pressed the attack another against stubborn resistance, capturing the crossroads and the road network around it. They had insufficient TNT to destroy the pillboxes.

Some of the sites such as Balt Moor Wall are of uncertain date. The most recent are air traffic control buildings, pillboxes and fighter pens from RAF Culmhead, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills.

Durnford-Slater 2002, p. 142. Shortly after the assault began, with No. 4 Troop leading the way. Within ten minutes the pillboxes had been cleared and No. 3 Commando, had taken control of the bridge.

To protect it from capture, Keiji had 14 coastal defense guns, 50 pieces of field artillery, 100 machine gun nests, and 500 pillboxes installed, as well as a large wall built across the northern lagoon.

Dispersed in front of the were divisional sharpshooter machine-gun nests and half of the companies of the support battalions were in the pillboxes of the . The was the front of the main zone with the (third position) a further behind at the rear of the main zone, which contained most of the field artillery. The reserve battalions of the regiments in the front position held the pillboxes of the . The rearward zone between the and , contained the support and reserve assembly areas for the divisions.

Facilitate the capture of pillboxes and the advance by exerting > pressure against the line of pillboxes along the border from the rear. The German infantry were engaged by several Belgian patrols equipped with T-15 armoured cars. Several Belgian counterattacks were repulsed, among them an attack by the 1st Light Chasseurs Ardennais Division. Unsupported, the Germans faced a counterattack later in the evening by elements of the French 5th Cavalry Division, dispatched by General Charles Huntziger from the French 2nd Army, which had a significant tank strength.

Extant World War II pillbox at end of west bank During the Second World War, Royal Artillery military fortifications were established at the beach end of the reserve, including two 6-inch (15.24 cm) guns, five buildings, two pillboxes, a minefield, and concrete anti-tank blocks. A spigot mortar emplacement and an Allan Williams Turret machine gun emplacement were sited closer to the village. One of the pillboxes and remains of the beach gun emplacements were still surviving as of 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.

The brigade kept going to the second objective, although part of the advance remained bogged down short of the first objective. The 10th Brigade (3rd Australian Division) suffered many casualties from machine-guns in pillboxes but found some cover at a fold near the first objective, despite increasing machine-gun fire from the Bellevue pillboxes. alt=a black and white image of barren land. In the mid-ground is two field artillery guns, with teams of men at each gun, firing from left to right.

Pillbox, eared type, Speeton. The Second World War defences constructed around Speeton have been documented by William Foot. They included a large number of pillboxes. Many of the remaining defences have been subject to coastal erosion.

BBC - WW2 People's War - Henfield Railway Station Two pillboxes were created, one North and one South, to defend the bridge. A Junkers 33 which was attacking the bridge crashed in Partridge Green to the North West.

After 1950, due to the increased tension between the Eastern and Western Blocs, a more sophisticated system of pillboxes and shelters was built. While the pre-war blockhouses and pillboxes were designed as monoliths of reinforced concrete, the new cold-war bunkers followed the Soviet paradigm and were more like reinforced field fortifications, built from stone and prefabricated concrete elements. Many of the installations from the period 1953–1964, especially those built at the time of Berlin and Cuban crises, were designed for conditions of nuclear war, and many older installations were given enhanced protection against weapons of mass destruction. Unlike the Iron Curtain installations, most of the installations were unmanned and unarmed and were to be manned only in the case of war, by the regular army, although some of the light pillboxes could be used also by Border guard.

Rupnik Line pillbox in Žirovski Vrh Svetega Urbana The Rupnik Line, a line of fortifications and weapons installations, was built in the area in the 1930s. Several pillboxes from the line are preserved in the village's territory.

In 1938 the turrets also were delivered. As there was now a surplus of fifteen, these were used on fortifications: thirteen of these on coastal defence pillboxes; another two turrets were installed on pillboxes at Remouchamps where a fortress was initially intended to be built, but due to the lack of funds only two casemates were constructed. The turrets were equipped by Belgium with a different armament: instead of the French SA 35 gun, a Belgian FRC 47 mm gun was fitted; this closely related type had a barrel that was 15 mm shorter.

Smith also covered stories on British postwar austerity and recovery; refugees from Europe, child evacuees returning to London, and revelers at Lambeth Walk celebrating VE Day the end of WW2 in Europe. One story covered English castles, and another, the archaeologist who found a large collection of 3rd century Roman pottery in the Alice Holt Forest of North Hampshire. Life published his pictures of the trompe-l'œil painted camouflage of Britiain’s pillboxes;Speaking of Pictures: England’s Pillboxes Look Like a Lot of Other Things’. In LIFE, 12 Mar 1945, pps. 12, 13, 14, Vol.

The right brigade advanced under heavy machine-gun fire and took Joist Farm before being obstructed by marshy ground and pillboxes to the right. British bombing sections attacked the pillboxes and cut off Juniper Trench to reach the objective. Fire from a blockhouse at the east end of Reutel caused a delay until it was knocked out by a tank and a counter-attack from the south-east was dispersed around noon by artillery and small-arms fire. The left brigade crossed the Polygonebeek and captured a portion of Juniper Trench and a pillbox.

The advance was made in three stages, with an hour to consolidate behind standing and smoke barrages at the first and intermediate objectives. The rain stopped at midnight and the attack began at On the right, German machine-guns at Olga Farm caused many casualties and a delay but the first objective was reached on time. The surviving troops advanced on Condé House by rushes from shell-holes and took when they reached it. Fire from two German pillboxes stopped the advance and a German counter- attack began from the pillboxes.

One of the mortar bombs landed inside the battery and exploded the stored charges, putting the guns out of action. Group two had an opposed landing being greeted by machine gun fire from the two pillboxes guarding the beach. Leaving a section from A Troop to deal with them the rest of the Group ran the to the rear of the battery, bypassing German infantry positions on the way. The A Troop section having finished off the pillboxes, set out for Orange one beach, ambushing a German patrol en route.

Two of these "colonnade" types were built- referred to in the Brisbane City Council list as "bus (stone)"- and only one survives, at King Edward Park. Most of the Brisbane structures built for the war were removed at the end of World War Two. The saltwater mains, slit trenches, and sirens disappeared, as did the many standard pillboxes that had stood in the middle of the streets of the Central Business District. 156 standard pillboxes were built, but none of the surviving public shelters in Brisbane City Council ownership are of that design.

None of these were actually used against their intended enemy during the German invasion, but some were used against the advancing Soviet armies in 1945. The Japanese also made use of pillboxes in their fortifications of Iwo Jima.

Navigational errors resulted in the troops being landed on the wrong beach, with some of them coming ashore at Siki Cove and taking heavy fire from the strong Japanese defences in pillboxes. After re-organising, the Australians pushed inland.

Throughout 4 August, Japanese pillboxes and foxholes were reduced by U.S. troops attacking with indirect fire support weapons and machine guns.Rentz, Marines in the Central Solomons, p. 93Stille, The Solomons 1943–44: The Struggle for New Georgia and Bougainville, pp.

It used predominantly local materials. The line applied the methodology of the flexible defence, thus it used trenches and obstacles rather than large pillboxes. The name Mannerheim Line was supposedly coined by Jorma Gallen-Kallela and spread by foreign journalists.

The line was defended by pillboxes and bunkers, machine gun nests, and mobile artillery positions. The line also contained mine fields, trenches, tank traps, and barbed wire. The depth of the minefields zone was at least , and backed up by .

No gains were made by the 37th Infantry Division while the 43rd Infantry Division gained only a small amount of ground. The Japanese had constructed many pillboxes along the front and on 26 July, the U.S. 103rd Infantry Regiment came up against 74 of these structures in a narrow front. Again, the U.S. troops utilized indirect fire to reduce these obstacles, while infantry attacked armed with flamethrowers, and operating closely alongside Marine tanks. In many cases, the Japanese reoccupied these pillboxes in the darkness; as a result, later the U.S. troops took to ripping the roofs off these structures.

On the left flank, C and D companies reached the Six Roads pillboxes, where the advance was stopped by machine-gun fire. The troops returned fire to cover the Manchester battalion of the 35th Division on the left, as they tried to outflank the pillboxes. The attempt was also stopped by uncut wire but a party of the Royal Scots captured a pillbox and took six prisoners. At a German counter-attack was repulsed by rifle-fire but after holding on despite mounting casualties, the remaining 16th Royal Scots and Manchesters retreated to a point east of Egypt House.

In mid-September 57th Division was withdrawn from the line and underwent a month's training before moving to the Ypres Salient to participate in the Second Battle of Passchendaele. At 05.40 on 26 October 170th Bde attacked through appalling mud with three companies of 2/4th Loyals in the centre. The Mendling and Rubens Farm positions were quickly taken with relatively few casualties, but the centre of the attack was then held up by enemy pillboxes. Once the support battalion (2/5th King's Own) came up, the Loyals took the pillboxes and reached some dominating ground ahead.

During the Second World War, defences were constructed around Freiston Shore as a part of British anti-invasion preparations of World War II. A number of pillboxes, gun emplacements and coastal lights were constructed. The remains of these fortifications can be seen today including a Ruck machine gun post, of a type once to have been widespread in Lincolnshire. Following the Second World War, land reclamation led to the village becoming inland by about half a mile. The original sea bank, with its pillboxes and some of the Freiston shore light railway, can still be seen.

They built many sandbag pillboxes in the area between July and September 1940; but the concrete pillboxes were put out to local tender. There is another pillbox near Morwick on the west side of the east coast main line. It is rectangular, half brick and half concrete, and was probably built to defend the railway viaduct or to protect the soldiers who would have been ordered to blow up the viaduct in the event of an invasion. The viaduct would have had to be kept open as long as possible to allow rolling stock to be moved.

A. T. Lloyd, J. E. S. Brooks, (1996), The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition, page 66 Pillbox (right) visible in the fields of Lower Ashley In World War II, two fortified bunkers known as pillboxes were built in Ashley to defend against a possible German invasion by sea. One of these pillboxes can still be seen in a field in Lower Ashley today. One other relic from World War II is visible on the northeastern corner of Ashley Crossroads. The car repair workshop there was originally one of the aircraft hangars at RAF Beaulieu.

North of the Gravenstafel–Metcheele road, the division gained some ground but was stopped by belts of barbed wire deep and were swept by machine-gun fire. The infantry tried to cut their way through the wire of the German on the Wallemolen spur and small numbers of troops got through both belts but were killed after being stopped by more wire around the German pillboxes. Further south, the New Zealand Division captured two pillboxes, with help from 3rd Australian Division troops in the area. An advance began up the northern slope of the Ravebeek creek but broke down quickly around Laamkeek.

The leading battalion of the 10th Brigade on the left had edged so far forward that when the advance began, it was from the pillboxes at Levi Cottages at the top of the rise, beyond which was a dip then the slope of Gravenstafel ridge. The pillboxes were quickly taken, followed by Alma and Judah House in the dip after a short delay. After a twelve-minute pause at this (first intermediate) objective, to give the New Zealanders on the left time to cross the boggy ground in their area, the two following battalions leapfrogged through, that of the right brigade taking many German prisoners from dug-outs along the railway embankment and reaching the red line quickly. After a delay caused by the British bombardment dwelling for nearly half an hour, the left brigade advanced up Gravenstafel Spur and then pressed on to silence several machine-guns in pillboxes on Abraham Heights.

The right brigade advanced on a front towards the Oosttaverne line, from the river Douve north to the Blauwepoortbeek (Blue Gate Brook). German machine-gunners in the pillboxes of the Oosttaverne line caused many casualties but with support from three tanks the Australians reached the pillboxes, except for those to the north of the Messines–Warneton road. As the Australians outflanked the strongpoints, the Germans tried to retreat through the British barrage, which had stopped moving beyond the rear trench of the Oosttaverne line. The left flank brigade was stopped on its right flank by fire from the German pillboxes north of the Messines–Warneton road up to the Blauwepoortbeek, short of the Oosttaverne line, with many casualties. The left battalion, unaware that the 33rd Brigade (11th Division) to the north had been delayed, veered towards the north-east to try to make contact near Lumm Farm, which took the battalion across the Wambeke Spur instead of straight down.

During the Second World War, the railway's strategic coastal location meant that it provided a natural 'rampart' behind which a potential beach invasion could be repelled. For this reason, a line of pillboxes were constructed along the railway.Jenkins, S.C., op. cit. p. 85.

In November 2004, further investigation was undertaken. The report compared photographs from 1946, which showed the airfield and all its ancillary buildings, with photographs taken in June 1969. By then the hangars had been removed but many other buildings and pillboxes still survived.

Second World War defences were constructed around Cayton. They included a section post and several pillboxes. Many of the remaining defences have been subject to coastal erosion. The village sent 45 men to the First World War, and 60 to the Second.

This system of concrete pillboxes and field fortifications, constructed along the Bulgarian border in the late 1930s, was built on principles similar to those of the Maginot Line. Its strength resided mainly in the inaccessibility of the intermediate terrain leading up to the defence positions.

This operated by a company or a battalion sized force and each section have an own shelter. Machine gun and gun pillboxes are firing almost only enfilade direction, they usually protect obstacles from pioneers or guard the rear side of fortified point against flanking operations.

312 Reaching Amal river by 05:00, the unit attacked and outflanked Spangenberg's pillboxes located there, defeating his troops.Remmelink (2015), pp. 177 With 25-30 of his troops that was left, Spangenberg withdrew to a new support point near the Pamoesian River.Nortier (1980), pp.

During the Second World War, Avening lay on GHQ Line. Extensive anti-tank ditches were constructed to the south and southeast, and were overlooked by a number of pillboxes. The defences were constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations.Foot, 2006, p 291-296.

Captured pillboxes and blockhouses were methodically bombarded by the German guns with HE and gas shell, making communication between the British front line and the rear almost impossible. Snipers and machine-gunners firing from concealed positions among trees in Houthulst Forest caused a stream casualties and counter-attacks from the forest showed that the German infantry would resist vigorously. The 34th Division attacked at the point where the British front line swung round from north–south to east–west; in the centre of the attack were five German pillboxes, which channelled the attack to either side. The Germans fought with skill and determination from well-fortified and camouflaged positions.

Second Lieutenant Viale's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call > of duty. Forced by the enemy's detonation of prepared demolitions to shift > the course of his advance through the city, he led the 1st platoon toward a > small bridge, where heavy fire from 3 enemy pillboxes halted the unit. With > 2 men he crossed the bridge behind screening grenade smoke to attack the > pillboxes. The first he knocked out himself while covered by his men's > protecting fire; the other 2 were silenced by 1 of his companions and a > bazooka team which he had called up.

During World War I and World War II, many types of blockhouses were built, when time allowed usually constructed of reinforced concrete. The major difference between a modern blockhouse and a bunker is that a bunker is constructed mostly below ground level while a blockhouse is constructed mostly above ground level.For the difference between blockhouses and bunkers see , , The Admiralty Citadel in 2008 Some blockhouses like those constructed in England in 1940 were built in anticipation of a German invasion, they were often hexagonal in shape and were called "pillboxes". About 28,000 pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications were constructed of which about 6,500 still survive.

Pillboxes near the beaches north of Mount Suribachi were constructed of reinforced concrete, many of them with walls four feet thick. At the same time, an elaborate system of caves, concrete blockhouses, and pillboxes were established. One of the results of American air attacks and naval bombardment in the early summer of 1944 had been to drive the Japanese so deep underground that eventually their defenses became virtually immune to air or naval bombardment. While the Japanese on Peleliu Island in the Western Carolines, also awaiting American invasion, had turned the improvement of natural caves into an art, the defenders of Iwo Jima developed it into a science.

Two of these "colonnade" types were built- referred to in the Brisbane City Council list as "bus (stone)"- and only one survives, at King Edward Park. Most of the Brisbane structures built for the war were removed at the end of World War II. The saltwater mains, slit trenches, and sirens disappeared, as did the many standard pillboxes that had stood in the middle of the streets of the central business district. 156 standard pillboxes were built, but none of the surviving public shelters in Brisbane City Council ownership are of that design. Of the 21 special shelters, only the one on Queens Wharf Road survives.

The Pago Bay Japanese pillboxes are a pair of World War II-era coastal defense pillboxes located on the shore of Pago Bay, located on the central east coast of Guam. Built out of steel-reinforced concrete mixed with coral stone, these two structures were built by Japanese defenders during their occupation of the island between 1941 and 1944. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 as Pagu' Pillbox I and Pagu' Pillbox II. Neither of these would have seen substantial action during the 1944 liberation of Guam, whose military activities were focused on the western, central, and northern parts of the island.

On the morning of 14 May, 1st Lt. Waugh ordered his platoon to > lay a base of fire on 2 enemy pillboxes located on a knoll which commanded > the only trail up the hill. He then ran to the first pillbox, threw several > grenades into it, drove the defenders into the open, and killed them. The > second pillbox was next taken by this intrepid officer by similar methods. > The fearless actions of 1st Lt. Waugh broke the Gustav Line at that point, > neutralizing 6 bunkers and 2 pillboxes and he was personally responsible for > the death of 30 of the enemy and the capture of 25 others.

A few of the larger blockhouses, or artillery forts, had indirect fire mortars and heavy cannon mounts. Behind the major structures were two rows of smaller four-to-seven-man pillboxes that mirrored their larger relatives, with a well protected front and lateral cross fire to stop any enemy that managed to get on top of the fort, or come up from behind. Most of the lines consisted of just the smaller pillboxes. The "light objects" were simple hollow boxes with one or two machine gun positions, a retractable observation periscope, grenade tubes, hand-operated air blower, and a solid inner door at 90 degrees to a steel bar outer door.

The New Zealand advance was obstructed by uncut barbed wire on the Wallemolen spur; the creeping barrage was very thin, as some guns were bogged and others had been knocked out by German artillery. The creeping barrage diminished as it moved forward and howitzer shells, plunging into wet ground around the Bellevue pillboxes exploded harmlessly. The German artillery fired all the way to the rear of the New Zealand divisional area and machine-gun barrages from the German pillboxes raked the advance. The division captured the cemetery at Wallemolen and reached Wolf Copse, the right of the advance stopping on the rise astride the Ravebeek creek.

Giropa Point, Papua. Members of the 2/12th Battalion advance as Stuart tanks of the 2/6th Armoured Regiment, shell Japanese pillboxes in the final assault on Buna. An upward-firing machine gun is fitted to the tank, to clear treetops of snipers. (Photographer: George Silk).

Gunner Ira Davidson reported to the battalion command post. Maj Treitel asked him, "Could you get at those pillboxes with a 37?" The gunner nodded and moved out. Under mortar and machine gun fire, Davidson crossed the exposed airfield and headed back to his platoon assembly area.

A permanent military presence was established with the completion of Jellalabad Barracks in 1881. In World War II the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal formed part of the Taunton Stop Line, designed to prevent the advance of a German invasion. Pillboxes can still be seen along its length.

The also marked the front of the main battle zone () which was about deep, containing most of the field artillery of the (ground holding divisions) behind which was the . In the pillboxes of the were reserve battalions of the front-line regiments, held back as divisional reserves.

Little of the wartime station now remains. There are four remaining pillboxes and some air raid shelters in the woods. Part of the bomb storage site remains also. The site still maintains a modern link with aviation with a farm strip used by a Tiger Moth biplane.

During the Marshall Islands campaign, Johnston bombarded the beaches at Kwajalein on 1 February 1944, and made a five-day bombardment of Eniwetok from 17–22 February. She gave direct support to invasion troops there, destroying several pillboxes and taking revetments along the beach under fire.

As a result, after intense fighting, Indian infantry captured Burki on 11 September and held it throughout the rest of the war despite the use of defensive structures like trenches and pillboxes as well as anti-tank weapons by Pakistani defenders during the defence of Burki.

Neutralizing enemy pillboxes with grenades, he managed to knock it out despite being wounded. Leading a charge, he was wounded again and killed three Japanese soldiers in close combat. He was given first aid and evacuated from the area while his squad completed the destruction of the enemy position.

There the men were stopped by heavy machine gun fire. It was quickly discovered, however, that from this rise in ground a much better view of the pillboxes could be obtained than from the edge of the clearing. Word was sent back to the lines. Artillery was notified.

By the early morning of December 16, they gained control of several pillboxes, but did not have sufficient TNT on hand to destroy them. On December 16, the 9th Infantry Regiment pressed the attack another against stubborn resistance and captured the crossroads and the road network around it.

Remnants of pillboxes that had lined the beach also survive, with one at Gangi Point in relatively good condition. The beaches and fortifications were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Portions of them are part of the War in the Pacific National Historical Park.

To the Australians, it was "dark as the inside of a cow". Scarlet Beach and Siki Cove were covered by bunker-type pillboxes made of logs, spaced about apart, and connected by shallow trenches. They held about 300 Japanese defenders. Japanese tracer fire started pouring from the shore.

The control tower had been demolished. In November 2004, further investigation was undertaken. The report compared photographs from 1946 which showed the airfield and all its ancillary buildings with photographs taken in June 1969. By then the hangars had been removed but many other buildings and pillboxes still survived.

Here the invasion force encountered the first French defences, consisting of camouflaged trenches and pillboxes dug in along a ridge. The tanks attempted to breach them, but the rocky ground made manoeuvring difficult and they could not close with the pillboxes and trenches; they engaged a number of targets with 2 pounder and machine-gun fire, but the line had to be cleared by an infantry assault later in the day. The tanks were ordered to outflank the defences and advance further into the island, and they were soon joined by two other Tetrarchs dispatched from the beaches; the small force continued to advance until it encountered the Vichy French main line of defence.

During the Second World War the island was a part of the GHQ Line, a line of concrete pillboxes constructed as a part of the defence against the expected German invasion. Some of the old pillboxes are still in place. Also, concrete barges were used extensively just off the south coast of the island, partly as a sea-barrier and also as a mounting point for anti-aircraft guns; one of which was beached on the east end of the island and remained for many years as a point of interest for visitors and a play area for many generations of the island's children. It has since been demolished by the Island Yacht Club as it was considered dangerous.

Under fire from three sides and in danger of being enveloped, on 19 March the Australians launched an attack of their own along the Buin Road, and although they had some success in clearing the forward Japanese positions, they then encountered a system of pillboxes and trenches around the Hatai Road junction. The 25th Infantry Battalion's commander, McKinna, ordered the two platoons led by Lieutenant Dick Jefferies to attack the pillboxes, supported by a section of machine guns, and several PIAT anti-tank weapons. A two-hour fire-fight and a bayonet charge followed. This attack was ultimately beaten back by the defenders with the loss of eight Australians killed and 14 wounded.

At the right-hand battalion dug in at the boundary with the 33rd Division and the other two advanced to the second objective by The left brigade assembled in twelve waves on a strip of ground deep and avoided the German barrage fired at which fell behind them and advanced through the fog almost unopposed to The Butte. At some pillboxes there was resistance but many German soldiers surrendered when they were rapidly surrounded. The Butte was rushed and was found to be full of German dugouts. Two battalions passed through at towards the second objective, a stretch of the and some pillboxes, until held up by fire from a German battalion headquarters on the Polygonebeek.

Another German attack after dark was defeated at the gun pits and at a German counter- attack from Triangle Farm was repulsed. The 11th (Northern) Division attacked with one brigade at The right flank was delayed by machine-gun fire from the 48th (South Midland) Division area and by pillboxes to their front, where the infantry lost the barrage. On the left, the brigade dug in west of the Langemarck road and the right flank dug in facing east, against fire from Maison du Hibou and the Triangle. Supporting troops from the 33rd Brigade were caught by fire from the German pillboxes but reached the Cockcroft, passed beyond and dug in despite fire from Bulow Farm.

Located on the north side of the site was the battle headquarters bunker, defended by a pair of mushroom shaped F.C Construction type pillboxes (also known as Oakington or Fairlop type pillboxes), one of which remains in good condition in 2009. The airfield's bomb stores were located to the west of the airfield and to the north lay a machine gun butt, used for testing, discharge and alignment of aircraft machine guns. Domestic, mess and communal sites were dispersed to the south east of the airfield either side of the modern A141 on the borders of the neighbouring village of Old Hurst. At least 11 separate dispersed locations provided maximum accommodation for 1,959 male and 291 female personnel.

The Poloa Defensive Fortifications are a set of historic military structures on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa. Consisting of three concrete pillboxes along the beach, these fortifications were built by American Marines as part of a system of defenses against a feared Japanese amphibious invasion of Samoa during the early part of World War II. The Poloa pillboxes stand out from other emplacements on Tutuila for their relatively less robust construction, possibly reflecting American tactical planning for greater defense in depth at this location. The threat of invasion eased by late 1942, and the fortifications never saw combat.. The Poloa fortifications were added to the United States National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

The New Zealand Division's next major engagement was at Passchendaele in October 1917. The division had been training since the end of August to overcome the numerous concrete pillboxes in this sector. The first objective was the Gravenstafel Spur, attacked before dawn on 4 October, as part of a major advance.

There are three remaining Second World War pillboxes in the village. The first faces the river and the disused railway. The second is on the edge of a medium-sized field next to the Avon. There has been no damage to this pillbox, though in torrential rain it tends to flood.

This line of traps stretch through fields from Cripps Corner to Poppinghole Lane, a road which runs north from the adjacent hamlet of Swaile's Green. The traps surrounding Cripps Corner were augmented with pillboxes, and provided a defence in vulnerable sectors not protected by the "heavily-wooded" surroundings of the village.

It also put a ferry into operation in case the bridges were destroyed by bombing. 210 Field Co worked on pillboxes and preparing bridges for demolition around Castleford and Snaith while 211 Fd Park Co was at Pontefract; both then moved to continue the work around Doncaster.Collier, Maps 17 & 20.

The also marked the front of the main battle zone () which was about deep, containing most of the field artillery of the (ground holding divisions), behind which was the . In the pillboxes of the were reserve battalions of the front-line regiments, held back as divisional reserves, ready to counter-attack.

A main line of resistance (MLR) is the most important defensive position of an army facing an opposing force over an extended front. It does not consist of one trench or line of pillboxes, but rather a system, of varying degrees of complexity, of fighting positions and obstacles to slow enemy advances.

Prime Minister to Secretary of State for Air and Chief of the Air Staff, 29 June 41. Included in appendix in Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance: The Second World War, Volume 3, p 693. RosettaBooks, 2010. , 9780795311444 Amongst the measures implemented were improvised armoured cars and pillboxes facing inwards towards the runways.

Siting in, he engaged each pillbox in turn with 12-15 high explosive rounds each. Under a continuous mortar barrage, Davidson kept shooting until advancing Marines masked his arc of fire. The infantry Marines moved up and secured the enemy defensive complex. Clearing the pillboxes, they found dead Japanese troops in each.

Brigade A and B were positioned between the Lower Rhine and the Maas. First Army Corps was a strategic reserve in the Fortress Holland, the southern perimeter of which was manned by another ten battalions and the eastern by six battalions.De Jong (1969b), p. 360 All these lines were reinforced by pillboxes.

Other base end stations resembled pillboxes or small bunkers dug into the ground or on the surface overlooking coastal waters. Still others were camouflaged to resemble seaside homes or cottages. Some base end stations had anti-aircraft observation positions on their top levels, or harbor observation radar antennas on platforms above their roofs.

Pillbox, Lincolnshire three-bay type, Saltfleetby The Second World War defences constructed in and around Saltfleetby have been documented by William Foot. They included extensive minefields between the Great Eau river and the dunes, a large number of pillboxes and a Home Guard shelter in the field adjacent to The Prussian Queen.

In advance of the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Singapore between 1941 and 1942 during World War II, a number of concrete- built defensive pillboxes were built along Singapore's eastern and western coasts. These pillboxes had machine guns installed within that could fire in most, if not any, directions. They also housed troops fighting against an enemy force and offered the former adequate protection from return-fire or shelling by their opponents. Typically oriented towards the sea or the shoreline, they were positioned at strategic intervals so that their fields of gunfire (from emplaced machine guns and rifles) would be overlapped against enemy troops, thereby reinforcing each other and covering almost the entire coastline with defensive fire to effectively repel enemy attacks.

One of the shelters, on Queens Wharf Road, is a site-specific "special" variation of the standard pillbox design. It is listed in the Queensland Heritage Register as part of the entry for the porphyry retaining wall on William Street. The other 20 public shelters owned by the Brisbane City Council can be divided into three types of pillbox intended for conversion after the war: "park", "bus", and "bus (stone)". They were designed to serve as structures such as bus waiting shelters or shade structures for parks, with some or all of the perimeter blast walls to be removed, leaving the concrete slab roof, floor slab and piers. The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non- reusable standard pillboxes.

The SEALs are able to rescue the POWs and eliminate the mercenary leader Magnus, but not before finding out that one of the captive Marines is missing, having been moved to an abandoned German bunker built during World War I which contains a network of tunnels and pillboxes. This complex is no match for the SEALs however, and they successfully liberate the final Marine with the help of U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jets firing missiles at designated pillboxes. In Turkmenistan, members of a terrorist group, the Allah Sadikahu, have attained several portable nuclear devices from various black market organizations. An informant named Basim Maccek, codename Mr. Pickle, has knowledge about the nuclear devices moving through the region, but has gotten himself captured in the process.

74 The Moir Baronetcy, of Whitehanger in the parish of Fernhurst in the County of Sussex, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 11 July 1916 for him. Moir produced a design for concrete machine-gun pillboxes. Designed to be constructed from a system of interlocking precast concrete blocks, with a steel roof, around 1500 Moir pillboxes were eventually produced (with blocks cast at Richborough in Kent) and sent to the Western Front in 1918. Moir was the founder and head of Ernest William Moir & Co Ltd, engineers, and a Director of S Pearson & Son Ltd and was President of the Junior Institution of Engineers (a forerunner, 1902–1970, of the Institution of Incorporated Engineers, later the IET) in 1929.

Powers' official Medal of Honor citation reads: > For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond > the call of duty. On 3 February 1944, this soldier's company was assigned > the mission of capturing Hill 175, the key enemy strong point northwest of > Cassino, Italy. The enemy, estimated to be at least 50 in strength, > supported by machineguns emplaced in 3 pillboxes and mortar fire from behind > the hill, was able to pin the attackers down and inflict 8 casualties. The > company was unable to advance, but Pfc. Powers, a rifleman in 1 of the > assault platoons, on his own initiative and in the face of the terrific > fire, crawled forward to assault 1 of the enemy pillboxes which he had > spotted.

He threw a grenade into the slit in the first of the pillboxes, and charged it and threw another grenade into the structure, killing the enemy machinegunners and so silencing their fire. After ordering several riflemen to cover his advance he proceeded to attack and neutralise 7 further pillboxes in quick succession. Later, when a tank attacked his platoon he advanced under covering fire, opened its hatch and dropped a white phosphorus grenade inside, killing the crew and negating its threat. His medal citation concludes that through "his outstanding heroism, superb courage, and leadership, and complete disregard for his own safety, [...] Rudolph cleared a path for an advance which culminated in one of the most decisive victories of the Philippine campaign.".

He was a senior sergeant assisting the leader of his platoon's First Company by September 1943, when the division received orders to attack the fortified German positions on the Taman Peninsula in the Novorossiysk-Taman Operation of the Battle of Caucasus. On 16 September 1943, Avetisyan's company was ordered to storm and seize the German-held Dolgaya Height in the Krasnoyarsk Krai near Novorossiysk in the offensive operation. The company was met with heavy fire from the machine-gun pillboxes, and Avetisyan successfully neutralized one of the enemy pillboxes by crawling up to it and throwing his grenades. The company was able to proceed, but its renewed attack was again met with machine gun fire coming from a second emplacement.

Within the same spot are two remaining Type 26 pillboxes. They were constructed in 1940 and were situated within the Abbotsbury Defence area. An anti-tank ditch was located within this area behind Chesil Beach. An observation post still exists on the landward side of the Fleet, with the open front facing Chesil Beach.

32Hammel, Munda Trail, p. 240 Across a frontage of around the Japanese defenders had established a series of defenses along a northwesterly axis from the beach at Ilangana. These defenses consisted of strong pillboxes and fortifications amidst thick jungle. These dominated several high features including Shimizu Hil, Horsehoe Hill, Kelley Hill and Reincke Ridge.

Miller, Cartwheel: The Reduction of Rabaul, pp. 144–145 Situated to provide mutual support, the pillboxes were well constructed with coral and coconut logs. Dug-in several feet beneath the ground, they were well camouflaged and only a small part showed above ground with firing points for machine gunners and riflemen.Lofgren, Northern Solomons, p.

A number of pillboxes were built around East Weare Battery. As part of the defence for HMS Osprey, now demolished, a "Yarnold Sanger" pillbox is located on Incline Road, constructed during the Cold War. In addition to this a World War II pillbox, with a possible machine gun post, is located at Upper Osprey.

Conditions in the salient improved with the completion of transport routes and the refurbishment of German pillboxes. The Germans continued to raiding the British lines, often from a position known as the gasometers and also from Passchendaele railway station. The British retaliated and used night machine-gun fire and artillery barrages to great effect.

Mottershead had to be resourceful; the polar bear exhibit (1950) was built from recycled wartime road blocks and pillboxes. "Always building" was the zoo's slogan at the time. Mottershead received the OBE, an honorary degree of MSc, and served as President of the International Union of Zoo Directors. He died in 1978 aged 84.

Also they had the option of carrying out a counterattack. All soldiers and weapons had multiple firing positions in order to make it difficult to keep them under fire. Concrete bunkers were usually only shelters; just a few had crenels. Concrete MG and gun pillboxes were side-firing in order to defend anti-tank obstacles.

On a new defensive line, the German troops stopped the advance on 15 September. The regiment was unable to dislodge the German troops, and the regiment had to seek cover amidst heavy machine gun fire. Guliyev reportedly spotted three camouflaged machine-gun positions. He moved closer to the pillboxes and killed the crew of one.

The site decayed to become the archetypal ruinous medieval castle, Pevensey Castle, which is surrounded by a small moat, large green -- and unusually substantial Roman defensive walls on three sides. During the Second World War, the Roman fort and medieval castle were adapted for modern warfare, and pillboxes were built into the Roman walls.

American casualties were climbing, both from frequent German counterattacks and the cost of storming pillboxes.Whiting (1976), pp. 113–114 The Germans had spent the night of 10 October turning cellars of houses in the town of Bardenberg into fortified pillboxes; American attackers were forced to withdraw and instead shell the town into submission.Hitler's Army, p.

The first of these was Sliema Point Battery, built to protect the northern approach to the Grand Harbour. A chain of fortifications, including Fort Delimara and Fort Benghisa, was also built to protect Marsaxlokk Harbour. From 1935 to the 1940s, the British built many pillboxes in Malta for defence in case of an Italian invasion.

On 18 January, the Americans attacked into the weaker west side of the Gifu, making some headway and destroying several Japanese pillboxes over the next two days until heavy rain stopped the attack on 20 January. That night, eleven Japanese were killed trying to escape from the Gifu.Frank, pp. 565–566; Miller, pp. 298–303.

In this action, his battalion was credited in Soviet accounts with capturing five pillboxes, seven bunkers, four anti-tank guns, two depots, as well as killing multiple Finnish soldiers. Kravchenko was seriously wounded in the fighting. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin on 21 March in recognition of his actions.

Siegfried Line dragon's teeth near Aachen, 2004 The Siegfried Line or Westwall of German border defenses around Aachen Forest and the city of Aachen had a line of dragon's teeth and pillboxes (the Scharnhorst Line) near the border.Wheeler, 2007, p. 315.Weingartner, 1996, p. 74. A second set of more extensive fortifications (the Schill Line) was inside Germany.

108 & 123 and attacked with flamethrowers, small arms and grenades. Two Marine tanks were destroyed in this fighting, while the others were forced to withdraw, and over the course of the next couple of days heavy fighting occurred. Even when pillboxes were overrun, invariably one defender remained to fight to the death.Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, p.

Two were light concrete bunkers, armed with machine guns only. The remaining eight were ad-hoc machine gun pillboxes, protected mostly by sandbags and earthworks. Four additional heavy bunkers were under construction when World War II started. In addition, the area was reinforced with trenches, anti-tank and anti-personnel obstacles, barbed wire lines and land mines.

For his actions during the attack on the Japanese pillboxes on 22 March, Rattey later received the Victoria Cross. Initially, his battalion commander, McKinna, had nominated him for the lesser Distinguished Conduct Medal, but on review by Field, the brigade commander, the nomination was elevated. It was subsequently announced in the London Gazette in July 1945.

Abandoned pillboxes may still be seen on the coast to the south of the town. The links with the armed forces came to an end when the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre at Morfa Camp closed in 1999.Jones, Rees Ivor. 2000. The Military in Tywyn 1795–1999: The Warlike Side of a Small Welsh Seaside Town.

His men honeycombed the island with more than of tunnels, 5,000 caves, and pillboxes. According to his former Chief of Staff, Kuribayashi often told him, > "America's productive powers are beyond our imagination. Japan has started a > war with a formidable enemy and we must brace ourselves accordingly."Picture > Letters from the Commander-in-Chief, page 235.

During the Second World War the edge of the town was hit by a German doodlebug, and on 6 December 1944 a V-2 rocket fell in Branksome Avenue, about a mile west of the town centre. Around the town, in amongst the hedgerows and fields, there are numerous pillboxes constructed as a part of British anti- invasion preparations.

The Wick Country Park comprises of former agricultural land, with over 2 km (1 1/4 miles) of easy access trails around the site. The trails leads visitors past old hedgerows, the lake, ponds, World War II pillboxes and recent woodland plantings, with bridges and boardwalks that allow the trails to continue over the North Benfleet brook.

By the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, all of them had been either destroyed, stripped for spare parts, scrapped or emplaced on the Golan Heights as pillboxes. None remain in service today. A few Syrian StuG IIIs ended up in Israeli hands and have become war memorials or simply left rusting away on former battlefields.

Food and military supplies were transported to the front lines by barges and narrow gauge railway. The frontline was in a swampy and wooden areas. Both sides built many trenches, pillboxes and infrastructure. In summer 1942 most of the Ostashkov area was liberated from German occupation and the frontline was moved far away from the town.

Advancing inland towards Rossum, the 7th Cavalry found it on 20 March. Six days of fighting around Rossum were required before the 7th and 8th Cavalry reduced the entrenched Japanese positions there. The Japanese bunkers, actually log and earth pillboxes, proved resistant to artillery fire.Frierson, The Admiralties: Operations of the 1st Cavalry Division, pp. 103–116.

The marshland areas of the reserve were drained to use as farmland between the 16th and 18th centuries, providing grazing land.'Walberswick National Nature Reserve', Natural England. The marshes to the south of Walberswick were flooded during the Second World War to act as invasion defences. A number of pillboxes and other military defences can be found on the reserve.

Kuzume Naoyuki was the commander of defenses on the island of Biak, near the Japanese-held bases in Papua New Guinea. He led the IJA 22nd Infantry Regiment, over 3,400 troops. He made a desperate defense of the island, covering it with pillboxes, bunkers, and spider holes. Nevertheless, the US troops were able to successfully fight their way to the east caves.

Due to the resilience of concrete some traces of the Bison remain today whereas nothing at all is left of the more readily recycled Armadillo. The existence of these mobile pillboxes received significant publicity at the time. They were briefly detailed in The Times and at greater length in Commercial Motor magazine.Pill-boxes On Wheels - Another "Concrete" Obstacle to Invasion.

A concrete holdfast with a ring of 10 bolts at Landguard Fort, Felixstowe, England A holdfast or hold fast is a means by which artillery is fixed firmly to the ground. One type of holdfast is a concrete base or plinth that a gun is bolted to. These were used, for example, to secure coastal battery guns in pillboxes during World War II.

At Messines in June 1917, the battalion lost 568 men in pillbox fighting on the Oosttaverne Line. Herring, who had ordered repeated attacks on pillboxes that his men could not capture, was again mentioned in dispatches. On 24 September 1917 he became a brevet major in the AMF. On 7 October 1917, Herring took over command of No. 4 Training Group in England.

The U.S. 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, commanded by Col. George A. Smith Jr., directed its 1st Battalion (commanded by Lt. Col. Henry G. Leonard, Jr.) to take the hill employing special pillbox assault teams equipped with flamethrowers, Bangalore torpedoes, and demolition charges. A battery of tank destroyers and self- propelled guns were to provide supporting direct fire at the pillboxes.

Near the village are the sites of the Iron Age Glastonbury Lake Village, and the now drained Meare Pool. During the Second World War, Godney was incorporated into the GHQ Line. Several pillboxes were constructed in the area. Natural obstacles to tanks were supplemented with an anti-tank ditch and bridges in the area were prepared for demolition at short notice.

Once the gate broke and gave way, bold protestors charged into the Palace grounds tossing rocks, pillboxes, Molotov cocktails. The Presidential Guard Battalion then came out in full force with their guns. The protestors drew back but not before inflaming the fire truck and a government car. left Protesters ran towards Arguelles Street to evade the explosions in front of the Palace.

There are several other pillboxes on the Coquet, although these were probably not built as part of the Stop Line. One sandbag "Beehive" type pillbox is in a garden just behind the Cross Keys public house in Thropton. It covers the west approach to the Wreigh Burn road bridge. It was built by the 250th Field Company of Royal Engineers.

The eastern coast of Sweden, along a length of more than 1500 kilometres, probably had the most powerful coastal defence system in the world. The system consisted of coastal artillery, submarines, battleships and aircraft. No less than 90 heavy cannons (typically 7.5 cm cannons) with large underground facilities were strategically located along the coast, together with a large number of bunkers and pillboxes.

Sinfin now has two distinct areas – the "new" and the "old"; it also merges with the Stenson Fields district of South Derbyshire to the south. The "old" part is bordered to the north by the Derby – Crewe railway. Here, at the outset of WW2, was built a substantial ordnance depot. This was protected by a series of pillboxes, gun emplacements and barrage balloons.

During this action, S/Sgt. Sjogren, by > his heroic bravery, aggressiveness, and skill as a soldier, single-handedly > killed 43 enemy soldiers and destroyed 9 pillboxes, thereby paving the way > for his company's successful advance. For his heroic act in the war the city > of Rockford, Michigan had a day for him. They called it Sjogren day on the > date of September 14.

Almost everywhere the attack went well for the Canadians. The 2nd Canadian Division encountered most opposition from pillboxes at the north end of Passchendaele but in less than three hours, the village had been secured. The 1st Canadian Division encountered stiff resistance from the defenders of Vine Cottages but by the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade had reached and consolidated the Green Line.

During World War II, defences were constructed around Druridge Bay as part of the anti-invasion preparations. The defences included scaffolding barriers and anti-tank blocks overlooked by pillboxes; behind these were minefields and an anti-tank ditch.Foot, 2006, p199. Between the hamlets of Druridge and Cresswell, anti-glider ditches were dug and there is an extant brick-built decoy control.

Slover, G: "Chapter-11-C, 11C3. Suspension and launching of aircraft rockets", "Gene Slover". Common targets included coastal defense guns, bridges, pillboxes, tanks, and shipping. An ambitious operation to use the Tiny Tim against German V-1 sites as part of Operation Crossbow, code-named Project Danny, was planned but cancelled before the squadrons assigned could be deployed to Europe.

91–92 The 30th Infantry Division subdued roughly 50 German pillboxes on the first day of the advance, often having to envelop the structure and attack from the rear.Rule (2003), pp. 61–62 The division's effort was aided by the 29th Infantry Division's diversionary attacks on their flank, leading the Germans to believe that that was the Americans' main attack.Rule (2003), p.

Atkinson, Rick. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942–1943. The last combat of the French Army FTs was during the Japanese invasion of French Indochina, when a section defended the Hue fortress. The last "combat" use may have been in the 1980s during the Soviet–Afghan War, when some FTs were reportedly used as pillboxes or roadblocks.

The 277th Volksgrenadier Division's 991st Grenadier Regiment was in the Monschau Forest about southeast of Wahlerscheid. The 2nd ID intended to surprise the Germans and advanced without artillery preparation. Their movement forward through the forest went well at first with little resistance, but once they gained the edge of the cleared forest around the pillboxes on December 14, they found themselves facing four pillboxes, six concrete bunkers, a forester's lodge, and a customs house, grouped compactly about the road junction and sited to provide interlocking fire for their machine gun and rifle positions. The crossroads at Wahlerscheid on February 13, 1945, after it was recaptured by the 9th ID. The right road leads to Krinkelt-Rocherath, the left to Höfen-Alzen ridge and Monschau, and center into Nazi-held Germany, Dreiborn Ridge, and Roer River dams.

