Machine gun armament of the pillbox

31
Machine gun armament of the pillbox

First, let's remember, and perhaps learn for the first time, what a pillbox (a long-term firing point, or more correctly, a structure) is.

Since its birth during the First World War, the pillbox as a concrete structure had already evolved into a a permanent fire structure constructed of reinforced concrete and which is the basis of modern permanent fortification of the area and the main element of modern fortified areas (the authors like this definition from the Soviet fortification dictionary of Shperk, 1946 edition).



Let us remember that the difference between a pillbox and a bunker is primarily that the latter is, in fact, a tree-earth firing point (structure).

That is, a pillbox is a structure that is part of a fortified area, in which a fire system of all available fire weapons is organized, engineering preparation of the terrain with a system of obstacles and barriers, including artificial ones, a communication system, camouflage, etc. Ideally, of course. Historically and in their majority, pillboxes are armed with machine guns, this is logical from the point of view of the fact that initially on the battlefield tanks as such there were none, and after their appearance the task of fighting them became primarily solved artillery, with its subsequent specialization into anti-tank, etc., as technical progress progressed.

However, this is not a dogma, and, of course, some readers will recall many examples of pillboxes with mixed machine gun and artillery armament, for example, the "Maginot Line".



Or the largest structure of our “Karelian fortified area”, the so-called “Stalin line”, the artillery semi-caponier APK-1 “Elephant”, where the two 85-mm guns currently installed were previously preceded by two 76-mm guns, which are complemented by a combat casemate with a heavy machine gun.


Some may recall fully artillery pillboxes, such as the artillery semi-caponiers on the “Stalin Line” with two 76-mm guns on caponier carriages of the 1932 model with spherical armored mantlets.


It should be noted that the share of pillboxes with artillery or machine gun-artillery armament is very small compared to the simply gigantic number of pillboxes with only machine gun armament. And, frankly speaking, pillboxes with mixed armament are also relevant to our story.

Types of machine gun armament of the pillbox by cooling type


Machine gun pillboxes, based on the types of cooling used, are armed not only with water-cooled or air-cooled machine guns, but sometimes with both types of machine guns simultaneously. First, about the first two, and the last case should be examined in more detail.

Since the heyday of the era of building a line of fortifications consisting of pillboxes (as well as individual forts, like the French or Belgians) came in the period between the First and Second World Wars and until the end of the latter, they were armed with those types of machine guns (in terms of their cooling during firing) that were prevalent in the army's arsenal. For example, the French, Czechs, and Dutch at that time used mainly machine guns with air-cooled barrels.

A pair of French MAC M1931 machine guns in a pillbox on the Maginot Line.


Spark Czechoslovakian ZB 53 / Vz.37

And the Dutch, the Finns and our country are with the water spirit.


Austrian Schwarzlose M1907 in a Dutch pillbox


Finnish "Maxim" on a mount similar to that installed in most of the pillboxes of the "Mannerheim Line"


Our "Maxim" on the Gornostaev PS-31 machine tool, typical for the pillboxes of the "Stalin line"

Well, the Germans used both types of machine guns.


MG 08


MG-34

Please note that when using air-cooled machine guns in pillboxes, to ensure sufficient combat rate of fire and fire density without the influence of such situations as, first of all, overheating of the machine gun and the need to change the magazine (yes, the photo from the Maginot Line clearly shows the magazine feed), machine guns are often located in twin mounts. Moreover, the machine gunner was instructed to fire alternately from each machine gun and only at critical moments of the battle - from two simultaneously.

In addition, by installing air-cooled machine guns, both the French and the Czechs were covering their bases and duplicating the firing sectors of neighboring machine gun mounts in one combat casemate almost completely. The French went further than anyone else; in the photo above from the Maginot Line bunker, you can see that with the help of a monorail mounted on the ceiling, it was possible, if necessary, to replace the armor mask with machine guns with an anti-tank gun in an armor mask of a similar size, or replace failed machine guns with spare ones.

Naturally, when installing a machine gun or machine guns with water cooling in a pillbox, the disadvantages associated with overheating become insignificant, albeit at the cost of having to install a tank with a sufficiently large supply of water, a pump (usually manual) for pumping it, and a system of pipelines and hoses. But there are also disadvantages here, first of all, the lack of duplication affects, unlike a pair of machine guns on one carriage, in the event of a long delay in firing or failure of the machine gun. And a lot of water is also needed for cooling, so often in such pillboxes a well is equipped, if not for water suitable for drinking, then at least for collecting drainage water in the machine gun cooling system.


