The ultimate fortification thread!
- Weiss Wurst
- Member
- Posts: 149
- Joined: 27 Jul 2003, 09:18
- Location: Illinois, USA
Erik,
Excellent photos as always.
I've got a few bunker questions for you that I hope have not been asked earlier in this thread.
Where the bunkers constructed in part from pre-fabrikated pieces of some sort or completly constructed on the site?
How long did it take for the engineers to build an "average" bunker? What types of equipment were used?
At which level in the hierarchy were the locations, type and weaponry of new bunkers decided?
/Marcus
Excellent photos as always.
I've got a few bunker questions for you that I hope have not been asked earlier in this thread.
Where the bunkers constructed in part from pre-fabrikated pieces of some sort or completly constructed on the site?
How long did it take for the engineers to build an "average" bunker? What types of equipment were used?
At which level in the hierarchy were the locations, type and weaponry of new bunkers decided?
/Marcus
Hallo Marcus!
Seems like you manage to collect all the difficult questions in one post!
I will try my best....
There seems to be no system in the weaponry from battery to battery, exept that the navy batteries are allways located at harbour entrances.
Erik
Seems like you manage to collect all the difficult questions in one post!
I will try my best....
Atleast in Norway, everything was built completely on site. I have heard about bunkers in Germany(1944-45) which were made by placing elements in correct shape, and then fill between with concrete. This saver tremendous time on the construction. I have not had the pleasure of visiting such structures yet, but there are a few remaining in the Northern part of the westwall!Where the bunkers constructed in part from pre-fabrikated pieces of some sort or completly constructed on the site?
This is allmost impossible to answer as there are so many different factors for the different places. If you say average, I would guess 3 months.How long did it take for the engineers to build an "average" bunker?
In most occations local contractors were hired. Later in the war, pow`s were used in huge scale. Allmost everything was done by hand, so when you see a gunposition up in the mountais, you can imagine how they got their artillery up there! I could scan csome photos of constructionsites if you want. I think they tell more tan 1000 words!What types of equipment were used?
Most decitions were made by "Festung Bau pioneer div`s". They choosed "where to place what" but I still haven`t figured out why they choosed specific bunkers for each battery....At which level in the hierarchy were the locations, type and weaponry of new bunkers decided?
There seems to be no system in the weaponry from battery to battery, exept that the navy batteries are allways located at harbour entrances.
Erik
- Dan Reinbold
- Member
- Posts: 1199
- Joined: 13 Nov 2002, 20:29
- Location: The Wilds of Northern Canada
- Contact:
A closer look, shows that someone called "Bekker" wrote his name in the wet concrete in July 1944!
Erik...how easy (or difficult) would it be to see who this mysterious "Bekker" was? Are there records of German personnel involved in the construction of these fortifications? Was he a member of the construction crew...or someone who was part of the garrison assigned to the bunker? So many questions...
I just thought it might be interesting since people write their names on all kinds of things in the hopes that they will be remembered...perhaps this Bekker is still alive...he could provide some interesting anecodtes for your research perhaps?
Dan
I have no idea who he might be! Since it is written in the concretehow easy (or difficult)
(3 different places) I guess he mush have been there for a while.....
I would say one of the constructors. It is also interesting to see that the camouflage concrete was added allmost a year after it was operational.
It would surely be interesting to track down who he was, but I have no experience in tracing people.....
I have both the unitnumber for the battery and the constructors, so maybe it isn`t that difficult after all!
Erik
Thanks for the info Erik.
/Marcus
I'd appreciate some photos, thanks.Erik E wrote:In most occations local contractors were hired. Later in the war, pow`s were used in huge scale. Allmost everything was done by hand, so when you see a gunposition up in the mountais, you can imagine how they got their artillery up there! I could scan csome photos of constructionsites if you want. I think they tell more tan 1000 words!What types of equipment were used?
/Marcus
I hate guessing on Flak!
The first thing which comes to mind, is a 2cm Flak30...Perhaps mounted on a MPL C/30 ?
Here`s some photos from "Olsvik batteri" ....Been there?
The first thing which comes to mind, is a 2cm Flak30...Perhaps mounted on a MPL C/30 ?
Here`s some photos from "Olsvik batteri" ....Been there?
- Attachments
-
- Olsvik1.JPG (133.99 KiB) Viewed 4741 times
-
- Olsvik2.JPG (59.8 KiB) Viewed 4740 times
-
- Olsvik3.JPG (70.66 KiB) Viewed 4740 times