A 4th Army operation order of 30 September pointed out that the German position in Flanders was restricted by the local topography, the proximity of the coast and the Dutch frontier, which made local withdrawals impossible. The instructions of 22 September were to be followed, with more bombardment by field artillery, using at least half of the heavy artillery ammunition for observed fire on infantry positions in captured pillboxes, command posts, machine-gun nests and on duckboard tracks and field railways. Gas bombardment was to be increased on forward positions and artillery emplacements, when the wind allowed. Every effort was to be made to induce the British to reinforce their forward positions, where the German artillery could engage them, by making spoiling attacks to recapture pillboxes, improve defensive positions and harass the British infantry with patrols and diversionary bombardments.

The deep, steep Laffaux–Pinon ravine between Mont des Singes and the Allermant plateau, increased the difficulties of the German defenders in the salient. The garrisons to the south fought with their backs to the ravine and the German troops in the trenches and pillboxes of the western face, risked being cut off and pushed eastwards into the ravine, if they failed to escape down the Allemant gorge to Pinon or retreat to the Mont des Singes spur. On the left of XIV Corps, the 28th Division quickly defeated the Germans in Moisy Farm and the Laffaux Mill at the tip of the salient; then took the intermediate trenches and pillboxes on the summit of Laffaux ridge. A defensive flank was established from Moisy Farm across the plateau, to prevent a counter-attack from the Mont des Singes.

During the Second World War, Semington was on GHQ Line which followed the path of the canal. Semington was designated as a centre of resistance: extensive anti-tank ditches were constructed to the east, south, and west of the village, these were overlooked by a number of pillboxes. The defences were constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations.Foot, 2006, pp. 291–296.

120 The same day, the advancing U.S. troops reached the Japanese main defensive line, consisting of a line of pillboxes, bunkers and fighting positions, supported by light and heavy machine guns, mortars and mountain guns of varying calibers. By this time many of the Americans were suffering from dysentery. As instances of combat stress began to rise fire discipline declined.Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, p.

They quickly learned how to handle the new German tactics: fall back, abandon the trenches, let the attackers overextend themselves, and then counterattack. They gained an advantage in firepower from their artillery and from tanks used as mobile pillboxes that could retreat and counterattack at will. In April Ludendorff hit the British again, inflicting 305,000 casualties—but he lacked the reserves to follow up.

Private First Class Thorson's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > He was an automatic rifleman on 28 October 1944, in the attack on Dagami > Leyte, Philippine Islands. A heavily fortified enemy position consisting of > pillboxes and supporting trenches held up the advance of his company. His > platoon was ordered to out-flank and neutralize the strongpoint. Voluntarily > moving well out in front of his group, Pvt.

Navy men had been assigned to army units as shore party spotters to direct all fire more than inland. The infantry support fires could then safely reach along roads far inland, blowing German tanks into "scrap". Pillboxes were "powdered" and gun emplacements "tossed skyhigh". German shore batteries were in turn laying well placed fire, churning the seas with near misses bracketing Deyo's ships.Rosco (1953), p. 362.

88 The 28th Marines were the only one of the four regiments that landed on D-Day to achieve their objectives.Haynes, p. 95 From 19 to 23 February, the 28th Marines fought to secure Mount Suribachi. Progress was initially slow and measured in yards as they had to fight their way through hundreds of layered and mutually supporting Japanese pillboxes, blockhouses, spiderholes, and strongpoints.

ERYX is a short-range portable SACLOS-based wire-guided anti-tank missile (ATGM) produced by European company MBDA. It is used by several countries, including the Canadian Army, French, and Norwegian armies. The weapon can also be used against bunkers and pillboxes. It also has some capability in the anti aircraft role to bring down low flying helicopters, due to its wire guided system.

Several pillboxes and anti-tank blocks were placed along the coast. These formed part of the Rattray stop line. Anti-tank ditches are still visible today. A minefield was laid on St Fergus links and Craigwan sands. On 30 November 1941, 11-year-old John Paul, 12-year-old James Reekie and Corporal Ronald Cumbley of the Royal Engineers were killed by a landmine.

The Luftwaffe dropped a few supplies, but these were mostly items such as Iron Crosses, intended to bolster the garrison's morale. Nevertheless, von Schlieben rejected a summons to surrender and began carrying out demolitions to deny the port to the Allies. Collins launched a general assault on 22 June. Resistance was stiff at first, but the Americans slowly cleared the Germans from their bunkers and concrete pillboxes.

As the first paratroopers landed, the reconnaissance platoon and the supporting guerilla fighters opened fire on the camp's defences, using Bazooka rounds to penetrate the concrete pillboxes, and then entered the camp to engage its garrison. The paratroopers soon joined the battle, and by 07:30 the Japanese guards had been overcome and the internees were being rounded up and readied for evacuation.Flanagan, p. 332.

Student protesters were steadily driven out of J.P. Laurel and farther down Mendiola, where they built a barricade to stop the riot police and armed soldiers from the Palace. As students from nearby dormitories joined them, protesters grew in numbers. Everything was improvised and they did not have any organized plan. The protestors fought the armed forces and defended themselves with sticks and pillboxes.

After this quiet spell, the brigade was moved up to the Ypres Salient, where it supported 17th (Northern) and 18th (Eastern) Divisions for the last six weeks of the Battle of Passchendaele. Guns had to be provided with wooden platforms to avoid sinking into the mud, and were devoid of cover or camouflage, the gunners sheltering in captured German pillboxes when not serving the guns.

'A' Company also became embroiled in heavy fighting along the Hatai track. In support of 'A' Company, Matildas came forward and raked the jungle, hacking through the undergrowth to reveal several Japanese pillboxes, which were destroyed by the Australian armour. As night fell, 'C' Company dug in before resuming the attack the next morning. Engineers were brought forward, as was a bulldozer, and the gap was bridged.

Both Titt windpumps were standing in 1938. The levels were re-flooded during World War II to defend against invasion along the East Anglian coast. Military defences were built at Minsmere and neighbouring Dunwich, including pillboxes, anti-aircraft defences, anti-tank blocks and barbed wire defence lines. The Army also used much of the heathland for military manoeuvres, including preparations for the invasion of continental Europe.

Major D.L. Herbert took over command of the company.Boraston & Bax, pp. 141–142. Zero hour for the Battle of Langemarck was 04.45 on 16 August, and 490th (HC) Fd Co laid out tapes to help the men of 25th Bde to find their forming-up positions in the mud and craters in the dark. The infantry crossed the Hanebeek stream and began dealing with enemy pillboxes.

Concrete pillboxes and soldiers occupying them came down in all directions away. The explosion resulted in a deep crater, with surrounding trenches sandwiched shut so fast that soldiers were crushed, still in their standing positions. The Germans all around were crying with fear. Many retreated in terror, the-then tunnel master, Otto von Füsslein, was castigated, although the position was quickly recaptured a few days later.

The main underground command post had a concrete roof thick. Pillboxes, bunkers and other defensive works were built close to the ground. A series of strong points covering the landing areas were also built, most were covered with sand and then carefully camouflaged. The many well-camouflaged 120mm and 6-inch guns were emplaced so that their fire could be directed to the beaches.

A 700m high hill provided excellent artillery and observation positions. Ridges nearby were protected by French pillboxes. In 1941-2, as a token of goodwill to the Germans, the Government of Vichy France strengthened the defences. These defences were strengthened further by the Germans who took equipment off the scuttled French fleet ships, installing two 340mm turrets and 75 medium-sized guns along the coast.

Over the years the beach has won a number of awards. During the Second World War, Balmedie beach was designated as a bomb cemetery. Defused and unexploded bombs from Luftwaffe raids in Aberdeen were brought here to be cleaned of explosives or detonated on the foreshore. Three pillboxes were built on the dunes at Balmedie to protect a small radar station consisting of three masts.

The original North Warren reserve comprising was purchased by the RSPB in 1939 due to interest in its breeding bird populations. In subsequent years the reserve has expanded as land has become available for purchase and now covers . During World War II, pillboxes and trenches were constructed on the heath and tank traps were placed across the marshes as part of the British coastal defences.

One Big Garden - Pembrey Country Park The land which the park is located served industrial uses in the 20th century; railway lines, World War II bunkers and pillboxes still remain.Dyfed Archaeological Trust Website - Pembrey Country Park The park hosted the start of the 2018 Tour of Britain cycle race, featuring a peloton of riders including reigning and former Tour de France champions Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome.

It was operated by The Glastonbury Navigation & Canal Company. Most of it was abandoned as a navigation in 1854, when a railway was built along the towpath. During the Second World War the Brue was incorporated into GHQ Line and many pillboxes were constructed along the river. Gants Mill at Pitcombe, near Bruton, is a watermill which is still used to mill cattle feed.

During the Second World War, considerable defences were built along the coast as a part of British anti-invasion preparations, though the north coast of Somerset was an unlikely invasion site. Some of the structures remain to this day. Most notable are the pillboxes on the foreshore of Dunster Beach. These are strong buildings made from pebbles taken from the beach and bonded together with concrete.

A counter-attack by Reserve Infantry Regiment 100 of the 23rd Reserve Division, pushed the British back from Aviatik Farm and Dale House and an attempt to regain them failed. Another attack at reached Nile, on the divisional boundary with the 3rd Division. German troops trickling forward to Riverside and Otto pillboxes were stopped by artillery and machine-gun fire. The 175th Brigade had .

The Stalingrad counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, exposed the Red Army's urgent need for mobile heavy guns. Primary targets for these guns were German fortifications in and around Stalingrad. At the time Soviet front-line ground units did not possess sufficient firepower to deal with pillboxes and other fortifications. Close support of artillery and combat engineers was an important factor in the success of Operation Uranus.

Winston Churchill wrote to General Ismay on 12 July 1940 saying: "I saw these pillboxes for the first time when I visited Langley last week. This appears to afford an admirable means of anti-parachute defence and it should surely be widely adopted. Let me have a plan." This pillbox was adopted by the Air Ministry and became known as the Pickett-Hamilton fort.

The artillery of the Second and Fifth armies were to open fire at zero hour, to mislead the Germans about the limited nature of the Fifth Army attack. At Poelcappelle, no man's land was through the middle of the village and was so narrow that a temporary withdrawal was necessary for the artillery to bombard the area. The 18th (Eastern) Division was to attack with the 53rd Brigade, one battalion to capture an intermediate objective (dotted blue line) and a second battalion to take the final objective (blue line). The attack was to have three phases, in which three companies of the 8th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment were to advance into the village and capture the German pillboxes at the Brewery, as the fourth company attacked the Helles Houses pillboxes from the Brewery, by crossing into the 34th Division area and attacking from the north.

They were designed to serve as structures such as bus waiting shelters or shade structures for parks, with some or all of the perimeter blast walls to be removed, leaving the concrete slab roof, floor slab and piers. The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non-reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that "if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance".

The commanders of XIX Corps and XVIII Corps were ordered to arrange advances to within about of the , to come into line with the XIV Corps on the left flank; II Corps, further south, was to capture Inverness Copse on 22 August. At on 19 August, five tanks of the 1st Tank Brigade broke down or ditched but seven others advanced up the St Julian–Poelcappelle road behind a smoke barrage, their noise smothered by low-flying British aircraft. The tanks were followed by parties of the 1/8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, ready to occupy the strong points and pillboxes as their garrisons were overcome by the tanks. At most of the pillboxes, the German occupants retreated as soon as they saw the tanks but at Triangle Farm, Maison du Hibou and the Cockcroft, the garrisons stood their ground, suffering about thirty of them being taken prisoner.

They were designed to serve as structures such as bus waiting shelters or shade structures for parks, with some or all of the perimeter blast walls to be removed, leaving the concrete slab roof, floor slab and piers. The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non- reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that if the emergency for their use does not arise ... (unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance.

In June 135th Brigade of 45th Division was defending the Royal Military Canal, which was fortified with pillboxes for machine gun snd anti-tank guns, and on 25 August D Company, 5th Devons, joined 31st Independent Brigade Group, also stationed along the Canal. On 13 October the company was designated 31st Independent Brigade Group MG Company (Devon); it remained with the brigade group until 5 August 1941.Joslen, p. 279.

The Ringwood West Line was a World War II defensive line in England, running south from the GHQ Line near Frome to the coast. The line followed natural and manmade barriers such as rivers and canals, and was strengthened by pillboxes, gun emplacements and anti tank obstacles. In the event of an actual invasion, it was planned mines would be laid and key crossing points such as bridges demolished.

Only one Horsa with a platoon of infantry from the Staffords landed near the bridge. Its commander, Lieutenant Withers, divided his men into two groups, one of which swam across the river and took up position on the opposite bank. Thereafter the bridge was captured following a simultaneous assault from both sides. The Italian defenders from the 120th Coastal Infantry Regiment abandoned their pillboxes on the north bank.

Knight served as a first lieutenant in the 124th Cavalry Regiment, Mars Task Force. On February 2, 1945, near LoiKang, Burma, Knight single-handedly destroyed two Japanese pillboxes. Despite being wounded, he led his rifle platoon in an attack on other enemy positions but was again wounded, this time fatally. For his heroic actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously four months later, on June 25, 1945.

The Allied focus returned to Pantelleria in early 1943. The radar installations and airfield on the island were seen as a real threat to the planned invasion of Sicily (codenamed Operation Husky). The Italian garrison on the island was 12,000 strong in well-entrenched pillboxes and 21 gun batteries of a variety of calibres. In addition, there was an opportunity to assess the impact of bombardment upon heavily fortified defences.

Allied aircraft also carried out airstrikes along the coast. While visually spectacular, and involving thousands of rounds, the preparatory fires did not initially result in a breakthrough for U.S. forces. The defending Japanese troops were able to reoccupy their pillboxes after the barrage. The U.S. Marine M3 Stuart tanks from the 9th Defense Battalion that were supporting the infantry found the ground too steep and eventually the U.S. attack stalled.

'203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) (', GRAU index 52-G-625) was a 203 mm (8 inch) Soviet high-power heavy howitzer. During the Second World War, it was under the command of the Stavka's strategic reserve. It was nicknamed "Stalin's sledgehammer" by German soldiers. These guns were used with success against Finnish pillboxes at the Mannerheim Line, heavy German fortifications and in urban combat for destroying protected buildings and bunkers.

Numerous searchlights were installed – by 1942 there were twenty-four located around Gibraltar – and rocket projectors, an early though rather ineffectual form of anti-aircraft missiles, were also brought in.Hughes & Migos, p. 151 Bunkers and pillboxes were built to guard against amphibious landings, especially on the eastern side of the Rock, and anti-tank guns, ditches and obstacles were installed facing the isthmus to guard against a land attack.

The northwestern portion has been covered by aquaculture equipment built on the runway by a lease tenant. Very little evidence of Kahuku's World War II fortifications remain except one bunker site that is keeping its past military secrets. The entrance to the bunker is buried in sand and brush leaving only two concrete structures exposed. Scattered concrete pillboxes covered by low brush and debris can be found in the surrounding jungle.

The ordered APX2 turrets were refitted with Belgian 47 mm guns and 7.65 mm Hotchkiss machine guns; thirteen were used on coastal defence pillboxes. After the war many French armour historians assumed that the original order of 25, thought to be simply made of the AMC 35, was fully completed and adjusted the presumed production numbers of that tank accordingly, leading to an overestimate worsened by counting the Belgian vehicles twice.

Completely surprised, the Japanese mounted a disorganized defense, but the Soviets were unable to exploit this properly; inexperienced in amphibious landings, the naval infantrymen indulged in uncoordinated advances inland instead of focusing on the primary objective of establishing a secure beachhead of sufficient depth to bring artillery and mortars ashore. By 0530, the Japanese had manned machine guns in pillboxes and foxholes and begun to inflict heavy casualties on the Soviets.

Ritson was later awarded a Bar to his DSO, and was Mentioned in Despatches four times during the war. Ritson was the commanding officer of the 12th Battalion at Zonnenbeke, when on 20 September 1917 he was charged with clearing out several strongpoints which included five pillboxes and a fortified farmhouse. The resulting combat saw one of his Company's commanding officers, Captain Henry Reynolds, receive the Victory Cross.

The two sides clashed with each other on open ground before the Germans were forced to retreat to the ridgeline. Further fighting ensued and afterwards I ANZAC managed to capture most of the German pillboxes on the crest of the ridgeline,Odgers 1994, pp. 99–100. but were stopped short of their secondary objective by defensive fire from German positions nearby. In all I ANZAC suffered approximately 4,500 casualties.

The prototype was further refined into the E1R1 model, which resulted in the adopted M1 model in August 1941. These man-portable weapons saw little use in Europe. They were more common in the Pacific, where they were used extensively when attacking pillboxes and fortifications. The M1's unreliability and lack of developed tactics resulted in the failure of the first flamethrower attack on a Japanese fortification in December 1942.

Several Type 95s were destroyed or captured by the United States Army during the Battle of Biak in 1944. As the tide of the war turned against Japan, the Type 95s were increasingly expended in banzai charges or were dug-in as pillboxes in static defense positions in the Japanese-occupied islands. During the Battle of Tarawa, seven entrenched Type 95s of the 7th Sasebo SNLF opposed the American landings.

Pierre Gras, The time of Ports. Decline and Recovery of Port Cities (1940–2010), Tallandier, 2010, 298 p. () p. 23 They made a naval base in preparation for the invasion of the United Kingdom (Operation Sealion) and set up the Festung Le Havre,September 1944: The siege and the battle of Le Havre, consulted on 21 March 2013 lined with bunkers, pillboxes and artillery batteries integrated into the Atlantic Wall.

Accompanied by two radio operators, Capt. Homer G. Ross, of Elyria, Ohio, Company Commander of Company E, crawled out in the face of enemy guns to join the platoon. From the middle of the clearing, he directed artillery fire by radio and succeeded in calling down direct hits on pillboxes. The patrol, however, could not breach the barbed wire, and, after the artillery mission had been fired, withdrew.

At the same time, German troops continued to defend their strong positions. The Ramushevo Corridor was particularly strongly fortified, with 1200-1500 mines every kilometer in some places, and pillboxes and bunkers every 300 to 350 meters. According to the original plan, the Northwestern Front was to attack on 19 February. However, the operation was postponed due to weather and to the Khozin Special Group not being fully concentrated yet.

Taylor had been sent to study surgery under Dr. Harness at Tavistock; but this apprenticeship did not result in a career. He returned to Norwich, where he joined a Mr. Chambers as a druggist; and worked with Dr. Fitch in a pharmacy business. He set up a factory to make wooden pillboxes, turning the first specimens on a small lathe powered by a pet spit-dog.Buchanan, p. 99.

Dutch defenders were supported by just a single battery of four guns, which did not have a significant effect on the fighting. The effectiveness of the pillboxes were also hindered by foliage. After around three hours of combat, Japanese infantrymen had approached the forward defenses and around 50 men were withdrawn, with the 5-cm gun being destroyed and a bridge crossing the ravine ahead of the fortifications blown up.

ALCO Firefly Steam Charging Set, Australian War Memorial WW2 "Lyon Lights" may well have been a further product of this company. They were beach defence lights of 20 to 24 inch diameter complete with a petrol engine and electric generator. In the event of invasion from the sea they were to be turned on to allow pillboxes a clear view of the enemy. The connection has yet to be proven.

The Israel Defense Forces felt that retaliation was warranted and chose a Syrian military target near the village of Nuqeib. Ofer’s unit played a central role in operation Snunit (Swallow) which resulted in the destruction of the chosen targets. During the operation, Ofer charged the Syrian pillboxes while firing his machinegun and throwing grenades. He yelled at them, “surrender; you don’t stand a chance,” before silencing them with antitank fire.

The battalion pushed north along the "Anzac Highway" and nearby hills, and rapidly secured a number of pillboxes behind the beach as well as the oil storage tanks. By the end of the day the 2/48th held positions in the hills to the west of Tarakan Town. The 2/24th Battalion also began landing on Red Beach from 9.20 am, and spent most of the day in reserve.

Private First Class Reese's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > He was engaged in the attack on the Paco Railroad Station, which was > strongly defended by 300 determined enemy soldiers with machineguns and > rifles, supported by several pillboxes, 3 20mm. guns, 1 37-mm. gun and heavy > mortars. While making a frontal assault across an open field, his platoon > was halted 100 yards from the station by intense enemy fire.

De Jong (1969b), p. 327 The Dutch Infantry used about 2,200 7.92 mm Schwarzlose M.08 machine guns, partly licence produced, and eight hundred Vickers machine guns. Many of these were fitted in the pillboxes; each battalion had a heavy machine gun company of twelve. The Dutch infantry squads were equipped with an organic light machine gun, the M.20 Lewis machine gun, of which about eight thousand were available.

The story of Hadleigh's railway Hadleigh.org.uk The line was an important goods route during the Second World War and was guarded by numerous Type 22 pillboxes, most of which are still visible in the surrounding farmland. The railway station was closed to passengers on 10 April 1961, with a goods service surviving until April 1965. Today the disused line is used as a public footpath and is a designated nature reserve.

Rava-Ruska, 13. Przemyśl A fortified district or fortified region (, ukreplyonny raion, ukrepraion) in the military terminology of the Soviet Union, is a territory within which a complex system of defense fortifications was engineered. Each fortified district consisted of a large number of concrete bunkers (pillboxes) armed with machineguns, antitank guns and artillery. The bunkers were built in groups for mutual support, each group forming a centre of resistance.

Entrance and an air vent come through the east wall. It was built of steel-reinforced concrete including beach rubble, and, as of the NRHP listing date, was in "excellent" condition. There are "impressions of tabi prints and a possible Japanese character" in the cement roof, which is about thick. and It is not clear whether any of these pillboxes engaged directly in the 1944 battle for Guam.

En route to patrol duty in the Solomons on 28 March, she bombarded Kapingamarangi Atoll in the Carolines. Johnston shelled an observation tower and several blockhouses, pillboxes, and dugouts along the beach. Two days later, she came into the mouth of the Maririca River, southeast of Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. After laying a heavy barrage into that area, she took up anti-submarine patrol off Bougainville.

After three months of patrol in the Solomons, Johnston sailed to the Marshall Islands to prepare for the invasion and capture of Guam in the Marianas. On 21 July, she teamed up with the Pearl Harbor "ghost"—the battleship —to bombard Guam. The destroyer had sent in more than 4,000 rounds of shells by 29 July. Her accurate gunfire shattered the enemy's battery installations and numerous pillboxes and buildings.

Ivashkivka; Roman Catholic church (ХІХ century) in v. Lebedivka. In 1846 a famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko stayed at Hulsk. In honour of this event a memorable sign was set on the bank of the river Sluch. In Hulsk and other villages of the district along an old state boundary there were fortifications buildings (pillboxes, bunkers) of times of Second world war (“line of Stalin”), which are the objects of tourism.

To the left, 2-7 Cavalry was to attack inland, capture San Jose, and seize a beachhead line west of Highway 1. They were met with slight opposition, and within the first 15 minutes, 2-7 Cavalry knocked out two Japanese defensive pillboxes firing into the landing zone. After a house-to- house assault, San Jose was captured by 1230. 2-7 Cavalry's largest obstacle was the terrain.

Incoming machine-gun fire from pillboxes did not cause casualties while the commandos were aboard the armoured landing craft. This unit was able to accomplish its mission: the destruction of the Hess Battery. Once the LCAs had landed the Commando at Quiberville, they withdrew and made their way to Vasterival. The Commandos' withdrawal was made through Orange One Beach, the calculation being that the German reaction would concentrate on Quiberville.

530–531; Jersey, p. 354; Zimmerman, p. 158. One of the Japanese pillboxes that made up the Gifu position Between 20 and 23 December, the Japanese apparently withdrew from the area, as aggressive U.S. Army patrols encountered no more enemy in the area of Hills 20 and 21 and further to the south. Nelson ordered the two battalions to move west to Hill 31 and then attack south towards Hill 27.

Proceeding onward, the tank completely traversed the Gifu and destroyed five more pillboxes, breaching a gap wide in the Japanese line. The American infantry surged through the gap and took positions in the middle of the Gifu.Frank, p. 566; Miller p. 303; Anderson; Jersey, p. 370; Gilbert, pp. 50–51. The tank was commanded by Captain Theodore Deese and crewed by men from the 25th Division Reconnaissance Troop.

The main line was to run from Dysart, Fife to Loch Tummel, with an additional line built from Cowie, Aberdeenshire inland. These lines were to include wire obstacles, anti-tank barriers, and pillboxes. The 9th (Highland) was to construct the Cowie Line, and aid in the preparation of Scottish Command's other defensive efforts. The division assisted in the construction of beach obstacles, rigged bridges for destruction and established roadblocks.

The building was protected by machine and antiaircraft guns, ringed with pillboxes, tanks, and 20-mm cannons mounted on armoured vehicles. As Diệm refused to surrender, vowing to reassert his control, after sunset, Thiệu led his 7th Division in an assault on Gia Long Palace. They used artillery and flamethrowers and it fell by daybreak after Diệm finally gave the order to the Presidential Guard to surrender.Jones, pp. 412–15.

Bowers Gifford is a small village in southern Essex, England. It is located east of Basildon, between Pitsea and Thundersley. Pillboxes in the surrounding fields testify to its wartime role in defending the Thames Estuary which it overlooks. The place-name 'Bowers Gifford' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Bura, meaning 'cottages', from the Old English bur, in modern English bower.

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non-reusable standard pillboxes. Frank Gibson Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that "if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance". He added that "I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war".

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non-reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance. He added that I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war.

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non- reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that "if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance". He added that "I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war".

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non- reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that "if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance. He added that I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war".

A reserve battalion overran the dugouts and more pillboxes nearby, advancing to just beyond the final objective, at the junction with the 4th Australian Division to the north, taking and An attempted German counter- attack by part of the 17th Division was dispersed by artillery and machine-gun fire. The 4th Australian Division assembled well forward and avoided the German barrage by squeezing up into an area deep and attacked at with two brigades. The right brigade attacked through a mist, took the first objective with only short delays to capture pillboxes but then mistakenly advanced into the standing barrage, which had paused for twice as long as usual, to assist the 3rd Division advance through muddier conditions to the north and had to be brought back until the barrage moved forward. The brigade reached the final objective from just short of the on the right and the edge of Zonnebeke on the left and gained touch with the 5th Australian Division further south.

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non-reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that "if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance". He added that "I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war".

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non-reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance. He added that I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war.

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non-reusable standard pillboxes. F.G. Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that "if the emergency for their use does not arise ...(unused shelters)... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance". He added that "I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war".

The reusable pillboxes were designed to hold 70 people, as were the non- reusable standard pillboxes. Frank Gibson Costello, Brisbane City Council City Architect between 1941 and 1952, was responsible for the design of the surface air raid shelters, and his variants of the standard pillbox were designed to provide a post-war utility for at least part of the Council's shelter building programme. In an address delivered to the Constitutional Club in Brisbane on February 1942, Costello noted that if the emergency for their use does not arise ... (unused shelters) ... remain in brick and concrete, in many cases having no further value and being a possible source of nuisance. He added that I can assure you that wherever it is possible, without sacrificing the primary requirements of shelter from air attack, I have endeavoured in our Council buildings to so plan the shelters that they will fit into schemes of improvement which we hope will proceed immediately after the war.

Between 28 April and 8 May, it fought in the elimination of the German troops on the Vistula Spit and northwest of Elbing. Between 16 June 1944 and 9 May 1945, a period of eleven months of combat, the division was credited with 38 German aircraft destroyed and one downed, killing 3,094 soldiers, 25 artillery and mortar batteries, 118 pillboxes, sixteen command posts, nine automobiles, and 63 wagons. Additionally, it captured 402 German soldiers.

The first waves, in LVT's, went ashore on schedule, but were slowed at the first volcanic terrace. Without protection, the marines were vulnerable to fire from Japanese pillboxes, and gun and mortar positions on higher ground to the north of the beaches. The fire from those positions, which could be knocked out only by a direct hit, soon began to take its toll and the attack transports began to move in to receive the wounded.

Burton's brother recalled that Burton's nickname was: 'The Squire of Docking'.Up In All Weather, the story of RAF Docking by David Jacklin 2004 The presence of the airfield, as well as the village's proximity to the coast, meant that the latter was provided with substantial defensive works much of which survive. Notably it has four Norcon pillboxes, three loopholed walls, one Blacker Bombard pedestal and two very rare Tett turrets with underground passages.

Ironically, the German Army's own Panzerfaust (a light anti-tank weapon with which the 504th was well equipped) was the regiment's most effective weapon against the German pillboxes. Despite the presence of thousands of mines and booby traps, only a small number of those disturbed actually detonated. Freezing temperatures, snow, ice and years of exposure had corroded the detonators. Vicious enemy counterattacks on 3 and 4 February were repulsed, and the unit was relieved.

The construction of the Salpa Line began in the end of the Winter War in 1940. At first, volunteers worked there—then people ineligible for the war service were mobilized. The maximum number of workers, on site was near 35 000 in the spring of 1941. After the beginning of the Continuation War on 25 June 1941 the fortification work was stopped, pillboxes and bunkers were stripped of armaments, which were sent to the front.

Throwing aside his automatic rifle, which had > jammed, he took up a rocket gun, fired on a light tank, setting it on fire. > By evening the enemy had been driven from the greater part of the captured > position but still held 3 pillboxes. Sgt. Thompson's squad was assigned the > task of dislodging the enemy from these emplacements. Darkness having fallen > and finding that fire of his squad was ineffective from a distance, Sgt.

While attempting to > knock out a third pillbox, he was struck and blinded by an enemy grenade. > Although unable to see, he rallied his platoon and continued forward in the > assault on the remaining pillboxes. Before the task was completed he fell > mortally wounded. 1st Lt. Knight's gallantry and intrepidity were > responsible for the successful elimination of most of the Japanese positions > and served as an inspiration to officers and men of his troop.

Wheeler, 2007, p. 367. By the evening of January 31, the V Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps reached the Westwall. On February 1, 1945, the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment advanced to within of Hollerath before being forced back by heavy resistance. Seitz then spent 36 hours preparing for another attack which was to be supported by heavy artillery, flamethrowers and engineers with demolition charges and bangalore torpedoes to be used against pillboxes.

As well as the basic weaponry of rifles and machine guns, more than 60 light artillery pieces were deployed at these strongpoints. The heaviest pieces were located in eight gun casemates and four open positions while the lighter guns were housed in 35 pillboxes. A further 18 anti-tank guns completed the disposition of artillery targeting the beach. Areas between the strongpoints were lightly manned with occasional trenches, rifle pits, and 85 machine-gun emplacements.

Halsall is where the first sod was ceremonially dug (on 5 November 1770, by the Hon. Charles Mordaunt of Halsall Hall) for the commencement of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. A sculpture ("Halsall Navvy" by Thompson Dagnall) just across the bridge from the Saracen's Head pub now commemorates this. The canal in this area was partially fortified with pillboxes and anti tank measures as it formed part of Stop Line 14 in WW2.

In 1926, most fortifications were disbanded. When Germany became a potential threat the Dutch government had the Line recommissioned. At the end of the 1930s, a series of pillboxes and casemates were constructed in the area south of the IJsselmeer and north of the Rhine. The Line was constructed according to French military principles from World War I which had proven to be successful then, but had, unknown at the time of construction, become obsolete.

On 26 July, an Imperial Japanese Navy special detachment was sent to inspect Buka Airfield, but considered it unacceptable as a prospect for a speedily constructed major airfield. Nonetheless, by December 1942 the airfield was further improved by the Japanese with bitumen surfacing, an electrical power plant, underground fuel tanks, and new pillboxes and trenches. From December onwards many hulks were at the strip. Coastwatchers reported nighttime patrol flights during full moon.

It was originally designed for a garrison of up to 100 men. The fort was used for gunnery practice until one of the guns cracked in its casemate, as reported in ‘The Chatham Observer’ on 25 January 1879. The forts were never used in anger, and were decommissioned before the First World War. In the Second World War the fort was used as an observation post, with platforms and pillboxes built on top.

A position near Korek was attacked, despite being beyond the first objective and under British artillery fire. The advance to the final objective, between where it met the Ypres–Roulers railway, north to Kronprinz Farm on the Stroombeek began and a German battalion headquarters was captured in the Waterloo pillboxes. Calgary Grange and Kronprinz farm held out for a while longer but the final objective, after an advance of was reached and consolidated.

All of the 225 Strv m/42 TH and m/42 TV produced (all strv m/42 with twin Scania-Vabis L/603 engines), were rebuilt between 1957 and 1960 to Stridsvagn 74 tanks and the EH vehicles (strv m/42 with single Volvo engine A8B engines) to Infanterikanonvagn 73 infantry support vehicles. The turrets were reused as static gun pillboxes, along the major coastlines, but mostly defending harbours and more seldom airfields.

Trench warfare led to the development of the concrete pill box, a small, hardened blockhouse that could be used to deliver machine gun fire. Pillboxes could be placed across a battlefield with interlocking fields of fire. Because attacking an entrenched enemy was so difficult, tunnel warfare became a major effort during the war. Once enemy positions were undermined, huge amounts of explosives would be planted and detonated as part preparation for an overland charge.

By the morning of 27 March, aerial resistance had begun. The next day, San Francisco shifted to Okinawa for shore bombardment in preparation for the assault landings scheduled for 1 April. On that day, she took up station in fire support sector 5, west of Naha, and, for the next five days, shelled enemy emplacements, caves, pillboxes, road junctions, and tanks, truck, and troop concentrations. At night, she provided harassing fire near the beachhead.

The Blendkörper 2H was similar to the earlier Blendkörper 1H in concept and construction. The Blendkörper 2H was roughly the size of a light bulb but made from thicker glass and consisted of two glass bulbs filled with liquid and sealed with plaster of paris. The grenade was used to temporarily blind the crews of pillboxes and vehicles. When the bulb burst the mixture vaporized and gave off a thick white smoke.

The Tumon Bay Japanese fortifications are a collection of World War II-era military structures along the coast of Guam in and near the village of Tumon. Many of these structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, using the alternate spelling "Tomhum". They include pillboxes on or close to the beach, and concrete structures and caves located a short way inland on the limestone cliffs that overlook the beach.

The population of the parish declined through the 19th century. The census recorded a population of 120 in 1841 with the population falling with each census to 66 in 1891. The village was part of the Holmstrow hundred until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century. During World War II four Type 24 pillboxes were built, roughly at the corners of the village, with a Type 28 pillbox just to the north.

Sound Mirrors were built at Kilnsea, Boulby and Redcar in 1916. The concrete blocks had a hollowed out dish shape that pointed out towards the sea. They were early form of RADAR being able to detect ships and aircraft up to 25 miles away. During the Second World War, the Yorkshire coast was fortified with pillboxes and tank traps on the shoreline and anti-aircraft and anti-shipping batteries installed at Ringborough.

The officers attempted to reorganize their sections on the beach which was by this time crowded with men from the Infantry, Engineers, and Artillery. The 1st section of machine guns, under Lt. Lazo, effectively engaged one of the pillboxes the enemy was manning and forced it to close it embrasure. This support made it possible for elements of Company “K” and Company “L” to work their way up to one of the strong points later.

Amersfoort (2005), p. 218 At most places a secondary bombardment destroyed the pillboxes and the infantry divisions crossed the river after building pontoon bridges; but at some, as Venlo, the attempt was aborted. At Arnhem, Leibstandarte Der Fuehrer led the assault and that day advanced to the Grebbe Line, followed by 207. Infanteriedivision. Despite the destruction of the Wilhelminabrug and the Sint Servaasbrug (pictured) German troops passed Maastricht, a vital traffic hub, relatively quickly.

In World War II the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal formed part of the Taunton Stop Line, designed to prevent the advance of a German invasion. Pillboxes can still be seen along its length. The first bombs fell on Bridgwater on 24 August 1940, destroying houses on Old Taunton Road, and three men, three women and one child were killed. Later a prisoner of war camp was established at Colley Lane, holding Italian prisoners.

He was replaced by Brig-Gen G.A.S. Cape. 39th Divisional Artillery returned to the front between 4 and 18 November, and again from 22 November, participating in harassing fire against the enemy. Although the gun detachments had some cover from the weather and enemy fire in captured pillboxes, the battery positions were in mud-filled shell craters and guns could scarcely be moved, and the waggon lines were under periodic shelling.Becke, Pt 4, p. 193.

Pillboxes – WO 199/2527, The National Archives Although relatively few were actually built, Norcons were found all over the United Kingdom, from southwest England to the Orkney Islands. Twenty-seven Norcon pillbox sites are recorded in the Defence of Britain database. Holding company Bowmaker purchased a controlling interest in Norcon Limited in 1943 and Norcon managed to show a profit; the company prospered after the end of hostilities.Unattributed. Bowmaker Limited Continued Expansion of Business.

Ari D Norman revived an interest in small sterling silver accessories such as perfume bottles, thimbles, snuffboxes and collectable pillboxes. Norman moved the business from his parents’ house to an office building in Northwest London called Argenta House. He managed to campaign the council for a name change of the local road where the office was situated and it was renamed Argenta Way. Ari D Norman Ltd became 'the brand behind the brand'.

The OF-471 projectile was powerful enough against unprotected and entrenched infantry, pillboxes, and fortified buildings. In urban combat, the long barrel of the 122 mm cannon sometimes made maneuvering difficult. Use of the ISU-122 as a self-propelled howitzer was rare, although its maximum range of fire exceeded 14 km. Usually, the ISU-122 delivered indirect fire to the enemy during rapid advances when support from towed artillery was not available.

The Masefau Defensive Fortifications consist of a pair of concrete pillboxes on the shores of Masefau Bay on the island of Tutuila in the United States territory of American Samoa. These octagonal structures differ from others found in western Tutuila in that they have no separate interior space for the storage of ammunition. The structures were exposed by a typhoon in 2009. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

The open spaces of airfields were very vulnerable to attack by airborne troops and it was felt that it was particularly important to defend them effectively. However, conventional defences such as pillboxes and trenches could not be installed without danger to friendly aircraft. At this time a number of private companies contacted the government with their own design ideas. The Pickett- Hamilton fort was designed by Francis Norman Pickett and Donald St Aubyn Hamilton.

Sixteen pillboxes were built alongside the road between the fortresses. Under the control of the British Mandate in Palestine access to the road was not open, and it required special permission. The road began alongside the village Basa, what is now Betzet and the city Shlomi, and ended at the point next to Metzudat Koach, while it passed near the large Arab settlements. The road was paved several kilometers away from the border with Lebanon.

A U.S. map of tunnel defences around Iwo Jima built by the 109th With preparations underway Kuribayashi worked with the tactic of defense-in-depth building numerous pillboxes for machine-gunners and 13,000 yards of tunnels with even a field-hospital worked in. However he had issues with many officers—dismissing 18 of them along with his Chief-of-staff, Kuribayashi also lost control of the Naval troops who dug in on the beaches.

The 3rd Australian Division would attack Passchendaele ridge and the village and the New Zealand Division was to capture the Bellevue Spur. The first objective (Red Line) was practically the same as the second objective of the attack on 9 October, forward, beyond the Bellevue pillboxes. The second objective (Blue Line) was beyond, at the junction of the Wallemolen Spur and was the jumping-off line for the attack on the village of Passchendaele.

He performed similar feats on two subsequent occasions, killing several German soldiers and emerging unscathed. The Australian force continued to press their assault, encountering pillboxes and machine gun positions as they pushed forward. One such machine gun position, situated in the open, held up the advance. Firing a single burst from his Lewis Gun, Peeler killed the gunner and caused the remainder of the gun's defenders to seek cover in a nearby dugout.

Map of Shing Mun Redoubt Defensive headquarters were located at Shing Mun Redoubt ( or ), which had an observation post (acting as headquarters of the redoubt) that could call artillery support from Mount Davis battery and Stonecutters Island Fort, and four pillboxes (PB400-403) fitted with Vickers machine guns and Bren LMGs. There were 1.5 metre deep defensive channels or trenches, named after the roads of London such as Charing Cross, to aid the British soldiers of the Middlesex Regiment.

Pillbox and anti-invasion polesThe beach was classed as a high invasion threat from German units based on Norway. A number of pillboxes along with barbed wire, anti-tank blocks and scaffolding poles (that ran almost to Aberdeen along the coast) were installed. Landmines were also planted in areas between Newburgh estuary and Aberdeen, in December 2012 a landmine was found in the dunes. It's unclear how it got there, as the listed minefield were at Forvie and Menie.

Yamamoto cites the research of the Japanese veterans' association Kaikosha. and on Yuhuatai Japanese soldiers noticed that many Chinese pillboxes were chained from the outside to prevent their occupants from fleeing.Masahiro Yamamoto, Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), 66. For this information Yamamoto cites a wide variety of primary sources including Japanese army documents, Chinese army documents, and the testimony of Japanese officer Tokutaro Sakai, and he also cites the work of researcher Noboru Kojima.

At 14:15 on September 27, 1944 P-47 Thunderbolts from the XIX Tactical Air Command began bombing Fort Driant. Companies E and G of the 11th Infantry Regiment, and the attached Company C, 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion began their attack on Fort Driant. Small arms fire, machine guns and mortars immediately began firing upon the advancing troops. Most of the fort was below ground, causing the tank destroyers to be ineffective against the heavily armored pillboxes.

The division began its approach march at 19.00 the evening before, and was expected to be resting at its jumping-off line by midnight. But the mud was so bad that the troops arrived 20 minutes after the attack was launched, and simply fixed bayonets and kept walking. As well as the mud, which seriously hindered movement, clogged weapons and deadened artillery fire, they were faced by unanticipated barbed wire. The artillery had made no impression on German pillboxes.

The TMBs were hotly engaged at the subsequent Battle of Bullecourt. During the 1917 Ypres Offensive the 58th Division was engaged on several occasions. On 17 August, at St Julien during the Battle of Langemarck, the men of the TMBs were rushed up to assist the divisional field artillery, who had suffered serious casualties. Then on 19 September they were engaged in bombarding enemy pillboxes ahead of the assault in the following day's Battle of the Menin Road Ridge.

The area includes a small hamlet and some farms, including Barcombe House, and a water treatment works. There were mills in the parish of Barcombe as far back as the 11th century. Thomas and Denise Erith are recorded as holding a corn mill at the beginning of the 16th century. Although the original mills were destroyed by fire in 1939, several pillboxes from the Second World War, a beautiful large brick bridge and many weirs remain.

As-built, the station had two side platforms in a cutting, accessed by stairs from a footbridge linking to the main station building. In 1940 a pair of pillboxes was built on the roof of the main station building, flanking its octagonal tower. Despite the times, considerable effort was made to blend these into the original structure, and they are thus well camouflaged. The last member of staff to work at the station was withdrawn in 1988.

The German advance was further hindered by a line of pillboxes along both rivers, but despite heavy resistance they succeeded in crossing both IJssel and Maas by midday. In the meantime, the airborne forces had taken the Dutch by surprise. German paratroopers succeeded in taking the Moerdijk bridges, the traffic bridge near Dordrecht and partially the traffic bridge in Rotterdam. They also captured the airfields of Waalhaven (near Rotterdam), and Ypenburg, Ockenburg and Valkenburg (around The Hague).

During the early stages of World War II, during preparations for a threatened German invasion, the canal was manned by 31st Independent Brigade Group, who fortified each salient with a concrete pillbox and barbed wire entanglements; numerous pillboxes survive today. In the German invasion plan, codenamed Operation Sea Lion, the paratroopers of the 7th Flieger-Division were tasked with a parachute landing to secure crossing points across the Royal Military Canal on the first day of the invasion.

General Teofil Hárosy (pioneer) developed the theory of flexible defense in 1939-1940. The "flexible" defense-lines (Mannerheim-line, Árpád Line, Bar Lev-Line) are not based on dense lines of heavily armed, large and expensive concrete pillboxes (as the Maginot system does). The protective capacity hinges on multiple lines of well-designed obstacles fitting into the environment. All roads passable by tanks and trucks were closed by a "völgyzár", but the intermediate areas were unprotected.

Brown grabbed a pole charge and ran under enemy fire and placed the charge in the pillbox, destroying it. He did this twice more to two other pillboxes, each time successfully destroying the pillbox; only on the third one was he wounded by a mortar round. Although he was wounded, he refused medical attention and continued up the hill. After the hill was secure, he went by himself on a reconnaissance mission to locate enemy troops beyond the hill.

Cleto and his fellow soldier opened heavy fire and killed more than 40 Japanese soldiers and stopped any other attempts to reach the pillboxes. The enemy fire increased as the two soldiers came within 20 yards of the railroad station. Cleto's comrade provided cover fire while he moved up to the railroad station where he threw 5 grenades through a doorway killing 7 Japanese soldiers and destroying a 20-mm gun and wrecking a heavy machine gun.

A few of these pillboxes were captured and a counter-attack was driven off, but for most of the day the battalion lay in the mud suffering heavy casualties from machine guns and air attack. At 21.00 the battalion was withdrawn, having suffered 66 killed, 170 wounded and 53 missing.Wylly, pp. 225–8. On 4 February 1918 the 4/5th merged with 1/5th and 2/5th Bns to form the divisional pioneer battalion (see above).

A unique pillbox can be found by the road from Amble to Warkworth at Gloster Hill. This is a stone- fronted pillbox in the shape of an old cottage (similar to one at Hemscott Hill, Cresswell). It has a stone and concrete front and the rest is made up of sandbags. The pillboxes at Brainshaugh and West Thirston may not be part of the Coquet stopline, as their ID numbers are out of sequence with the others.

Two roads north of Höfen were important to movement through the area. In the north a main paved road led from Höfen through the Monschau Forest, then divided as it emerged on the eastern edge. The fork beyond the forest later gained some tactical importance. A two-lane secondary road ran laterally behind the division center and right wing, leaving the Höfen road at the Wahlerscheid crossroads, which was guarded by a constellation of 25 concrete pillboxes.

The town enjoyed several decades quietly being successful as a seaside resort. The First World War left few physical marks on the town, however during the Second World War gun emplacements and pillboxes were built at spots along the shoreline at the southern end of the bay. The town also received bomb damage during the Second World War, with 20 people killed. The town and other nearby villages are noted for playing a part in the development of radar.

Weybourne has long been considered a possible site for invasion, one reason being the deep water offshore. "He who would all England win, should at Weybourne Hope begin." During the Second World War defences were constructed around Weybourne as a part of British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War. The beaches were blocked by landmines and extensive scaffolding barriers; further inland there were pillboxes, barbed wire entanglements, a long anti-tank ditch and other defences.

But even at this slow pace the infantry could not keep up through the mud and were shit down by the unsuppressed machine guns. By 08.20 91st Bde could advance no further and was forced back to its start line. 20th Brigade reached Gheluvelt, but was stopped by the enemy pillboxes and the ground had to be given up at the end of the day. This failure was the last infantry action supported by 33rd DA in 1917.

In the centre, the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade found the German barbed wire to be well cut by the preliminary artillery bombardment and within an hour captured the Bellevue pillboxes. The Germans brought down heavy artillery fire on their abandoned positions and by the brigade's right flank had retreated towards its start line. On the far right, the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade captured all its objectives as did the 1st Australian Division on its southern flank.

The T-28 was deployed during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, and the Winter War with Finland. During the initial stages of the Winter War, the tank was used in direct fire missions against Finnish pillboxes. In the course of these operations, it was found that the armour was inadequate and an upgrade was initiated. The frontal armour plates were upgraded from 30 mm to 80 mm and side and rear plates to 40 mm thickness.

21st century view of Gela from the west. The Gela invasion beaches were defended by the Italian XVIII Coastal Brigade. The town itself was defended by the Italian 429th Coastal Battalion (Major Rubellino) using barbed wire, concrete pillboxes, and anti-tank guns. The beach on either side of the Gela pier was mined and defended by machine guns on both flanks and artillery batteries inland, on Cape Soprano to the west, and on Monte Lungo to the north.

Dispersed in front of the line were divisional Sharpshooter () machine-gun nests, called the . The also marked the front of the main battle zone () which was about deep, containing most of the field artillery of the front divisions, behind which was the (third line). In pillboxes of the were reserve battalions of the front-line regiments, held back as divisional reserves. From the to the was a rearward battle zone () containing support and reserve assembly areas for the divisions.

This changed in 1810 when Napoleon passed an imperial decree to move the prefecture to La Rochelle. During World War II, the department was invaded by the German army and became part of occupied France. To provide defence against a possible beach landing by the Allies, the Organisation Todt constructed a number of sea defences in the area. Defences such as pillboxes are particularly noticeable on the beaches of the presqu'île d'Arvert and the island of Oléron.

Captain Alexander Rives Skinker (October 13, 1883 – September 26, 1918) was a Medal of Honor recipient during World War I. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1905. He served in the Missouri National Guard from 1903 to 1908, and entered the Army as a commissioned officer in 1916. He was awarded the medal for leading an attack on German pillboxes in the Hindenburg Line during the Battle of the Argonne. Skinker was killed in the attack.

After some further investigation and some publicity on radio and in newspapers, he planned and organised the first nationwide survey of Britain's WW2 defences. With the help of many volunteers, more than 5,000 defence sites were recorded.Wills, 1985, pVi, pVII The value of Henry Wills' work was acknowledged by the British Archaeological Trust and the British Broadcasting Corporation which awarded him the Chronicle Award in 1979. After 15 years of work, he published Pillboxes in 1985.

It was briefly transferred to the 18th Army in November, joining the 38th Army in December. The 76th remained with the latter until the end of the war. In the final months of the war in 1945 the division fought in the Moravian-Ostrava Offensive and the Prague Offensive, ending the war in Prague. Under Bolbat's command, the division claimed 51 enemy aircraft downed, as well as 24 pillboxes, 76 vehicles, and 37 guns destroyed in ground combat.

The bridge has become an important nodal point of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and a strategic- military objective. There are barbed wire entanglements into different rows, pillboxes, control towers on the left and right river banks near the bridge. Pedestrians and bicycles are forbidden on the bridge (other than in an organized column). There was also a military unit on the left bank at one time that had a reduced copy of the bridge used for exercises.

531, 749; Rottman, p. 64; Jersey, p. 355. Facing the Americans was the most strongly fortified Japanese position on Guadalcanal, nicknamed "the Gifu" (after Gifu Prefecture in Japan) by the Japanese. The Gifu position sat between the summits of Mount Austen and Hills 27 and 31 and consisted of a line of 45–50 interconnected, mutually supporting, well-camouflaged pillboxes dug into the ground and forming a horseshoe shape with the open end to the west.

Few of the pillboxes captured on 31 July had been damaged by artillery-fire and before the attack, the 109th Brigade [36th (Ulster) Division] commander Brigadier-General Ambrose St Q. Ricardo, arranged three-minute bombardments on selected pillboxes and blockhouses by the XIX Corps heavy artillery, with pauses so that artillery observers could make corrections to contradictory maps and photographs. It was discovered that on many of the targets, the shell dispersion covered hundreds of yards, as did wire-cutting bombardments. On 2 August, at the suggestion of Brigadier-General Hugh Elles, commander of the Tank Corps, it was decided that the surviving tanks were to be held back due to the weather, for use en masse later on, although some were used later in the month. The preliminary operation intended for 2 August was delayed by rain until 10 August and more rain delays forced the postponement of the general offensive from 4 to 15 August and then again to 16 August. The 20th (Light) Division replaced the 38th (Welsh) Division on 5 August.

However, each fortified region generally included between three and five separate machine gun artillery battalions (with some additionally including a motor rifle battalion), a tank battalion and between one and three battalions or companies of tank turrets dug in as pillboxes, one to three artillery battalions or separate batteries (including rocket and anti-tank), an anti-aircraft rocket battalion or battery, a separate communications battalion or company, an engineer-sapper battalion, company, or platoon, and support and maintenance units. The machine gun artillery battalions of the fortified regions differed little in their organization, usually consisting of two machine gun companies, a motor rifle company, and a mortar battery. Depending on their location, they could also consist of a company of tank turrets dug in as pillboxes, two or three artillery caponiers, and a ZPU-2 anti-aircraft gun platoon. Machine gun companies consisted of three platoons each armed with six PK and PKS 12.7 mm machine guns, the 12.7 mm NSV heavy machine gun, the AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, and the SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher.

Meade returned to Pearl Harbor 7 December and during the next 6 weeks trained for the invasion of the Marshall Islands. She sortied with TF 52 on 22 January 1944, and on the 30th participated in heavy bombardment of enemy installations on Taroa island, Maloelap Atoll. Arriving off Kwajalein Island the 31st, she screened battleships and cruisers during intensive shore bombardments. In addition she provided scheduled and spotter‑directed gunfire against installations on 1 and 2 February, destroying blockhouses, pillboxes, and machinegun emplacements.

M4 Sherman tank equipped with a flamethrower clearing a Japanese bunker on Iwo Jima, March 1945. The Americans did not bypass the small island of Iwo Jima because it wanted bases for fighter escorts; it was actually used as an emergency landing base for B-29s. The Japanese knew they could not win, but they devised a strategy to maximize American casualties. Learning from the Battle of Saipan they prepared many fortified positions on the island, including pillboxes and tunnels.

M939 five-ton truck A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crew- served weapons used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces to escort military convoys in regions subject to ambush by guerrilla forces, defend airfields, provide perimeter defense, or serve as mobile pillboxes for Home Guard-type defensive units. Gun trucks typically have Improvised vehicle armor, such as scrap metal, concrete, gravel, or sandbags, which is added to a heavy truck.

Since this sector was not under German attack in November, the division contributed with assault groups which attacked enemy pillboxes and dugouts, especially at night. It also repulsed an attack up the Bannyi Ravine by a company of enemy infantry on November 10. On the same day, two battalions of the 92nd Rifle Brigade crossed the Volga into the 284th's sector to join the 1043rd Regiment in second echelon; Chuikov feared a major German attack on the Chemical Factory, which never occurred.

Many people put up bat houses to attract bats. The 1991 University of Florida bat house is the largest occupied artificial roost in the world, with around 400,000 residents. In Britain, thickwalled and partly underground World War II pillboxes have been converted to make roosts for bats, and purpose-built bat houses are occasionally built to mitigate damage to habitat from road or other developments. Cave gates are sometimes installed to limit human entry into caves with sensitive or endangered bat species.

The Germans made many hasty counter-attacks (), beginning around until early evening, all of which failed to gain ground or made only a temporary penetration of the new British positions. The German defence had failed to stop a well-prepared attack made in good weather. Minor attacks took place after 20 September, as both sides jockeyed for position and reorganised their defences. A mutually-costly attack by the Germans on 25 September, recaptured pillboxes at the south western end of Polygon Wood.

German counter-attacks pushed back the 35th Division in the centre but the French attack captured all its objectives. Attacking on ground cut up by bombardments and soaked by rain, the British had struggled to advance in places and lost the ability to move quickly to outflank pillboxes. The 35th Division reached the fringe of Houthulst Forest but was outflanked and pushed back in places. German counter-attacks made after 22 October, were at an equal disadvantage and were costly failures.

The carbines used by the Arditi were the Carcano Moschetto 91 and Moschetto 91 TS. The Arditi also used 37 mm and 65 mm cannons against pillboxes and fortifications. In the Museo del Risorgimento in Turin, the hall is dedicated to the resistance against Fascism. There are on display a dagger and a hand grenade belonging to the Arditi del Popolo. Due to lack of resources the first daggers were manufactured from surplus stock of the bayonets from the Vetterli rifle.

However, the vast majority of sandbags used by modern military and for flood prevention are made of circular woven polypropylene. Some of the World War I memorial trenches were rebuilt with concrete sandbags after the First World War—although criticized as looking unnatural, they have lasted well. During World War II in Great Britain, some aircraft revetments and pillboxes were made from concrete filled sandbags, again these have lasted well. Sandbags have been used since at least the late 18th century.

The battalion ended the war just inside Czechoslovakia, and on 14 May withdrew to Tirschenreuth in Bavaria, to take up occupation duties. By the end of hostilities, the battalion had seen 254 days of combat, and taken 356 casualties. It had destroyed 138 tanks and self- propelled guns, as well as over a hundred pillboxes, and taken almost 2,000 prisoners of war. In the early 21st century, the unit exists as the redesignated 773rd Military Police Bn. Louisiana Army National Guard.

The regiment continued to fire harassing fire through the night. On 14 October, the regiment participated in a rolling barrage in support of a general First Army attack on the Kriemhilde Stellung, and at about 1600 hours fired a 30-minute defensive barrage along the Ravin aux Pierres. During this attack, a forward gun under 2nd Lieutenant Edward Gunter destroyed two pillboxes. And on the afternoon of 14 October, 1/320 moved forward to the ravine between Fleville and Sommerance.

Batterie Todt Nazi Germany fortified its conquered territories with the Atlantic Wall. Organization Todt built a string of reinforced concrete pillboxes and bunkers along the beaches, or sometimes slightly inland, to house machine guns, antitank guns, and artillery ranging in size up to the large 40.6 cm naval guns. The intent was to destroy Allied landing craft before they could unload. During the Normandy Landings in 1944, shore bombardment was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers and landing craft.

Steel was a valuable wartime resource so concrete was favoured for armouring these pillboxes. Any available lorry chassis was used, although the weight of the concrete meant that only the heaviest of chassis were suitable. Lorries arrived at Concrete Limited's Stourton Works in Leeds, where the original metal bodywork was removed and wooden shuttering formers constructed. Within the formers, three sheets of expanded metal were placed as reinforcement and then fast setting, high strength concrete made with high alumina cement was poured in.

A recently restored monument to the dead is in the city cemetery in Writtle Road. On 13 May 1943 Luftwaffe bombing raids hit Chelmsford leaving more than 50 people dead and making nearly 1,000 residents homeless. The bombs on this night were dropped mainly in the town centre, Springfield and Moulsham. The GHQ Line part of the British hardened field defences of World War II runs directly through Chelmsford with many pillboxes still in existence to the north and south of the city.

It attacked pillboxes in Normandy on D-Day to support Operation Overlord and performed interdiction missions against targets beyond the beachhead in the following days. During Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo in July, it bombed German positions in the city. It attacked lines of communication during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. On 24 March 1945, it supported Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine by attacking a military air base at Nordhorn.

It attacked pillboxes in Normandy on D-Day to support Operation Overlord and performed interdiction missions against targets beyond the beachhead in the following days. During Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo in July, it bombed German positions in the city. It attacked lines of communication during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. On 24 March, it supported Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine by attacking a military air base at Nordhorn.

An embarkation hard was constructed on the riverside below the fort to support the D-Day operation. Aerial photographs from the time show the battery, fort, associated concrete pillboxes and searchlights surrounded by dense tangles of barbed wire. The fort was reduced to care and maintenance status in November 1943, while the battery was deactivated in 1945 and demolished around 1976. The barrack accommodation of Shornemead Fort was used for many years by soldiers training on the nearby Milton rifle range.

At the British creeping barrage began to move and the infantry advanced. German flares were seen rising but the German artillery response was slow and missed the attackers. In the 18th (Eastern) Division area, German machine-gun fire from pillboxes caused many losses to the 53rd Brigade, which was stopped in front of the north-west corner of Inverness Copse. Part of the brigade managed to work forward further north and form a defensive flank along the southern edge of Glencorse Wood.

Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire and North American P-51 Mustang aircraft flew from Longside airfield to provide protection for eastern convoys. During the 1990s, the airfield site was inspected and aerial photographs were taken as part of an assessment for a proposed pipeline running between St Fergus and Peterhead Power Station. These reports and photographs showed that pillboxes and many buildings still survived, although most of the land had by then returned to agricultural use. The control tower had been demolished.

On 1 December, the unit's first day on the line, A Company's accurate fire was instrumental in the reduction of several pillboxes and the destruction of a German 88mm gun near Borg, Germany.Lee (1966). p. 668. It was moved to VI Corps on 5 December and then attached to the 103rd Infantry Division on 5 December, deploying in the vicinity of Gougenhiem, France, where Co A was attached to Task Force Forest and Co C to the 411th Infantry Regiment.

It attacked pillboxes in Normandy on D-Day to support Operation Overlord and performed interdiction missions against targets beyond the beachhead in the following days. During Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo in July, it bombed German positions in the city. It attacked lines of communication during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. On 24 March, it supported Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine by attacking a military air base at Nordhorn.

The 3/17th Bn, Dogra Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel G.A. Preston, had responsibility for the stretch of coast which was the chosen landing site. The British fortified the narrow beaches and islands with land mines, barbed wire, and pillboxes. They were supported by the 73rd Field Battery of the 5th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, deployed adjacent to the nearby airfield. The area defended by the 3/17th Dogras consisted of the narrow beaches of Badang and Sabak at Kota Bharu.

Then, > getting to his knees, he hurled the grenade approximately 45 yards, scoring > a direct hit. The grenade killed 1 and wounded the other 2 Germans in the > nest and silenced the gun. Another soldier then cleaned out the enemy > pillboxes on the hill itself, and the company took its objective. Continuing > the assault into Cassino itself on February 8, 1944, 2d Lt. Riordan and his > platoon were given the mission of taking the city jail house, one of the > enemy's several strongpoints.

In 3 days he > neutralized and captured 6 pillboxes single-handedly, killed at least 9 > Germans, wounded 13, took 13 prisoners, aided in the capture of 14 others, > and saved many American lives by his fearless performance as a litter > bearer. Through his superb fighting skill, dauntless courage, and gallant, > inspiring actions, Cpl. Wilkin contributed in large measure to his company's > success in cracking the Siegfried Line. One month later he was killed in > action while fighting deep in Germany.

They were pitiful but Aguinaldo knew that they had the advantage; they commanded the terrain. They would dictate the tempo of the fight. Aguinaldo instructed Jose Tagle and his men to build trenches along Imus River where the enemies were expected to pass and one span of the Bridge of Isabel II next to the hacienda was blown up. Pillboxes were built at hidden strategic places on the other side of the bank opposite the road expected to be taken by the enemy.

They were stationed in Orléans until 2 April 1945, when they were mobilized for the Allied siege of La Rochelle. The tanks were effective in the attack on Royan on 15 April 1945, using their 75 mm guns for fire support, while targeting pillboxes with their 47 mm guns. After that, 2nd Company accompanied troops on an assault on Pontaillac on 17 April, followed by an attack on the German stronghold at La Rochelle between 29 April and 8 May.

On the second mission he captured 7 prisoners. > During the afternoon he led his platoon on a frontal assault of a line of > enemy pillboxes, successfully capturing the objective, killing 10 and > capturing 30 prisoners. The following morning the company was subjected to > sniper fire and 2d Lt. Michael, in an attempt to find the hidden sniper, was > shot and killed. The inspiring leadership and heroic aggressiveness > displayed by 2d Lt. Michael upheld the highest traditions of the military > service.

Three pre- series vehicles were assigned to an independent Guards Battalion but they arrived after peace broke out. There are unconfirmed reports of them fighting Jagdpanthers after the surrender. They also took part in the September 7th, 1945 victory parade in Berlin under the 71st Guards Heavy Tank Regiment of the 2nd Guards Tank Army. In response to border disputes between the Soviet Union and China, some Soviet IS-3s were dug in as fixed pillboxes along the Soviet- Chinese border.

Instead of attacking up the beach exits, as was planned, he instead helped find and clear a path up the mined bluffs, right of Exit E-1. Once at the top, his team was the first to attack the enemy fortifications from the rear, clearing out trenches and pillboxes along Exit E-1. Later on D-Day he was involved in actions further inland at Colleville-sur-Mer. For his actions on D-Day, he was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Only about of each pillbox was above ground with walls and roofs, constructed from logs and dirt, up to thick. Each pillbox contained one to two machine-guns and several riflemen; some were sited underneath huge jungle trees. Each of these pillbox emplacements was sited to provide mutual support to the others. Numerous foxholes and trenches provided additional support and cover for additional riflemen and machine-gunners. Behind the pillboxes, the Japanese had sited 81 mm and long-range 90mm mortars.

German counter-attacks pushed back the 35th Division in the centre but the French captured all their objectives. Attacking on ground cut up by bombardments and soaked by rain, the British had struggled to advance in places and lost the ability to move quickly to outflank pillboxes. The infantry of the 35th Division reached the fringes of Houthulst Forest; after being outflanked it was pushed back in places. German counter-attacks after 22 October were equally disadvantaged and costly failures.

Like the rest of the M&GN; route, it closed to passengers in 1959 (before the Beeching Axe) and the line closed entirely in 1965. The 19th century also saw the building of several small churches, including a Wesleyan chapel, built on Chapel Street in 1808, and a Baptist chapel, which was built on Albert Street in 1845 using red brick and colourwashed render. The Second World War defences constructed at nearby Lawyers Creek comprise a number of pillboxes including the rare Ruck machine gun post.

The main beaches where Allied forces landed during the Battle of Saipan are on the west side of the island, extending from a point south of Garapan southward around Agingan Point and onto Obyan Beach. The landmarked area includes the beaches themselves and the lagoons out to the fringing coral reef. This area includes a small number of remnant Japanese defenses, including several pillboxes, a partially-constructed gun emplacement, and a small Japanese tank that has been set on a pillbox as a sort of monument.

On 27 February, 8th Armored crossed the Roer River via the Hilfarth Bridge which had been captured by the 35th Infantry Division. CCA headed for the town of Wegberg. CCB moved through Sittard, Gangelt, Geilenkirchen, Randerath, and Brachelen to arrive at the Hilfarth Bridge and crossed after CCA. CCA tanks and infantry destroyed fifteen pillboxes, captured Tetelrath, and crossed the Schwalm river while CCB attacked and captured the towns of Arsbeck and Ober Kruchten. On 2 March – CCA captured Lobberich, moved through the 35th Inf. Div.

On 18 August 1945, the Battle of Shumshu began as part of the Soviet invasion of the Kuril IslandsRussell, pp. 19, 30–31. when 8,824 Soviet troops of two Red Army rifle divisions and a Soviet Naval Infantry battalion stormed ashore on Shumshu, the first wave landing at 0430. Taken completely by surprise, the Japanese at first mounted a disorganized defense, but by 0530 had manned machine guns in pillboxes and foxholes and began to inflict heavy casualties on the Soviets,Russell, pp. 30–31.

Captured German pillbox or 'Mebu' at Passchendaele The Ypres Offensive had become bogged down in mud, and the BEF was making desperate efforts to capture the drier Passchendaele Ridge before winter. A fresh attack (the Second Battle of Passchendaele) was launched on 26 October. 1/4th East Yorkshires was in reserve, but the attacking brigade of 50th (N) Division was unable to advance at all through the mud against concrete pillboxes. On thenight of 30/31 October 1/4th East Yorkshires made another attempt.

Medal of Honor Treadwell's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > Capt. Treadwell (then 1st Lt.), commanding officer of Company F, near > Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany, in the Siegfried line, single-handedly captured 6 > pillboxes and 18 prisoners. Murderous enemy automatic and rifle fire with > intermittent artillery bombardments had pinned down his company for hours at > the base of a hill defended by concrete fortifications and interlocking > trenches. Eight men sent to attack a single point had all become casualties > on the bare slope when Capt.

Zero hour was at 05.40 on 26 October, but from the first the infantry struggling through the mud could not keep up with the barrage, which had no effect on the concrete pillboxes. The three attacking battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers suffered appalling casualties and gained almost no ground, while the gunners suffered heavily from shellfire, both high explosive and mustard gas. Some advances were made on 30 and 31 October, and the division was finally withdrawn for rest and training on 9 November.Wyrall, pp. 239–49.

Map of Mersea Island c1940 At the outbreak of World War II, the island became part of the front line for invasion and was heavily fortified. Along with other coastal resorts, the island drew in evacuees from London, though as the war progressed, these were moved to safer settlements further inland. 2000 troops were stationed on the island to guard against invasion. A battery of 4.7 inch guns was installed along the beach along with a Battery Observation post and a number of searchlights and pillboxes.

The French regiment captured its objectives and later sent parties to scout the southern edge of Houthoulst Forest and take crossings over the Corverbeek on the left flank. Attacking on ground cut up by bombardments and soaked by rain, the British struggled to advance in places and lost the ability to move quickly to outflank pillboxes. Troops of the 35th Division reached the fringes of Houthulst Forest but were repulsed elsewhere. German counter-attacks after 22 October, at an equal disadvantage, resulted in equally costly failures.

That day the 17th Regiment gained about . On the 19th, the 1st Battalion seized Kapsan at 10:30 after a co-ordinated infantry, tank and artillery attack. In this action the 17th Tank Company overran KPA troops in their foxholes, while the heavy fire of the 15th Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion 40mm weapons drove other North Koreans from log-covered trenches and pillboxes and then cut them down. Under cover of the combined fire of the tanks and the antiaircraft weapons, the infantry then crossed the river.

Wyrall, pp. 239–48. Captured German pillbox or 'Mebu' at Passchendaele After the Third Battle of Ypres petered out in the mud of Passchendaele, the division was relieved on 30 November, but the pioneers remained behind to carry on the work. It rejoined the division on 12 December and spent the winter building tracks through the terrible mud up the Passchendaele ridge, continuing to work when the division was relieved on 6 January 1918. This work included burying telephone cables and clearing captured enemy pillboxes.

Movie stars such as Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Cary Grant and John Wayne were said to have been customers at the Sky Room during the Hilton years. One customer recalled the Sky Room as follows: "It was a dating place, like the Brown Derby and Coconut Grove. It was the place to go." During World War II, two pillboxes with gun-mountings were installed on the rooftop for harbor defense, and the Sky Room became the official Airwatch headquarters for Long Beach harbor.

Although the Chinese Nationalist Army crossed the river with light casualties and surrounded the Japanese garrison, they found that their offensive capability was limited because of this garrison behind their line of advance. The Chinese forces were unaware of the depth of the Japanese defences, and their underestimation led to heavy casualties through a slow and cautious campaign. Chinese artillery strikes and US bombing runs had little effect against Japanese forces underground. Japan also set up a series of hidden pillboxes to ambush the Chinese forces.

The German infantry, battered by the artillery fire, were swiftly dealt with by the advancing New Zealanders. Despite the presence of pillboxes, the Red Line was reached on schedule, with some limited mopping up operations conducted forward of the line by parties from the advancing battalions. Having moved up to the Red Line behind the attacking forces, at 8:10 am, the next phase of the advance began as infantry from the remaining battalions of 1st and 4th Brigades moved forward to the Blue Line.

Their advance was slowed by ground conditions and machine gun fire from both their front and flanks. They stalled after reaching the wire, arranged in two belts. The following battalions began to catch up to the leading unit, the 2nd Otago Battalion, filling its depleted ranks, but were also held up by the wire. Some parties, led by subalterns and non-commissioned officers, managed to breach the wire and attack the German pillboxes beyond, but when their leaders were killed, the survivors began to dig in.

In the Siegfried Line on either side of Wissembourg, Germans of Petersen's XC Korps continued to fight in the pillboxes in a manner that belied the futility of their mission. The 14th Armored Division (Maj. Gen. Albert C. Smith) attacked into the Wissembourg Gap on 20 March and then fought Germans of the XC Corps over the possession of Steinfeld for the next two days.Williams, pp. 446-450. Both at Neustadt and at Landau, remnants of two divisions of the XIII SS Korps, including the 17.

45-caliber pistol above the waist-high water, Schroeder waded the final from his landing craft to the beach, traversing the remaining distance as quickly as possible due to enemy fire. The soldiers encountered machine gun fire from German pillboxes and artillery shelling, underwater mines, barbed wire, and trenches. His company's mission was to break up the enemy's fortified seawall and then liberate a village five miles inland. Half of his men were casualties and Schroeder himself was shot twice in the left arm.

At low tide the one to the east is discernible by walking out over a bank path built on the marsh and the one on the island can be viewed easily, though access inside is restricted due to cultivating plants and the structure is derelict. The pillboxes were part of a communication and signal system developed during the Great War. They can be reached from the north end car park with a 5 minute walk or from the south end car park with a 10 minute walk.

From February 1940 onwards, the line was extended to the south in the direction of Namur, to close the so-called "Gembloux Gap" between the Dyle and the Meuse. Also a branch westwards of Wavre was created, running to Waterloo, Halle and Kester, ending in Ninove. This covered the southern approaches of the Belgian capital Brussels. This extension was more symbolic than real, containing only thirty-eight pillboxes, and served to counter German allegations that the K-W line violated Belgian neutrality by being directed against Germany.

However, when inundations were located in front of the forward line, these were considered to offer enough protection that a second pillbox line could be discarded with. In front of Mechelen, the river Dyle curved to the west. This was seen as an especially vulnerable spot and between the Dyle and the River Nete a third line of pillboxes was constructed covering the eastern approaches of Mechelen. Multiple lines were also present west of Leuven, due to the many changes in the construction plans.

Fire from the church and the Brewery pillbox in Poelcappelle caused a delay but Gloster Farm was captured with the aid of two tanks and the red line (first objective) consolidated. Troops from the inner flanks of both brigades and several tanks entered Poelcappelle and then captured pillboxes beyond the east end. The left brigade had an easy advance to the intermediate line and then overcame small parties of German infantry concealed in shell-holes. A shelter was captured near the church in Poelcappelle amid sniper fire.

A pillbox near the Menin road taken at was the last part of the area captured by the German attack the previous day to be re-taken. A German counter-attack at was stopped by artillery fire. I Anzac Corps attacked with the 5th Australian Division on the right. In the 15th Australian Brigade the battalions were to advance successively but bunched up near the first objective and were stopped by pillboxes at the "racecourse" and fire from the 33rd Division area to the south.

The check to the Irish left German machine-gunners north of the railway free to enfilade the area of 8th Division to the south. On the right flank, the same thing happened to the 56th (1/1st London) Division, which was stopped by fire from German strongpoints and pillboxes in their area and from German artillery concentrated to the south-east. After a long fight, the 8th Division captured Iron Cross, Anzac and Zonnebeke redoubts on the rise beyond the Hanebeek, then sent parties over the ridge.

He was promoted to Company sergeant major shortly before the invasion of Sicily in 1943, where he was wounded at the battle of Primosole Bridge. On D-Day, the 6th Green Howards landed on Gold Beach. As his company moved inland from the beaches after the initial landings, Hollis went with his company commander to investigate two German pillboxes which had been by-passed. He rushed the first, taking all but five of the occupants prisoner; and then dealt with the second, taking 26 prisoners.

At 7:30 AM, 0730 hours in military time, Brostrum, "a lead scout" with F Company, struck out on the left flank of the attack. Their job with the rest of the 2nd Battalion was to envelop Dagami from the American left to pin and destroy Japanese Army resistance in the town. Invasion of Leyte map, October 1944 Brostrom with the lead assault platoon of F Company encountered "withering fire from pillboxes, trenches, and enemy spider holes". The Japanese soldiers were well entrenched and camouflaged.

The second beach Orange Two was at Quiberville further west at the mouth of the River Saane. This offered access to the top of the cliffs but was covered by two machine gun pillboxes and barbed wire and it was further away from their target. Intelligence had estimated that the strength of the battery was between 120–175 men, supported by two infantry companies stationed nearby. The plan was for four troops (A, B, C and F), headquarters and attached specialists, to be divided into two groups.

Her accurate gunfire destroyed pillboxes and machine gun emplacements, blasting a way for the troops. Harding also sent a boat ashore at Pointe du Hoc to take supplies to the Rangers and bring out prisoners and wounded. She continued operations in the assault area until 16 July, protecting against air attack and assisting several transports in distress. Shifting her operations to the Mediterranean, Harding sailed on 1 August for Oran, Algeria, and from there proceeded to the southern France assault area, as a screening ship.

By the end of the day, she had added to her score seven pillboxes, eight gun emplacements and ten stone houses, in which enemy machine guns and snipers had been placed. Resupplying and fueling at Portland and Plymouth, McCook continued to operate in the invasion area until 14 July. Four days later she was en route to Bizerte screening a convoy of LSTs and infantry landing craft. She delivered her charges on 28 July and steamed to Mers-el-Kebir, where she remained until 4 August.

A diagram of the Blendkörper 1H. The Blendkörper 1H consisted of a glass bulb sealed with plaster of paris roughly the size as a light bulb but of made of thicker glass that contained of titanium tetrachloride. The grenade was used to temporarily blind the crews of pillboxes and vehicles. The grenade was carried in a hexagonal cardboard container and was pulled from the container by a tape attached to the lid of the box that was glued to the neck of the bulb.

During the First World War, Thomas carried out some war related activities such as analysing concrete from German pillboxes and advising on materials to be used in the manufacture of aircraft compasses.Bate, David G and Morrison, Andrew L "Some aspects of the British Geological Survey’s contribution to the war effort at the Western Front, 1914–1918". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 129 (1), 3-11 Thomas was an archaeologist, and an expert on how rock was used by primitive people for weapons and monuments.

To reinforce the line and deny access to the major east–west routes that passed through the line, in 1941 twelve "Defensive Islands" were added to the line under a plan devised by General Brooke, who succeeded General Sir Edmund Ironside. These included Bridgwater and Creech St Michael. Two divisions from GHQ Home Forces Reserve were originally assigned to man the line, although from the autumn of 1940 the Home Guard were increasingly used. Many pillboxes can still be seen along the length of the line.

However, unlike the situation later on in those two countries, in the Netherlands there was no mass exodus of civilian refugees, clogging the roads. Generally German soldiers behaved in a civilised manner towards the Dutch population, forming neat queues at the shops to buy goods rationed in Germany, such as chocolate. After the generally failed assaults on the bridges, the German divisions began crossing attempts over the rivers IJssel and Maas. The first waves typically were destroyed, due to insufficient preparatory fire on the pillboxes.

351 About two thousand pillboxes had been constructed,De Jong (1969), p. 562 but in lines without any depth. Modern large fortresses like the Belgian stronghold of Eben Emael were nonexistent; the only modern fortification complex was that at Kornwerderzand, guarding the Afsluitdijk. Total Dutch forces equalled 48 regiments of infantry as well as 22 infantry battalions for strategic border defence. In comparison, Belgium, despite a smaller and more aged male population, fielded 22 full divisions and the equivalent of 30 divisions when smaller units were included.

In October 50th Division returned to the Ypres Salient to take part in the last and worst phase of the Third Ypres Offensive, the Second Battle of Passchendaele. 149th Brigade attacked at 05.40 on 26 October, but from the first the infantry struggling through the mud could not keep up with the creeping barrage, which had no effect on the concrete pillboxes. The suffered appalling casualties and gained almost no ground. 150th Brigade relieved them that night, with 1/5th DLI at Pascal Farm in support.

D Company met practically no resistance and dug a strongpoint north of 'Dochy Farm'. B Company attacked the farm, meeting machine gun and rifle fire, but worked round the flanks of the pillboxes with the help of a platoon from B Company, whereupon some 50 Germans surrendered to them. The battalion then consolidated a line of strongpoints, and deepened and connected a line of shell holes in rear of the strongpoints. German shellfire caused only a few casualties and the battalion was relieved that night.

The Medieval period is represented by several churchyard crosses. The defensive walls and part of Taunton Castle, which has Anglo-Saxon origins and was expanded during the Medieval and Tudor eras, is included. More recent sites include Poundisford Park, Buckland Priory, Bradford Bridge and a duck decoy from the 17th century. Some of the sites such as Balt Moor Wall are of uncertain date; however the most recent are air traffic control buildings, pillboxes and fighter pens from RAF Culmhead, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills.

The Battle of Burki (Barki) was a battle fought by Indian infantry and Pakistani armour in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Barki is a village that lies south-east of Lahore near the border with Punjab, India. and is connected with Lahore by the Bridge of Ichogil canal. During the fighting, the relative strengths of the two sides were fairly even and Indian infantry clashed with Pakistani forces that were entrenched in pillboxes, dug-outs and slit trenches that had been carved into the canal banks.

Instead of attacking up the beach exits, as was planned, he instead helped find and clear a path up the mined bluffs, left of Exit E-1. Once at the top, he attacked the enemy fortifications from the rear, clearing out trenches and pillboxes along Exit E-1 and taking prisoners. He was able to interrogate several of the Ost battalion POWs because he spoke fluent Polish, German, and English. Later on D-Day, he was involved in actions further inland at Colleville-sur-Mer.

The outer ring was fortified by a four-ply line of pillboxes, barbed wire, and a newly dug 3-meter wide moat. The inner ring consisted of the ancient brick wall of the city that had been strengthened with sand bags. The most valuable strategic assets of the city, the main airfield, the railroad station, and the commercial district, were located to the west of the historical city center and outside of the inner ring. Hence, they were protected only by the outer ring of defenses.

Following a brief French occupation, the islands fell under British rule in 1800. Between the 1870s and the 1900s a number of polygonal forts and batteries were built around Malta's coastline and along the Great Fault. In the 1930s and 1940s, Fort Campbell, a series of pillboxes and a number of anti-aircraft batteries were constructed, and these were the last fortifications to be built in Malta. Malta's fortifications are considered to be among the best examples of military architecture anywhere in the world.

Dragons teeth at Crookham Wharf on the Basingstoke Canal A notable feature of the canal is the large number of concrete bunkers known as pillboxes still visible along its length; these were built during World War II as part of the GHQ Line to defend against an expected German invasion. Odiham Castle is situated at the Greywell (Basingstoke) end of the canal. The canal runs through part of the castle's bailey. The Greywell Tunnel (now disused), at long, was the 12th longest canal tunnel in Great Britain.

Lanikai Beach was rated as one of the top ten beaches in the world by Sherman's Travel Magazine. The area is known for its white powder-like sandy beach, easy access to Nā Mokulua, and its hiking trail along the Keolu Ridge to the World War II military bunkers commonly known as the "Lanikai Pillboxes". Because of its small community and easy access to its famous beach, Lanikai has one of the most expensive real estate markets in Hawaii. It is served by Kailua's zip code, 96734.

The division was then in reserve until the Battle of Courtrai. On 14 October, 103rd Brigade was given Geluwe as its objective, and while the village was masked by a heavy barrage of high explosive and smoke shells it was encircled, three companies of 8th Scottish Rifles on the right, with the fourth company 'mopping up' after the enveloping companies had moved on to take the second objective and a number pillboxes. By the end of the day the brigade was up to the River Lys.

The Germans quickly fell prey to his further rushes on 3 more > pillboxes in the confusion and havoc caused by his whirlwind assaults and > capture of their commander. Inspired by the electrifying performance of > their leader, the men of Company F stormed after him and overwhelmed > resistance on the entire hill, driving a wedge into the Siegfried line and > making it possible for their battalion to take its objective. By his > courageous willingness to face nearly impossible odds and by his > overwhelming one-man offensive, Capt. Treadwell reduced a heavily fortified, > seemingly impregnable enemy sector.

On 21 March, she was underway for Kerama Retto and Okinawa Gunto, Ryukyu Islands. Sproston relieved Heywood L. Edwards (DD-663) on 26 March and began picket and patrol duty. That evening, her guns hit a "Jill" which departed in flames. On 2 April, she provided call fire on Makiminato Saki, destroying two enemy pillboxes and a warehouse. Sproston received damage to her sonar equipment and the Mk 1A main battery computer on 4 April by the near miss of a bomb which exploded off her port beam.

Engineer troops were in short supply, and the Corps immediately went to work building barracks and hospitals. The Corps went into the line in February 1918 in the Chemin des Dames sector in the province of Ile de France and supported the 26th Division by rebuilding trenches, dugouts, and roads. The Corps also suffered its first casualties of the Great War. In late March 1918 the 101st moved into the Toul sector in Lorraine and supported the 26th by constructing pillboxes, building strong points, digging trenches, and rebuilding roads.

The cliff top to the north was covered by a line of heavy anti-aircraft guns and batteries, slit trenches and pillboxes. In 1941, the camp was visited by Winston Churchill, to view a demonstration of the Unrotated Projectile anti–aircraft weapon. As the war progressed, defences at Weybourne Camp became more complex and were altered regularly and significantly and a grass airstrip was laid out, which remains in use. After the war, the camp became known as the AA permanent Range and Radar Training Wing and gunnery training continued until 1958.

The German barrage was at its greatest intensity but from more troops went forward through the curtain of shells and extended the Australian right flank. The British practice barrages had fallen behind the German infantry, after which the accuracy of the British artillery reply increased. At German troops were seen working forward from Jerk House towards several pillboxes in the 1st Middlesex area, on a rise behind the right flank of the 58th Australian Battalion. The Australian Stokes mortar crews ran short of bombs and the battalion was engaged from behind its right flank.

A British attack on the ninth on Bellevue Spur and part of the main Passchendaele ridge gained a little ground at prohibitive cost. Heavy swathes of barbed wire still girdled the hillside, however, and belated and meagre heavy artillery made no impression on them, nor on the many pillboxes beyond. New Zealand gunners slaved to breaking point to get only a few guns and howitzers forward, but stable platforms and accurate fire were unattainable. The division returned to the attack on 12 October, with the 2nd and 3rd Brigades.

It was at Battle of Polygon Wood near Zonnebeke in Belgium, during the Passchendaele Offensive in the period from 26 September to 28 September 1917 that Bugden performed the actions that led to his posthumous award of the Victoria Cross. During an advance by his battalion at Polygon Wood, he led small parties against strongly defended pillboxes, successfully dealing with them. He later carried out a number of rescues of wounded men, often under heavy artillery and machine gun fire. He was killed during one of these rescue missions.

In February 1944, she joined in the Battle of Kwajalein, firing at pillboxes and blockhouses on Roi Island. Maryland's guns supported the Battle of Saipan, silencing a pair of coastal guns. On 22 June, she was torpedoed by a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber, but was repaired in time to join Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf’s Western Fire Support Group in the Battle of Peleliu. Still with Oldendorff's group, but now part of the Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet, Maryland participated in the Battle of Leyte in October.

Birks then led an attack a series of dugouts and pillboxes on the edge of Glencorse Wood, and fought against machine gun and bombs. He also assisted in the reorganisation and consolidation of Australian men who had drifted away from their unit. The next day, 21 September, enemy shelling in response to the movement of Allied artillery had buried some men in Birks' platoon. Birks attempted to dig out these men, "standing exposed", but another shell aimed at the C Coy post killed Birks, and four others, before he could save them.

Gough laid down a new infantry formation of skirmish lines to be followed by "worms" on 24 August and Cavan noted that pillboxes should be attacked on a broad front, to engage them simultaneously. Another general offensive intended for 25 August, was delayed by the failure of the preliminary attacks and then postponed due to more bad weather. On 27 August, II Corps tried a combined tank and infantry attack but the tanks bogged, the attack failed and Haig called a halt to operations until the weather improved.

On the presidential palace, activists rammed the gate with a fire truck and once the gate broke and gave way, the activists charged into the Palace grounds tossing rocks, pillboxes and Molotov cocktails. In front of the US embassy, protesters vandalized, burned, and damaged the embassy lobby resulting in a strong protest from the U.S. Ambassador. The KM protests ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 in number per weekly mass action. In the aftermath of the January 1970 riots, at least two activists were confirmed dead and several were injured by the police.

Takeichi Nishi's armored tanks were to be used as camouflaged artillery positions. Because the tunnel linking the mountain to the main forces was never completed, Kuribayashi organized the southern area of the island in and around Mount Suribachi as a semi- independent sector, with his main defensive zone built up in the north. The expected American naval and air bombardment further prompted the creation of an extensive system of tunnels that connected the prepared positions, so that a pillbox that had been cleared could be reoccupied. This network of bunkers and pillboxes favored the defense.

Map of Syria and the Lebanon during World War II British soldiers in the ruins of Palmyra. Habforce split into three columns (two to make flanking manoeuvres on each side of Palmyra), each one was guided by a detachment from The Arab Legion; they set off on 21 June. A skirmish with pillboxes on the pipeline a few miles east of Palmyra resulted in the element of surprise being lost. Habforce surrounded Palmyra, sending the Arab Legion troops out on wide-ranging desert patrols to protect Habforce's flanks and lines of communication.

Gun mounts were also installed to protect both Boxhill and Deepdene bridges and several pillboxes were installed. An anti-tank ditch was dug from the Stepping Stones eastwards across the fields belonging to Bradley Farm (now Denbies vineyard). The river crossing at Sidlow Bridge was heavily defended and a line of pill boxes was constructed on the north bank of the river. Concrete anti-tank dragon's teeth were built on both sides of the river, a short distance upstream of the bridge, as an obstacle to armoured vehicles.

As a result, the British constructed a series of counter-landing defences, of which numerous pillboxes, anti-tank obstacles, ditches and tank traps survive. Admiralty scaffolding blocked the inlet, but is now gone. Cuckmere Haven featured heavily in the war effort: at night lights were placed to confuse bombers into thinking they were above Newhaven and an airfield was set up further inland.Richard Moss, WWII Coastal Defences at Cuckmere Haven, Culture24, 5 June 2005, accessed 28 February 2018 In addition to the permanent land-based constructions, the river was heavily mined.

This branch line was closed with the Beeching cuts, in the 1960s. One engine has been preserved on the Bluebell Line, in Sussex, while the station was dismantled and reconstructed at New Alresford, on the Watercress Line, in Hampshire. Axminster is the southern starting point of the Taunton Stop Line, a World War II defensive line consisting of pillboxes and anti-tank obstacles, which runs north to the Somerset coast near Highbridge. Nearby Kilmington was used as a location for the 1998 LWT adaptation of Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

In late 1944 the division moved north into Hungary in the Budapest Offensive, crossing the Danube in the area of Pápa and Dunaföldvár. The 3rd was credited with downing 25 enemy aircraft, destroying 14 pillboxes and 200 vehicles, and killing 4,190 enemy soldiers in 1944. In the spring of 1945, the division provided air defense for the 18th Tank Corps and the 4th Guards Army during the Balaton Defensive Operation, the repulse of Operation Spring Awakening, a German counterattack. It ended the war in the Vienna Offensive, advancing into Austria.

There are a number of concrete pillboxes in the parish, which were part of the defences of Southern England during the Second World War. They form part of the GHQ Line Red, along which an anti-tank trench also ran, between Ballards Ash near Royal Wootton Bassett and the River Ray near Blunsdon railway station. RAF Blakehill Farm, north of Purton Stoke, was a RAF Transport Command station that operated from 1944 until 1946. United States troops were stationed in Braydon Wood, and attended dances at the Angel Hotel.

Bad weather grounded the main bomber force, but the assault succeeded, mainly because of the concentrated and accurate fire of the supporting 88 mm guns. Flak 18 batteries were used by the nationalist army at the Battle of Ebro, both for direct fire against pillboxes and also for indirect fire in the advance towards Barcelona. Following the Spanish Civil War, more Flak 36 models arrived in 1943 (88 guns 88/56 mm Flak-36) and since 1943 they were manufactured under license in Trubia under the denomination FT 44 (about 200 guns).

This situation persisted until the development of the A34 Comet was concluded, mounting the new 77mm HV gun and removing the need for mixed units. In contrast, the Centaur was chiefly used for training; only those in specialist roles saw action. The Centaur IV Close Support version with a 95 mm howitzer saw service in small numbers as part of the Royal Marine Armoured Support Group on D-Day. Originally intended to serve as static pillboxes, these examples retained the engine allowing the Marines to advance the tank inland.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was Canada's original airborne unit, formed on July 1, 1942. Volunteers completed jump training in England then underwent four months of training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Parachute Training Wing at Shilo, Manitoba. Part airman, part commando, and part engineer, the paras underwent dangerously realistic exercises to learn demolition and fieldcraft in overcoming obstacles such as barbed wire, bridges, and pillboxes. By March, Canada had its elite battalion, which returned to England to join the 6th Airborne Division as a unit of the Britain's 3rd Parachute Brigade.

The Fifth Army was to attack along a front from Klein Zillebeke northwards to the Ypres–Staden railway, the French I Corps on the northern flank attacking with two divisions, from the Fifth Army boundary to the flooded area just beyond Steenstraat. Infantry trained on a replica of the German trench system, built using information from aerial photographs and trench raids; some platoons had specialist training for attacking pillboxes and blockhouses. The (fourth position), was behind the front line, well beyond the fourth objective (red line). Behind were and .

6th Westliff and 2nd Chalkwell Bay Scout groups' water activity centre is located at the end of the car park. In the centre of the west side is an airfield, home of Southend Radio Flying Club and South Essex Model Aircraft Society, hosting various airshows throughout the year as well as regular flying practice and training. Though the island's history dates back to the 18th century its involvement with war is clear. At the end of the east side of the island stand two pillboxes, one stands on the island, the other on Leigh Marshes.

Pillbox at Wavre, allowing enfilading fire The K-W line was not a massive fortification line with modern forts sheltering the artillery, like the French Maginot Line. There were no permanent fortress garrisons occupying it. In case of war, regular infantry divisions had to entrench themselves along the line after having been withdrawn from the Albert Canal-Meuse covering line. Construction work was aimed at preparing this entrenchment by providing a pre-existing infrastructure, consisting of a telephone network, command bunkers, pillboxes for the machine guns, anti-tank obstacles and inundations.

The pillboxes were able to withstand hits by the German 15 cm sFH 18, the heaviest howitzer German infantry divisions were equipped with. They were not of a uniform construction; each pillbox was tailored to adapt to the specific terrain conditions of its location, avoiding dead angles and often allowing enfilading fire. To this end they contained up to three chambers in which a single machine gun could be placed. The machine guns were not permanent fixtures; the troops retreating from the covering line were supposed to bring their MG 08s, called "Maxims", along.

Hand-grenades were given less emphasis in favour of more rifle training. The proportion of smoke ammunition for rifle grenades and Stokes mortars was increased, to blind the occupants of German pillboxes as they were being surrounded. All units were required to plan an active defence against counter-attack, using the repulse of German infantry as an opportunity to follow up and inflict more casualties. X Corps was to advance to create a defensive flank on the right, attacking with the 33rd and 39th divisions either side of the Menin road.

During the Second World War, the railway's strategic coastal location meant that it provided a natural 'rampart' behind which a potential beach invasion could be repelled. For this reason, a line of pillboxes were constructed along the railway. The post-war boom experienced by the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line was not felt on the West Norfolk Junction Railway whose inconveniently sited stations contributed to declining passenger traffic. Passenger services from Wells-next-the-Sea to Heacham were eventually withdrawn from 2 June 1952, but the line remained open to freight.

Though smaller than in 1917, Polygon Wood is still a large feature; the remains of three German pillboxes captured by the Australians lie deep among the trees but few trench lines remain. The Butte is still prominent and mounted on top of it is the 5th Australian Division memorial. There are two Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries in the vicinity of Polygon Wood, the CWGC Polygon Wood Cemetery and the CWGC Buttes New British Cemetery. Within Buttes New British Cemetery is the CWGC New Zealand Memorial to the Missing.

Two brigades of the 24th Division in Corps reserve advanced into the X Corps sector and reached Dammstrasse on time. The brigades easily reached their objectives around Bug Wood, Rose Wood and Verhaest Farm, taking unopposed many German pillboxes. The brigades captured and six field guns for a loss of six casualties, advancing along the Roozebeek valley, then took Ravine Wood unopposed on the left flank. The left battalion was drawn back to meet the 47th Division, which was still held up by machine-gun fire from the spoil bank.

This battalion joined 170th Bde in 57th Division at Ashford. It landed at Le Havre on 12 February 1917 and thereafter its service was the same as the 2/5th Bn. On 26 October it attacked at Passchendaele at 05.45, following the barrage at a distance of 25–50 yards despite the mud and waterlogged shell craters. The reserve company had to pass through the enemy's retaliatory barrage, and there was light machine-gunning. But once the battalion reached the Green Line at 06.20 it was held up by a crossfire from enemy pillboxes.

Its 3rd Battalion was sent to the unfinished 64th Fortified Region positions at Zaręby Kościelne, which had been captured by German troops. The battalion suffered heavy losses in trying to retake the pillboxes at 8:00, but temporarily halted the German advance in the sector. The Western Front issued an order at 22:00 on 23 June that subordinated the 124th and 375th Howitzer Artillery Regiments and the 311th Gun Artillery Regiment to the corps commander. Due to its position, the corps was destroyed in the first days of Operation Barbarossa.

Manninen 2002, p. 57 The weakness of the line is illustrated by the fact that the amount of concrete used in the whole Mannerheim Line—14,520 cubic meters or —is slightly less than the amount used in the Helsinki Opera House (15,500 cubic meters or 547,000 cubic feet). The much shorter VT-line used almost 400,000 cubic meters (14,000,000 cubic feet) of concrete. However, "flexible" defense lines (Mannerheim Line, Árpád Line, Bar Lev Line) were not based on dense lines of concrete bunkers and pillboxes (as the Maginot system was).

The only infantry action during this period occurred when a company from the Liverpool Scottish attacked several pillboxes and the railway embankment near Don Station, on the west side of the canal, encountering initial success. They suffered heavy losses when a German counter-attack erased the gains and captured most of two platoons. On 8 October, the division was transferred to III Corps of Fifth Army, when the latter took over the sector. The area around Don Station was raided on 14 October, and an attempt to forge the canal that night was repulsed.

Between Betchworth and Box Hill, the north bank of the River Mole was stabilised and made steeper to prevent wheeled vehicles from crossing. At Boxhill Farm, where access to the river from the north bank was required for the herd of dairy cows, a row of twelve concrete cylinders were cast as an anti-tank measure. Gun mounts were also installed to protect both Boxhill and Deepdene bridges and several pillboxes were constructed. The Stepping Stones at the foot of the hill were removed as an anti-invasion measure.

This barrage caught massed German troops, preparing for their own attack, out in the open. The German infantry, decimated by the artillery fire, were swiftly dealt with by the advancing New Zealanders. Despite the presence of pillboxes, the 'Red Line' objective was reached on schedule, with some limited mopping up operations conducted forward of the line by parties of the Auckland and Otago battalions. Having moved up to the 'Red Line' behind the attacking forces, at 08:10, the Canterbury and Wellington battalions began moving forward to the 'Blue Line'.

View of the invasion beach from the top of Mount Suribachi, February 2002 By late July, Kuribayashi had evacuated all civilians from the island. Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata, commanding general of the 31st Army, early in 1944 had been responsible for the defense of Iwo Jima prior to his return to the Marianas. Following the doctrine that an invasion had to be met practically at the water's edge, Obata had ordered the emplacement of artillery and the construction of pillboxes near the beaches. General Kuribayashi had a different strategy.

From there it continued eastward to the shoreline just south of Tachiiwa Point. The entire line of defense was dotted with pillboxes, bunkers, and blockhouses. Colonel Nishi's immobilized tanks, carefully dug in and camouflaged, further reinforced this fortified area, whose strength was supplemented by the broken terrain. A second line of defense extended from a few hundred yards south of Kitano Point at the very northern tip of Iwo across the still uncompleted Airfield No. 3, to Motoyama village, and then to the area between Tachiiwa Point and the East Boat Basin.

On 7 November 1938, Lord assumed command of a battalion of the 3rd Engineer Regiment at the Schofield Barracks in the Territory of Hawaii. He built pillboxes and field fortifications, for which he was awarded several patents. He was promoted to major on 1 July 1940. From December 1940 to August 1941 he served as Assistant Director of the Bureau of Public Relations at the War Department in Washington, DC, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the wartime Army of the United States on 26 March 1941.

During this time a number of pillboxes were constructed along the river and by Ballingdon Bridge, many of which are extant. The Sudbury Society was formed in 1973 after a successful campaign to save the town's corn exchange from developers. However, in protecting its ancient centre the town has not shut itself off from modern development. As the town has expanded (to a population in 2005 of 12,080) modern retail and industrial developments have been added on sites close to the centre and on the eastern edge at Chilton.

Tennessee kept up the bombardment through 18 February; over the two days of shelling, she destroyed numerous pillboxes and an ammunition dump and set several fires around the island. The next morning, the troop transports arrived off the island and began preparations to send marines ashore. Tennessee and the rest of the bombardment group, reinforced by the fast battleships and and three cruisers, opened up with slow and deliberate fire on the landing beaches. The shooting was interrupted by a carrier strike, after which the ships took up a heavier pace of fire.

The action advanced the southern edge of the 3rd Canadian Division parallel with the line of the 4th Canadian Division to the south. The main attack began at on 30 October, preceded by a rolling barrage and a preliminary artillery bombardment directed largely at pillboxes. The southern attack quickly captured Crest Farm and Canadian patrols pushed beyond the objective into Passchendaele, which they found the Germans evacuating. By the 4th Canadian Division commander, Major-General David Watson, reported that all objectives between the Ypres–Roulers railway and the Ravebeek creek had been taken.

The first line of defence was the coastal crust consisting of pillboxes, machine-gun posts, trenches, rifle posts, anti-tank obstacles plus scaffolding, mines and barbed wire. As the Sussex regiments were serving overseas for large parts of the war, the defence of the county was undertaken by units of the Home Guard with help between 1941 and early 1944 from the First Canadian Army. During the war every part of Sussex was affected. Army camps of both the tented and also the more permanent variety sprang up everywhere.

The Mount was fortified during World War II during the invasion crisis of 1940–41. Three pillboxes can be seen to this day. Sixty- five years after the Second World War, it was suggested based on interviews with contemporaries that the former Nazi Foreign Minister and one-time ambassador to London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, had intended to live at the mount after the planned German conquest. Archived documents revealed that during his time in Britain in the 1930s, when he had proposed an alliance with Nazi Germany, von Ribbentrop frequently visited Cornwall.

Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society 2016, pp.44-56. The miners brought with them the traditional Male Voice Choir, Brass band and Rugby pastimes; all of which are still in evidence today and each of these organisations keep the colliery name as their identity. During the Second World War, the Aylesham coalminers formed a Home Guard contingent that took part in many rescue operations during the German bombings, especially in Canterbury and the surrounding areas. Old pillboxes can be found in the fields and woods around the village.

Lying close enough offshore to see pillboxes and trenches, McKee delivered close support fire through 4 August, when she retired with a group of carriers to New Hebrides. The need for an intermediary base and airfield for the recapture of the Philippines led to the bombardment and seizure of Morotai in the Moluccas beginning on 15 September. Meeting only light opposition, McKee and her force soon sailed back to Humboldt Bay, a staging area for Leyte. By mid-October, over 700 vessels were underway to see the 6th Army safely ashore.

It was a full-scale encampment with barracks, bunkers, gun emplacements and high lookout posts. The British assembled pillboxes and gun batteries all along the southern coast of Singapore, from Buona Vista in the west to Pulau Sajahat in the east, with a total of 51 guns. These guns turned out to be ill-placed, however. The Japanese invaded Singapore overland from the north, via Malaya, and many of these guns were not even used before they were destroyed by the British to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.

Standard construction elements such as large Regelbau bunkers, smaller concrete "pillboxes", and "dragon's teeth" anti-tank obstacles were built as part of each construction phase, sometimes by the thousands. Frequently vertical steel rods would be interspersed between the teeth. This standardisation was the most effective use of scarce raw materials, transport and workers, but proved an ineffective tank barrier as US bulldozers simply pushed dirt bridges over these devices. "Dragon's teeth" tank traps were also known as Höcker in German ("humps" or "pimples" in English) because of their shape.

The site is currently used as HM Prison Standford Hill. While there are a number of new buildings some of the original buildings survive including a number of pillboxes. The main roads in the prison reflect the aviation links; Rolls Avenue and Airfield View, Short's Prospect and Wright's Way. In the entrance to HMP Swaleside are two brass plaques; one records that the prison is built on what was the airstrip of RAF Eastchurch and the other lists the owners of the airstrip from 1909 to the end of the RAF use.

On 9 June 1944, Phaon left Eniwetok, arriving on 15 June, at Saipan, for the invasion. There, on "D-Day" plus three, the destroyer came alongside for repairs and many other ships thereafter. As metalsmiths, mechanics, and carpenters from Phaon swarmed over Phelps repairing the damaged boiler, blower, deck and bulkheads, the sturdy warship was still very much in the fight, blasting away at enemy troops and pillboxes. On 24 June, during an air raid by Japanese G4M "Betties", Phaon suffered a near-miss on the starboard side.

Yet still it attracts its fair share of Neo-Druidism and other pagan interest with rituals and festival held there commonly.A Neo-Druid group, the Anderida Gorsedd, have been holding rituals at the Long Man regularly since 2000. During the Second World War much of the south coast of England was fortified with pillboxes, tank obstacles and machine gun posts in anticipation of a Nazi invasion, the plan for which was known to the Nazis as Operation Sealion. These objects can be seen closer to the sea and require a diversion.

Section of the Battle of Aachen US Army infantrymen in Aachen For six days prior to the beginning of the American offensive, Allied heavy artillery targeted German defenses around Aachen.Ambrose (1997), p. 147 Although the heavy bombardment forced the German LXXXI Corps to halt all daylight personnel and supply movements, it had little effect on the pillboxes and strongpoints. The opening aerial bombardment on 2 October also caused little damage to German defensive positions; the 450 aircraft which took part in the first wave failed to register a single direct hit on any German pillbox.

The 30th Infantry Division began its advance on 2 October, using divisional heavy artillery to target German pillboxes; even then it took, on average, thirty minutes to capture a single pillbox. The Americans found that if they failed to immediately press on to the next pillbox, the Germans were sure to counterattack.Ambrose (1997), pp. 148–149 Heavy resistance had not been expected, and one company lost 87 combatants in an hour;Hitler's Army, pp. 323–324 another lost 93 out of 120 soldiers to a German artillery strike.

As the Finns lacked the necessary heavy artillery equipment and were short of men, they often did not directly attack the mottis they had created; instead, they worked to eliminate only the most dangerous threats. Often the motti tactic was not applied as a strategy, but as a Finnish adaptation to the behaviour of Soviet troops under fire.Jowett & Snodgrass (2006), p. 44 In spite of the cold and hunger, the Soviet troops did not surrender easily but fought bravely, often entrenching their tanks to be used as pillboxes and building timber dugouts.

The attackers had many losses inflicted on them for every small advance they made into the city. As per their military doctrine, the Americans tried to use their superior artillery firepower and air superiority to overcome the defenders, instead of fighting them hand-to-hand. The Germans had stocked a considerable amount of ammunition for the defense of the city and had weapons of all calibers (from light flak to naval guns) dug into fortifications and in pillboxes. Elements of the specialised British 79th Armoured Division came in to attack the heavily fortified Fort Montbarey.

There are several reminders of the war in and near the site of the original village; the Kent Battle of Britain Museum and various pillboxes are scattered amongst the farms. Hawkinge Cemetery is near the site of the aerodrome and most of the 95 Second World War casualties buried there were airmen. About a quarter were killed during the Battle of Britain. Most of the war graves are in a special plot east of the chapel, including 59 German graves, which are together in a group at the south-eastern corner.

As his unit moved inland, he stormed a series of hostile pillboxes using his "Stinger" and made eight trips back to the beach to retrieve ammunition, each time taking a wounded Marine with him. It was for his actions on this day that he was later awarded the Medal of Honor. The 28th Marines next helped capture Mount Suribachi itself, culminating in the raising of the U.S. flag on the mountain's peak on February 23. Stein was wounded during the fight for Suribachi and evacuated to a hospital ship.

The Courier Bay force, the 17th Infantry Brigade, after toiling through mangrove swamp and thick bush took the town of Diego-Suarez taking a hundred prisoners. The Ambararata Bay force, the 29th Independent Brigade, headed towards the French naval base of Antisarane. With assistance from six Valentines and six Tetrarch light tanks of B Special Service Squadron they advanced 21 miles overcoming light resistance with bayonet charges.Flint, pp. 68-69 Antisarane itself was heavily defended with trenches, two redoubts, pillboxes, and flanked on both sides by impenetrable swamps.

In January 1941 the 8th Battalion relocated to billets in disused mills at Biddulph, with B Company at Huyton. In February the brigade transferred to the Durham and North Riding County Division in North East England, where it took up an operational role in beach defence. The 8th Battalion's headquarters (HQ) was at Saltburn-by-the-Sea and it took over the defences from Redcar Pier to Staithes. These included concrete pillboxes equipped with Vickers guns, for which the previous training of the battalion's original cadre was useful.

Henry Wills (born 1930) was a British journalist and photographer with a passion for local history and archaeology. He is best remembered for his writings on British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War, his most often cited work being Pillboxes: A Study of U.K. Defences, 1940. His interest in the topic was triggered when, in 1968, as a photographer for the Salisbury Times, he was sent on a journalistic assignment to photograph the demolition of a pillbox. His inquiries led him to conclude that there were few official records of Britain's wartime defences.

Over succeeding weeks the targets requested by the Canadians varied from church towers and farm buildings to single pillboxes and emplacements, sometimes in support of patrols by 18th (Manitoba) Armoured Car Rgt, or 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division's Reconnaissance Rgt. 113th HAA Regiment also carried out nighttime harassing fire on designated areas. Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert was later made a Chevalier of the Belgian Order of Leopold II with palm, and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre with palm, for his services in this campaign.Gilbert's citation at TNA file WO 373/111/616.

He stood up and threw hand grenades at the enemy knocking out several pillboxes en route and was able to drive a wedge between Buna beach and Buna village. Bottcher, one eardrum broken by mortar blast, his hand cut by shrapnel, held that wedge. Bottcher ordered his men to dig in at once on the edge of the beach, which became known as "Bottcher's Corner." He and his men fought against enemy attacks from both the village and the fortified beach which resulted in the death of numerous enemy soldiers.

There was no room for troops to assemble and the Reutelbeek was a morass about wide; on the left bank the swamp was within of the New Zealand posts in Cameron Covert. An attack from the west could use assembly trenches close to the Polderhoek Spur and have a barrage front parallel to the infantry advance. The IX Corps heavy artillery could carry out the preparatory bombardment, avoiding the need to register new guns, which would alert the Germans. Heavy artillery bombarded Polderhoek Château and the pillboxes on November, while howitzers cut the German wire.

In addition, a number of concrete machine gun posts (similar to pillboxes) and rifle loopholes were placed at irregular intervals around the perimeter wall. The buildings in the fort included Battery Observation Post, which served as the command post of the fort and had a gun control room and an underground plotting room. The fort also had direction posts, a water tank, underground magazines, a generator room and rock-hewn bomb shelters. Defence Electric Lights and searchlight emplacements were also built outside the perimeter wall on the shoreline.

Under the new plan, while the 135th and 348th struck the German defenses on either side of the town, one regiment of the 373rd, with Malygin's remaining tanks, would attempt to envelop it. The battle on November 30 lasted all day, but was successful. A handful of remaining KV-1 tanks reached the town's outskirts and systematically reduced the German pillboxes. By nightfall Urdom had been liberated, but the defenders still held out along the road east and west of the ruined town and their overall defense line was still intact.

The 6th DCLI was caught within of its jumping-off line by machine-gun fire from Inverness Copse, forced under cover and lost the barrage. One of four tanks supporting the attack arrived along the Menin road, turned north at the edge of the Copse and engaged the pillboxes pinning down the DCLI, then drove close to a trench along the north edge of the Copse, machine-gunning the German defenders, forcing them out. The 8th Company arrived from the but could not stop the tank, despite losing many men rushing it and throwing grenades.

Before the fence was completed, "a band of Arab terrorists swooped down on a section of the fence...ripped it up and carted it across the frontier into Lebanon."Palestine: Tegart's Wall, Time Magazine Five Tegart forts and twenty pillboxes were built along the route of the fence. Nevertheless, the infiltrators easily overcame the fence and evaded mobile patrols along the frontier road.The Israel-Lebanon Border Enigma The barrier, which impeded both legal and illegal trade, angered local inhabitants on both sides of the border because it bisected pastures and private property.

By 07:15 the following morning, the 37th Battalion had captured its objective, having seized eight pillboxes, several concrete dugouts, 20 machine guns and 420 prisoners. Two hours later, the Australians were in possession of Broodseinde Ridge. For his actions during the battle, Peeler was awarded the Victoria Cross; one of two Australians to be so decorated that day. On 12 October, eight days after Peeler's actions, the men of the 10th Brigade returned to the front line in an effort to exploit the success of the previous week.

In support of ground troops, it was credited with destroying four tanks, suppressing the fire of four mortar batteries, destroying ten pillboxes, and three observation points, as well as killing 340 German soldiers. In February 1945 the 73rd was transferred to the 4th Shock Army, with which it served until the end of the war. From 1 April the army was part of the Courland Group of Forces of the Leningrad Front. After the end of the war in Europe, the division was transferred to the Far East to fight in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

Maryland steamed from San Pedro, California on 13 January 1944, rendezvoused with Task Force 53 at Lahaina Roads for two days of loading ammunition, refueling, and provisioning ahead of a new operation supporting the Marshall Islands campaign. On 30 January 1944, she moved to support landings on Roi Island, along with Santa Fe, Biloxi, and Indianapolis, which formed the Northern Support Group of TF 35. In the predawn hours of 31 January, the ships began a bombardment of Kwajalein Atoll, the opening moves of the battle of Kwajalein. Maryland destroyed numerous Japanese stationary guns and pillboxes.

The No. 47 (Royal Marine) Commando moved toward the small port at Port-en-Bessin and captured it the following day in the Battle of Port-en-Bessin. Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis received the only Victoria Cross awarded on D-Day for his actions while attacking two pillboxes at the Mont Fleury high point. On the western flank, the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment captured Arromanches (future site of Mulberry "B"), and contact was made on the eastern flank with the Canadian forces at Juno. Bayeux was not captured the first day due to stiff resistance from the 352nd Infantry Division.

Lhôk Mata Ië Beach Lhôk Mè Beach Lampuuk Beach Lhok Nga Beach The most notable beaches for tourism in Aceh are located to the northern tip of the province, near the archipelago of Sabang, the capital city of Banda Aceh and the northern regency of Aceh Besar. Normally formed in a bay area, many beaches contains the word Lhok, Acehnese for "bay". Owing to their strategic location during World War II, some of the northern beaches contain bunkers and concrete pillboxes constructed by the Japanese troops. The western coastal areas of Aceh were among the areas hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami.

KM members protested in front of Congress, throwing a coffin, a stuffed alligator, and stones at Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos after his State of the Nation Address. On the presidential palace, activists rammed the gate with a fire truck and once the gate broke and gave way, the activists charged into the Palace grounds tossing rocks, pillboxes, Molotov cocktails. In front of the US embassy, protesters vandalized, arsoned and damaged the embassy lobby resulting to a strong protest from the U.S. Ambassador. The KM protests ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 in number per weekly mass action.

Deciding not to alert his superior, Speidel went back to bed. In constant contact with his battalions, Reichert found there to be minimal Allied presence in his sector, allowing him to reorganize forces looking towards the Cotentin Peninsula, where he had expected the bulk of the invasion to be concentrated. At approximately 02:45, elements of the 21st Panzer Division operating alongside the 711th took further British paratroopers prisoner. Meanwhile, the men who had been stationed at the coast were largely safe in their newly built bunkers and pillboxes, with only a few casualties from enemy volleys from the sea.

Again, offering himself as a target, he lay in full view of the enemy on a heap of rubble and fired at the concrete pillboxes on the other side. He again drew most of the fire, but by now the greater part of the Troop had made for the safety of the houses. During this period he shouted encouragement to the remainder, and called only for more Bren magazines with which he could engage the Spandaus. Firing with great accuracy up to the last, Corporal Hunter was finally hit in the head by a burst of Spandau fire and killed instantly.

Conditions in the salient improved with the completion of transport routes and the refurbishment of German pillboxes. Both sides raided and the British used night machine-gun fire and artillery barrages to great effect. On the evening of 3 March 1918, two companies of the 8th Division raided Teal Cottage, supported by a smoke and shrapnel barrage, killed many of the garrison and took six prisoners for one man wounded. A German attack on 11 March was repulsed; after that the Germans made no more attacks, keeping up frequent artillery bombardments and machine-gun fire instead.

Tanks were destroyed by interlocking fire or were hoisted into the air on the spouting fireballs of buried mines". As a result, the fighting bogged down, with American casualties piling up. Even capturing these points was not a solution to the problem since a previously secured position could be attacked from the rear by the use of the tunnels and hidden pillboxes. As such, it was said that "they could take these heights at will, and then regret it". Browning M1917 machine gun at the Japanese Hotch Kiss" from the Japanese, 1945 The Marines nevertheless found ways to prevail under the circumstances.

Over the next week, some of the squadrons of the regiment became involved in small scale raid actions. On 24 March, the regiment moved into the area of Cassino controlled by the New Zealand infantry, and essentially became mobile pillboxes. The tanks were vulnerable to artillery and German patrols and the troops of the various squadrons of the regiment were rotated in and out of the town in two day shifts. While the New Zealand infantry had been relieved by the Guards Brigade in the early April, the 20th Armoured Regiment stayed in the line until the end of the month.

The 385th Infantry Regiment was part of the 76th Infantry Division of the US Army during World War II and fought in Germany, including the Siegfried Line. The 385th's 2nd Battalion crossed the Nims River at Niederweis taking the town while the 1st Battalion attacked south between Nims and the Prum toward Irrel. 3rd Battalion was the first of the regiment to span the Sauer and go into action in Germany. The first days of combat were a series of pillboxes and prepared defenses until the Line had been breached and the Regiment began moving at an ever accelerated speed.

In February and March 1917, the whole of 42nd Division moved from Egypt to France to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, where it remained for the rest of the war. After re- equipping and training for trench warfare in a 'quiet sector' with Fourth Army, 42nd Division relieved 15th (Scottish) Division in Fifth Army in the Ypres Sector at the end of August. On 6 September 125th Brigade carried out an unsuccessful attack on strongly-held German pillboxes around Iberian, Borry, and Beck House Farms. The small amount of ground they took was given up the next day.

Farmhouses known to the British as Volt, Void, Vocation, Virile and Vox farms, Veal and Vat cottages, had been fortified and pillboxes built between them. In November, the German commanders became cautiously optimistic that the (Flanders Offensive) was over, although the British artillery still caused many casualties. On 20 November, the HQ of issued a memo to all commanders, complaining that the lack of saluting by junior officers was setting a bad example to the men. To foster offensive spirit, many patrols were conducted and on one occasion, troops of Infantry Regiment 116 reached Passchendaele church.

On the 18th the 5th Guards Tank Army completed the blockade of the town and by the evening elements of 48th Army reached its outskirts. The German garrison, consisting of remnants of 7th and 299th Infantry Divisions and the 30th Panzergrenadier Regiment, contested the major brick structures and a series of concrete pillboxes, but despite this units of 42nd Corps soon broke into the town. Heavy fighting continued overnight, widely employing artillery firing over open sights and extensive use of tanks and mortars, and by morning the garrison had been destroyed with its remnants taken prisoner.Soviet General Staff, Prelude to Berlin, ed.

Operation Clipper was the code name for an assault on the Siegfried line. It was conducted by the British XXX Corps (which included the U.S. 84th Infantry Division) to reduce the Geilenkirchen salient between 18 and 22 November 1944. The operation was carried out by two divisions, the 43rd (Wessex) Division, and the 83rd Infantry Division (United States) (Railsplitters) supported by the brigade. Extensive use was made of specialised tanks, Sherman Crab 'Flails' of the Lothians and Border Horse to clear minefields, Churchill Tank 'Crocodiles' to attack pillboxes and Grant Canal Defence Light tanks to assist night operations.

The design was a private venture by Bethlehem Steel and was offered to the French in 1916 under the designation One-pounder 37 mm Semi-automatic Gun, Mark C on Carriage Mark A. It was intended as an infantry support gun or as a landing gun for amphibious operations. In the infantry support role, it would have been used in loopholing operations to neutralize enemy machine guns in pillboxes. It is believed the French ordered 200 guns in 1916, 100 during 1917 and another 1,000 during 1918. However, the exact number that were delivered or how many entered French service is unknown.

Its shaped charge warhead, also known as HEAT, was capable of penetrating 100 mm of armor. Although the weapon proved ineffective against the T-34 tank during the Korean War and most other tanks, it was used primarily as a close infantry support weapon to engage all types of targets including infantry and lightly armored vehicles. The M20 proved useful against pillboxes and other types of field fortifications. Its poor armor penetration by the HEAT round was because of it being a spin-stabilized projectile rather than the later fin-stabilized rounds used in the 106mm M40 recoilless rifle.

Rye A public path runs alongside the entire length of the canal, forming part of the longer Saxon Shore Way. Aside from being historically significant in its own right, the path passes by numerous WW II pillboxes and the unusual acoustic mirrors, the historic cinque port towns of Hythe, Winchelsea, and Rye, the 12th century St Rumwold's church, and Lympne and Camber castles. The canal is an important environmental site, and passes through several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority and uses the waterway to manage water levels on Romney Marsh and Walland Marsh.

IS-4 may also refer to Object 245 IS-2 heavy tank. The IS-4, also known as the Object 701, was a Soviet heavy tank that started development in 1943 and began production in 1946. Derived from the IS-2 and part of the IS tank family, the IS-4 featured a longer hull and increased armor. With the IS-3 already in production, and when sluggish mobility and decreased need for tanks (particularly heavy tanks) became an issue, many were sent to the Russian Far East with some eventually becoming pillboxes along the Chinese border in the 1960s.

Other sites of religious significance include Cleeve Abbey which was founded by William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln in a grant of 1191, on land he had been given by king Æthelred the Unready. The geography with large numbers of streams is reflected by the number of packhorse, such as Gallox Bridge and Robber's Bridge, included in the list. The mining history of the area is also represented by several sections of the West Somerset Mineral Railway and associated ruins of mine buildings which are now scheduled. The most recent monuments are World War II pillboxes.

The rest of the tank crews were drawn from Bolivian volunteers, who received eight weeks training. The armoured assets first saw combat on 13 September 1932 near Boquerón, when a Carden-Lloyd tankette, commanded by Kohn, tried to break the perimeter at Yujra to aid Colonel Marzana's troops. The Carden-Lloyd had been supporting infantry patrols in no-man's-land before the battle.Farcau, p. 92 In July 1933, at the Second Battle of Nanawa, the Vickers 6-ton achieved some success when a Type B tank broke into the core of the Paraguayan defenses, after wiping out a number of wooden pillboxes.

Omaha Beach extends for 5 miles (8 km) from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer. The beach defences at Omaha consisted of 8 concrete bunkers containing 75 mm or greater artillery, 35 pillboxes, 18 anti-tank guns, six mortar pits, 35 Nebelwerfer (multi-barrel rocket launchers), 85 machine gun nests, 6 tank turrets and supporting infantry. Infantry deployments on the Beach consisted of five companies concentrated at 15 strongpoints called Widerstandsnester (Resistance Nests), numbered WN-60 in the east to WN-74 in the west. Severloh was part of WN-62, the largest strongpoint defending Omaha Beach.

II Corps on the Gheluvelt Plateau had only advanced about beyond the but took Bellewaarde Ridge and Stirling Castle. The training of the Fifth Army troops had enabled them to use Lewis guns, rifle grenades, trench mortars and tanks to overwhelm German pillboxes, when the artillery had managed to neutralise the defenders of a sufficient number of blockhouses in advance. Casualties were about the same, unlike 1 July 1916 when the British had only inflicted a few thousand on the Germans. The Fifth Army captured about on 31 July compared to only on the First day of the Somme.

During the 1963 South Vietnamese coup rebel forces from the ARVN 5th Division commanded by Colonel Nguyễn Văn Thiệu attacked both the Cộng Hòa barracks and the Gia Long Palace. At Cộng Hòa barracks 5th Division armored and artillery units faced off with the Guard forces armed with tanks, artillery, mortars and machine guns. Rebel artillery soon reduced the barracks to rubble while Guards forces fired back causing damage to the surrounding area. At Gia Long Palace approximately 150 Guards defended the building with machine and antiaircraft guns from bunkers and pillboxes, and with tanks and 20-mm cannons mounted on armored vehicles.

Hoo Fort with Hoo behind Originally designed for two tiers of guns mounted in a circle, with a boom strung between Hoo Fort and Fort Darnet, there were many problems with subsidence, and after extensive cost overruns the forts were completed in 1871 with a single tier of eleven 9-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns, and no boom. Each gun was mounted in an individual casemate with heavily armoured firing port. The forts were decommissioned before the First World War. In the Second World War, the fort was used as an observation post, with platforms and pillboxes built on top.

The defences in the area included a wide anti-tank ditch along the coast between Stalkoedo and Sepinggang, augmented by another around Klandasan. The beaches were dotted with Dutch-built concrete pillboxes while the Japanese had dug complex trench system on the ridges overlooking the town. The seaward approach to Klandasan was defended by an underwater obstacle consisting of poles and barbed wire, which ran between Klandasan and Manggar. This was augmented by a large number of naval mines around the coast. The operation was designated "Operation Oboe Two" by the Allies, who assigned 33,000 personnel.

The 29th Division was to attack astride the Ypres–Staden railway and form a defensive flank overlooking the Broembeek, with troops from two brigades. The right brigade took Chinese House and the 't Goed ter Vesten Farm, as it formed a flank along the junction with the 4th Division further south. As a German counter-attack forced back elements of the 4th Division, the 29th Division troops stopped them with flanking machine-gun fire and drove them back, allowing the 4th Division to regain the lost ground. North of the railway several pillboxes were captured by the left brigade and observation posts established.

On 19 August, in the Action of the Cockcroft, parties from the 48th (South Midland) Division (XVIII Corps) and a composite company of the 1st Tank Brigade, attacked up the St Julien–Poelcappelle road to capture Hillock Farm, Triangle Farm, Maison du Hibou, the Cockcroft, Winnipeg Cemetery, Springfield and Vancouver, fortified farms, blockhouses and pillboxes. The advance was covered by a smoke barrage and low-flying aircraft which disguised the sound of the tanks. The infantry followed up when the tank crews signalled and occupied the strong points. Hillock Farm was captured at and fifteen minutes later Maison du Hibou was taken.

The Japanese fought most of the battle from underground bunkers and pillboxes. It was common for Marines to disable a pillbox using grenades or flamethrowers, only to come under renewed fire from it a few minutes later, after replacement Japanese infantry arrived into the pillbox through a tunnel. The American effort concentrated on isolating and capturing Suribachi first, a goal that was achieved on February 23, four days after the battle began. Despite capturing Suribachi, the battle continued to rage for many days, and the island would not be declared "secure" until 31 days later, on March 26.

The report went on to state that although the deficiencies had been reported, nothing had been done about them.Murphy, What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa, p45 Restoration of the Kiev fortified area began on June 24, 1941, when the commander of the Southwestern Front, Mikhail Kirponos, gave an order for the rehabilitation of the fortified area, including equipping and arming the pillboxes and the construction of field fortifications. For these tasks, the population of Kiev was mobilized. By 30 June 50,000 people were involved in the construction, by 2 July 160,000; in the last days of construction, 200,000 workers were involved.

A section of the Mannerheim Line The flexible defense is a military theory about the design of modern fortifications. The examples of "flexible" defense- lines (Mannerheim Line, Árpád Line, Bar Lev Line) are not based on dense lines of heavily armed, large and expensive concrete fortifications as the systems such as the Maginot Line were. Their protective capacity hinges on multiple lines of obstacles and small shelters fitting into the environment. They are "flexible" because soldiers are not locked in pillboxes, but fight instead in easily replaceable open earth-wood maden positions, while bunkers serve only as shelters during bombardments.

The line could stop Soviet attacks and almost every assault was without hope of success. As tanks and self-propelled guns were not able to effectively support the offensive, mass attacks suffered heavy casualties similarly to battles of the First World War. The system was effective where no anti-tank ditch had been built, due to hostile infantry being unable to get through obstacle lines, and intruding tanks without infantry support were destroyed after they run out of fuel or ammo. Western literature considered it to be a weak fortification because of the low amount of concrete used and small number of pillboxes.

In 1943, the battalion cleared underwater obstacles and destroyed enemy pillboxes during the landings on Sicily. During the Normandy landings at Omaha Beach in 1944, the battalion led the assault forces, breaching gaps in the extensive enemy mine and wire obstacles and clearing the combat trails leading off the beaches. The battalion received the Presidential Unit Citation for actions at Gafsa, at Tunisia, and at Omaha Beach. The battalion fought as part of the 1st Infantry Division during the remainder of the war in the European Theater and after 10 years of occupation duty moved to Fort Riley, Kansas.

The creeping barrage started quickly, lifting every four minutes and this allowed the British infantry to surprise the German outpost garrisons while the Germans were still in their shelters, by looming out of the mist. After four lifts, the barrage slowed to every six minutes. Most German troops encountered were so stunned by the bombardment, that they were incapable of resistance and surrendered immediately, despite few of the concrete pillboxes and shelters being destroyed by the British artillery. In the few areas where the German defenders were capable of resisting, they inflicted many losses but were quickly outflanked in the mist.

Back in England, 44th (HC) Divisional Engineers assembled at Port Meadow Camp, Oxford, on 6 June, and then the companies joined their brigade groups. 209 Field Co went to Castle Bromwich with 132 Bde, 210 Fd Co to Gloucester with 133 Bde, and 211 Fd Park Co to Shrivenham; later 11 Fd Co joined 131 Bde at Fosdyke. Re-equipment began in July, after which 44th (HC) Division moved to Northern Command. The sappers were soon engaged in building anti-invasion defences. 209 Field Co moved to Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, where it worked on pillboxes and other defences along the River Trent.

Some southern parts of the park that reach into Rainham have been used as landfill. There is a fishing lake located there, and there are many paths leading from the park to other nearby areas, including Upminster, Dagenham and Rainham. There are a number of pillboxes and other items dating from the Second World War to be found in the park. The park is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I. Almost all of it falls within the Ingrebourne Valley Local Nature Reserve, and the eastern edge is part of the Ingrebourne Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest.

On 18 December, the Japanese had landed around present day Taikoo and had made advances into the North Point area. They moved up towards Wong Nai Chung Gap from Braemar Hill through the primary use of Sir Cecil's Ride, but also through Wan Chai and Happy Valley. Primary engagements occurred around the area of Jardine's Catch-water, where there were two pillboxes manned mainly by Middlesex Machine Gunners (JLO1/2). Royal Scots on Mount Nicholson also became engaged in fighting the Japanese advance units on the adjacent Jardine's Lookout, but also those coming up Happy Valley/Wan Chai area.

Fortifications included casemated coast artillery and automatic weapons in mutually supporting pillboxes. The narrow isthmus to the north of Suribachi was to be defended by a small infantry force. On the other hand, this entire area was exposed to the fire of artillery, rocket launchers, and mortars emplaced on Suribachi to the south and the high ground to the north. A main line of defense, consisting of mutually supporting positions in depth, extended from the northwestern part of the island to the southeast, along a general line from the cliffs to the northwest, across Motoyama Airfield No. 2 to Minami village.

McCook alongside a carrier in the Atlantic Ocean. On 5 June, McCook departed with Destroyer Squadron 18 (DesRon 18) and ships of Assault Force "O" for the coast of France. Early 6 June, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ralph Lester Ramey she arrived in the Baie de la Seine and at 03:20 commenced bombardment of the beaches and waterfront of the Pointe du Hoc–Vierville-sur-Mer area. By 06:16 she had neutralized her assigned targets (three pillboxes, 13 machine gun nests and three shore guns) and had begun to take on targets of opportunity.

The pillboxes and bunkers were all connected so that if one was knocked out, it could be reoccupied again. Smaller-caliber artillery, antiaircraft guns, and mortars were also well hidden and located where only a direct hit could destroy them. The Japanese were determined to make the Americans pay a high price for Iwo Jima and were prepared to defend it to the death. Kuribayashi knew that he could not win the battle but hoped to inflict severe casualties so costly that it would slow the American advance on Japan and maybe give the Japanese some bargaining power.

Gileston/West Aberthaw beach overlooking Limpert Bay has a number of pillboxes which still stand from World War II. It has the arable farm of the Thomas family who have farmed the surrounding land for over 100 years. The village is tiny and previously consisted of little more than the church and the Gileston Manor. In 1771 the Bishop of Llandaff recorded that the population consisted of the rector and his family (who was also the squire of the manor house); a farmer, his wife, son and four servants; an old man and an old woman.

John Carleton Sjogren was a soldier in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor in World War II during the campaign to recapture the Philippines from Japanese forces in 1945. Against superior numbers, Sjogren was able to kill 43 enemy soldiers as well as destroying 9 pillboxes. He was the first of four soldiers from the 40th Division to receive the Medal. After the war, Sjogren served the Michigan National Guard from 1949 to 1953, where he rose to the rank of First Lieutenant and served in the Korean War before leaving the guard.

The next operation, the assault on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls, began on 31 January. Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and two destroyers formed the bombardment group, with Tennessee still serving as Kingman's flagship, and they moved into positions some from the atoll's twin islands of Roi-Namur. Tennessee launched her Kingfishers at 06:25 and opened fire at 07:01, targeting pillboxes and other defenses. Her fire was interrupted by a flight of carrier aircraft, which were engaged by Japanese anti-aircraft guns; as soon as the American planes cleared the area, Tennessee shelled the guns and suppressed their fire.

Colonel Masanobu Tsuji wrote in his book about the Malaya Campaign: The first and second waves of Japanese soldiers were pinned down by the intense fire from the Dogra's pillboxes and trenches but after vicious hand-to-hand fighting a breach was made in the defences on the south bank of the estuary. On the northern bank the Japanese were pinned down on an island where dawn found them trapped in the open. Allied aircraft from the nearby airfields began attacking the invasion fleet and the soldiers trapped on the island. Japanese casualties in the first and second waves were heavy.

On his own > initiative he left the platoon, accompanied by a comrade, and continued > forward to a house 60 yards from the objective. Although under constant > enemy observation, the 2 men remained in this position for an hour, firing > at targets of opportunity, killing more than 35 Japanese and wounding many > more. Moving closer to the station and discovering a group of Japanese > replacements attempting to reach pillboxes, they opened heavy fire, killed > more than 40 and stopped all subsequent attempts to man the emplacements. > Enemy fire became more intense as they advanced to within 20 yards of the > station.

The German front line on the crest of the Chemin-des-Dames and Laffaux ridges consisted of two or more trenches. Behind the forward zone, from the western edge of the ridge above Pinon, a (support line) ran eastwards, south of the farm and Fort Malmaison to the Panthéon. To the north of the , the fortified villages of Pinon and Vaudesson, Malmaison Farm, the fort and below them, the Montparnasse quarry, Chavignon and Bruyère, with various intermediate fortified woods, caves and pillboxes, formed the German third position. The village fortress of Allemant and other strongpoints lay between the first and second positions.

The NRA troops defending the area were mainly the remnants from the Battle of Hengyang, and therefore, only 20,000 troops were at Guilin on 1 November when the Japanese started their attack on the city. The government of China knew that it would not be able to hold Guilin, but deliberately extended the battle for domestic political reasons, sending food and supplies to the besieged. Most civilians fled weeks before from Guilin, which was scorched heavily by fire. Guilin had been reinforced with defences, pillboxes, barbed wire, and the Guangxi troops under the command of Muslim General Bai Chongxi.

On 31 July, the German front line north of the Ypres–Roulers railway and the had been overrun and the garrisons lost. The new front line was between the and the , behind which was the rearward battle zone (). The main defensive engagement had been fought in the by the reserve regiments and of the 4th Army, against depleted, tired and disorientated attackers, whose advance had been slowed by the forward garrisons. The new German front was a line of shell holes backed by the fortified farms, strong points and pillboxes of the in front of the .

On 16 August, the British had tried to capture the but in the XVIII Corps area, the British artillery had destroyed few of the pillboxes and fortified farms in the or overcome the German artillery, which inflicted of the wounds suffered by the infantry of the 11th (Northern) Division. The division had captured most of its objectives but the 48th (South Midland) Division on the right barely advanced . After 16 August, the Germans increased the size of regimental sectors to make more room to disperse and divided the field artillery, one part to be kept hidden and used only during big attacks.

This unit was bolstered by 14 Type 95 light tanks under the command of Ensign Ohtani. A series of fourteen coastal defense guns, including four large Vickers 8-inch guns purchased during the Russo-Japanese War from the British, were secured in concrete bunkers around the island to guard the open water approaches. It was thought these big guns would make it very difficult for a landing force to enter the lagoon and attack the island from the north side. The island had a total of 500 pillboxes or "stockades" built from logs and sand, many of which were reinforced with cement.

Private First Class Diamond's official Medal of Honor citation reads: > As a member of the machinegun section, he displayed extreme gallantry and > intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty . When a Japanese sniper rose > from his foxhole to throw a grenade into their midst, this valiant soldier > charged and killed the enemy with a burst from his submachine gun; then, by > delivering sustained fire from his personal arm and simultaneously directing > the fire of 105mm. and .50 caliber weapons upon the enemy pillboxes > immobilizing this and another machinegun section, he enabled them to put > their guns into action.

The infantry should change formation from skirmish lines to company columns accompanied by a machine-gun and a Stokes mortar. The advance should be on a narrower front, since skirmish lines were impractical in muddy crater fields and broke up under machine-gun fire. Tanks to help capture pillboxes had bogged down behind the British front-line and air support had been impeded by the weather, particularly by low cloud early on and a lack of aircraft for battlefield support. One aircraft per corps had been reserved for counter- attack patrols and two aircraft per division for ground attack.

On 31 July, the German front line north of the Ypres–Roulers railway and the had been overrun and the garrisons lost. The front line had been pushed back between the and the , behind which was the rearward battle zone (). The main defensive engagement had been fought in the by the reserve regiments and divisions, against depleted, tired and disorientated attackers, whose advance had been slowed by the forward garrisons before they were overrun. The new German front was a line of shell holes backed by the fortified farms, strong points and pillboxes in the in front of the .

The delay this imposed meant that the Germans had time to react and deploy. "A" and "D" Companies of the South Saskatchewan Regiment took all their objectives, including a large white house on the western headland that proved to be some kind of officers quarters. The other two companies found that the bridge was swept by fire from a number of German pillboxes on the high ground facing them and the attack stalled as Canadian casualties mounted. As the Camerons were the second wave to attack on Green Beach they came into an aroused German defence.

The GHQ Line (General Headquarters Line) was a defence line built in the United Kingdom during World War II to contain an expected German invasion. Part of the GHQ Stop Line B runs through the area south and east of Farnham through the valley of the River Wey and was designed to prevent a German invasion force from using the Wey Valley to reach London. Many defences from this era - gun emplacements, pillboxes, "dragons' teeth" and other anti-tank defences can be seen from the path leading through Moor Park from the house towards the caves and abbey or towards Farnham.

O'Neill 1948, p. 52. Following this a perimeter was established about from the beach and the Landing Ship Tank (LST) vessels arrived to begin unloading more stores and equipment. While this occurred, small details of New Zealanders set about the task of rooting out individual Japanese soldiers that had remained hidden during the initial advance inland.Gillespie 1952, p. 151. Shortly after 7:00 am, the Japanese began to attack the beach with artillery and mortar fire, while a group of Japanese in previously undetected pillboxes began pouring machine-gun fire on to the LSTs, causing a number of casualties amongst the 36th Battalion.

During World War II when it was feared the city may be bombed some families moved to Bucklands Beach on a semi permanent basis. Other families at the beach then were the Burgesses, the Inders, the Hancocks and the Eliots. About 1942 just after the Japanese entered the war, the wooden bridge at Wharf road was taken down to stop a landing by Japanese. Concrete pillboxes were built at each end of Eastern Beach on the clifftops by Herbert (Pop) Leach, an ex-World War I signaler and local farmer with his sons Bert, Allan and Mick.

As such, it was of immense psychological value.Rule (2003), p. 59 The mindset of the city's defenders was further altered by the different attitude the local population had toward them as they fought on home soil for the first time; one German officer commented, "Suddenly we were no longer the Nazis, we were German soldiers."Ambrose (1998), pp. 146–147 Aachen and its sector of the front were protected by the Siegfried Line, consisting of several belts of inter-connected pillboxes, forts, and bunkers protected by extensive minefields, "dragon's teeth" anti- tank obstacles, and barbed wire entanglements.

He was awarded the medal while serving as a technical sergeant and acting as leader of his platoon on Luzon island in the northern Philippines; his actions took place on February 5, 1945. While giving first aid on the battlefield he noticed that his unit was pinned down by gun fire from a ditch. Crawling to the ditch, using his rifle and grenades to protect himself, he then killed three enemy soldiers concealed there. He then continued to work his way across open ground to a line of pillboxes that were also firing and immobilising his company.

Following the death of Thomas Sharp, leadership of the board of trustees passed to John Sharp (Thomas Sharp's son) who refurbished the castle keep and court rooms and established a hospital on the site. In 1894, the castle was bought by the Victorian industrialist William Armstrong, who completed the restoration. During the Second World War, pillboxes were established in the sand dunes to protect the castle and surrounding area from German invasion and, in 1944, a Royal Navy corvette was named HMS Bamborough Castle after the castle. The castle still remains in the ownership of the Armstrong family.

In some areas, the beaches consisted of a soft clay that could not support the weight of tanks. The "bobbin" tank would overcome this problem by deploying a roll of matting over the soft surface and leaving the material in place as a route for more conventional tanks. The Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVREs) were modified for many tasks, including laying bridges and firing large charges into pillboxes. The Duplex-Drive tank (DD tank), another design developed by Hobart's group, was a self-propelled amphibious tank kept afloat using a waterproof canvas screen inflated with compressed air.

Troops from the support companies were sent forward but individual attempts to advance and organised attempts to outflank German positions failed. Several New Zealand machine-guns were knocked out and many of the infantry became casualties, both battalions being reduced by half. Lack of experience among the recent replacements and the volume of machine-gun fire from undamaged pillboxes on the narrow front of attack could not be overcome. About thirty German prisoners had been taken and the New Zealand survivors began to dig in on captured ground that gave a commanding view over the Scherriabeek valley.

Sally Victor drew inspiration from many diverse sources, including Native American art, Chinese lanterns, Japanese armor, and the works of Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Rogier van der Weyden, and Frank Lloyd Wright. She was innovative in introducing synthetic materials into her hats alongside traditional ones. Some of her popular product lines included "baby bonnets", "Pompadour hats", "Grecian pillboxes", "honey hives", and "Tudor tops". Designs intended for the mass market were sold through a subsidiary named Sally V. Victor designed several hats for First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, including one known as the "Airwave" which she wore at her husband Dwight's inauguration in 1953.

Reserve Post R15, a World War II-era pillbox in Naxxar After the early 20th century, few fortifications were built in Malta. However, new military installations such as airfields began to be built in World War I, when the seaplane base of RAF Kalafrana and the airfield at Marsa were built. More airfields were built in the interwar period and the Second World War, including RAF Hal Far, RAF Ta Kali, RAF Luqa, RAF Safi, RAF Krendi and Ta' Lambert Airfield. From the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935 onwards, the British built many pillboxes in Malta for defence in case of an Italian invasion.

Fort Saint Angelo in Birgu The fortifications of Malta consist of a number of walled cities, citadels, forts, towers, batteries, redoubts, entrenchments and pillboxes. The fortifications were built over thousands of years, from around 1450 BC to the mid-20th century, and they are a result of the Maltese islands' strategic position and natural harbours, which have made them very desirable for various powers. The earliest known fortifications in Malta are defensive walls built around Bronze Age settlements. The Phoenicians, Romans and Byzantines built a number of defensive walls around important settlements, but very little remains of these survive today.

The ran from Bixschoote in the north, southwards behind Pilckem Ridge and across the Gheluvelt Plateau. The began at Langemarck, ran south to Gravenstafel then crossed the Gheluvelt Plateau to Zandvoorde to the east of Messines Ridge. The (Flanders Position) had been built earlier in the year, along Passchendaele Ridge and across the Gheluvelt Plateau behind Polygon Wood and in front of Becelaere, across the Menin road and south to the Lys river. Because of the flat ground and high water table, hundreds of pillboxes and blockhouses, rather than deep dugouts, had been built above ground and camouflaged with mud and turf.

In November 1941 it was hit by two bombs from a Ju 88 bomber causing one person to be killed and three to be injured. Hurricane, Spitfire and Mustang aircraft are recorded as flying from Longside airfield to provide protection for eastern convoys. During the 1990s, the airfield site was inspected and aerial photographs were taken as part of an assessment for a proposed pipeline running between St Fergus and Peterhead Power Station. These reports and photographs showed pillboxes and many buildings still survived, although most of the land had by then returned to agricultural use.

A small, perhaps transient, population of fishermen occupied the island following the dissolution of the monastery, specialising in pilchard fishing. There are the remains of a chapel atop the island, which later became a "huers hut" — a place where fishermen would make a "hue and cry" call to inform other fishermen of shoals of pilchards. During this period smuggling, wrecking and piracy were common, benefiting from a natural barrier for half the day. Fear that German landing forces might use the island as a beachhead during World War II resulted in the area's fortification with anti-tank defences and two pillboxes, positioned on both sides of the causeway.

The British found many dead German infantry in camouflaged shell-holes and the survivors retreating rapidly down the eastern slope, except for who were taken prisoner. The advance fell short of the final objective but gave a view across the Heulebeek depression to the Keiberg Spur and towards Dadizeele. As the I Anzac Corps divisions began their advance towards on Broodseinde Ridge, men were seen rising from shell-holes and more shell-craters were found, where German troops were concealed. Most of the Germans were overrun or retreated through the British barrage, then the Australians attacked pillboxes one-by-one and captured the village of Zonnebeke north of the ridge.

Moored mines, pot holes, large boulders, barbed wire on the beaches as well as pillboxes, hundred-foot cliffs at each end flanking the beach, and more fortifications being developed by the Japanese made the beaches totally undesirable. To the northwest, Lieutenant Leo Shinn's Bravo Company immediately had problems the moment they disembarked from USS Gilmer at 2130. Originally, Shinn had split his team into two, one aiming for WHITE #1 (the most northern of the two) and the other team for WHITE #2. A strong northerly tidal current had carried WHITE #1 team north, landing on a coral outcropping about 800 yards north of Tinian.

In her first offensive action of the war, Maryland's guns opened fire at 05:00, destroying a shore battery with five salvos on the southwestern point of Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll. At 06:00 she commenced a scheduled shore bombardment to soften up Japanese defenses ahead of the landings. Maryland moved closer to shore to attract Japanese fire and locate artillery emplacements, in the process raking Japanese gun emplacements, control stations, pillboxes and any Japanese installations she could spot. At 09:00 as Marine landing forces encountered heavy Japanese resistance and began taking casualties to emplaced crossfire, Maryland provided covering fire to eliminate several Japanese machine gun nests.

The engines and boilers of two Unit Railway Cars were built in. Earlier fighting vehicles projects had employed steam power because petrol engines were not yet powerful enough; the Steam Tank however used it for the main reason that it was meant to be a specialised flame tank to attack pillboxes and the original design had this weapon driven by steam. When the main device to build up sufficient pressure became a auxiliary gasoline engine, the two main 2-cylinder steam engines with a combined power of remained, each engine driving one track to give a maximum speed of . The transmission allowed two speeds forward and two in reverse.

Generalleutnant (Major General) Josef Reichert took over command of the division in April 1943. During his time in command, he witnessed the transformation of the Atlantic Wall into a defensive fortification more comparable to "Fortress Europe" propaganda. However, the division's participation in the construction of defensive structures on behalf of Marshal Erwin Rommel led to Reichert's criticism of division training being "almost completely neglected" in favour of building concrete pillboxes for Organization Todt. According to General of the Artillery Walter Warlimont, the divisions in place around Normandy were limited in early May; the 711th; 716th and 352nd divisions were placed along the northern coast.

Morozov received the award posthumously. The 5th covered the corps during the Kirovograd Offensive in the fall, at Novoukrainka, Pervomaisk, Balta, Rîbnița, Bălți, and Botoșani during the spring Uman–Botoșani Offensive, and Hârlău in the First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive. Between November 1943 and July 1944, the division was credited with downing 151 enemy aircraft, destroying thirteen tanks and self-propelled guns, four halftracks, and ten pillboxes. The division fought in the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive in August and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 15 September for "exemplary fulfillment of command tasks", capturing Roman, Bacău, Bârlad, and Huși, and its "valor and courage".

The B-4 participated in the Winter War, with 142 howitzers placed along the front on March 1, 1940, of which four were knocked out. The B-4 was also called the "Karelia Sculptor" as Finnish pillboxes hit were virtually turned into a bizarre hodge-podge of concrete chunks and iron armatures. 23 B-4's were captured by the German 11th Panzer Division as the town of Dubno was captured at nighttime on June 25, 1941. A total of 75 B-4 howitzers were lost from June 22 to December 1, 1941, and a further 105 howitzers were built from factories to make up for the loss.

The pillboxes were captured but the advance was stopped again just beyond and the troops consolidated, in touch with the troops at Maréchal Farm and the 14th Gloucester on the left flank as other troops garrisoned Colombo House. The 14th Goucester on the left had reached the first objective and taken Panama House by except on the left flank, where a fortified farm had to be rushed; on the right flank a pillbox beyond the objective was captured at Touch was regained with the 16th Cheshire and a support platoon filled the gap. The 17th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment moved up to Koekuit as a reserve for the 105th Brigade.

Counter-attacks by the German 3rd Division and the 58th Division defeated the 34th Division attack, which was forced back to the start line. In 1921, the 35th Division historian, Harry Davson, wrote that the loss of contact with the 34th Division on the right had allowed German troops to retreat, then fire on the 35th Division troops from the flanks and from behind. German pillboxes near some huts beyond Aden House had a commanding view and caused many casualties. Despite the care taken in planning the creeping barrage, some units advancing through undergrowth found it too fast and others in the open thought it was too slow.

After 23 October, the French prepared for Operation Y, to occupy all the ground from Houthoulst Forest to Blankaart Lake as the British advanced to Passchendaele and Westroosebeke. The 133rd Division moved into line between the 1st and 51st Divisions, from Martjewaart to Saint-Jansbeek and ferme Carnot. On 26 October, XVIII Corps attacked the defences of , a mixture of pillboxes, blockhouses and fortified farmhouses, with the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and the 58th (2/1st London) Division, in support of the Canadian Corps to the right on Passchendaele Ridge. The divisions attacked up the Lekkerboterbeek towards Westrozebeke but deep mud reduced the advance to a crawl.

On the higher ground, the Germans continued to inflict many losses on the British divisions beyond Langemarck but on 19 August, after two fine dry days, XVIII Corps conducted a novel infantry, tank, aircraft and artillery operation. German strongpoints and pillboxes along the St Julien–Poelcappelle road in front of the were captured. On 22 August, more ground was gained by XIX and XVIII corps but the tactical disadvantage of being overlooked by the Germans continued. A II Corps attack on the Gheluvelt Plateau from 22 to 24 August, to capture Nonne Bosschen, Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse, failed in fighting that was costly to both sides.

The first phase was the capture of the Duropa Plantation and the area beyond bordered by the Simemi Creek. At the end of the first day, the 2/9th Battalion had lost eleven officers and 160 other ranks, two tanks had been destroyed and one damaged but the right flank had been advanced to about west of Cape Endaiadere and the front now ran north from the eastern end of the New Strip – a substantial gain and on 19 December, the brigade consolidated. Troops crouch behind an M3 Stuart light tank as they wait to advance during the clearing out of pillboxes on the edge of Semini Creek.

According to The Daily Telegraph and other sources, China captured of Indian- patrolled territory between May and June 2020. By the end of August it was reported that, according to the intelligence inputs given to the India Central Government, China has occupied in this area. In May, there were reports of Chinese soldiers approaching Indian soldiers with improvised weaponry of barbed wire "sticks". By 27 June, the Chinese were reported to have increased military presence on both the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, strengthened their positions near Finger 4 (contrary to what the status quo was in April), and had even started construction of a helipad, bunkers and pillboxes.

Major General Chittoor Venugopal was commissioned into the Indian Army in the 1st Gorkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment), on 10 December 1950. At the time of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was commanding the 5/1 Gurkha Rifles battalion which was deployed in Jessore area of the Easter sector. On 4 December 1971, his battalion encountered well fortified Pakistani positions at Uthali and Darsana which had a series of concrete pillboxes interconnected with elaborate communication trenches. Lieutenant Colonel Venugopal laid a meticulous plan of attack and showing disregard for his own safety, personally led the attack.

From J and K, the Battalion moved to Ferozpur, a peace station, to form part of 48 Infantry Brigade, of 7 Infantry Division. In Ferozpur cantonment, the Battalion's responsibilities included the construction, maintenance, and siting of defence systems in the Khem Karan sector. The Khemkaran defence sub-system, was part of the larger system of 'Ditch cum Bunds', bunkers, anti-tank ditches, command posts, weapon emplacements, pillboxes, and defence works, between the rivers Beas and Sutlej. The construction of this vast system of interlocked defence works, which stretched across almost the entire Punjab border, was headed by Lt Gen PS Bhagat, VC, GOC XI Corps, in Jalandhar.

Penhale Camp in 2009 Penhale Camp was established in 1939, to the north of the dunes, as a World War II emergency measure to train anti-aircraft gunners. There still remains evidence of the gun sites, searchlight batteries and defensive positions such as pillboxes and trenches. On 7 June 1940 the camp was bombed by a single German bomber, probably looking for the nearby St Eval airfield; twenty-two British soldiers were killed in the raid, most were subsequently buried in nearby Perranporth. In 1943 the camp was occupied by the United States Army Corps of Engineers as part of the buildup to Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings.

The division began its approach march at 19.00 the evening before, and was expected to be resting at its jumping-off line by midnight. But the mud was so bad that the troops arrived 20 minutes after the attack was launched, and simply fixed bayonets and kept walking. As well as the mud, which seriously hindered movement, clogged weapons and deadened artillery fire, they were faced by unanticipated barbed wire and the artillery had made no impression on German pillboxes. Although patrols from 66th Division did reach Passchendaele, by the end of the day all temporary gains had been wiped out, and the division did note even hold a consolidated line.

Zero Hour was set for 02.50, and after a struggle to overcome a number of pillboxes or Mebus, the objectives were taken and consolidated behind a standing barrage. The second phase of the attack, against the Hindenburg Support line, followed the next day, with three companies of 2/3rd Bn in the first wave. Preparations for this attack were hampered by a series of German counter-attacks during the night, the attackers were unable to recognise their objectives in the shell-damaged line and got too far forward, artillery support could not be arranged, and by the end of the day no gains had been made.Grey, pp. 207–18.

As they fought their way to the pillbox, all of the men, except Williams, became casualties. Undeterred, Williams arrived at the first pillbox, shoved the flamethrower nozzle into the pillbox opening and fired the weapon, killing all of the soldiers inside. He then returned five times to his company area, refueled his weapon, and moved forward to destroy the remaining pillboxes. Harry Truman congratulates Hershel Williams on being awarded the Medal of Honor, October 5, 1945 Covered by only four riflemen, he fought for four hours under terrific enemy small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain serviced flame throwers.

The old control tower in 2010 With the facility released from military control, the airfield stood intact yet disused for many years. Eventually the hangars were removed, but the outline of the runways can still be seen in aerial photography and test probing (2018) suggests the runways remain approximately 5 cm below the now grassed over tarmac. Most of the perimeter track still remains mostly in a half-width condition, as do several of the derelict buildings, including the control tower, a few of the Blister hangars still remain and are used for farm storage. Most of the pillboxes also remain but, being largely subterranean, are filled in.

The battle was one of the many brutal struggles in the Pacific theater that never made any headlines. Firing from dugout positions, camouflaged spider holes with connecting tunnels, and virtually invisible pillboxes, the defending Japanese chose to die in place rather than retreat. Banzai charges struck the 124th, fighting without supporting artillery, first on 7 May and then on the night of 14 May. The latter ended in a rout, as American automatic weapons stopped the attackers, killing 73 Japanese, marking the end of the battle. In the fighting for Colgan Woods and Maramag, the 124th Infantry lost 60 men and 120 wounded from 6 to 12 May.

Without the London fire ladders that helped Task Force A to take Pointe du Hoc, and with most of their other climbing equipment at the bottom of the Channel, Task Force B's surviving Rangers used bayonets thrust into the cliffs as footholds, and eventually reached the crest of Pointe de la Percee. There, control of the trenches surrounding the pillboxes switched back and forth between German and American forces for hours, further depleting the Company's ammunition and manpower. By the end of the battle, Task Force B secured Charlie sector, but at great cost in lives. For his heroism on D-Day, Second Lieutenant Heaney was awarded the Silver Star.

There were major flaws in the design of the pillboxes, which were difficult to defend against attack from the flanks and rear. The (fixed) weapons were antiquated, many of them dating back to World War I. Because the Dutch government did not want to antagonise local residents, permission to remove buildings and trees in the line of fire was refused, which greatly reduced the effectiveness of the defences and gave attackers plenty of cover. The trench system was also based on World War I principles. It consisted of a line of outposts (voorpostenlijn), a Frontline (frontlijn), a Stopline (stoplijn) and a Final Line (ruglijn).

Typically, a fortress had four heavy machine guns, two to four light (37 or 40mm) anti-tank guns, and a few mortars (all of them operated in multiple earthen-wood, open artillery positions). At the rear side there were two to four well camouflaged independent MG pillboxes in case of attack from behind. The "fortress" also had a HQ bunker, a medical station, some dugouts for ammunition and equipment, a small engineer squad (equipped with mines and flamethrowers), and a kitchen. The whole fortress was surrounded by two or more "V" or "U" shaped anti-tank trenches or anti-tank walls, minefields, and natural obstacles (e.g.

Much of the X Corps artillery helped the Fifth Army with counter-battery fire on German artillery behind Zandvoorde, as the 41st Division attacked either side of the Ypres–Comines Canal. Some German pillboxes had been built in columns, backwards from the front-line, whose machine-gunners kept up a steady fire. The strong points on the left were quickly suppressed but those on the right held out for longer and caused many casualties, before German infantry sallied from shelters between the front and support lines on the right flank. The Germans were repulsed by rifle fire and a Vickers machine-gun fired by the battalion commander.

The 39th Division advanced at zero hour and the 116th Brigade of the 39th Division captured St Julien and took 222 prisoners, supported by two tanks, which then silenced an artillery battery nearby. On the left of the division, the 117th Brigade rushed three pillboxes at Kansas Cross, killed the machine-gunners and took several prisoners. Two tanks advanced on the Alberta strong point, flattened uncut wire and kept the garrison under cover as the infantry advanced. At the first objective, the infantry pausing for an hour and then moved downhill, behind a smoke and shrapnel barrage, to the Steenbeek, one of the muddiest parts of the battlefield.

The Battle of Crucifix Hill was a World War II battle that took place on 8 October 1944, on Crucifix Hill (Haarberg, Hill 239), next to the village of Haaren in Germany and was a part of the U.S. 1st Division's campaign to seize Aachen, Germany. The Battle of Aachen was part of the Drive to the Siegfried Line. The hill was named after a large crucifix mounted on the top of the hill. The objective of the battle was to gain control of the hill, which was laced with a maze of pillboxes and bunkers, so that the main objective of encircling Aachen could be completed.

Captain Arthur Junior Jackson (October 18, 1924 – June 14, 2017) was a United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Peleliu during World War II. At the age of 19, PFC Jackson single-handedly destroyed 12 enemy pillboxes and killed 50 enemy soldiers. He was also the last surviving recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Battle of Peleliu. On September 30, 1961, while serving at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Jackson fatally shot a Cuban worker and suspected communist spy, in self-defense after Sabariego attacked him. He eventually buried the body in a shallow grave, but word leaked out.

Operations to inflict greater losses on British infantry under the instructions of 22 September were to continue, with more bombardment by field artillery and by using at least half of the heavy artillery ammunition allotment for observed fire on infantry positions, captured pillboxes, command posts, machine-gun nests, tracks and field railways. Gas bombardment was to be increased on forward infantry positions and artillery emplacements whenever the winds allowed. Every effort was to be made to induce the British to reinforce their forward positions, where the German artillery could engage them. Between 26 September and 3 October, the Germans attacked and counter-attacked at least 24 times.

The centre of the brigade were able to keep pace with the barrage and consolidated the objective by The battalion on the left attacked between the Scherriabeek and Reutelbeek towards Polderhoek Château, advancing with the assistance of a tank, before being halted and having to dig in. To the north, the left flank brigade was fired on from Cameron Covert and scattered pillboxes as it advanced. After a long delay Cameron Copse was captured with the help of three tanks moving down the Reutel road. The final objective at Juniper Hill was reached but was then abandoned, due to being exposed to machine-gun and artillery fire.

These obstacle-zone are followed by a quite small but peculiarly complex system of ditches and barbed wire obstacles, which protects the anti-tank barrier against sappers, bridge- layer tanks and engineer teams. The semi-mobile engagement is the main point, soldiers fight in open firing positions, while bunkers served as only shelters during bombardments. Thus it is possible to quickly reallocate between the points of defense (manpower not locked in pillboxes), and counterattacks feasible by defense force. The main defense line usually lies at hilltop on the edge of a forest, divided into circularly defensible independent subsectors (platoon size) which allow a full 360° arc of fire.

Panzer IVs and StuGs, on the other hand, were so numerous in terms of spare parts and easy to repair that they could be used over a much longer period in combat conditions. During March–April 1945, Bulgaria received 15 Panthers of various makes (D, A, and G variants) from captured and overhauled Soviet stocks; they only saw limited (training) service use. They were dug down, with automotive components removed, as pillboxes along the Bulgarian-Turkish border as early as the late 1940s. The final fate of these pillbox Panthers is unknown, but sources indicate that they were replaced and scrapped in the 1950s.

Robertson moved his headquarters from Wirtzfeld, south and west of the twin villages, to Elsenborn, just west of the ridge line. Robertson also informed General Leonard T. Gerow, commander of V Corps, that he intended to hold the twin villages until troops east of the villages had retreated through them to the ridge line, which then would become the next line of defense. This defensive line was intended to safeguard the key high ground on Elsenborn Ridge from the German advance. The Americans later regretted their failure to destroy the pillboxes at the crossroads when they were forced to recapture the area again in early February 1945.

The site was well defended, both on the ground and from the air; several Type 22 Pillboxes and Type 24 PillboxesCoflein (Retrieved 2011-01-05) still remain in the area, found in areas untouched by modern industrial developments, and the entire site was under a mile away from RAF Wrexham, which was home to at least one fighter squadron, for defending the region's industrial assets from bomber attack. After the war, the need for cordite ceased, and in 1945 the production facilities at Wrexham closed. Many of the buildings were left in place, abandoned, and agriculture again took over the fields surrounding the area.

The main intention of this type of field fortification was to close potential traffic and attack barriers with multiplied anti-tank ditches, hedgehogs, and dragon's teeth. These were followed by a complex system of ditches and barbed wire obstacles, which protected the anti-tank barrier against sappers, bridge-layer tanks, and engineer teams. Therefore the enemy was forced to attack trenches as in World War I, at the cost of terrible losses, without armored forces and direct fire support. It was termed "flexible defense" because defending soldiers were not locked into bunkers, but the defensive platoons could be regrouped between field fortifications (wood-earth firing posts, dugouts and pillboxes).

The granting of a market charter may mark the time of the movement of the main focus of settlement from Church End to the High Street and market-place. The medieval and post-medieval development of Great Dunmow is reflected both in the surviving built heritage, which includes 167 Listed Buildings, and the below-ground archaeology. Great Dunmow was located on the GHQ Line, a series of defences and concrete Pillboxes built to hinder an anticipated German invasion. Many of these still remain and are clearly visible along the Chelmer Valley, one being located on the west bank of the River Chelmer in meadows behind the Dourdan Pavilion and recreation ground.

The group sent planes and pilots to England to provide cover for the Operation Market Garden airborne assault on Holland in September 1944. The group struck pillboxes and troops early in October 1944 to support the First Army during the Battle of Aachen, and afterward struck railroads, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels in that area. The group moved to Lonrai, France, 6 September 1944; Roye-Amy Airfield on 11 September 1944 and Florennes Air Base, Belgium, 26 September 1944. A Distinguished Unit Citation was awarded to the group for a mission in support of ground forces in the Hurtgen Forest area on 2 Dec 1944.

A new line of defense was established behind the fortifications, manned by some 950 soldiers. Behind the defense lines, there were just 400 inexperienced soldiers defending the southern exit of the pass. The Japanese had captured five pillboxes, and opted to pause their attack for the day. A KNIL motorized column moving north from Bandung was also intercepted by Japanese aerial bombardment. On 6 March, the Japanese initially assessed that the defensive line was held by some 3,000 soldiers with a number of guns, but after the interrogation of a captured prisoner of war they found out that the defenders were considerably less than their assessment.

The British Commandos of No. 47 (Royal Marine) Commando advanced on Port-en-Bessin and captured it on 7 June in the Battle of Port-en-Bessin. On the western flank, the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment captured Arromanches (future site of one of the artificial Mulberry harbours), and 69th Infantry Brigade on the eastern flank made contact with the Canadian forces at Juno. Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis received the only Victoria Cross awarded on D-Day for his actions while attacking two pillboxes at the Mont Fleury battery. Due to stiff resistance from the German 352nd Infantry Division, Bayeux was not captured until the next day.

The murderous fire on the 309th was relieved somewhat when the 2nd Battalion of the 310th Infantry moved on Kesternich as ordered after noon the same day. The tenacity of the German defense obstructed this attack and it stalled as darkness fell. Results at Rollesbroich were much better for the Americans as the other two battalions of the 310th were able to fully enter the village, capture the pillboxes guarding the village, and consolidate their positions. At 0600 on 14 December the 2nd Battalion, 310th Infantry jumped off from Simmerath with the mission of assisting the 2d Battalion, 309th Infantry in the capture of Kesternich.

The enemy immediately threw 2 or 3 > of these unexploded grenades out, and fragments from one wounded him in the > hand and back. However, by hurling grenades through the embrasure faster > than the enemy could return them, he succeeded in destroying the occupants. > Despite his wounds, he directed his squad to follow him in a systematic > attack on the remaining positions, which he eliminated in like manner, > taking tremendous risks, overcoming bitter resistance, and never hesitating > in his relentless advance. To silence one of the pillboxes, he wrenched a > light machinegun out through the embrasure as it was firing before blowing > up the occupants with handgrenades.

Kippe and Aschhoop were captured quickly but Luyghem and the causeway from Drei Grachten held out until the afternoon. The French and Belgian advance on Luyghem began as soon as the causeway was captured, Belgian troops employing flat-bottomed boats to move to the north of the village. The Belgians secured the southern edge of Blanckaart Lake and then attacked Luyghem from the north, taking the German pillboxes and blockhouses systematically. By the morning of 28 October, the French and Belgians had completed the capture of the Merckem peninsula, taken about and inflicted many casualties on the Germans, who had defended with great determination.

The greatest weight of artillery-fire possible was to be massed against the Gheluvelt plateau, for a succession of strictly limited attacks. Plumer planned four steps at six-day intervals, to give time to move artillery and supplies forward. The steps were limited to a depth of and a large increase in medium and heavy artillery was to be used to smash pillboxes and to add to the counter-battery effort. The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20–26 September) had double the number of guns on half the depth of attack, making four times the weight of shell compared to 31 July.

Although it was not known at the time of the air strike, 31 other POWs from the same SAS unit, and an American airman who had joined up with the SAS unit, had also been executed.McCue, Paul and Baker, Max (2009) SAS Operation Bulbasket: Behind the Lines in Occupied France. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen and Sword Books. p. 104. . Further use of napalm by American forces occurred in the Pacific theater of operations, where in 1944 and 1945, napalm was used as a tactical weapon against Japanese bunkers, pillboxes, tunnels, and other fortifications, especially on Saipan, Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa, where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender.

This dam was blocked by the Kornwerderzand Position, which protected a major sluice complex regulating the water level of Lake IJssel, which had to be sufficiently high to allow many Fortress Holland inundations to be maintained. The main fortifications contained 47 mm antitank-guns. Long channel piers projected in front of and behind the sluices, on both the right and left; on these, pillboxes had been built which could place a heavy enfilading fire on the dam, which did not provide the slightest cover for any attacker.Amersfoort (2005), pp. 324–325 On 13 May the position was reinforced by a 20 mm anti aircraft battery.

Snuff eventually went out of fashion around the time of the French Revolution but putting pills in Limoges boxes became popular. During the Victorian era the Limoges boxes lost popularity again until the 1970s when people began to carry their pills in the Limoges porcelain boxes. In the 20th century they became popularly used as pillboxes. The creation of the Limoges Porcelain box is an arduous and time intensive process of creating a master mold, detail painting by hand of color and design, performing multiple firings and glazing upon the porcelain mold, and a final touch of a metal hinge for opening and closing.

In July 1917, the 4th Army defence in depth began with a front system of three breastworks , about apart, garrisoned by the four companies of each front battalion, with listening-posts in no-man's-land. About behind was the (second or artillery protective line), the rear boundary of the forward battle zone (). About of the infantry in the supporting battalions were (security detachments) to hold strong-points, the remainder being (storm troops) to counter-attack towards them from the back of the . Dispersed in front of the line were divisional (machine-gun armed sharpshooters) in the (strongpoint line) a line of pillboxes, blockhouses and fortified farms prepared for all-round defence.

The As Sombreru Pillbox I, As Sombreru Pillbox II, and As Sombreru Pillbox III are three historic defensive fortifications on Guam, near Tumon, that were listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1991. They are pillboxes, a type of defensive fortification, built by the 48th Independent Mixed Brigade; 29th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army during 1941-1944, between Japan capturing Guam on December 8, 1941 from the United States and the U.S. recapturing Guam in 1944. "As Sombreru Pillbox I" has also known been known as As Sombreru Point Japanese Fortification. Its precise location is not disclosed by the National Register; it is listed as "Address Restricted".

Under cover of incessant artillery and naval gunfire, Bradley's troops made their way through the swamps south and west of the high ground at Labiranan Head. After a three- day fight, the 382nd Infantry Regiment took a key Japanese supply base at Tabontabon, inland, and killed some 350 Japanese on 28 October. Simultaneously two battalions each from the 381st Infantry Regiment and 383rd Infantry Regiments slowly advanced up opposite sides of Catmon Hill and battled the fierce Japanese resistance. When the mop-up of Catmon Hill was completed on 31 October, the Americans had cleared 53 pillboxes, 17 caves, and several heavy artillery positions.

While two battalions of the 184th Infantry patrolled the corps' left flank, the 17th Infantry, with the 184th's 2nd Battalion attached, turned north toward Dagami, above Burauen. Using flamethrowers to root the enemy out of pillboxes and a cemetery, US troops captured Dagami on 30 October, which forced Gen. Makino to evacuate his command post further westward. Meanwhile, on 29 October, the 32nd Infantry's 2nd Battalion, preceded by the 7th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, moved south along the east coast to Abuyog for a probe of the area, and then over the next four days patrolled west through the mountains to Baybay, all without opposition.

U.S. Marine Raiders gathered in front of a Japanese dugout on Cape Torokina on Bougainville The Japanese army, having taken heavy losses during these operations, withdrew the majority of its force into the deep interior and to the north and south ends of Bougainville.Keogh 1965, p. 415 On 5 April 1944, the Americal Division's 132nd Infantry Regiment, after establishing patrol sweeps along Empress Augusta Bay, successfully launched an attack to capture the Japanese-held village of Mavavia. Two days later, while continuing a sweep for enemy forces, the regiment encountered prepared enemy defences, where they destroyed about 20 Japanese pillboxes using pole charges and bazookas.

October 10, 11, and 12 were days of intense struggle while the men of the 7th Brigade with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles took, lost and then retook a group of houses known as Graaf Jan and the Regina Rifles found themselves pinned down by a group of well dug-in pillboxes that seemed to be resilient to artillery.Copp, Terry & Vogel, Robert Maple Leaf Route: Scheldt, Alma: Maple Leaf Route, 1985 page 88. The Germans had ample artillery, together with an immense number of artillery shells, and brought down heavy fire on any Canadian advance.Copp, Terry & Vogel, Robert Maple Leaf Route: Scheldt, Alma: Maple Leaf Route, 1985 page 84.

62 On the night of 2 October, the German 902nd Assault Gun Battalion was ordered to launch a counterattack against the 30th Infantry Division, but Allied artillery delayed the start of the raid, and ultimately the attempt failed.Hitler's Army, p. 324 Although American armor became available to support the advance on 3 October, the attacking forces were brought to an abrupt halt after a number of German counterattacks. The town of Rimburg was taken on the second day of the offensive, but fighting through German defenses remained slow as M4 Sherman tanks and M12 Gun Motor Carriage artillery guns were brought up to blast pillboxes at point blank range.

Chemical mortars are so named because of their capability of firing not only high explosive, but also chemical, gas, incendiary and smoke marker shells. Chemical shells were on standby during World War II, to be used in retaliation should the enemy employ chemical weapons first. These same mortars, using high-explosive shells, came to be acknowledged by U.S. Army commanders and personnel as being one of the most effective means of quickly striking at stationary targets, such as machine gun nests, prepared strongpoints, pillboxes and even German artillery positions. Other advantages chemical mortars offered compared to full-sized artillery pieces were their maneuverability, along with easy assembly, disassembly and reassembly.

Still other base end stations resembled small pillboxes, dug into the ground, and usually positioned to look down on the channels they defended. Base end stations were often assigned to particular batteries of guns or mine fields in a harbor defense system. In some U.S. harbors during WW2 there were 20 or more of these base end stations, often from 10,000 to 15,000 yards apart, and tied together by telephone lines running through switchboards. These stations could be used flexibly in different combinations or by different gun batteries as ships moved through the area, or in case a given station was damaged by enemy action.

It possessed walls and roofs composed of thick reinforced concrete, as well as four retractable casemates and sixty-four strongpoints.Kuhn, p. 29 The fort was equipped with six 120mm artillery pieces with a range of ten miles, two of which could traverse 360 degrees; sixteen 75mm artillery pieces; twelve 60mm high-velocity anti-tank guns; twenty-five twin-mounted machine-guns; and some anti-aircraft guns. One side of the fort faced the canal, whilst the other three faced land and were defended by minefields; deep ditches; a high wall; concrete pillboxes fitted with machine- guns; fifteen searchlights were emplaced on top of the fort; and 60mm anti- tank guns.

The machine gun was mounted near the end of the barrel, so that the port hole was only large enough for the bullets and a scope to see through, unlike most other designs where a large opening is used. A heavy steel plate could be slid down to quickly close the tiny hole for added protection. The "heavy objects" were infantry blockhouses very similar to the southern part of the Maginot Line, but with substantial improvements. Just like the pillboxes, the cannons and machine guns were pivoted at the tip, and this time fully enclosed, protecting the occupants from all but the heaviest of cannons.

The U.S. artillery units involved included the 105-mm howitzers of the 88th Field Artillery Battalion, one 105-mm howitzer of the 8th, and the 155-mm howitzers of the 90th and 221st Field Artillery Battalions in addition to the 105-mm. howitzers of the 64th Field Artillery Battalion. Tank support cracks the Gifu for American forces On 22 January, the Americans were able to move a light tank up their supply trail to Mount Austen. The tank proved to be the decisive factor in the battle. At 10:20, the tank—protected by 16–18 riflemen—blasted three Japanese pillboxes and penetrated into the Gifu pocket.

The 2nd Battalion again lost momentum when its lead company, now Company E, stalled at the base of the western ridge under heavy fire from pillboxes above. All attempts to destroy the fortifications with artillery fire failed. With the regiment stopped at every point, General Palmer, while Company I was crossing the reservoir to join the Rangers, authorized Colonel Harris to call off the attack. But Harris, though he no longer expected to occupy the dam area, deferred ending operations out of hope that by reinforcing the attack on the eastern peninsula he might be able to send Anderson's company in a raid to immobilize the dam's sluice gates.

South of the embankment, astride the Broombeek and Watervlietbeek streams, several German farm strongpoints, pillboxes and shell- hole positions were overrun by the infantry, who were able to keep well up to the very-slow-moving barrage. The brigade reached its first objective by despite a number of German reinforcements arriving through the British artillery barrages. The final objective was reached at and on the right a defensive flank was thrown back from Memling Farm at the final objective, to link with the 4th Division. By noon the advance was complete, had been taken and no German counter-attack followed, resistance being limited to a small amount of rifle fire.

The main road, Route 7 twists violently through the pass, following a line of least terrain resistance that wild pigs must originally have established. The jungle flora in the region is so thick that one can step five yards off the highway and not be able to see the road. The Japanese had honey-combed every hill and knoll at the Zig-Zag with foxholes linked by tunnels or trenches; at particularly advantageous Points they had constructed strong points centered on log or dirt pillboxes. All the defenses were well camouflaged, for rich, jungle foliage covered most positions, indicating that many had been prepared with great care and had been constructed well.

On 30 September, the 4th Army issued an operation order for more field artillery bombardments between British attacks and that at least half of the heavy artillery ammunition was to be used for observed fire on captured pill-boxes, command posts and machine-gun nests, duckboard tracks and field railways. Gas bombardments were to be increased on the British front line and artillery emplacements, wind permitting. Pillboxes were to be recaptured, defensive positions improved and the British infantry were to be harassed by patrols and diversionary bombardments. The British were to be compelled by spoiling attacks to reinforce their forward positions and to counter-attack, during which they could be engaged by the German artillery.

At the outbreak of World War II, his adoptive family was placed in a relocation camp. Gabaldon joined the Marines when he was only 17 years old; he was a Private First Class (PFC) when his unit was engaged in the Battle of Saipan in 1944. Gabaldon, who acted as the Japanese interpreter for the Second Marines, working alone in front of the lines, entered enemy caves, pillboxes, buildings, and jungle brush, frequently in the face of hostile fire, and succeeded in not only obtaining vital military information, but in convincing well over 1,000 enemy soldiers and civilians to surrender. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but was awarded the Silver Star instead.

The existence of Fullers Earth around Wellow has caused several collapses of local roads and has been used for forensic identification of a vehicle in a murder enquiry. In World War II the Wellow valley became part of the GHQ stop line green, with defences intended to isolate southern England in the event of German invasion. The remains of a number of type 24 pillboxes and anti-tank cubes can be found in various riverside locations both upstream and downstream of the village. Disused signal box on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, now privately owned Wellow Station, on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, opened in 1874 and closed in 1966.

Airfield Underground Battle HQ War Memorial at Hunsdon Airfield Today only a few original buildings remain of the former RAF Hunsdon. One such building is the Underground Battle Headquarters, which was designed to provide emergency organisation of airfield defenses should the airfield come under attack. Other remaining buildings include defensive pillboxes, a brick slit trench used as a defence position, the fire tender building now used as a store for the shooting club, a complete cantilever 'Oakington' type defence position, 20mm ammunition store, and a Small arms ammunition store. On Number 3 dispersed site, there are the remains of latrines and air raid shelters, (although these are on Private land and permission to enter must be sought) .

Gabaldon joined the Marines when he was only 17 years old; he was a Private First Class (PFC) when his unit was engaged in the Battle of Saipan in 1944. Gabaldon, who acted as the Japanese interpreter for the Second Marines, working alone in front of the lines, entered enemy caves, pillboxes, buildings, and jungle brush, frequently in the face of hostile fire, and succeeded not only in obtaining vital military information, but in convincing over 1,500 enemy civilians and troops to surrender. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but was awarded the Silver Star instead. His medal was later upgraded to the Navy Cross, the Marines second-highest decoration for heroism.

There were many brick buildings in Siping (city) and bricks made from black earth were extremely tough that when hit by 60 mm mortar rounds, there was only a dent left. The defenders capitalized on these strong buildings and turned them into formidable fortifications, and the nationalist 71st Army headquarters was located in one of such bunkers, with the entrance sealed by a jeep. In addition to wide field of view, there were also dozens bunkers and pillboxes protected by minefields around the buildings to strengthen the defense. On June 20, 1947, the 17th Division of the communist 6th Column unleashed its assault on the nationalist headquarters, and by the evening, the enemy was dangerously close.

The attacking troops moved up to the front line on the night of through the morass of the Steenbeek with respirators at the alert position on their heads, having already been bombarded with HE and gas shell. The 8th Norfolk took post in shell-holes marked with tapes by when it began to rain and the 10th Essex were ready by The British barrage began at and eight minutes later began to creep forward at per minute. The 8th Norfolk advanced through the village against slight resistance and captured the pillboxes at the Brewery. One hour later, the 10th Essex advanced, C Company on the right, A Company in the centre and B Company on the left.

By noon, the brigade held a line from Maréchal Farm, a short stretch of Conter Drive and back to some huts to the north-east of Angle Point and thence to Aden House. The 105th Brigade troops formed up with the support companies in the front line and the attacking companies in shell-holes further back. The advance began behind the creeping barrage but bad going immediately slowed the advance. On the right flank, the 16th Cheshire managed to advance faster and reached the objective at Maréchal Farm but the advance in the centre and on the left flank was stopped by machine-guns in pillboxes inside the forest, to the north-west of Colombo House.

On 4 October, the British began the Battle of Broodseinde to complete the capture of the Gheluvelt Plateau and occupy Broodseinde Ridge. By coincidence, the Germans sought to recapture their defences around Zonnebeke with a at the same time. The British attacked along a front and as the I Anzac Corps divisions began their advance towards Broodseinde Ridge, men were seen rising from shell-holes in no man's land and more German troops were found concealed in shell-craters. Most of the German troops of the 45th Reserve Division were overrun or retreated through the British barrage, then the Australians attacked pillboxes one-by-one and captured the village of Zonnebeke north of the ridge.

The igniter can be one of several ignition systems: A simple type is an electrically-heated wire coil; another used a small pilot flame, fueled with pressurized gas from the system. Flamethrowers were primarily used against battlefield fortifications, bunkers, and other protected emplacements. A flamethrower projects a stream of flammable liquid, rather than flame, which allows bouncing the stream off walls and ceilings to project the fire into unseen spaces, such as inside bunkers or pillboxes. Typically, popular visual media depict the flamethrower as short-ranged and only effective for a few meters (due to the common use of propane gas as the fuel in flamethrowers in movies, for the safety of the actors).

Fore Street Chard claims to be the birthplace of powered flight, as it was here in 1848 that the Victorian aeronautical pioneer John Stringfellow (1799–1883) first demonstrated that engine-powered flight was possible through his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage. James Gillingham (1839–1924) from Chard pioneered the development of articulated artificial limbs when he produced a prosthesis for a man who lost his arm in a cannon accident in 1863. Chard Museum has a display of Gillingham's work. Chard was a key point on the Taunton Stop Line, a World War II defensive line consisting of pillboxes and anti-tank obstacles, which runs from Axminster north to the Somerset coast near Highbridge.

From Bermericourt to the Aisne the French attack was repulsed and south of the river French infantry were forced back to their start-line. On the north bank of the Aisne the French attack was more successful, the 42nd and 69th divisions reached the German second position between the Aisne and the Miette, the advance north of Berry penetrating . Tanks to accompany the French infantry to the third objective arrived late and the troops were too exhausted and reduced by casualties to follow them. Half of the tanks were knocked out in the German defences and then acted as pillboxes in advance of the French infantry, which helped to defeat a big German counter-attack.

The M1 was developed from test board suggestions, resulting in a heavier but more rugged American flamethrower system; the weapon system was manufactured in March 1942 and saw deployment by the end of the year to the South Pacific theater. With the invention of Napalm and its significantly improved flamethrowing distance, two to three times as far as the M1's, the flamethrower M1 platform needed to be adjusted to meet the higher operating pressure necessary to maximize the projection of napalm. The resulting M1A1 allowed for fire at pillboxes fifty yards away with 50% of its charge reaching into the structure as compared to the M1's 10% to a pillbox twenty yards away.

Japanese military observers stationed in Europe noted effectiveness of flamethrowers during the trench warfare conditions of World War I, particularly against battlefield fortifications, bunkers, pillboxes and similar protected emplacements, which had given the Japanese Army such grief during the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The Type 93 flamethrower, largely based on European designs, entered service in 1933. It was used in Manchukuo against the ill-prepared National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and against local warlord forces with considerable psychological effect. However, its ignition system based on a heated electrical wire had reliability issues under cold weather conditions which led to a redesign designated the Type 100 flamethrower in 1940.

The semi-mobile engagement is the main point, soldiers fight in open firing positions, bunkers served as only shelters during bombardment. Thus, it is possible to quickly reallocate soldiers between the points of defense (manpower not locked in pillboxes), and counterattacks feasible by defense force. This type of defensive line required 5-10 times less manpower and concrete per kilometer than the Maginot or Siegfried line, with equal (or more) effectiveness; but far more imagination is required from the builders because every part of the line had inevitably unique design, adapted to local conditions. The main defense line usually lies on a hilltop on the edge of a forest, and divided into circularly defensible independent sectors (platoon size).

Further to the south, Reserve Infantry regiments of the 207th Division attacked Hollebeke through thick fog and captured the village, despite many casualties, taking at least Most of the British were in captured pillboxes and blockhouses, which had to be attacked one by one and at three signal flares were fired to indicate success. The Germans later abandoned Hollebeke and reoccupied the old "A line", then withdrew to their start line because of the severity of British counter-attacks and artillery-fire. left the front-line ragged, with a gap between regiments The British tried to exploit the gap, which led to attack and counter-attack before the bigger British attack of 10 August against the Gheluvelt Plateau.

A German attack on 5 August recaptured part of Jehovah Trench from the 24th Division in II Corps, before being lost again the next day. On 7 August, the Germans managed to blow up a bridge over the Steenbeek, at Chien Farm in the 20th (Light) Division (XIV Corps) area. On the night of 9 August, the 11th (Northern) Division (XVIII Corps) took the Maison Bulgare and Maison du Rasta pillboxes unopposed and pushed posts another beyond the Steenbeek. An attempt by the 11th (Northern) Division to gain more ground was stopped by fire from The 29th Division (XIV Corps) took Passerelle Farm and established posts east of the Steenbeek, building twelve bridges across the river.

The next day she joined battleships North Carolina (BB-55), South Dakota (BB-57) and Alabama (BB-60) in shelling pillboxes and other targets on the northern beaches of Roi and Namur Islands. After 2 days on bombardment station she rejoined the screen of the carriers who were furnishing planes to support landing operations on the small islands adjoining Roi and Namur. She entered newly won Majuro Lagoon in company with Essex 5 February 1944 for replenishment. On 12 February Hunt sailed with most of the Fast Carrier Force to neutralize Truk Atoll, that reputedly impregnable enemy air and naval base which threatened both General Douglas MacArthur's forces then encircling Rabaul and Rear Adm.

The division was to assemble its attacking battalions in widely spaced lines due to the state of the ground, intending that the troops behind the initial waves were to escape a German barrage by being far enough behind the British front line. These areas were found to be under fire when the troops arrived, so they were squeezed up like those in the other divisions. The attack began at with two brigades. The right brigade advanced quickly over the near crest, then paused on the first objective before advancing in section columns to the red line on the right, the left coming up after a delay caused by the Alma blockhouse and some pillboxes nearby.

The German infantry had been due to advance at but the barrage fell short and the German infantry had to fall back until it began to creep forward at The German infantry managed to advance on the flanks, about near the Menin road and north of the Reutelbeek, close to Black Watch Corner, with the help of a number of observation and ground-attack aircraft and a box- barrage, which obstructed the supply of ammunition to the British defenders. Return-fire from the 33rd Division troops under attack and the 15th Australian Brigade along the southern edge of Polygon wood, forced the Germans under cover after they had recaptured several pillboxes near Black Watch Corner.

The British destructive bombardment on German positions was much more damaging than the creeping bombardment and caused considerable German casualties. The German pillboxes were mostly untouched and a great amount of small-arms fire from them, caused many British casualties from cross-fire and traversing fire, while positions dug into the ruins of Poelcappelle, were used to fire in enfilade against the British attackers. The British advance was stopped beyond the front line on the left, at the Brewery near Polcappelle, from which the troops withdrew to the jumping-off trenches to reorganise. As this retirement was seen, the survivors of other units on the left flank and in the centre conformed.

Further to the south, Reserve Infantry regiments of the 207th Division, attacked Hollebeke through thick fog and captured the village despite many casualties, taking at least Most of the British were in captured pillboxes and blockhouses, which had to be attacked one by one and at three signal flares were fired to indicate success. The Germans later abandoned Hollebeke and reoccupied the old "A line", then withdrew to their start line, because of the severity of British counter-attacks and artillery-fire. left the front-line ragged, with a gap between regiments which the British tried to exploit with attacks and counter-attacks, before the bigger British effort of 10 August against the Gheluvelt Plateau.

The line marked the front of the main battle zone (), which was about deep, behind which was the (third position) and most of the field artillery of the front divisions. In pillboxes of the were the reserve battalions of the front-line regiments. The leading regiment of an division was to advance into the zone of the front division, with its other two regiments moving forward in close support from support and reserve assembly areas, further back in the . divisions were accommodated behind the front line and at the beginning of an attack began their advance to assembly areas in the behind , ready to intervene in the , for (the instant- immediate counter-thrust).

The first attack came on 20 September at Menin Road, where the Australians experienced success making considerable gains against the enemy for the loss of about 5,000 casualties. On 26 September, the 4th and 5th Divisions attacked and captured Polygon Wood, while later on 4 October, another successful attack was made on the main ridge at Broodseinde, where the four Australian divisions involved fought side by side, as they clashed head on with a German counterattack that had been launched at the same time the Australians had risen to carry out their assault. The result was a rout by the Australians, as the German line broke and following further attacks against German pillboxes, the ridge was captured.

It was a complex net of small objects, all of them entirely adapted to the natural topography (e.g.: natural steep slopes as anti-tank wall, trenches curving as isolines). All buildings, dugouts and obstacles are adapted to the landscape and objects (fallen trees, rocks, mounds and bushes), and there are no easily targeted large objects, while Maginot-like bunkers were impossible to be camouflaged enough. Concrete MG and Gun pillboxes in the Mannerheim and Árpád lines were particularly well camouflaged, and almost all of them have enfilading field of fire (mostly enfilade-defilade combination) in order to defend anti-tank obstacles against sappers, thus none of them fires direct toward enemy's lines.

Although their significance is unknown, depictions are frequently associated with Odùduwà, and suggest a shared destiny between a leader and his predecessors. Crowns embody the continuity of office, regardless of who may hold it at a particular point in time. Faces may also be depicted on other forms of royal regalia, which indicates the omnipotent, all-seeing power of the monarch and his capacity to provide good leadership. Some crowns (called oríkògbófo) reflect the personal taste of a king. These include a mask referred to as the “dog-eared-one” (abetíajá), which is worn in such a way that the faces are oriented sideways, and smaller hats shaped like pillboxes, European crowns, and coronets.

99 T-26 tanks participated in combat at the Leningrad Front in 1941. For example, the 86th Separate Tank Battalion, equipped with the T-26, supported attacks of Soviet infantry from Kolpino towards Krasny Bor and Tosno on 20–26 December 1941. One case of a T-26 in action there is well documented: during six days of continuous attacks and counterattacks, platoon commander Third Lieutenant M.I. Yakovlev's T-26 destroyed two pillboxes, three anti-tank guns, four machine-gun nests, three mortars and an ammunition depot in Krasny Bor, in addition to killing about 200 enemy soldiers. Yakovlev's T-26 was penetrated by nine shells, but was never taken out of action.

Sjogren, John C. Rank and organization:Staff Sergeant,Company I, 160th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division Place and date:Near San Jose Hacienda, Negros, Philippine Islands, May 23, 1945 Entered service at:Rockford, Michigan Citation: > He led an attack against a high precipitous ridge defended by a company of > enemy riflemen, who were entrenched in spider holes and supported by well- > sealed pillboxes housing automatic weapons with interlocking bands of fire. > The terrain was such that only 1 squad could advance at one time; and from a > knoll atop a ridge a pillbox covered the only approach with automatic fire. > Against this enemy stronghold, S/Sgt. Sjogren led the first squad to open > the assault.

In February 2015, Jordanian company Jadara Equipment & Defence Systems revealed they had incorporated the RPG-32 into a quad-launcher remote weapon station (RWS). The "Nashshab" (Archer) system comes in two versions: the Quad-1 is tripod-mounted meant to defend fixed positions, with tubes arranged in a 2×2 configuration and controlled either remotely or through a wire up to 300 m away; the Quad-2 is vehicle mounted for use against infantry, vehicles, and pillboxes in urban terrain, with tubes arranged in a 4×1 configuration and operated from a control unit inside the vehicle. The stations have day/night sights with rangefinding and automatic targets acquisition capabilities.RPG-32 (Nash-Shab) Anti-Tank Weapon System - Army- Technology.

From Verbrandesmis a road runs north-west, parallel with the lower Steenbeek through Merckem to Luyghem, slightly above the level of the surrounding marshes. Machine-gun nests in the villages commanded the causeway from Drei Grachten; the ground everywhere in the peninsula was soaked and dotted with large numbers of blockhouses and pillboxes. The French artillery destroyed Verbrandesmis and it was quickly captured but the garrisons at Jesiutengoed Farm and Kloostermolen held out for some time, before being forced back to Kippe and Aschhoop. German artillery bombarded the banks of the Steenbeek in front of Merckem and French troops rushed across on pontoon bridges, struggled through the mud to the objectives and then attacked towards Kippe and Luyghem.

The 4th Army operation order for the defensive battle was issued on 27 June. The system of defence in depth began with a front system (first line) of three breastworks , about apart, garrisoned by the four companies of each front battalion with listening-posts in no-man's-land. About behind these works, was the (second or artillery protective line), the rear boundary of the forward battle zone (). Companies of the support battalions were split, which were to hold strong-points and to counter-attack towards them, from the back of the , half based in the pillboxes of the , to provide a framework for the re- establishment of defence in depth, once the enemy attack had been repulsed.

The German positions lay behind dense lines of barbed wire, supported by concrete pillboxes and machine gun positions hidden in small woods providing excellent fields of fire over otherwise open countryside. Faced with this level of defence, the division was halted and spent the following days reconnoitring the German positions preparing for an assault. The division's plan of attack was for the 115th Brigade to envelop Villers- Outréaux during dark and assault the village during daylight with tank support, while the 113th Brigade would clear the nearby Mortho Wood. The 114th Brigade would be held in reserve initially but brought up to exploit the success and push deeper into the German defensive belt.

Moved to the Continent soon after D-Day. Received a DUC for three missions flown in support of ground forces on 11 July 1944: on a mission to destroy pillboxes near St. Lo, Normandy, France, discovered and destroyed portion of an enemy tank column unknown to Allied infantry; after rearming, the group returned to attack the tank column and prevented the enemy from accomplishing their mission. During the third mission, despite heavy rainfall, successfully attacked another Panzer battalion from minimum altitude. Group also supported Allied ground forces during the breakthrough at St. Lo in July 1944. In August 1944 attacked tanks, trucks, and troop concentrations as enemy retreated; provided armed reconnaissance for advancing Allied armored columns.

A German concrete pillbox or blockhouse after capture by the Coldstream Guards on the outskirts of Houlthulst Forest, Battle of Poelcappelle, 10 October 1917 In military tactics, a strongpoint is a key point in a defensive fighting position which anchors the overall defense line. This may include redoubts, bunkers, pillboxes, trenches or fortresses, alone or in combination; the primary requirement is that it should not be easily overrun or avoided. A blocking position in good defensive terrain commanding the lines of communication, such as high ground, is preferred. Examples from history include Thermopylae, where the ancient Greeks held back a much larger Persian army, and Monte Cassino, which anchored the Winter Line in Italy in World War II.

The French brought more artillery onto the Allemant and Malmaison plateaux, the Pinon and Rosay forests and the vicinity of Pargny-Filain and Filain. The French guns enfiladed the Ailette valley to the east of the reservoir, bombarded the German defences on the north slopes of the Chemin-des-Dames ridge and the last strong points holding out on the summit with high- explosive, gas and shrapnel shell. On the night of the German retirement to the north bank of the Ailette began. To avoid alerting the French, no demolitions of shelters, tunnels and pillboxes were made and a screen of machine-gunners and riflemen was left on the summit of the ridge to fire until just before dawn.

The line was reinforced with new pillboxes in 1940 as the fortifications were outdated. The line was located at the extreme eastern edge of the area lying below sea level. This allowed the ground before the fortifications to be easily inundated with a few feet of water, too shallow for boats, but deep enough to turn the soil into an impassable quagmire. The area west of the New Hollandic Water Line was called Fortress Holland (Dutch: Vesting Holland; German: Festung Holland), the eastern flank of which was also covered by Lake IJssel and the southern flank protected by the lower course of three broad parallel rivers: two effluents of the Rhine, and the Meuse (or Maas).

Pushing inland, the 2/48th had secured its primary objectives by 08:38 hours. The right forward company took sporadic fire as it secured the oil tanks, while the battalion's left hand company was able to capture the bridge over the Sibengkok River and the high feature overlooking the landing beach without meeting any resistance. Advancing inland, the Japanese pillboxes that had fired on the right forward company were secured after they were abandoned by the defenders. A company was then sent along the Anzac Highway to secure Collins Highway ridge. By 13:40 hours the western end of the ridge had been secured, however, the battalion began taking fire from the east.

On the southern island of Kwajalein, Major General Charles H. Corlett's 7th Infantry Division landed on southern Kwajalein with relative ease. Although the Japanese pillboxes, bunkers, and intense infantry offensives slowed the Americans, more troops, more experience in amphibious landings, effective pre-landing bombardment, and Japanese defenses on the opposite side of the atoll from where the Americans landed contributed to the capture of Kwajalein and its surrounding islands on 7 February. Of the entire force of about 8,000 Japanese guarding Majuro and Kwajalein, only 51 survived, and 253 were taken prisoner. The Americans suffered 348 men killed, 1,462 wounded, and 183 missing in the eight days it took to take the atoll.

The Sturmgeschütz originated from German experiences in World War I, when it was discovered that, during the offensives on the Western Front, the infantry lacked the means to effectively engage fortifications. The artillery of the time was heavy and not mobile enough to keep up with the advancing infantry to destroy bunkers, pillboxes, and other minor fortifications with direct fire. Although the problem was well known in the German army, it was General Erich von Manstein who is considered the father of the Sturmartillerie (assault artillery). The initial proposal was from von Manstein and submitted to General Ludwig Beck in 1935, suggesting that Sturmartillerie units should be used in a direct-fire support role for infantry divisions.

In September 1940, No 10 Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Weston-super-Mare established a Relief Landing Ground on at Broadfield Down by the hamlet of Lulsgate Bottom, southwest of the city and north of Redhill village. Being high, at , the site had a poor weather record during warm front conditions, when it was often covered in low cloud. However, when this occurred the alternative airfields at Filton and Cardiff were usually clear and operational; and as Lulsgate was clear when the low-lying airfields were obscured by radiation fog in calm weather, the landing ground provided a useful alternative. Few facilities were constructed although pillboxes, defensive anti-aircraft guns and later two Blister hangars were added.

Between 14 January and 10 February 1945, it served with the 48th Army in the East Prussian Offensive, with elements supporting the 8th Mechanized Corps' breakthrough of German lines. The 65th claimed 25 enemy aircraft downed during the offensive, as well as three ammunition and fuel depots, 20 halftracks and automobiles, eleven pillboxes, 45 wagons destroyed, and up to 400 enemy soldiers killed when it used its guns for artillery bombardments and counterattacks. Additionally, the division was credited with suppressing the fire of eight artillery and mortar batteries and capturing up to 30 settlements without the support of infantry units. During the offensive, it advanced into the cities of Mława and Osterode.

With the rise of Hitler and his demands for unification of German minorities, including the Sudeten Germans, and return of other claimed territories—Sudetenland—the alarmed Czechoslovak leadership began defensive plans. While some basic defensive structures were built early on, it was not until after conferences with French military on their design that a full scale effort began. A change in the design philosophy was noticeable in the "pillboxes" and larger blockhouses similar to the French Maginot line when the massive construction program began in 1936. The original plan was to have the first stage of construction finished in 1941–1942, whilst the full system should have been completed by the early 1950s.

Route 51 between Colchester and Wivenhoe The banks of the Colne frequently incorporate pillboxes dating from the Second World War, particularly close to navigable crossings. From Castle Park to Wivenhoe Railway Station, National Cycle Network Route 51 roughly follows the course of the Colne. This is a mixture of tarmac-surfaced shared-use paths, a short tarmac/gravel-surfaced area and, once out of the urban area of Colchester, a hard dirt path on the north levee of the river that passes the Hythe and the university all the way to Wivenhoe. The Hythe area of Colchester, through which the Colne flows, was, from Roman times, a small port that supplied the town.

The 4th Army operation order for the defensive battle was issued on 27 June. The system of defence in depth began with a front system (first line) with breastworks , about apart, garrisoned by the four companies of each front battalion, with listening-posts in no-man's-land. About behind these works was the forward battle zone () in front of the (second position or artillery protective line []). The support battalions comprised a (security company) to hold strong-points and three (storm troops) to counter-attack from the back of the , half being based in the pillboxes of the to provide a framework for the re-establishment of defence in depth, once an attack had been repulsed.

Dispersed in front of the line were divisional (Sharpshooter) machine-gun nests, called the (strongpoint line). The marked the front of the main battle zone () which was about deep, containing most of the field artillery of the front divisions, behind which was the (third position); in its pillboxes the reserve battalions of the front-line regiments were held back for counter- attacks. From the back to was a rearward battle zone () containing support and reserve assembly areas for the divisions. The failures at Verdun in December 1916 and at Arras in April 1917, had given more importance to these areas, since the had been overrun during both offensives and the garrisons lost.

The approaches to the battlefield as far back as Poperinghe to the west were under continual German artillery-fire and anywhere east of the Ypres–Yser Canal was impassable in daylight. Digging was the only protection from the German artillery and the area became a warren of dugouts and deep tunnels, continuously ventilated and pumped out. After 31 July, the British adapted captured German pillboxes and blockhouses but the weather quickly filled them with fœtid water from the corpses littering the area. The British guns fired more than ten million shells in August [] including most of the GHQ ammunition stock which, with the return fire of the German artillery, smashed the surface of the ground.

The Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of the New Zealand Division reported that adequate artillery support for his division could not be guaranteed. Plumer discovered that the line near Passchendaele had hardly changed and that the main reason for the failure on 9 October was uncut barbed wire deep, in front of the pillboxes at the hamlet of Bellevue on the Wallemolen spur. The New Zealand Division commander, Major-General Andrew Russell, later wrote that accurate information had arrived too late to ask for a postponement or radically to alter the barrage plan and unit orders. The true position of the front line meant that the advance of to the final objective would actually have to cover .

An early version of the Sturmgeschütz (StuG III Ausf.C/D) Sturmgeschütz (abbreviated into StuG) meaning "assault gun" was a series of armored vehicles used by both the German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS armored formations during the Second World War that primarily consisted of the StuG III and StuG IV. The more common of the two, the StuG III, was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III. The StuG III was initially designated "StuG" but with the creation of the StuG IV it was re-designated the "StuG III" to distinguish the two. Initially, they were intended as armored self-propelled guns providing close fire support to the infantry to destroy bunkers, pillboxes and other entrenched positions.

The brigade returned to the same trenches on 23 September, but the machine guns in Soyer Farm prevented any "peaceful penetration". A formal attack was arranged for the morning of 28 September (the opening day of the Fifth Battle of Ypres) but was postponed to 15.00 because of bad weather. 10th East Yorks advanced behind a creeping barrage protecting the right flank of 11th East Lancs and suffered heavy casualties, but the general retirement of the Germans along the whole line allowed 10th Bn to push on through Ploegsteert Wood the next day, despite considerable fire from the enemy pillboxes, which were untouched by artillery shells. Following through, 11th East Yorks advanced the brigade's line up to the River Lys on 3 October.

The 5th Division attacked Polderhoek Spur on its right flank and took some ground towards Gheluvelt. The British captured Polderhoek Château and several pillboxes but was forced from the château as dark fell. The 21st Division and four tanks crossed the swamp of the Polygonebeek and routed the German defenders, the division gaining observation to the south-east over the Reutelbeek valley, which protected the main attack on Broodseinde Ridge; the right hand brigade retreated slightly, to dead ground, to avoid massed machine-gun fire. The 7th Division, on the left of X Corps, reached its objectives at the eastern edge of the Gheluvelt Plateau against the left of RIR 93 and reserve troops of IR 93 and IR 94.

Wang Bingzhang (; 14 January 1914 – 25 September 2005) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a founding lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). He joined the Northwest Army of the warlord Feng Yuxiang in 1929, before participating in the Ningdu uprising and defecting to the Communist Red Army in 1931. He fought in the Red Army's Long March, the Second Sino-Japanese War where he was credited with devising a trench warfare tactic that helped destroy enemy pillboxes, and the Chinese Civil War. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Wang served as the first chief of staff of the PLA Air Force and then the first Minister of the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building, in charge of China's ballistic missile program.

The bunkers were constructed of concrete, steel and iron and ranged in size from one- or two-person pillboxes with gun slits to large underground nuclear bomb shelters intended for use by the Party leadership and bureaucrats. The most common type of bunker is a small concrete dome set into the ground with a circular bottom extending downwards, just large enough for one or two people to stand inside. Known as Qender Zjarri ("firing position") or QZ bunkers, they were prefabricated and transported to their final positions, where they were assembled. They consist of three main elements: a diameter hemispherical concrete dome with a firing slit, a hollow cylinder to support the dome and an outer wall with a radius larger than the cylinder.

Kharkov and Kursk, 19 February 1943 to 1 August 1943: After the failure of the attempt to capture Stalingrad, Hitler had delegated planning authority for the upcoming campaign season to the German Army High Command and reinstated Heinz Guderian to a prominent role, this time as Inspector of Panzer Troops. Debate among the General Staff was polarised, with even Hitler nervous about any attempt to pinch off the Kursk salient. He knew that in the intervening six months the Soviet position at Kursk had been reinforced heavily with anti-tank guns, tank traps, landmines, barbed wire, trenches, pillboxes, artillery and mortars. However, if one last great blitzkrieg offensive could be mounted, then attention could then be turned to the Allied threat to the Western Front.

GHQ quickly studied the results of the attack of 31 July (the Battle of Pilckem Ridge) and on 7 August, sent questions to the Fifth Army headquarters about the new conditions produced by German defence-in-depth. The German 4th Army had spread strong points and pillboxes in the areas between its defensive lines and made rapid counter-attacks with local reserves and divisions against Allied penetrations. At the end of August, Haig moved the Fifth Army–Second Army boundary northwards and put the Second Army in charge of the main offensive effort on the Gheluvelt Plateau. Plumer issued a preliminary order on 1 September, which defined the Second Army area of operations as Broodseinde and the area to the south.

As A Company neared the first objective, machine-gun fire from the pillboxes along the Broenbeek surrounded by uncut barbed wire, became intense. The survivors struggled through the mud until driven under cover in shell-holes near the huts; attempts to cut through the wire and attack the position failed. The 16th Royal Scots were hit by the artillery of both sides as they assembled and had only enough men for one wave, which advanced at zero hour. The troops on the right flank were caught in machine-gun fire from the huts near the 15th Royal Scots, lost much of their firepower when weapons were jammed by mud and were forced back by a counter-attack, one party disappearing near Turenne Crossing.

After the outbreak of World War II on 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany, Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and a member of the War Cabinet, just as he had been during the first part of World War I. Britain despatched an expeditionary force to France, which took up positions on the northernmost portion of the French border with Belgium. A line of fortifications, known as the Maginot Line, helped to defend France's border with Germany, and much of the allies' effort went into extending those defences to the north. Trenches were dug, barbed wire was stretched out and pillboxes were built, but hardly a shot was fired in anger. This period became known as the Phoney War.

The Sanvitores Beach Japanese Fortification are the remains of World War II- era defensive positions facing the beach of Tumon Bay on the west side of the island of Guam. Located near the stairs to the beach of the Guam Reef Hotel are the remains of two concrete pillboxes built by Japanese defenders during the occupation period 1941–44. One structure, of which little more than a gun embrasure is discernible, is located in the limestone cliff about inland from the high tide line, and a second is located about 10 meters south and 8 meters further inland, with only a section of roof slab and supporting columns recognizable. The defenses were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Corridor outside the officers' quarters at the Castillo de San Cristobal in San Juan, Puerto Rico 1898 – On 10 May 1898, the first shot which marked Puerto Rico's entry into the Spanish–American War was ordered by Captain Ángel Rivero Méndez is against the USS Yale from Castillo San Cristóbal's cannon batteries. San Cristóbal's gunners duel with US Navy warships during a day-long bombardment 10 May 1898. Six months later Puerto Rico becomes US territory by terms of the Treaty of Paris which ends the Spanish–American War. Rivero Mendez 1942 – Still an active military base when the United States entered World War II, concrete pillboxes and an underground bunker control center are added to the ancient defenses of the Castillo San Cristóbal.

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest () was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a area about east of the Belgian–German border. It was the longest battle on German ground during World War II and is the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought.Regan, More military blunders, p.178. The U.S. commanders' initial goal was to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing the front lines farther north in the Battle of Aachen, where the US forces were fighting against the Siegfried Line network of fortified industrial towns and villages speckled with pillboxes, tank traps, and minefields.

This time, resistance was lighter, and the Americans penetrated the Siegfried Line, with dozer tanks piling dirt over all pillbox openings, rendering nearly 40 pillboxes inoperable over the next three days. Resting briefly after these attacks, the battalion was once again attached on 26 September 1944 to the 29th Infantry Division, which had just returned to the Allied advance and was assigned to the XIX Corps after successfully reducing the German stronghold at Brest,MacDonald, Siegfried Line, p. 232 with orders to move into Holland, and then to Kinrooi, Belgium.CARL, AAR 747th Tank Bn, September 1944 Now under XIX Corps control, on 28 September 1944, Company B was attached to the 2nd Tank Destroyer Group in support of the Belgium Brigade.

Troops of 7th Somerset Light Infantry resting during the assault on Geilenkirchen, 18 November 1944. 43rd (Wessex) Division was then shifted east with XXX Corps to cooperate with the US Ninth Army by capturing the Geilenkirchen salient (Operation Clipper). XXX Corps had 43rd Wessex and 84th US Divisions under command for this attack, which entailed breaching the Siegfried Line defences and capturing a string of fortified villages. 84th US Division attacked on the morning of 18 November, supported by British specialist armour, and was through the line of pillboxes by midday. 214th Brigade then attacked on its left in the afternoon, led by 7th Somerset LI and tanks of 4th/7th DG, and took its first objective, the village of Neiderheide.

Stridsvagn 74 was used in the Swedish Army armoured brigades as a replacement for the cancelled purchase of AMX-13 until it was replaced by strv 103. It was then used in independent corps tank companies, and even later relegated to the infantry support role in assault gun companies before being phased out of service in 1981 (strv 74 V) and 1984 (strv 74 H). The turrets were retained and later used as static gun pillboxes, which were phased out and demolished in the early 2000s. Its high silhouette and thin body along with the recoil of the gun made it rock when firing the gun at 3 and 9 o´clock and it was sometimes referred as "Sanslös" (Swedish for "Senseless") by its crew.

Williams' next and final campaign was at the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he distinguished himself with actions "above and beyond the call of duty" – for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. On February 21, 1945, he landed on the beach with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines. Williams, by then a corporal, distinguished himself two days later when American tanks, trying to open a lane for infantry, encountered a network of reinforced concrete pillboxes. Pinned down by machine gun fire, his company commander asked one of his men to attach a high explosive charge to a pole and with the support of Williams and his flamethrower and several Marine riflemen, shove the improvised weapon into an opening in the enemy's pillbox.

On 25 September, a German attack on the front of the 20th (Light) Division (XIV Corps) was prevented by artillery fire but on the X Corps front, south of I Anzac Corps, a bigger German attack took place. Crown Prince Rupprecht had ordered the attack to recover ground on the Gheluvelt Plateau and to try to gain time for reinforcements to be brought into the battle zone. Two regiments of the 50th Reserve Division attacked either side of the Reutelbeek, with the support of and batteries of artillery, four times the usual amount of artillery for one division. The attack was made on a front, from the Menin road to Polygon Wood, to recapture pillboxes and shelters in the away.

The French First Army, between the British Fifth Army to the south and the Belgian Army further north, attacked on 31 July, south of the inundations and advanced to the west of Wijdendreft and Bixschoote. On 1 August, the 51st Division on the left flank had captured ground from the Martjevaart and St Jansbeek to Drie Grachten. The axis of the French advance was along the banks of the Corverbeek, towards the south and south-eastern fringes of Houthulst Forest, the villages of Koekuit, Mangelaere, blockhouses and pillboxes, which connected the forest with the German line southwards towards Poelcappelle. On the left flank, the French were covered by the Belgian Army, which held the ground about Knocke and the Yser inundations.

At the barrage resumed its forward movement towards the third objective, another away. The 23rd Division had to fight forward through pillboxes hidden in ruined cottages along the Menin Road, concrete shelters in Veldhoek and a hedgerow in front, before the German garrisons retreated. The left hand brigade was held up by a dozen pill-boxes in the until noon, which caused the division many losses but the ground at the final objective proved to be dry enough for the troops to dig in. The two Australian divisions reached the third objective in half an hour, finding the Germans in those strong points which had not been subdued during the halt on the second objective, as stunned as those met early in the day.

During the Second World War, unlike Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson), Pittwater was not protected by a boom net. As a consequence local militia and later Australian Army were stationed at the western side of the entrance to Pittwater and were dispersed along the western shore in a network of trenches, pillboxes and gun emplacements. Pittwater was first incorporated in 1906 when it was included as the "A Riding" of Warringah Shire Council. However for many years there existed a sentiment held by some in A Riding, the northern Riding and the largest in Warringah, taking up more than 40% of Warringah's land area, that they were being increasingly ignored and subject to what they considered inappropriate development and policies for their area.

The remaining tanks were used to support infantry or were dug in like pillboxes and annihilated during the remainder of the Battle of the Philippines in various engagements on Luzon, Leyte and Mindanao. The 2nd Tank Division was reconstituted in Japan as a training unit after the disaster in the Philippines. In February 1945, its 11th Armored Regiment was transferred to the control of the Japanese Fifth Area Army and attached to the 91st Infantry Division. It was stationed in the northern Kuril Islands, where it was in combat against the Soviet Red Army at Paramushir during Invasion of the Kuril Islands at the end of World War II. It was officially demobilized in September 1945 with the rest of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Despite being painfully wounded on the > 14th near Orglandes and again on the 16th while spearheading an attack to > establish a bridgehead across the Douve River, he refused medical aid and > remained with his platoon. A week later, near Flottemanville Hague, he led > an assault on a tactically important and stubbornly defended hill studded > with tanks, anti-tank guns, pillboxes, and machinegun emplacements, and > protected by concentrated artillery and mortar fire. As the attack was > launched, Lieutenant Butts, at the head of his platoon, was critically > wounded by German machinegun fire. Although weakened by his injuries, he > rallied his men and directed one squad to make a flanking movement while he > alone made a frontal assault to draw the hostile fire upon himself.

On the morning of 4 March, both sides launched air raids on one another, the Dutch and the Royal Air Force aircraft targeting potential new Japanese troop landings and the Kalijati airfield while the Japanese targeted the Dutch airbase at Andir and forward Dutch defenses. Due to further air raids, the depleted Dutch forward units withdrew towards the main concentration of Dutch forces in Lembang. Later in that day, both sides continued to launch air raids. Air raids continued on both Andir and Kalijati in the early morning of the following day, accompanied by aerial reconnaissance missions. The land battle for the pass began around noon of 5 March, when Japanese vanguard light tanks encountered Dutch fortifications in form of pillboxes and a 5-cm gun.

There are three pillboxes on or near the beach of Tumon Bay, all made from concrete mixed with coral limestone. The first is a partially-collapsed concrete structure between the Hyatt Regency Guam and the beach; it has two embrasures providing gun placements facing north and west. The second is located south of the first, north of the Holiday Resort and Spa; it has an entrance (damaged) to the south, with wall extensions, and a gun opening facing roughly east, with a view over much of the bay and coastline. The third is located further west, near the Fiesta Resort Guam, and is further inland (about instead of the ) than the first two, having been relocated from its original position closer to the beach.

At 03:50 on 31 July, the Battle of Pilckem Ridge began. The division was ordered to capture the German front line, the second line positions based on Pilckem Ridge, a low ridge that also contained the heavily shelled village of Pilckem, followed by Iron Cross Ridge which lay to the east, before storming down the other side and across a small stream known as the Steenbeck. The division would be opposed primarily by the German 3rd Guards Infantry Division, along with elements of the 3rd Reserve Division and 111th Division, dug-in among trench lines and 280 concrete pillboxes and bunkers. To secure these various objectives, the division planned to attack in waves, with fresh troops constantly moving forward to tackle the next objective.

He landed on Saipan on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and on June 28, sustained a slight shrapnel wound in the right forearm. A few days later -- on July 8, -- Sgt Timmerman's tank, of which he was tank commander, was advancing a few yards ahead of the infantry when the attack was held up by a series of Japanese pillboxes and trenches. The sergeant had been firing the tank's antiaircraft gun during the vigorous attack but when progress was halted, he prepared to fire the 75 mm gun. Exposing himself to the enemy, he stood up in the open turret of his tank to warn the infantry to hit the deck because of the muzzle blast of the 75 mm.

The Peel-Raam Position In front of this Main Defence Line was the IJssel-Maaslinie, a covering line along the rivers IJssel and Maas, connected by positions in the Betuwe, again with pillboxes and lightly occupied by a screen of fourteen "border battalions". Late in 1939 General Van Voorst tot Voorst, reviving plans he had already worked out in 1937,De Jong (1969), p. 578 proposed to make use of the excellent defensive opportunities these rivers offered. He proposed a shift to a more mobile strategy by fighting a delaying battle at the plausible crossing sites near Arnhem and Gennep to force the German divisions to spend much of their offensive power before they had reached the MDL, and ideally even defeat them.

Between them they were able to assist the 206th to contain and even push back the Soviet bridgeheads across the Volga, so the battle became a frontal offensive, and the 348th would remain in reserve until greater progress was made. On November 28, 39th Army tried to renew the offensive, but by the end of the next day Urdom was still in German hands. On November 30, the division was finally committed to the fight for Urdom, and with the help of the remnants of 135th and 373rd Rifle Divisions and a handful of KV heavy tanks to reduce German pillboxes, the village finally fell. However, the German lines held, and this advance marked the end of 39th Army's progress during the operation.

Two days later, while continuing a sweep for enemy forces, the Regiment encountered prepared enemy defenses, where they destroyed some twenty Japanese pillboxes using pole charges and bazookas. Later, the 132nd secured the heights west of Saua River in fierce fighting that lasted until April 18, when the last of the Japanese defenders were killed or driven off.Gailey, Harry A., Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign, University Press of Kentucky (2003), , , p. 171 In 1945, the 132nd participated in the retaking of the Philippine Islands. On March 26, 1945, preceded by a heavy naval and aerial bombardment, troops of the 3rd Battalion, 132nd Infantry waded ashore across heavily mined beaches during an amphibious invasion of Cebu Island, at a point just south of Cebu City.

Otway, p. 68. The radar station was permanently manned by radar technicians and was surrounded by guard posts and approximately 30 guards; the buildings in the small enclosure housed about 100 German troops, including another detachment of technicians. A platoon of German infantry was stationed to the south in Bruneval, and was responsible for manning the defences guarding the evacuation beach; these included a strongpoint near the beach as well as pillboxes and machine gun nests on the top of the cliff overlooking the beach. The beach was not land mined and had only sporadic barbed-wire defences, but it was patrolled regularly; a mobile reserve of infantry was believed to be available at one hour's notice and stationed some distance inland.

During the Second World War, Walney Island was home to two of the country's many coastal artillery installations (Hilpsford Fort and Fort Walney), numerous pillboxes can to this day be found littered across the Walney coastline. They were used as lookouts and contained rifles and light machine guns that could be used to defend Barrow against the Luftwaffe.Walney Island coastal artillery The entrance to a large underground air-raid shelter that was used by shipyard workers can be found in the car park of the Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness development.WWII Air-raid shelter A large unit of the Royal Air Force was based at Barrow/Walney Island Airport which was expanded during the war in an effort to aid Britain's air defences.

Each squad member can be assigned a class type, where they have immediate access to certain weapons and abilities. There are four main class types; heavy gunners that specialize in long-range heavy weapons (mortars, bazookas, rocket launchers, etc.), engineers that specialise in explosives (grenades, land mines, TNT, etc.), espionage that don't appear on the mini map and use sniper rifles and camouflage, and finally medics that can heal other units in both close and long range. Other than inventory items, players can also gain access to military vehicles, like tanks and semi-aquatic and stationary turrets like heavy artillery and pillboxes. Bunkers and MASH tents also provide further protection, but without weaponry, with the latter healing a small amount at the start of their turn.

Having disabled the fortress, the airborne troops were then ordered to protect the bridges against Belgian counter-attacks until they linked up with ground forces from the German 18th Army. The battle was a strategic victory for the German forces, with the airborne troops landing on top of the fortress with gliders and using explosives and flamethrowers to disable the outer defences of the fortress. The Fallschirmjäger then entered the fortress, killing some defenders and containing the rest in the lower sections of the fortress. Simultaneously, the rest of the German assault force had landed near the three bridges over the Canal, destroyed several pillboxes and defensive positions and defeated the Belgian forces guarding the bridges, capturing them and bringing them under German control.

Construction was very rapid, and by the time of the Munich Agreement in September 1938, there were completed in total 264 heavy blockhouses (small forts or elements of strongholds) and 10,014 light pillboxes, which means about 20 percent of the heavy objects and 70 percent of the light objects. Moreover, many other objects were near completion and would have been functional at least as shelters despite missing certain heavy armaments in some structures.Jiří Hořák, Areál Československého Opevnění Darkovičky, Pruvodce, 1995 After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia border regions as a result of the Sudeten Crisis, the Germans used these objects to test and develop new weapons and tactics, plan, and practise the attacks eventually used against the Maginot LineHalter 2011. and Belgium's forts, resulting in astounding success.

The Germans held a line of posts from Joiners' Wood in the north to Journal Wood, Judge Copse and Juniper Wood in the south, with advanced posts on the outskirts of Reutel. The main German defensive positions were on higher ground at Becelaere, to the east. South of the Reutelbeek, the British front line ran westwards and was enfiladed (vulnerable to fire on along it from a flank) at Cameron Covert and Reutel. The northern limit of the II Anzac Corps front was at the Tiber pillboxes south of Passchendaele, from where the line ran along Broodseinde Ridge, east of Polygon Wood to the Reutelbeek, which flowed eastwards from the main ridge north of the Menin road and then turned south-east to the Lys.

Vickers designed the gun early in World War I, intending it as a piece of light artillery for use by infantry in trenches in attacking machine gun positions and pillboxes. To make it portable for infantry use, it was very small and light for a gun of its calibre. Its light construction dictated a low muzzle velocity, which resulted in it having a short range. It was too light to withstand the detonation of standard British explosive propellants, so its ammunition used ballistite packed in cambric bags instead. The gun fired a 1.2-pound (0.54 kg) high-explosive shell at 800 feet (244 meters) per second; it also could fire an armour-piercing round at 1,000 feet (305 meters) per second.

The preliminary bombardment was intended to destroy German strong-points and trenches, cut barbed wire and counter-battery fire was to suppress German artillery during the attack. The infantry would advance behind a creeping barrage moving at every four minutes, followed by infantry in columns or artillery formation. The II Tank Brigade, Tank Corps was to attack the plateau with followed by attack the third objective and eight more to advance on the fourth objective with tanks following. The wreckage of the woods on the plateau camouflaged many German strongpoints (including 23 pillboxes still undamaged between the front line and the on 31 July) and barbed-wire obstacles, which were hard to detect by air reconnaissance, which was also limited by poor weather during July.

Geilenkirchen itself was subdued relatively easily by the 333rd Infantry Regiment on 19 November, but the Allied advance suffered from the lack of artillery support which had been held back by the fear of friendly fire incidents, as had occurred earlier in the British sector. Two troops of tanks from the British Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry provided close support, although they could not make up entirely for lack of artillery. From Geilenkirchen, the advance continued northeast along the Wurm toward Süggerath. Crocodiles subdued the increasing German resistance, especially two pillboxes guarding the road into Süggerath. "A few squirts from the flame-throwers, and the Germans poured out ... The bastards are afraid of those flame-throwers and won’t be caught inside a pillbox ...", said one U.S. company commander.

This had been built prior to the First World War and included camouflaged pillboxes, machine-gun nests and dug-in 75 mm artillery pieces; the latter, although not specifically designed for an anti- tank role, could penetrate the armour of both the Tetrarchs and the Valentines. The two Valentines advanced first but were knocked out by artillery fire, and two Tetrarchs that were moving behind them suffered the same fate; the third Tetrarch retreated in order to report on the French resistance, machine gunning a motorcycle combination and a truck it encountered on the way back.Flint, pp. 68–69 The commander of the Tetrarch made his report, and was then ordered to take command of four Valentines and two Tetrarchs which had recently arrived and once again attempt to breach the French defences.

The attack was supported by artillery-observation aircraft, ground-attack aircraft and a box-barrage fired behind the British front-line, which isolated the British defenders from reinforcements and cut off the supply of ammunition. Return-fire from the 33rd Division south of Polygon Wood and the 15th Australian Brigade of the 5th Australian Division along the southern edge of the wood forced the attackers under cover. German parties re-captured several pillboxes of the near Black Watch Corner, which had fallen to the British during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20 September) but attempts to reinforce the attackers failed. General Herbert Plumer, the commander of the Second Army, ordered the attack scheduled for 26 September to go ahead but modified the objectives of the 33rd Division.

The German 40th Division and elements of the 58th Division held the line opposite the French, north of Mangelaere, where the 201st Infantry Regiment (General Marindin) of the 1st Division, was to advance on a line from the Faidherbe crossroads next to the British to (Butterfly Farm). The regiment was to capture several redoubts towards the farm at point 86.15, north of the Faidherbe crossroads on the right, to the ruins of Jean Bart Farm on the left. The preliminary bombardment was so effective that the French objectives were quickly taken, despite machine-gun fire from on the left. The French joined in the British attack east of Veldhoek and helped to reduce a number of pillboxes; resistance was encountered at Panama Farm, north-east of Veldhoek but this was soon overrun.

Two regiments of the German 50th Reserve Division attacked on a front, either side of the Reutelbeek, supported by aircraft and and batteries of artillery, four times the usual amount for a division. The German infantry managed to advance on the flanks, about near the Menin road and north of the Reutelbeek. The infantry were supported by artillery-observation and ground-attack aircraft; a box-barrage was fired behind the British front-line, which isolated the British infantry from reinforcements and ammunition. Return-fire from the 33rd Division and the 15th Australian Brigade of the 5th Australian Division along the southern edge of Polygon Wood to the north, forced the attackers under cover around some of the pillboxes, near Black Watch Corner, at the south-western edge of Polygon Wood.

The attack on the Polderhoek Spur on 3 December 1917, was a local operation by the British Fourth Army (renamed from the Second Army on 8 November). Two battalions of the 2nd New Zealand Brigade of the New Zealand Division attacked the low ridge, from which German observers could view the area from Cameron Covert to the north and the Menin road to the south-west. A New Zealand advance of on a front, would shield the area north of the Reutelbeek stream from German observers on the Gheluvelt spur. Heavy artillery bombarded the ruins of Polderhoek Château and the pillboxes in the grounds to mislead the defenders and the attack was made in daylight as a ruse to surprise the Germans, who would be under cover sheltering from the routine bombardments.

Air view of the Fortified Town of Arad (Romania, Arad Town), in the form of a shield with the hexagram in middle, with six corners, built with three rows of underground pillboxes and several trenches which in past could be flooded. The Fortress of Arad is a fortification system built in the city of Arad, on the left bank of the Mureş River in the 18th century at the direct order of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa. The fortress lies today in the Subcetate neighbourhood of the city, on the former military border between the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The fortress has been used during its existence as a military garrison, a military prison and today it is the home of the Mixed Romanian-Hungarian Battalion since 1999.

Instead, he decided to carry out a feint, allowing the Americans to come ashore unopposed so that they would advance into the trap he had prepared for them utilizing a series of caves that were located west of Mokmer and to the east of Bosnek. This defensive complex was intended to turn the area around the vital airfield into a honeycomb of defended caves and pillboxes filled with riflemen, automatic weapons, artillery, batteries of mortars, and a single company of Type 95 Ha- Go light tanks. The western caves were connected by a series of underground tunnels and were largely constructed for fighting purposes. Kuzume also stockpiled these positions with ammunition and other supplies, with several dumps located around the eastern cave area, along with living quarters for the defenders.

It extends for as far as a junction with the A132 near Wickford, whilst a slightly newer section south of there continues the route as a standard dual carriageway as far as a junction with a spur connecting to the old road (now A1245) and the A127 Southend Arterial Road a few miles west of Southend-on-Sea. The new road here more or less follows the same path as the World War II GHQ Line hence the many pillboxes visible alongside the carriageway between the Howe Green and the A132 junctions. An older section of dual carriageway extends as far south as the A13 at the Sadlers Hall Farm (Sadlers Farm), a roundabout near Benfleet. As with the A13 from London, the primary route section of the A130 ends here too.

Porthcurno valley was declared a protected place and as many as 300 troops were deployed in the immediate area to guard the station.Bell; p 7 Passes were issued to residents and visitors who had business to be in the area and many mock attacks were staged.Bell; p 17 The defences included pillboxes and a petroleum warfare beach flame barrageFoot, 2006, pp 81–87 which could be operated remotely from the tunnel. At the end of the War, although some 867 bombs fell in the (Penzance) area and 3957 houses were damaged or destroyed, the only damage suffered by any communications equipment at Porthcurno was the destruction of an antenna when a bomb fell at Rospletha Farm, located at the top of the hill about half a mile to the west of the cable office.

On the morning of May 10th, eleven days after the 1st Marine Division entered the fray, Ison was part of a four man team with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion ordered to first go to the rear to pick up 96 pounds of dynamite, then take his team up to the line to set charges that would knock out defensive pillboxes and positions. In route to the objective area, he and his team would have to cross a draw located between two hills commanded by the Japanese known as "Death Valley". Upon arrival at the ammunition dump, the team was informed that the required explosives had already been prepositioned at the forward line. This meant they would not be further burdened with the additional weight of munitions for their harrowing traverse across the war torn valley.

The S-13 rocket was developed in the 1970s to meet requirements for a penetrating weapon capable of cratering runways and penetrating hardened aircraft shelters, bunkers and pillboxes, to fill a gap between 80 mm and 240 mm rockets and fulfill a role similar to the 127 mm Zuni rocket. The S-13 is conventional in layout, with a solid rocket motor and folding tail fins that provide stability after launch. The first trials were in 1973, but it was introduced only in 1983. S-13 rockets are shot from 5-tube launchers B-13L, that can be carried by most of Soviet and Russian attack and new fighter aircraft, like Sukhoi Su-17/20/22, Sukhoi Su-24, Sukhoi Su-25, Sukhoi Su-27, MiG-23BN, MiG-27, MiG-29.

This small concrete room, built into the western wall of the pit, with its tapered viewing slits, is visible just left of center in the photo.During the remodeling of 1904-1910, the data booths for Battery Lincoln were converted into small, free-standing "pillboxes," located on top of the earthen cover for the battery. This booth received and passed to the mortar crews the data (azimuth, elevation, and powder charge) that had been calculated in the plotting room by the Range Unit as settings for the mortars in order for them to hit their targets.Since the mortar crews down in the pits could not see to aim their weapons, remote spotters located the targets and passed their coordinates to a plotting room for each battery, which computed the target's position on a plotting board.

Between mid-1942 and early 1944 the Divisional Cavalry Regiments were converted to commando units and subsequently fought in the Pacific against the Japanese as dismounted infantry. M3 Grants of the 1st Armoured Division at Puckapunyal, June 1942 M3 Stuart light tank supporting infantry during the assault on Buna Australian troops crouch behind an M3 Stuart light tank as they wait to advance during the clearing out of pillboxes on Buna. Australian assault on a pillbox with a M3 Stuart tank at Giropa Point, during the assault on Buna The Australian 1st Armoured Division was raised in 1941 as part of the 2nd AIF. While the division was originally to be deployed to North Africa in late 1941, it was retained in Australia following the outbreak of the Pacific War.

On the southern flank of the attack, X Corps was to attack to hold German reserves around Becelaere and Gheluvelt. To the north, I Anzac Corps was to advance on the right flank of the main attack, with the 1st and 2nd Australian divisions, the 4th and 5th Australian divisions being in reserve. Further north, II Anzac Corps with the New Zealand and 3rd Australian divisions in reserve, was to attack two objectives, the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, advancing along the main ridge, north of the Ypres–Roulers railway to just short of Passchendaele village and the 49th (West Riding) Division on either side of the Ravebeek stream, up Wallemolen spur to the Bellevue pillboxes. If the first objectives were reached, the reserve brigades were to attack the second objectives in the afternoon.

In the II Anzac Corps area, the 3rd Australian Division consolidated the southern defensive flank of the attack, digging-in astride the river Douve with its right in the new craters at , defeating several hasty German counter-attacks; the left flank of the division was anchored by a captured German strongpoint. The New Zealand Division attacked Messines village, the southern bastion of the German defences on the ridge. The village had been fortified with a line of trenches around the outskirts and an inner defence zone comprising five pillboxes and all the house cellars, which had been converted into shellproof dugouts. Two machine-gun posts on the edge of the village were rushed but fire from Swayne's Farm north held up the advance, until a tank drove through it and caused troops to surrender.

He single-handedly destroyed four enemy pillboxes before he was fatally wounded. Bordelon was awarded the Medal of Honor for his "valorous and gallant conduct above and beyond the call of duty" in leading his men while seriously wounded. He was the first U.S. Marine from Texas to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in World War II. Four Medals of Honor were awarded for actions on Tarawa, three were posthumous awards, and the fourth was awarded to then-Colonel David M. Shoup, who became the 22nd Commandant of the Marine Corps. Grave marker of William J. Bordelon, Jr. at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery He was originally buried in the Lone Palm Cemetery on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll,SSgt William J. Bordelon, Who's Who in Marine Corps History.

On 19 May, as the French prepared to attack, news was received from a deserter that the garrison in the tunnel had been asphyxiated and an hour later, thirty Germans who had surrendered said the same but did not know if the tunnels had been reoccupied. To reach the crest of Mont Cornillet, the French had to advance up a steep slope swept by machine-gun fire. The French gained the crest after a costly advance and broke up into groups, which bombed and bayonetted their way through the German shell-hole positions and pillboxes, against enfilade fire from machine-guns in Flensburg Trench and the west slopes of Mont Blond. The summit was captured and the French began to descend the northern slopes, some moving beyond the final objective towards Nauroy.

The Somerset Coal Canal and Wilts & Berks Canal, which each supplied some of the trade from the Somerset Coalfield to the Kennet and Avon, closed in 1904 and 1906 respectively. In 1926, following a loss of £18,041 the previous year, the Great Western Railway sought to close the canal by obtaining a Ministry of Transport Order, but the move was resisted and the company charged with improving its maintenance of the canal. Cargo trade continued to decline, but a few pleasure boats started to use the canal. pillbox near Kintbury During the Second World War a large number of concrete pillboxes were built as part of the GHQ Line - Blue to defend against an expected German invasion; many of these are still visible along the banks of the canal.

A01 The bunkers were built strong and mobile, with the intention that they could be easily placed by a crane or a helicopter in a hole. The types of bunkers vary from machine gun pillboxes, beach bunkers, to underground naval facilities and even Air Force Mountain and underground bunkers. Hoxha's internal policies were true to Stalin's paradigm which he admired, and the personality cult which was developed in the 1970s and organized around him by the Party also bore a striking resemblance to that of Stalin. At times it even reached an intensity which was as extreme as the personality cult of Kim Il-sung (which Hoxha condemned) with Hoxha being portrayed as a genius commenting on virtually all facets of life from culture to economics to military matters.

The village is small and like the rest of the parish, which extends to take in much of the Seven Sisters Country Park is on the left bank of a narrow valley in the signature narrow band of the South Downs National Park. It is downriver followed only by marshes mainly to its side of its road leading to hamlets of Exceat and Westdean but across the narrow road a narrow strip of fertile farmland that ascends rapidly into chalkland grazing. Beyond the Exceat tiny cluster of homes is footpath access to Cuckmere Haven, which has road access from the west, Seaford only, a natural shoreline of pebbles and the soon towering Seven Sisters cliffs to the east. Among features of the landscape here are sheep fields and pillboxes from World War II.

However, as they advanced towards bridges that had been captured by the paratroopers earlier in the day, they assaulted four pillboxes as well as an artillery battery that had been firing on the landing beaches.Saunders 1959, p. 241. Commandos from the 1st Special Service Brigade with captured German soldiers near Ranville on 7 June 1944 In the end it took the commando three-and-a-half hours to advance the to the bridges, with the lead elements, mounted on bicycles, linking up with gliderborne troops from D Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry under Major John Howard. After effecting the link up, the commandos joined with paratroops from the 9th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in an attack on the village of La Plein, before digging in to begin defending against possible counterattack.

The inscription on the cross built upon the largest of the three pillboxes reads: THIS WAS THE TYNE COT BLOCKHOUSE CAPTURED BY THE 3RD AUSTRALIAN DIVISION 4 October 1917 It originally read "2nd Division" until corrected in the 1990s. On 4 October 1917, the area where Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery is now located was captured by the 3rd Australian Division and the New Zealand Division and two days later a cemetery for British and Canadian war dead was begun. The cemetery was recaptured by German forces on 13 April 1918 and was finally liberated by Belgian forces on 28 September. After the Armistice in November 1918, the cemetery was greatly enlarged from its original 343 graves by concentrating graves from the battlefields, smaller cemeteries nearby and from Langemark.

Captured German pillbox or 'Mebu' at Ypres 61st (2nd SM) Division moved to Ypres in July, and was put in as a fresh formation at the end of the Battle of Langemarck on 22 August. With 2/5th Gloucesters in close support behind the leading battalions, 184th Brigade made slow progress against the concrete pillboxes and machine-gun nests hidden in the farm buildings on their front. 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (OBLI) failed to take the Pond Farm strongpoint, but two platoons of D Company, 2/5th Gloucesters, and then two platoons of C Company finally succeeded in killing or capturing the whole garrison, at heavy cost to themselves. A German counter-attack temporarily recaptured Pond Farm that night, but it was easily secured next morning.

Border House and the gun pits, either side of the north-east bearing St. Julien–Winnipeg road, were captured but attempts to press on were costly failures. Parties that reached Springfield Farm disappeared and the 145th Brigade suffered The 145th Brigade consolidated on a line from the village to the gun pits, Jew Hill and Border House. At German troops massed around Triangle Farm and made an abortive counter-attack at Another counter-attack after dark was repulsed at the gun pits and at a counter-attack from Triangle Farm was defeated. The Germans in Maison du Hibou and Triangle Farm, opposite the 48th (South Midland) Division, caught the right of the 34th Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division in enfilade as it was being fired on from pillboxes to its front.

C. Sladen, H. R. Done and D. M. Watt) to expect in an attack on the strong points. In June, the 1st Tank Brigade (Colonel Christopher Baker-Carr) had been allotted to XVIII Corps, the 3rd Tank Brigade to XIX Corps and the 2nd Tank Brigade to II Corps. Maxse consulted Baker-Carr, who claimed that a tank attack could take the farms and blockhouses for half the cost in casualties, provided that there was a smoke barrage instead of artillery-fire. At meetings on 17 and 18 August, the tank and infantry commanders agreed that the tanks, seven of which had already been moved into St Julien and camouflaged, would drive forward under a smoke barrage and silence the German machine-gunners in the blockhouses and pillboxes.

Border House and the gun pits either side of the north-east bearing St Julien–Winnipeg road were captured but attempts to press on were bloodily repulsed and parties that reached Springfield Farm disappeared. The 48th (South Midland) Division consolidated on a line from the village to the gun pits, Jew Hill and Border House. At German troops massed around Triangle Farm and made an abortive counter-attack at Another counter-attack after dark was repulsed at the gun pits and at a counter-attack from Triangle Farm was repulsed. The Germans in Maison du Hibou and Triangle Farm, opposite the 48th (South Midland) Division, caught the troops on the right of the 34th Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division in enfilade as it was fired on from pillboxes to the front.

The initial estimate that one tank in two would get into action was revised to one tank in ten but those that did engage the Germans usually had considerable, if local, effect. On 22 August, four tanks attacking with II Corps on the Gheluvelt Plateau had some effect and in the XIX Corps area, 18 tanks were used in a gamble that they would find a way forward, despite the Zonnebeke–Frezenberg road having been obliterated by artillery-fire. Tanks of the 1st Brigade attacked Winnipeg, Vancouver, Bülow Farm and other pillboxes in the XVIII Corps area and several tanks lasted long enough to assist the infantry. Where tanks got into action, the psychological effect led some Germans to surrender as soon as they appeared; some prisoners said that they "felt helpless" against the tanks.

The 27th (Württemberg) Division was unimpressed by the new positions, the trenches and wire having no deep dugouts, ( shelters, pillboxes to the British) or rear defences. The 26th Reserve Division had spent the previous two weeks digging in but had made uneven progress. Over the weekend of 7–8 April, Infantry Regiment 124 (IR 124) of the 27th (Württemberg) Division took over the centre of the divisional sector in front of Riencourt from IR 180 (26th Reserve Division) three companies of I Battalion on the right (western) side, three on the left and two in reserve in the cellars under the village but these had unprotected exits, vulnerable to artillery- fire. II Battalion was in reserve in Cagnicourt but the lack of dugouts prevented the troops being organised in greater depth.

The Action on the Polderhoek Spur (3 December 1917), was a local operation in the Ypres Salient, by the British Fourth Army (renamed from the Second Army on 8 November) against the German 4th Army during the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium during the First World War. Two battalions of the 2nd New Zealand Brigade of the New Zealand Division attacked the low ridge from which German observers could view the ground from Cameron Covert to the north and the Menin road to the south-west. A New Zealand advance of on a front, would shield the area north of the Reutelbeek stream from German observers on the Gheluvelt spur further south. Heavy artillery bombarded the ruins of Polderhoek Château and the pillboxes in the grounds on as howitzers fired a wire cutting bombardment.

The diarist of the II Anzac Corps wrote that The attacking battalions had suffered about casualties but Braithwaite wanted another attack during the night, possibly a flanking manoeuvre from the Reutelbeek. German reinforcements arrived and the defenders remained alert and with the new moon up, surprise would be impossible and the attack was cancelled. Rawlinson wrote that the attack had failed because pillboxes to the south of Polderhoek Château and a trench behind them commanded the entrance of the château blockhouse; their garrisons had prevented the New Zealanders from getting inside. An after-action report by the 2nd New Zealand Brigade noted that the attackers rehearsed during the four days from on ground specially marked to resemble the spur and the German defences but that this had been insufficient.

A brief advance followed, as the Australians followed their opponents up, before they were checked by the strongly prepared defences of the Hindenburg Line. In early April, as a preliminary to the First Battle of Bullecourt, the 13th Brigade was thrown into an attack around Noreuil, during which the 49th was initially placed in brigade reserve, before putting in an attack that captured a railway cutting on the Cambrai–Arras line. Its next significant action came in June, after the AIF was transferred to the Ypres sector in Belgium, where a large salient had formed in the line. On 7 June the 49th joined the Battle of Messines where it advanced on the 13th Brigade's right, past Despagne Farm, into the Blauwepoortbeck Valley where they encountered German pillboxes for the first time.

Ward was born in Hereford, where his father, Russell Stanton Ward, ran an antiques shop and restored paintings. He was the youngest in a family of seven children, living in a flat above the shop. His father died when he was young. He was educated at St Owen's School in Hereford, and then from 1932 to 1936 at the small Hereford School of Arts and Crafts. With financial support from the Principal, Sir William Rothenstein, he won a place at the Royal College of Art in London in 1936, where he studied under Gilbert Spencer, Barnett Freedman, Percy Horton, Charles Mahoney and Alan Sorrell, winning the prize for drawing. He served in the Royal Engineers in the Second World War from 1939, and used his drawing skills to design pillboxes in Kent.

P-38 Lightning, "Spirit of Oak Ridge", 485th Fighter Squadron, at Lonray, October 1944. In September 1944, the group sent planes and pilots to England to provide cover for Operation Market-Garden, the allied airborne assault on the Netherlands and Germany. The P-38s of the group struck pillboxes and troops early in October to aid First Army's capture of Aachen, and afterward struck railroads, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels in that area. The 370th received a Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission in support of ground forces in the Hurtgen Forest area on 2 December 1944 when, despite bad weather and barrages of antiaircraft and small-arms fire, the group dropped napalm bombs on a heavily defended position in Bergstein, setting fire to the village and inflicting heavy casualties on enemy troops defending the area.

The mules fled the scene, and the explosives were divided among the soldiers, who delivered them to the bridge. It took two attempts to destroy it, as some of the explosives did not work the first time. The original bridge was built over the Lakhish River (Wadi Sukrir/Wadi Fakhira) during the Roman period, and re-built by the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century. A parallel railway bridge was added when the coastal railway (Lebanon–Egypt) was laid. After numerous armed raids in the area during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, the British authorities set up a series of pillboxes in the area, one of them next to the bridges. Egypt invaded the newly declared State of Israel on May 15, 1948.

On the morning of 30 December, after 40 minutes of airstrikes from Royal New Zealand Air Force Corsairs, who had been guided onto their targets by RAAF Boomerangs, the roughly 800-strong 25th Battalion carried out an attack supported by artillery and machine gun fire with four companies advancing across a frontage stretching across the ridge. Unbeknown to the Australians, however, the two companies from the 81st Infantry Regiment had been reinforced by men from the Japanese 38th Independent Mixed Brigade under Major General Kesao Kijima and they actually numbered 550. They had heavily fortified the ridge, establishing a series of bunkers and pillboxes between weapons pits that were linked with trenches. However, due to the steep terrain, they were only able to move three mortars onto the position, and there were no other heavy weapons.

According to ROK intelligence, the North Koreans had three known lines of defense across the peninsula, each consisting of pillboxes, gun emplacements, trenches, and barbed wire entanglements. The first line was along the 38th Parallel and was about in depth; the second line was about behind the first; the third lay farther back and was based on locally situated critical terrain features. All three lines were oriented to defend against southern approaches. North of the Parallel the UN Command expected to meet newly activated divisions that had been training in North Korea or elements of units that had engaged in the fighting around Seoul. Some intelligence sources indicated there might be as many as six divisions totalling 60,000 men in North Korean training centers. Actually, only the KPA 19th and 27th Divisions defended the Kumch'on- Namch'onjom area north of Kaesong.

Given that the Japanese captured Changsha on 18 June, just 16 days after the Chinese 10th Corps entered Hengyang, the Chinese had very limited time to prepare their defenses. In spite of this, the Chinese commander General Fang ordered a mandatory evacuation for 300,000 inhabitants of the city, and, recognising his force's inferiority in manpower and material, abandoned some pre-existing defensive positions south of the Hunan-Guangxi Railway in order to minimise the area which his force had to defend, and began to construct earthworks, trenches, pillboxes and bunkers. The Chinese created man-made cliffs of 6 meters high, and covered the place with well-placed mortar and light artillery. In the hills to the south, General Fang deployed machine guns on the summits flanking saddles, creating tight killzones over the open ground, where abatises were also deployed.

The pillboxes and military installations near the summit of Pico Alto used by stationed Portuguese military, now abandoned and in ruins The memorial dedicated to the crash of Independent Air Flight 1851 The initial formation of the Facho-Pico Alto Volcanic Complex was a phase of intense volcanism, resulting from submarine eruptions as early as 5 million years ago, resulting in the formation of Pico do Facho and extensive pillow lavas.Serralheiro (2003) Remnants of these pillow lavas can be identified above sea level, helping to increase the size of the island to roughly its current dimensions. Following these eruptions, the land receded into the sea, resulting in a period of sub-aerial volcanism that resulted in the great relief in the complex, which is associated with lahars and erosional growth. The Pico Alto complex occurred continuously between 5 and 3 million years ago.

The American ships arrived off the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao early in the morning of 10 March, and Robinson took station off Coldera Point as troops stormed ashore under the cover of a rocket barrage. During the night, she teamed with McCalla (DD-488) for gunfire support, knocking out an enemy gun emplacement and hitting enemy pillboxes inland. On the 16th, she bombarded Isabela City, Basilan Island, creating a diversion while Army troops landed at Kulibato Point to the east. Assisted by spotting aircraft, she shelled a wharf and the area of suspected enemy underground trenches. On the evening of 18 March, she responded to the request of shore fire-control parties by blasting a Japanese troop concentration of about 150 men in the Gumularang River Valley of Basilan Island, giving support to American Army and guerilla troops.

Instantly placing his one remaining machine > gun in action, he delivered a shattering fusillade and succeeded in > silencing the nearest and most threatening emplacement before his weapon > jammed and the enemy, reopening fire with knee mortars and grenades, pinned > down his unit for the second time. Shrewdly gauging the tactical situation > and evolving a daring plan of counterattack, Sergeant Cole, armed solely > with a pistol and one grenade, coolly advanced alone to the hostile > pillboxes. Hurling his one grenade at the enemy in sudden, swift attack, he > quickly withdrew, returned to his own lines for additional grenades and > again advanced, attacked, and withdrew. With enemy guns still active, he ran > the gauntlet of slashing fire a third time to complete the total destruction > of the Japanese strong point and the annihilation of the defending garrison > in this final assault.

The left brigade advanced and took Schuler Farm, Cross Cottages, Kansas, Martha, Green and Road Houses then Kansas Cross and Focker pillboxes. As the brigade reached the final objective, Riverside, Toronto and Deuce Houses were captured. A German counter-attack between and pushed back some advanced posts, which with reinforcements were regained by In the XVIII Corps area, the 58th (2/1st London) Division attacked with one brigade at In a thick mist some of the British troops lost direction and were then held up by fire from Dom Trench and a pillbox but after these were captured, the advance resumed until stopped at Dear House, Aviatik Farm and Vale House, about short of the final objective. A German counter-attack pushed the British back from Aviatik Farm and Dale House and an attempt to regain them failed.

In Manila on February 9, 1945 Cleto's platoon was ordered to initiate an offensive assault against the Paco Railroad Station that was being held by the Japanese. While crossing an open field in front of the railroad station his platoon was stopped 100 yards from the railroad station by intense Japanese gunfire. Without being ordered to do so Cleto and a fellow soldier, Private First Class John N. Reese Jr., left the platoon and continued forward under heavy Japanese gunfire until they made it to a house 60 yards from the railroad station. The two soldiers remained in their position for an hour while firing at targets of opportunity, killing 35 Japanese soldiers and wounding many others. After an hour the 2 soldiers moved forward towards the railroad station where they discovered a group of Japanese replacements attempting to reach pillboxes.

Kingston and nearby Ham became a centre of aircraft manufacturing, with the establishment in 1912 of the Sopwith Aviation Company and in 1920 of its successor H.G. Hawker Engineering, which later became Hawker Aviation and then Hawker Siddeley. "Dragons teeth" antitank obstacles by the River Wey During the Second World War a section of the GHQ Stop Line, a system of pillboxes, gun emplacements, anti-tank obstacles and other fortifications, was constructed along the North Downs. This line, running from Somerset to Yorkshire, was intended as the principal fixed defence of London and the industrial core of England against the threat of invasion. German invasion plans envisaged that the main thrust of their advance inland would cross the North Downs at the gap in the ridge formed by the Wey valley, thus colliding with the defence line around Guildford.

Type 2 Ho-I gun tank The Support Tank was a derivative of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Similar in concept to early variant of the German Panzer IV, it was designed as a self-propelled howitzer to provide the close-in fire support for standard Japanese medium tanks with additional firepower against enemy anti-tank fortifications.History of War: Type 2 Ho-I Gun Tank After experience in the war in China, Japanese planners wanted an armored vehicle with a larger weapon would be useful against fortified enemy positions, such as pillboxes. They began work on mounting a Type 41 75 mm Mountain Gun onto the chassis of the Chi-Ha medium tank. The adapted mountain gun, known as the Type 99 75 mm tank gun, was completed in 1940.

A Six-spot burnet moth, part of the Site of Special Scientific Interest around the castle A 20-foot (6 m) wide ditch was dug at the north end of the moat to prevent tanks from breaking through and following the track south past the castle, and a 545-foot by 151-foot (166 m by 46 m) wide anti-personnel minefield was laid to the south- west to prevent infantry soldiers from circumventing the castle's defences and advancing down into Craster.; After the end of the war, the barbed wire was cleared away from the beaches by local Italian prisoners of war, although the two pillboxes, the remnants of the anti-tank ditch and some of the trenches and weapons pits still remain.; In 1961, Arthur's son, Sir Ivan Sutherland, passed the estate to the National Trust.

The heavy artillery reinforcements were to be used destroy German strong points, pillboxes and machine-gun nests, which were more numerous beyond the German outpost zones already captured and to engage in more counter-battery fire. and medium and guns and howitzers were allocated to Plumer for the battle, an equivalent of one artillery piece for every of the attack front, which was more than double the proportion for the battle of Pilckem Ridge. The ammunition requirements for a seven-day bombardment before to the assault, was estimated at rounds, which created a density of fire four times greater than for the attack of 31 July. Heavy and medium howitzers were to make two layers of the creeping barrage, each deep, ahead of two field artillery belts equally deep, plus a machine-gun barrage in the middle.

De Jong (1969b), p. 224 to abandon the Peel-Raam Position immediately at the onset of a German attack and withdraw his Third Army Corps to the Linge to cover the southern flank of the Grebbe Line, leaving only a covering force behind.Amersfoort (2005), p. 100 This Waal-Linge Position was to be reinforced with pillboxes; the budget for such structures was increased with a hundred million guilders.De Jong (1969b), p. 225 After the German attack on Denmark and Norway in April 1940, when the Germans used large numbers of airborne troops, the Dutch command became worried about the possibility they too could become the victim of such a strategic assault. To repulse an attack, five infantry battalions were positioned at the main ports and airbases, such as The Hague airfield of Ypenburg and the Rotterdam airfield of Waalhaven.Amersfoort (2005), p.

He engaged in fierce > fire fights, standing in the open while his adversaries fought from the > protection of concrete emplacements, and on 1 occasion pursued enemy > soldiers across an open field and through interlocking trenches, > disregarding the crossfire from 2 pillboxes until he had penetrated the > formidable line 200 yards in advance of any American element. That night, > although terribly fatigued, he refused to rest and insisted on distributing > rations and supplies to his comrades. Hearing that a nearby company was > suffering heavy casualties, he secured permission to guide litter bearers > and assist them in evacuating the wounded. All that night he remained in the > battle area on his mercy missions, and for the following 2 days he continued > to remove casualties, venturing into enemy-held territory, scorning cover > and braving devastating mortar and artillery bombardments.

The infantry should change formation from skirmish lines to mobile company columns, equipped with a machine-gun and Stokes mortar, advancing on a narrow front, since skirmish lines were impractical in muddy crater fields and broke up under machine-gun fire. Tanks to help capture pillboxes had bogged down behind the British front-line and air support had been restricted by the weather, particularly by low cloud early on and a lack of aircraft. One aircraft per corps had been reserved for counter-attack patrol and two aircraft per division for ground attack; only eight aircraft had been available to cover the Fifth Army front and engage German counter-attacks. Signalling had failed at vital moments and deprived the infantry of artillery support, making German counter-attacks much more effective where the Germans had artillery observation.

After the action, Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. C. Fuller wrote a memorandum Minor Tank and Infantry Operations against Strong Points (23 August 1917). Fuller described conventional minor tactics, combined with the methods used by the Tank Corps that had succeeded during the battles around Ypres and influential in the adoption of the Single File Drill. In 1919, Williams-Ellis and Williams-Ellis wrote that the action was memorable and that a German officer had been found hanged by his men in one of the strongpoints and in 1931, Hubert Gough called the attack a "very successful little operation...". In 1995, J. P. Harris called the attack on the pillboxes "One brilliant little feat of arms....", which justified the decision made by Haig, to keep some tanks in Flanders, even after the heavy rains began in August.

At the Battle of Langemarck, XIV Corps and the French I Corps in the north had overrun the and XVIII Corps, to their right, captured Langemarck and a short stretch of the east of the village. On the rest of the corps front and on the XIX Corps and II Corps fronts further south, most captured ground had been lost to German counter-attacks. Dispersed German strong points, fortified farms and pillboxes in the (main battle zone), the area between the and the , were greater in number than in the (battle zone) between the original front line and the . German artillery had concentrated on cutting off the leading British troops from their supports by bombarding the British front line and its approach routes, causing casualties and delays to the delivery of supplies and troops following up the advance.

An abandoned SU-152 assault gun inspected by German troops, Soviet Union, 1943 Although not designed for the role, the SU-152 proved to be a cheap, widely produced and effective heavy tank killer, second only to the SU-100 as an antitank vehicle, as well as highly successful at its original role against infantry and fortifications. In combat, it was used for two distinct purposes: long-range artillery fire support during assaults by suppressing infantry and destroying pillboxes and AT guns, and as ersatz heavy tank destroyers (usually in ambush). The SU-152 was produced in large numbers throughout 1943, with the first SU-152s being issued to new heavy mechanized gun regiments raised in May 1943. The first regiment arrived at Kursk with only twelve guns, and was brought up to its full strength of twenty-one guns during the fighting.

There was a morning mist and the troops had to steer by compass bearings over the devastated ground; they then found that despite the dry weather the Zonnebeke stream (not expected to be much of an obstacle) was swollen into a wide marsh. To get round the inundation the battalion had to move to the flank, opening up a gap to the 2nd Royal Scots on their right. Nevertheless, and despite resistance from a number of pillboxes, the battalion was on its objective (the Red Line) by 07.00, having captured a number of prisoners, while four Corporals had each captured a machine gun single-handed. The 1st RSF and 7th KSLI now leapfrogged past the 8th EYR and 2nd Royal Scots to advance towards the second objective (the Blue Line) by 10.00 (they did not quite achieve the final objective, Hill 40).

Starting from the 1920s due to increasing tension across Asia and Europe in anticipation for war, the British starting building up its military presence at the area and this included the construction of military barracks and the infamous Changi Hospital, with Chinese and Indian labourers brought in from the city. Defences along Changi's southern coast were also beefed up with the construction of machine-gun pillboxes in anticipation of the Imperial Japanese Army arrival by sea. Construction was briefly halted during the Great Depression but was subsequently resumed as these structures were considered vital for the defence of Singapore. During World War II (WWII), the area saw mass mobilisation of Allied troops in anticipation of a Japanese invasion from the north-eastern coasts of Singapore as the Japanese had moved to capture the neighbouring Pulau Ubin from Malaysia.

The prudence in assembling troops in the support line was justified, because some shells from the creeping barrage dropped short and caused many casualties as the New Zealanders moved into the open, especially in the left company of the 1st Otago Battalion. The German infantry and machine-gunners were not under cover, despite the regular heavy artillery bombardments before midday and as soon as the New Zealand artillery opened fire, the German machine-gunners replied from the pillboxes near the château and from Gheluvelt Ridge. German artillery bombarded the duck-board track near Veldhoek but the narrowness of no man's land, which had limited the IX Corps heavy bombardment, also prevented the Germans from bombarding the New Zealand assembly positions. The first New Zealand wave pressed on into a wilderness of tree stumps, where the German wire was found to be well cut.

The party then advanced into Passchendaele village before German troops rallied and re-occupied the pillbox. Small groups from the 12th Brigade got across the Keiberg spur but suffered many casualties and the brigade repulsed two German counter-attacks between and An attempt was made to use the reserve battalion of the 9th Brigade to outflank the Bellevue pillboxes, combined with a new attack by the New Zealand Division around The attack was eventually cancelled, as the 9th (Scottish) Division to the north and the 3rd Australian Division to the south were forced back by the fire of the Bellevue machine-guns. The artillery bombardment went ahead, dropping on some New Zealand positions but also dispersing two German parties massing for a counter-attack. By the 10th Brigade had filtered back to its start-line, due to fire from the Bellevue Spur.

The engineers spent the Phoney War period working on defensive positions. 223 Field Park Co with Force X was building reinforced concrete pillboxes along the Franco-Belgian frontier. I CTRE attached 221 Fd Co to 1st Division as an additional field company. Its role on the outbreak of hostilities, in conjunction with 1st Division's bridging section, was to open the road from Tournai to Brussels and maintain an important canal crossing. When the German offensive in the west opened on 10 May 1940, the BEF abandoned the frontier defences and advanced into Belgium in accordance with 'Plan D'. 221 Field Co found itself in the lead, advancing ahead of the scouting armoured cars. Similarly 222 Field Co had been assigned by II CTRE to assist 3rd Division and went forward to blow the Dyle bridges round Louvain.Edwards, pp. 154–61.Edwards, pp. 126, 169.

As an interim measure, Maj. Gen. Swing ordered his subordinates to develop a plan that could be implemented at the earliest possible moment, a task that was headed by his G-2 Colonel Henry Muller. Then on 18 February, the 1st Battalion, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under Major Henry Burgess, the main unit assigned to carry out the mission, was pulled out from its battlefield position on the so-called Genko Line, a fortified system of interlocking pillboxes and anti-tank fortifications running along the southern Manila district of Las Piñas and proceeded to Parañaque district to rest and regroup. By 20 February 1945, the conditions on Luzon turned favorable, such that the various elements could be withdrawn from combat and apprised of their mission. They were ordered to their staging posts and readied to go, with the raid scheduled for 07:00 on 23 February.

Apart from the two slightly different versions of the Char D2, and its Char D3 sister project, which resulted in just a single prototype, there were two important technological projects related to the type. The first was the design of a flamethrower tank. This was not originally motivated by a desire to acquire a weapon able to destroy enemy pillboxes, the normal function of such systems, but inspired by the experience gained during the Spanish Civil War that tanks were quite vulnerable to attacks by portable flamethrowers. From this, it was deduced that an entire flamethrower tank, supporting an entrenched position strengthened by antitank-obstacles, should present a most formidable defensive arm against enemy armour. From 1938, the state Atelier de Rueil, in cooperation with the Chaubeyre factory, constructed a single prototype from one of the original series of fifty, that was finished on 5 December 1939.

At the British barrage fell and appeared dense and accurate; in the 34th Division area, the composite Northumberland battalion captured Requette Farm about forward and the rest of the battalion closed up to the objective as far as Rubens Farm. The 15th Royal Scots advanced on a two-company front from Gravel Farm and Turenne Crossing on the Ypres–Staden railway, towards the first objective away, near huts along by the Vijfwegen road and the Broenbeek. The two support companies waited at Taube Farm, back and the attacking battalions were hit by machine-gun fire from several directions, particularly from pillboxes on the north bank of the Broenbeek. German artillery-fire began after ten minutes but only a few shells landed near the attackers, sending up water spouts but Taube Farm was hit accurately and half of the two support companies were unable to move forward.

On 26 September the 4th and 5th Divisions, which had been attached to I ANZAC for the fighting around Polygon Wood carried out a successful attack in which they managed to capture both Polygon Wood and parts of Zonnebeke. A German artillery piece captured by the Australian 4th Battalion during the battle of Broodseinde Later, on 4 October both I ANZAC and II ANZAC were involved in an attack on the Broodseinde ridge, with the four ANZAC divisions—1st, 2nd in I ANZAC and 3rd and New Zealand in II ANZAC—serving in the line alongside each other for the first time. After suffering from a heavy German artillery attack, I ANZAC launched an attack to capture pillboxes that dominated the ridge. As the Australian divisions left their trenches they were confronted by a force of Germans in no man's land who were carrying out an attack of their own.

In this effort, the division was tasked with attacking the Oosttaverne Line late in the day. Enduring shelling by their own guns, and coming up against German pillboxes for the first time, the division took heavy casualties, but managed to secure all but a small part of the line where the Australian sector joined the neighbouring British sector. Troops from the 4th Division with respirators near Zonnebeke, September 1917 Following the Battle of Messines, the division remained in the line around the town. On 2 July, the divisional commander, Holmes, was fatally wounded by a stray shell while escorting the New South Wales premier, William Holman, around the battlefield at Messines. Holmes was replaced temporarily by Brigadier General Charles Rosenthal until a new permanent commander could arrive, in the form of Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan, who took over the division on 16 July 1917.

During this time the pace of fire was to slacken to one round per-gun per-minute, allowing the gun-crews a respite, before resuming full intensity as the barrage moved on. The heavy and super-heavy artillery was to fire on German artillery positions and rear areas and were to fire a barrage over the heads of the advancing troops. In the week up to 7 June, and howitzers bombarded the German trenches, cut wire, destroyed strong-points and conducted counter-battery fire against the guns opposite, using The intensity of bombardment in the salient began to increase on 8 May, wire cutting began on 21 May and an extra two days were added to the bombardment for more counter-battery fire. The general bombardment intensified again from 23 May, smashing the German breastworks in the first position and the pillboxes on the forward slope.

Heavily depleted, with a frontage of just 242 men, they fought around Augustus Wood, where the Germans had established many pillboxes before heavy rain washed away any hope of an Allied breakthrough. The following year, as the Germans launched a major offensive on the Western Front, they were thrust into the line in a desperate attempt to hold the line in front of the vital railhead of Amiens. There, the 33rd took part in heavy fighting when the Australians counter-attacked at Hangard Wood on 30 March, before finally turning back the German attack on Villers-Bretonneux on 4 April. At the end of the month, the battalion amalgamated with the 36th Battalion, as part of a general re-organisation of the AIF necessitated by heavy casualties and falling recruitment, which saw the disbandment of three battalions – the 36th, 47th and 52nd – in order to reinforce others.

The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and the 58th Division troops were caught by German artillery fire at their jumping-off line and made only slight progress, in deep mud, against German machine-gun fire, leaving the Canadian flank open at Source Farm and Vapour Farm. Two Royal Naval companies later advanced through the Canadian sector to capture Source Trench but were only able to reinforce the Canadian outpost at Source Farm and form a defensive flank to Vapour Farm. In the centre, the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade advanced between Ravebeek creek and the roadway to Meetcheele; one section of the brigade captured its intermediate objective, a pillbox known as Duck Lodge, by To the west of the roadway and Meetcheele, the advance captured Furst Farm, albeit with heavy casualties. Later in the afternoon, the brigade overcame several pillboxes and captured the crossroads at Meetcheele.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Graham led his battalion overseas to France, arriving there in mid-September as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).Mead, p. 184 Unlike in the First World War, there was no immediate action and the first few months of the "Phoney War" (as this period of time was to become known) were, for the BEF, spent building defensive positions, such as trenches and pillboxes, in expectation of a repeat of the trench warfare of 1914–1918. However, the battalion, along with the rest of the brigade (which was sent to France as an independent formation as the 5th Division was not fully formed by the outbreak of war), were mainly spared these duties, although they were assigned the role of guard duties in the BEF's rear areas, with almost no time devoted to training.

On 16 August, the British had tried to capture the but in the XVIII Corps area, the British artillery failed to destroy many pillboxes and fortified farms in the or to suppress the German artillery, which inflicted 81 percent of the wounds suffered by the infantry of the 11th (Northern) Division. The 11th (Northern) Division had captured most of its objectives but the 48th (South Midland) Division on the right barely advanced . After 16 August, the Germans increased the size of regimental sectors to enable even more dispersal and divided the field artillery, one part to be kept hidden and used only during big attacks. The Germans occupied the higher ground and their observation posts could direct the fire of the artillery with greater accuracy than the British observers, who were on the wrong side of the spurs running northwards from the Gheluvelt Plateau.

Shells and all manner of equipment lay around and the II Anzac Corps sent reserve units systematically to salvage equipment. At the beginning of December, the right flank of the New Zealand Division lay on a small rise at the lip of the plateau, at the high Jericho pillbox, beyond which the ground declined to the Scherriabeek. The left flank was at Joppa, a German shelter in the cellar of a demolished house, behind which the ground fell gradually towards a crater field containing the Veldhoek pillboxes. A duckboard track ran through Veldhoek, past the Tower pillbox and up the slopes of the main ridge to the Menin road, which lay almost unrecognisable to the south, diagonal from the New Zealand front line to Gheluvelt and at Veldhoek it was away but on the New Zealand front was on the west side of the Scherriabeek valley, about distant.

The two battalions on the 54th Brigade front captured their objectives with fewer losses and occupied the pillboxes either side of FitzClarence Farm and along the track through Glencorse Wood, from which they repulsed the German . The troops remained isolated by the German box barrage and needed reinforcements as their casualties increased during the day. The other two battalions of the brigade had held the front line for the last ten days and were exhausted but when the brigade commander asked for the 53rd Brigade to move closer at Lee refused, to avoid crowding the area under bombardment, keeping the brigade available to take over the front line for the night. The brigade moved forward at and the first two battalions only closed up to Sanctuary Wood around German infantry moved into Polygon Wood and Nonne Bosschen and around a hurricane bombardment fell on Glencorse Wood.

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division Place and date: Near Kimnyangjang-ni 김냥장리 (a small hamlet east of Suwon), Korea, January 30, 1951 Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Birth: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 2, January 8, 1952. Citation: > 1st Lt. McGovern, a member of Company A, distinguished himself by > conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond > the call of duty in action against an armed enemy of the United Nations. As > 1st Lt. McGovern led his platoon up a slope to engage hostile troops > entrenched in bunker-type pillboxes with connecting trenches, the unit came > under heavy machine gun and rifle fire from the crest of the hill, > approximately 75 yards distant. Despite a wound sustained in this initial > burst of withering fire, 1st Lt. McGovern, assured the men of his ability to > continue on and urged them forward.

Preserved trenches at Sanctuary Wood Museum Hill 62: when 12th Gloucesters were stationed here it was 'an unimaginably foul and miserable place'. There were no trees left and the battalion was sheltering in shell craters and dugouts.Grist, p. 213. The battered battalions were slowly built up to strength and trained hard, but 12th Gloucesters did not see major action again until the latter stages of the Third Ypres Offensive. 5th Division moved into X Corps' area on the night of 2/3 October during the Battle of Polygon Wood, then attacked on 4 October (the Battle of Broodseinde). Launched at 06.00, 95th Brigade advanced with the help of a tank to deal with German pillboxes. 12th Gloucesters had been in reserve to the attacking battalion, 1st East Surreys, and moved three companies up into the Surreys' forming-up trenches 40 minutes after Zero hour, where they suffered badly from the German counter- barrage. Later in the morning C Company was sent up to help 1st Devons.

In Red Army service the Br-5 mortars were intended for the destruction of particularly strong concrete, reinforced concrete or armoured structures. The Br-5 mortar's combat debut occurred in Finland during the Winter War in November 1939. Four Br-5 mortars were deployed to Finland with the 40th Separate Artillery Battalion, where they were used to destroy heavily armoured bunkers and pillboxes during the battles along the Mannerheim Line. Br-5 mortars fired a total of 414 shells during the Winter War, the extraordinary defences faced can be seen in the assault on Pillbox #0031, which fell only after 116 Br-5 mortar shells as well as 1,043 203 mm B-4 howitzer shells were fired at it from point blank range. Pillbox #0011 continued to resist after a combined 203 mm and 280 mm onslaught of 1,322 shells were fired at it.Victor Suvorov, The chief culprit: Stalin’s grand design to start World War II, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2008, .

It was the first such citation to be awarded to an American unit by the provisional French government in World War II.Tannehill The unit also received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a mission on 12 May 1944 when, in the face of an intense antiaircraft barrage, the group bombed enemy troop concentrations near Fondi in support of the U.S. Fifth Army's advance toward Rome. From June to November 1944 operations included interdictory missions in the Po Valley, support for the invasion of Southern France and attacks on enemy communications in northern Italy. The 320th was then moved to France in November 1944 and bombed bridges, rail lines, gun positions, barracks, supply points, ammunition dumps, and other targets in France and Germany until V-E Day. The group received a second DUC for operations on 15 March 1945 when the group bombed pillboxes, trenches, weapon pits, and roads within the Siegfried Line to enable a breakthrough by the Seventh United States Army.

As a result of faulty intelligence, which underestimated the size of the Japanese force in the area, the assault force chosen by the Allied commanders consisted of only a single Australian infantry brigade – the 20th.. Meanwhile, the 7th Division would move north-west from Lae in a separate campaign, advancing through the Markham and Ramu Valleys towards the Finisterre Range.. After a short period of preparation, the 20th Brigade's landing took place on 22 September 1943. It was the first opposed amphibious landing that Australian forces had made since Gallipoli.. Navigational errors resulted in the troops being landed on the wrong beaches, with some of them coming ashore at Siki Cove and taking heavy fire from the strong Japanese defences in pillboxes and behind obstacles. After re- organising on the beach, the Australians pushed inland. The Japanese put up stiff resistance around the high ground at Katika, but were eventually forced back.

The men returning from Dunkirk were scattered all over England, but 59th Med Rgt soon concentrated at Larkhill and then moved to Wimborne Minster to dig defences and prepare to defend the town with just 40 rifles and three hired trucks. On 5 July the regiment left to take up home defence roles in Eastern Command, RHQ and 235 Bty at Great Dunmow under XI Corps and 236 Bty at Whittlesford under II Corps. By September, RHQ was at Leiston under 55th (West Lancashire) Division and the batteries were deployed with 235 in defences between Lowestoft and Felixstowe and 236 in the GHQ Line of pillboxes along the Rivers Cam and Ouse, a front of to a depth of by . It was equipped with a variety of obsolete equipment including 4-inch naval guns, 6-pounder naval guns cut down for service in World War I tanks, 6-inch mortars and Lewis guns.

The Officers' Mess (Astra House), Officers' Quarters (Astra Court East, West & North) and WO Quarters (89–99 (odd numbers) Wood Lane) are included in the RAF Hornchurch Conservation Area. A local school, The R. J. Mitchell School, was named after the man who designed the Spitfire, and a large monument to this effect, with wreaths placed on Remembrance Day, is within the school railings. Another local school (Suttons School) was renamed Sanders Draper School in 1973, after an American pilot, Flying Officer Raimund (Smudge) Sanders Draper, flying with the Royal Air Force at the time, had an engine failure on take-off and stayed at his controls to ensure his aircraft didn't crash on the building, which was full of children at the time. A number of pillboxes, command bunkers and gun positions, together with the largest number of surviving Tett Turrets in England, still exist within the boundaries of the former airfield and can be seen on the Eastern edge of the country park.

Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb, simultaneously invading Belgium and France through the Ardennes. In the north, German forces rapidly advanced past two thin Dutch defensive lines parallel to the border, stretching across the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen, before further advancing into western Friesland. On 12 May, the German 1st Cavalry Division—later regrouped into the 24th Panzer Division—had captured the last line of Dutch defences lying in front of the Afsluitdijk, and began preparing an assault on two defensive lines comprising 17 pillboxes and casemates around Fort Kornwerderzand, designed to withstand direct hits by 210 mm rounds and indirect hits by 280 mm rounds. Its three main casemates were made of of reinforced concrete and sheltered 230 men, twenty-one 7.92 mm Schwarzlose machine guns, three 50 mm guns, and a 50 mm shore-based naval gun, with similar defences at the Afsluitdijk's other end.

Cole was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented to his widow on April 17, 1947. The citation reads as follows. > For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and > beyond the call of duty while serving as Leader of a Machine-gun Section of > Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-Third Marines, Fourth Marine Division, in > action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault on Iwo Jima in the > Volcano Islands, 19 February 1945. Assailed by a tremendous volume of small- > arms, mortar and artillery fire as he advanced with one squad of his section > in the initial assault wave, Sergeant Cole boldly led his men up the sloping > beach toward Airfield Number One despite the blanketing curtain of flying > shrapnel and, personally destroying with hand grenades two hostile > emplacements which menaced the progress of his unit, continued to move > forward until a merciless barrage of fire emanating from three Japanese > pillboxes halted the advance.

Finally, there was a row of metal obstacles, including 'hedgehogs', made of steel rails. Although the Germans had attached mines to many of the obstacles, few of them were waterproofed, and corrosion had long since taken its toll of many of the explosive devices. By June 1944, many of the coastal strongpoints in their sector were still being manned by personnel from the 726th Infantry Regiment, of the neighboring 716th Division. As a tradeoff, one infantry battalion from the 352nd Division was placed under the command of the 716th Division to help shore up their defenses. In the 'Bayeux zone', 914th regiment was stationed in the west, 916th regiment was stationed in the east, while 915th regiment was in reserve to the south. The soldiers of the 916th and 726th Regiments occupied slit trenches, eight concrete bunkers, 35 pillboxes, six mortar pits, sites for 35 Nebelwerfer, (multi-barrel rocket launchers) and 85 machine-gun nests.

After crossing the flooded Broembeek at its confluence with the Steenbeek near St Jean, just before the point where the Steenbeek becomes the St Jansbeek, through a wide and shallow depression filled with mud, the 2nd Division captured the villages of St Jean, Veldhoek and Mangelaere on the outskirts of the forest and drove back the Germans from several fortified farms and pillboxes. The average depth of the advance was and was accomplished in four hours, despite the ground conditions, with fewer than I Corps took Despite rain, low cloud and high winds, French airmen had flown low, strafed German infantry and carried out tactical reconnaissance. On the right of the French, the Guards Division co-operated in the capture of Koekuit, having also crossed the mud of the Broembeek. German counter-attacks recovered a strongpoint at the north end of the French attack front, until expelled in by a local counter-attack.

Artillery not needed for counter-battery fire was to put standing barrages on the most dangerous German positions, like and and German assembly areas in the dips behind Zonnebeke and Gravenstafel. The 9th (Scottish) Division and the 55th (West Lancashire) Division of V Corps were to attack on fronts of over ground held by the right of the German 121st Division and the 2nd Guards Reserve Division, which had also changed hands twice in August. The large numbers of strong points, pillboxes and fortified farms east of the Hanebeek and Steenbeek streams were mostly intact, despite numerous attempts to smash them with artillery fire. The artillery brought to the Ypres salient in September went to the Second Army so the Fifth Army adopted a new infantry formation, where moppers-up were reorganised into small groups of up to half a platoon, moving with the leading assault waves, to capture specific strong-points and then garrison them.

When the artillery fire moved beyond the wood it was rushed from both directions and captured with fifty prisoners and four machine-guns. The South African Brigade on the left did the same thing at Borry Farm. In the mist, the strong points were easily overrun except for four pillboxes around Potsdam House, which were eventually attacked on three sides and captured, after inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers. Delays caused by machine-gun nests dug in along the Ypres–Roulers railway did not stop the division reaching the first objective as the barrage began to creep forward again at At when the 9th (Scottish) Division began the advance to the final objective, the right hand brigade found only minor opposition. The South African Brigade on the left was badly hit by German machine-gun fire from Hill 37, as delays to the 55th (West Lancashire) Division meant that it was well short of the hill.

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to SERGEANT GRANT F. TIMMERMAN UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS for service as set forth in the following CITATION: > For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and > beyond the call of duty as Tank Commander serving with the Second Battalion, > Sixth Marines, Second Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese > forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, on 8 July 1944. Advancing with his tank > a few yards ahead of the infantry in support of a vigorous attack on hostile > positions, Sergeant Timmerman maintained steady fire from his antiaircraft > sky mount machine gun until progress was impeded by a series of enemy > trenches and pillboxes. Observing a target of opportunity, he immediately > ordered the tank stopped and, mindful of the danger from the muzzle blast as > he prepared to open fire with the 75-mm., fearlessly stood up in the exposed > turret and ordered the infantry to hit the deck.

The Taunton Stop Line ran north–south for nearly through Somerset, Dorset and Devon, roughly from Axminster to Chard along the River Axe, then along the Great Western Railway to Ilminster, the railway and Chard Canal to Taunton, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal to Bridgwater, and the River Parrett to the coast near Highbridge. Highbridge was also the starting point for the east–west GHQ Line. Aside from the obstacles created by canals, rivers and railway embankments, by early 1942 the line was defended by 309 light machine gun pillboxes, (typically for the Bren gun), 61 medium machine gun emplacements (typically for the Vickers machine gun), 21 static anti-tank gun emplacements (equipped with ex-World War I naval six-pound guns), along with numerous anti-tank obstacles in the form of concrete posts, cubes and pyramids, while charge chambers were cut into bridges ready for demolition. Other armaments used included Boys Anti-tank Rifle and mobile QF 2 pounder guns.

German machine- gunners in their strong points, pillboxes and fortified farms had severely depleted the British infantry as they advanced, even though German artillery could not bombard the area for fear of hitting their infantry. Once the II Corps attack on the Gheluvelt Plateau had been repulsed, the defenders were free to fire on the British in the Steenbeek valley north of the Ypres–Roulers railway, sweeping them with machine-gun fire in enfilade from their right (southern) flank. On 17 August, the fresh 15th (Scottish) Division and the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division (the second line Territorial Force duplicate of the 48th [South Midland] Division) relieved the 16th (Irish) Division and the 36th (Ulster) Division in the XIX Corps area. In the XVIII Corps area further north, the 48th (South Midland) Division (Major-General Robert Fanshawe) had been in the line since 4 August and the 11th (Northern) Division (Major-General Henry Davies) since 7 August but had to remain.

Platoons and sections had all been given geographical objectives, such as pillboxes and emplacements and as these were outflanked and captured, were taken prisoner. Small parties then moved across the Stroombeek valley northwards to the left flank of the division and swept the valley with machine-gun fire from outposts, protecting the right flank of the 51st Highland Division around Quebec and Delta Farms; the 173rd Brigade then advanced to the summit of the ridge. Two tanks supported the attack by the 58th (2/1st London) Division, E.17 (Exterminator) and E.3 (Eclipse) of E battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade. The 55th Division on the right flank and a party of the 58th (2/1st London) Division attacked the Germans at the Schuler Galleries on the divisional boundary but the tanks bogged and the infantry were pinned down by machine-gun fire; the galleries were eventually captured by the 55th Division, later in the day.

One possible explanation is that Saddam ordered his Republican Guard units to preserve their strength, while sending the rest of the army, equipped with inferior Type 69 tanks, to the frontline. According to battle reports from the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Type 69-QMs were used by the Iraqi Army units defending Nasiriyah in March 2003, most of them being employed as artillery pillboxes.. They played an important role in the ambushes mounted against the US Army 507th Maintenance Company and Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, before AH-1 Cobra helicopters wiped out the Iraqi tanks. Two Type 69s destroyed at least four vehicles of the 507th, among them a heavy truck rammed by one of the tanks.. There is also a first hand account of about four Type 69s hidden behind some buildings, pounding the Marines' Charlie Company with indirect fire and likely disabling several AAVs.Zeigler, Martin (2006).

Map of Ringways 3 & 4 showing sections combined to form the M25 The idea of a general bypass around London was first proposed early in the 20th century. An outer orbital route around the capital had been suggested in 1913, and was re- examined as a motorway route in Sir Charles Bressey's and Sir Edwin Lutyens' The Highway Development Survey, 1937. Sir Patrick Abercrombie's County of London Plan, 1943 and Greater London Plan, 1944 proposed a series of five roads encircling the capital. The northern sections of the M25 follow a similar route to the Outer London Defence Ring, a concentric series of anti- tank defences and pillboxes designed to slow down a potential German invasion of the capital during World War II. This was marked as the D Ring on Abercombie's plans. Following the war, 11 separate county councils told the Ministry of Transport that an orbital route was "first priority" for London.

Many of the German pillboxes were still undamaged, especially those at the south-west and north-west angles of Inverness Copse but the , about deep, was easily overrun by the British troops following the creeping barrage, which began at The ground was full of flooded shell holes and in Glencorse Wood smashed trees rested on oozing mud. The defenders of Reserve Infantry Regiment 239 were capable of little resistance and many surrendered. The attacking battalion of the 55th Brigade that had advanced to the east side of Inverness Copse was vulnerable to attack from the south, because the right hand company, which had to form a defensive flank along the southern edge, had been stopped on its jumping-off line by machine- gun fire from a strongpoint at the south-west corner of the Copse. In the moonlight at German sentries had seen the company and its support company crossing Stirling Castle Ridge to the start line.

The IDF possesses various foreign and domestically produced weapons and computer systems. Some gear comes from the US (with some equipment modified for IDF use) such as the M4A1 and M16 assault rifles, the M24 SWS 7.62 mm bolt action sniper rifle, the SR-25 7.62 mm semi-automatic sniper rifle, the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets, and the AH-1 Cobra and AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. Israel has also developed its own independent weapons industry, which has developed weapons and vehicles such as the Merkava battle tank series, Nesher and Kfir fighter aircraft, and various small arms such as the Galil and Tavor assault rifles, and the Uzi submachine gun. Israel has also installed a variant of the Samson RCWS, a remote controlled weapons platform, which can include machine guns, grenade launchers, and anti-tank missiles on a remotely operated turret, in pillboxes along the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier intended to prevent Palestinian militants from entering its territory.

Front line after Battle of Langemarck, 16–18 August 1917 On 7 August the 59th brigade was tasked with establishing a series of post of the eastern bank of the Steenbeek, as the 11th (Northern) Division to the right and the 29th Division to the left had already done. This was complicated on the 20th Division front by the marshy nature of the ground on both sides of the stream and a German strong point at Au Bon Gite, east of the stream on the Langemarck road. Initial attempts by two companies of the 11th K.R.R.C. made on 8 August failed, as did another with two companies of the 10th K.R.R.C. given artillery support on 11 August, a third attack on 14 August by six companies of 10th and 11th R.B. reached the Au Bon Gite pillboxes, but could not take the largest of them and were forced back by a counterattack with heavy casualties of over 210 officers and men. A fourth attempt on 15 August was cancelled and the ground gained was deemed sufficient for forming up for the forthcoming attack.

GHQ Line ran East from the Bristol area, much of it along the Kennet and Avon canal; it turned south at Reading and wrapped round London passing just south of Aldershot and Guildford; and then headed north through Essex and towards Edinburgh. Inside the GHQ Line there were complete rings of defences, the Outer (Line A), Central (Line B) and Inner (Line C) London Defence Rings. In the city the Cabinet War Rooms and the Admiralty Citadel were built to protect command and control centres, and a series of deep-level shelters prepared, as refuge for the general population against bombing. In June 1940 under the direction of General Edmund Ironside, concentric rings of anti-tank defences and pillboxes were constructed: The London Inner Keep, London Stop Line Inner (Line C), London Stop Line Central (Line B) and London Stop Line Outer (Line A). Work on these lines was halted weeks later by Ironside's successor, General Alan Brooke,Alanbrooke, Field Marshal Lord (edited by Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman) (2001).

Following the victories of the Holy League at the Battle of Vienna and the Habsburg victory at the second Battle of Mohács the city of Arad has been freed from Ottoman rule. After the Treaty of Karlowitz, the entire city of Arad was on the border region of the Habsburg Empire and so, of critical importance for the Viennese Court as it became a focal point of the Military Frontier administration until 1751. The strategic placement of the city determined Prince Eugene of Savoy, to rebuild and improve the former rectangular Turkish built fortress, on the right bank of the river, but after consultations with the Empress, the decision was made not to rebuild the old fortress, but to erect a new and vastly improved fortified complex on the peninsula lying just south of the city. The project was made after the plans of the Austrian general and architect Ferdinand Philipp von Harsch, having the form of a star with six corners, built with three rows of underground pillboxes and several trenches, which in the past could have been flooded.

Emu Bay has the foundations of four separate groups of buildings, remnant plantings and isolated Norfolk pines on high points of the island. No archaeological remains have yet been located at Station Bay where the remaining farm settlement is known to have been located. The military structures on Motutapu comprise a largely intact World War II landscape including: the main 6-inch gun emplacement with three gun pits, underground magazines, shelters and stores; the battery observation post, engine and radar rooms; the Emu observation post and engine room for the anti-submarine defences; the ground-level plotting complex with miniature range, plotting and generator rooms; the underground plotting complex with command exchange, radio, plotting generator, battery and fuel rooms, as well as access tunnels and corridors; the search light emplacements and directing station; personnel camps at Administration Bay and the battery; the US Navy magazines north of the causeway and store at Home Bay, and numerous pillboxes to protect the battery from a commando assault. The landscape also includes a number of roads, wharves and quarries.

British soldiers destroyed the Ba'ath Party headquarters and battled Iraqi soldiers and Fedayeen fighters mainly in fortified houses and pillboxes, but lost three killed (Privates Christopher Muzvuru and Kelan Turrington and Lance-Corporal Ian Malone) in the process."On April 6, British forces moved into Basra, destroying Ba'ath Party headquarters and battling the last paramilitary fighters, losing three soldiers." Operation Iraqi Freedom, Marc Kusnetz, p. 182, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2003Rossiter, Mike, Target Basra, Corgi, 2009 , p.322 It soon became obvious that the Iraqi defences were falling apart as Iraqi forces abandoned their positions, the brigade fought more than 300 militia at the College of Literature for 3 hours, eventually securing it, breaking the back of the Fedayeen resistance in Basra Also on the 6 April, 42 Commando supported by a squadron of Challenger IIs from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards assaulted the city from the south, they took the Iraqis by surprise, M company secured 5 bridges in the city whilst the Fedayeen fled into the city.

Williams' Medal of Honor citation reads: alt=A light blue neck ribbon with a gold star shaped medallion hanging from it. The ribbon is similar in shape to a bowtie with 13 white stars in the center of the ribbon. The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to CORPORAL HERSHEL W. WILLIAMS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE ::for service as set forth in the following ::CITATION: > For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and > beyond the call of duty as Demolition Sergeant serving with the First > Battalion, Twenty-First Marines, Third Marine Division, in action against > enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Island, 23 February 1945. Quick > to volunteer his services when our tanks were maneuvering vainly to open a > lane for the infantry through the network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, > buried mines and black, volcanic sands, Corporal Williams daringly went > forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machine-gun fire from > the unyielding positions.

Thus, hardly had the American combat command begun to move early on 20 March to exploit the 63rd Division's penetration when the 45th Division of the XV Corps also advanced past the last pillboxes of the Siegfried Line near Zweibrücken. During the night of the 20th, the rest of the SS korps also began to pull back, and the momentum of the 3rd Division's advance picked up accordingly. The German problem was to get the survivors of both the LXXXV Korps and the XIII SS Korps through the Pfaelzer Forest despite three dire threats: one from the closely following troops of the U.S. Seventh Army; another from the 10th Armored Division of Walker's XX Corps, which at Kaiserslautern was in a position to swing south and southeast through the Pfaelzer Forest and cut the escape routes; and a third from the Argus-eyed fighter bombers of the XII Tactical Air Command. It was the last that was most apparent to the rank and file of the retreating Germans.

Dispersed and camouflaged German defences, using shell-hole positions, pillboxes and with much of the German infantry held back for counter-attacks, meant that as British units advanced, they became weaker and disorganised by losses, fatigue, poor visibility and the channelling effect of waterlogged ground, they met more and fresher German defenders. The German defensive system had been more effective in the unusually rainy weather in August, making movement much more difficult and forcing the British to keep to duckboard tracks, easy to identify and bombard. Objectives were chosen to provide the British infantry with good positions from which to face German counter-attacks, rather than to advance with unlimited objectives. The Fifth Army had set objectives much closer than after 31 July and the Second Army methods of September were based on SS 144 The Normal Formation for the Attack (February 1917), reflecting the experience of the fighting in August and to exploit opportunities made possible by the reinforcement of the Flanders front with another before 20 September.

On Passchendaele Ridge and the Wallemolen Spur, inadequate artillery support, the German pillboxes and extensive uncut barbed wire of the (Flanders I Position), rain, mud, shell-hole machine-gun nests and counter-attacks, led the attackers being forced back towards their start lines. The brigades from the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division and 49th (West Riding) Division of the II Anzac Corps began the attack exhausted from the conditions of the approach march and some units had not arrived when the attack began, although on the right of the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, German troops surrendered readily to the depleted British battalions. In I Anzac Corps, the Australian divisions were understrength after the attack of 4 October and the strain of holding the front until the attack. From 30 September to 14 October, BEF shell consumption (most being fired at Ypres) fell from 2.5 million – 1.6 million by the field artillery, shells by the medium artillery and by the heavy artillery, although German accounts mention "heavy", "indescribably heavy" and "drumfire" bombardments.

Aerial photography was carried out by Walter de Aitchison for the Ordnance Survey. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, concerns grew in the British government about the threat of German invasion along the east coast of England. The bays just to the north of Dunstanburgh Castle were vulnerable targets for an enemy amphibious landing, and efforts were made to fortify the castle and the surrounding area in 1940, as part of a wider line of defences erected by Sir Edmund Ironside.; The castle itself was occupied by a unit of the Royal Armoured Corps, who served as observers; the soldiers appear to have relied on the stone walls for protection rather than trenches, and, unusually, no additional firing points were cut out of the stonework, as typically happened elsewhere.; The surrounding beaches were defended with lines of barbed wire, slit trenches and square weapons pits, reinforced by concrete pillboxes to the north and south of the castle, at least partially laid down by the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment.

In 1940 Wrighton of Walthamstow took over Sansom's garage opposite the Chilcote Memorial; up to 300 people worked there manufacturing aircraft parts (including for the Short Sunderland flying- boat) for the war effort. After the Fall of France the invasion of Britain became a real possibility, and machine-gun posts and pillboxes were built across the coastline of Torquay and the Bay. In Torquay the work was done by the Royal East Kent Regiment nicknamed 'The Buffs'. Naval guns were placed on Corbyn Head, in a repeat of its fortification against the troops of Napoleon over a century before. In May Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden made his historic broadcast appeal asking those men between the ages of 17 and 65 who were not already on War Service to join the Local Defence Volunteers; they would be unpaid, but would wear uniforms and be armed. In two days 400 men had joined, and by Monday the 20th the register had closed with 600 on the books.

Staff at GHQ of the BEF, quickly studied the results of the attack of 31 July and on 7 August sent questions to the army headquarters, on how to attack in the new conditions produced by German defence-in-depth using strong points, pillboxes and rapid counter-attacks by local reserves and divisions. Plumer replied on 12 August, placing more emphasis on mopping up captured ground, making local reserves available to deal with hasty local counter- attacks and having larger numbers of reserves available to crush organised counter-attacks. After a conference with the Corps commanders on 27 August, Plumer issued "Notes on Training and Preparation for Offensive Operations" on 31 August, which expanded on his reply to GHQ, describing the need for attacks with more depth and more scope for local initiative, enabled by unit commanders down to the infantry company keeping a reserve ready to meet counter-attacks. Communication was stressed but the standardisation achieved since 1916, allowed this to be reduced to a reference to .

Merkava – Israeli main battle tank, with 4 generations The Ground Forces possess various domestic and foreign weapons and computer systems. Some equipment is from the United States (modified for IDF use) such as the M4A1 and M16 assault rifles, the M24 SWS 7.62 mm bolt action sniper rifle, the SR-25 7.62 mm semi-automatic sniper rifle, and the AH-1 Cobra and AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. Israel has a domestic arms industry, which has developed weapons and vehicles such as the Merkava battle tank series, and various small arms such as the Galil and Tavor assault rifles, and the Uzi submachine gun. IDF's current (2017) armored fighting vehicles, clockwise: IDF Namer, IDF Caterpillar D9, M270 MLRS and Merkava Mk 4M Israel has also installed a variant of the Samson RCWS, a remote controlled weapons platform, which can include machine guns, grenade launchers, and anti- tank missiles on a remotely operated turret, in pillboxes along the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier to prevent Palestinian militants from entering its territory.

Hashida Masahiro. The defenders had two flame throwers, 13 grenade launchers, 12 light machine guns, two heavy machine guns, one 50mm mortar, eleven 81mm mortars, one 20mm automatic gun, three 20mm cannons and three Type 95 light tanks. Most of the defenses were made up of foxhole and trenches, but work had also begun on some concrete pillboxes, which were not completed. At 0710 (UTC+12) on 18 February two cruisers and two destroyers opened fire on Japanese positions from the lagoon side of Eniwetok. At 0740 (UTC+12) a third destroyer opened fire to the east of the landing beaches and at 0810 (UTC+12) a fourth destroyer also commenced bombardment. At 0810 (UTC+12) the naval gunfire was halted for 15 minutes to allow for a carrier aircraft attack. The first troops landed at 0917 (UTC+12), but the initial landings immediately ran into problems. The short naval bombardment meant that many Japanese positions remained intact, and the American LVTs could not scale an eight-foot sand dune just inland.

The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1932 to 1942 in combat operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. The Type 89B model was the world's first mass-produced diesel engine tank. The tank was armed with a short-barrel 57 mm cannon for knocking out pillboxes and masonry fortifications, and proved effective in campaigns in Manchuria and China, as the Chinese National Revolutionary Army had only three tank battalions to oppose them, which consisted primarily of Vickers export models, German Panzer Is, and Italian CV33 tankettes. The Type 89 was a 1920s design medium tank, built to support the infantry, and thus lacked the armor or armament of 1940s generation Allied armor; it was regarded as obsolete by the time of the 1939 battles of Khalkhin Gol, against the Soviet Union. The code designation "I-Go" comes from the katakana letter [イ] for “first” and the kanji [号] for "number".

German motorized infantry in the West, riding in a Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track In the south, the 1st Infantry Division began its offensive on 8 October, aiming to capture the town of Verlautenheide and Hill 231 (dubbed "Crucifix Hill") near the town of Ravelsberg.Whiting (1976), pp. 106–108 Their attack was preceded by a massive artillery barrage, which helped them seize their objectives quickly.Rule (2003), pp. 62–63 On Crucifix Hill, Captain Bobbie E. Brown, commander of C Company, 18th Infantry, personally silenced three pillboxes with pole chargesWhitlock (2008), pp. 40–41 and, despite being wounded, continued to lead his men into the attack, earning the Medal of Honor.Whitlock (2008), p. 41 By 10 October, the 1st Infantry Division was at its designated position for link-up with the 30th Infantry Division.Ferrell (2000), p. 33 This success was met with a German counterattack toward Hill 231, which was the scene of an intense firefight; the battle ended with the Germans leaving over 40 dead and 35 prisoners.Yeide (2005), p.

Map of Fort Eben-Emael The Belgian 7th Infantry Division was assigned to guard the three bridges over the canal, supplementing the troops who garrisoned Fort Eben-Emael at the time of the battle. The defences for each bridge consisted of four large concrete pillboxes on the western side of the canal, three equipped with machine-guns and a fourth with an anti-tank gun; the bunker containing the anti-tank gun was positioned close to the road leading from the bridge, with one machinegun- equipped bunker immediately behind the bridge and two others flanking the bridge a short distance either side. A company position existed on the western bank of the canal by each of the bridges, with a small observation post on the eastern side, which could be quickly recalled, and all three bridges could be destroyed with demolition charges set into their structures, triggered by a firing mechanism situated in the anti-tank bunkers. Fort Eben-Emael, which measured , had been built during the 1930s, and completed by 1935, by blasting the required space out of marl.

Members of 653 Squadron at RAF Penshurst on the occasion of the presentation of an Auster in memory of Bertram Dickson, 13 January 1944Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress 43-37527 N7-X The Prowler after it had landed at RAF Penshurst In 1940, the airfield was occupied by the Royal Air Force, who erected Nissen huts and cleared the area of obstacles as it was intended to use the area as an Emergency Landing Ground. Three pillboxes were erected around the airfield's perimeter. Between March and June 1940 the airfield was used by No. 15 Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Redhill as a relief landing ground. Knotley Hall was again requisitioned for use as the officers' quarters, although the tennis courts were off-limits. During the Battle of Britain, on 27 October 1940, a Messerschmitt Bf 109E flown by Fw Lothar Schieverhofer, of 3 Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 52, was damaged in a dogfight with Supermarine Spitfire IIa P7494 of No. 74 Squadron RAF, flown by Plt Off Peter Chesters.

Operation Pugilist, the attack against the Mareth Line was planned for the night of 19–20 March 1943. The Mareth Line was made up of a series of fortified positions, consisting of a number of pillboxes surrounded by wire and trenches, just behind the bank of the Wadi Zigzaou, backed up by a second line of such positions on a ridge to the rear. The 69th Brigade had taken the approaches to the Wadi on preceding nights, they were to attack a position called 'the Bastion' in front of the main line while the 151st Brigade supported by the 50th Royal Tank Regiment attacked the line proper to their right. The infantry were to be equipped with short wooden scaling ladders to climb the banks of the Wadi. None of the infantry battalions had regained their full strength, and opposing them were the Italian Young Fascist and the German 164th Light Divisions. It was planned that the 4th Indian Division would then pass through and continue the attack, while the 2nd New Zealand Division made a 'left hook'.

Davidson wrote that a series of such attacks would be needed, before the demoralisation of the defenders would make more ambitious tactics feasible. Gough replied to Davidson that the extent of the preparations for the attack justified a more optimistic plan, The Fifth Army plan emphasised that information should quickly be communicated back to headquarters and that troops should be independent within the plan, to achieve a high tempo of operations (the rate or rhythm of activity relative to the enemy) rather than lose time referring back for orders. On 27 June, Haig agreed to widen the II Corps frontage to attack Tower Hamlets, a cluster of pillboxes at the top of the Bassevillebeek Spur opposite the right flank, which was an obvious base for a German counter- attack into the right flank of II Corps. Haig arranged through the Fifth Army HQ for II Corps to take over the 24th Division and artillery from the Second Army, extending the southern flank of the II Corps to the Klein Zillebeke–Zandvoorde road on 4 July.

Ironside (1962), p. 344 patrols of "Ironsides" armoured cars to strengthen the divisions,Ironside (1962), p. 342. It is unclear if the name was linked to Ironside, or simply a literal description and light artillery mounted on trucks as improvised tank destroyers.Ironside (1962), p. 346 He agreed to release two divisions for the Second BEF in early June, but was dubious about Churchill's decision to bring home troops from the Middle East and India; even after the fall of France and the potential collapse of the defences in Britain, he still held to his pre-war position that "[it] is essential to hold the East firmly, whatever happens here".Ironside (1962), p. 351 By mid-June, he had begun to collect a scanty mobile reserve – the 8th RTR, with infantry tanks, and six regiments of armoured cars beginning to formIronside (1962), p. 363 – and the pillboxes and coastal defences were being prepared, though he emphasised to the local commanders that the latter "are only meant as delaying lines, and are meant to give the mobile columns a chance of coming up to the threatened points".Ironside (1962), pp. 368–369.

After Company A cut German communication lines, the detached companies rejoined the entire 1st Battalion as they assembled west of Nütheim at about 10:00 p.m. On September 14, 1944, companies of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment coordinated actions with tanks of CCA in order to overcome the defenders of pillboxes and provide paths through the defenses.Wheeler, 2007, p. 331. The drive stalled, however, as the Germans were able to bring reinforcements to the area on September 16 and 17 enabling them to prevent an immediate further advance by the VII Corps divisions.Wheeler, 2007, pp. 331-333. Over 4 days, CCB captured Weisenberg, an area of high ground north of Mausbach, but could go no further.Wheeler, 2007, p. 333. The 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment was reduced to 40 percent strength and the tank companies of the 3rd Armored Division had fewer than 20 operational tanks each and could not continue to advance. On September 14 and 15, 1944, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 26th Infantry Regiment, advanced to the southeast edge of Aachen with the 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment to their left and 3rd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment to their right.

By the time Marcos gave the first State of the Nation Address of his second term on January 26, 1970, the unrest born from the 1969–1970 balance of payments crisis exploded into a series of demonstrations, protests, and marches against the government. Student groups – some moderate and some radical – served as the driving force of the protests, which lasted until the end of the university semester in March 1970, and would come to be known as the "First Quarter Storm". During Marcos's January 26, 1970 State of the Nation Address, the moderate National Union of Students of the Philippines organized a protested in front of Congress, and invited student groups both moderate and radical to join them. Some of the students participating in the protest harangued Marcos as he and his wife Imelda as they left the Congress building, throwing a coffin, a stuffed alligator, and stones at them. The next major protest took place on January 30, in front of the presidential palace, where activists rammed the gate with a fire truck and once the gate broke and gave way, the activists charged into the Palace grounds tossing rocks, pillboxes, Molotov cocktails.

Due to inaccurate maps, several artillery savos fell on the advancing Australians, wounding several officers, including a couple of British Army officers that had been attached to the Australian battalions on exchange. Over the course of the next couple of days the Australians kept up the pressure on the Japanese defenders with fighting patrols, and small scale assaults to reduce Japanese positions around the feature. Finally, on 1 February 1944, the 2/9th made it to the crest of the hill, and subsequently found that the Japanese had disinvested themselves from the position, having fallen back to Paipa. Following its occupation, Crater Hill was surveyed by the Australians and they found that there were over 40 foxholes or pillboxes inside the position across a frontage of to a depth of ; in addition there were 110 strong points on the ridges leading to it. Throughout the first week of February, the Australian units were redeployed to new positions: the 2/10th around the 4100 feature across the Kankiryo Saddle and stretching to Crater Hill; the 2/9th from Shaggy Ridge to the Protheros and the 2/12th from Lake Hill to McCullough's Ridge.

Members of the Australian 2/12th Infantry Battalion, advancing past oil fires at Balikpapan After the beach maintenance area was secured, the 18th Brigade was tasked with capturing the high features north of Klandasan, which blocked the advance towards Balikpapan town, while the 21st Brigade was tasked with advancing along the coast road to capture the airfields at Sepinggang and Manggar. During the fighting around Klandasan, the 2/10th Battalion attacked a feature dubbed Parramatta Ridge, which was strongly fortified with pillboxes, tunnels, land mines and booby traps. Due to a last minute diversion and communications issues, the battalion's fire support was unavailable, and the tanks that had been assigned to support them broke down, nevertheless the battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Daly, pressed home the attack despite likely heavy casualties. The initial infantry assault on Hill 87 was launched throughout the morning, and stalled as Japanese resistance grew; the Australians became pinned below the summit and just before noon, two supporting tanks from the 1st Armoured Regiment came forward, suppressing Japanese fire and assisting the infantry to capture the position by 12:40 pm.

A new rifle range on Rippon Tor was built, an airfield constructed on Roborough Down and another camp of Nissen huts was started at Plasterdown (later to become a hospital for U.S. forces). In preparation against possible German invasion, protective structures were constructed in the moor, such as pillboxes. At one point an 18-inch railway gun was brought to the area and fired from Halwill Junction/North Tawton into Dartmoor. In the year before the June 1944 Invasion of Normandy, the 4th and 29th U.S. divisions trained on Dartmoor, with thousands of troops living in camps along the roads all across the moor. At the end of the war, the War Office controlled around 78,000 acres of Dartmoor (through ownership, lease, license or requisition). Of these, 49,000 were barred to the public on a permanent basis. In July 1947, the report of the Hobhouse Committee on National Parks emphasized the special significance of Dartmoor and largely as a result by 1948 the military's land holdings were reduced to 37,400 acres, of which permanent closure affected 9,000 acres, 20,850 acres were closed during training exercises and 7,550 acres were accessible at all times.

Ridges radiated down to the Aisne valley, over which the German positions had inadequate observation. Due to a lack of manpower, constant French artillery-fire and the autumn rains, the condition of the German defences was poor and in some places, only narrow trenches and shell-hole positions existed. There were few pillboxes and tunnels but numerous underground quarries, which had been equipped with ventilation and lighting systems, for ammunition and food storage. Behind the (Pinon trench) in the south-west corner of the salient near Laffaux, work had begun on a reserve line from Pinon to Vaudesson and on rearward defences behind the for a possible retirement, known as the (Gudrun Manoeuvre). From 11 October, the right flank division of Group Vailly was relieved by the 13th Division and on the left the 2nd Guard Division was moved into the line near Malmaison. The west face of the salient from the Anizy–Vauxaillon railway line to the canal tunnel, the area considered must vulnerable, was held by Group Crépy, the VIII Reserve Corps headquarters (General Georg Wichura), with the 37th Division and the 14th Division, joined by the 52nd Division from 15 October.

J.V. Campbell, VC addressing troops of his 137th Brigade from the Riqueval Bridge over the St Quentin Canal After its previous failures, the 46th Division 'had widely been considered a "dud",'Griffith, p. 80. but it was largely untouched by the battles of the German Army's Spring Offensive, and was well rested and thoroughly trained when it took part in the Allied attacks on the Hindenburg Line of late September 1918. It was assigned a key role in the Battle of the St Quentin Canal, being ordered to cross the canal itself between the Bellicourt and Bellenglise tunnels. In this section the canal runs through a deep cutting, both sides of which were covered in barbed wire and concrete pillboxes. 137th Brigade under Brigadier-General John Campbell, VC, was to spearhead this extremely hazardous attack, on a section of line that the Germans considered impregnable. The brigade prepared thoroughly for this amphibious operation, with petrol-tin rafts, collapsible boats, ‘mud mats’, lifelines and scaling ladders, together with 3000 lifebelts ‘scrounged’ from cross-Channel leave boats After two days of bombardment and preliminary attacks, there was no chance of surprise, but 29 September dawned with a thick ground fog to help the attackers’ smokescreen.