A manual column in the well of one of our pillboxes of the Karelian Fortified Region


A well in a pillbox of the Soviet unfinished "Vidlitsky fortified area"


Options for installing machine gun weapons in bunkers


The above machine guns are mounted, however there is a practice of using light machine guns in pillboxes, naturally, with air-cooled barrels. And there are also several such cases. They differ primarily in that this is either the installation of a light machine gun as the main armament, or as an additional one.

To begin with, we should talk about cases of installing a light machine gun as the main armament of a pillbox, for this we will consider an example of, so to speak, "weakly protected" pillboxes. The term is not entirely scientific, but it gives an idea. Good examples of such pillboxes are our domestic LOT - false firing points and Finnish "fragment-resistant" pillboxes, both of which were built in large quantities.

LOTs are usually located between the main pillboxes of a fortified area and at least partially duplicate their firing sectors. Such structures (ordinary concrete 15-20 cm thick, an embrasure or embrasures for frontal fire) were built primarily to mislead the enemy, when, having approached the LOT and being fired upon from there, he would mistake it for the main pillbox and spend his strength, and most importantly, time, to destroy it. Given the simplicity and cheapness of such a structure, no special mount is provided for firing from it; fire is conducted from an ordinary infantry light machine gun.



As for the Finnish "fragment-resistant" pillboxes, they are a more serious design, made of reinforced concrete. And they even have some kind of mount and a seat of the so-called "bicycle" type. The Finns used their air-cooled "Lahti-Saloranta" L/S-26 light machine guns and Swedish Kg m/21 machine guns - clones of the American BAR. It seems that any light machine gun could be installed in such a mount with minor modifications.



They are literally "splinter-proof" - the corresponding Finnish inscription has been preserved on them.


These Finnish “weakly protected” pillboxes are usually located in the gaps between the main pillboxes of a fortified defensive node and are intended for flanking fire.

As for such structures as reinforced concrete structures, pillboxes made of precast concrete elements, etc., the machine guns in them could be absolutely any.


Now let's move on to the case of using a light machine gun with an air-cooled barrel as an additional armament of a pillbox. Quite often, in addition to heavy machine guns, a light machine gun was included in the machine gun armament of a pillbox, of course, if it was available. It is additional, since it either covers a secondary direction for firing (for example, partially duplicates the firing sector of a neighboring pillbox), or controls the approach to the pillbox from the rear and protects the entrance group. Naturally, in the event of a failure of the heavy machine gun of the main armament of the pillbox, it was assumed that fire would be conducted through its embrasure from a light machine gun. A good example of this use of light machine guns will be the Czechoslovak pillboxes, in which mounts were provided for them in the embrasures.


As for Soviet pillboxes, they usually have an embrasure to protect the entrance. On the diagram it is number 9.


It, in turn, was closed with either a RZ-31 rifle shutter for firing from any hand-held firearm. weapons, including a light machine gun.


Or, instead of it, a special machine gun shutter was installed, for example, PZ-40, in which it was already possible to fix the same light machine gun and fire at enemies approaching from the rear (it was the light machine guns DP-27 or DT-29 that often served as a supplement to the machine gun armament of our pillboxes, consisting of heavy machine guns of the Maxim system).


Modernity and new views on machine gun armament of the bunker


Thus, it can be said that machine guns with both types of cooling found their application in pillboxes, moreover, it happens that in one specific pillbox machine guns of both types are used. However, it should be noted that, let's say, the most "deserved" are machine guns with water-cooled barrels, as the most consistent with the concept of pillboxes and well fulfilling their role in combat conditions, and en masse in hundreds of pillboxes. After all, if we talk about our military stories, it is important to know that they were installed in all the main structures of the "Mannerheim Line" and "Stalin Line". Accordingly, during the battles, water-cooled machine guns proved their high efficiency.

Therefore, even after the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the surviving pillboxes, the use of which has not lost its relevance (for example, the structures of the "Karelian fortified area"), retained their armament of water-cooled machine guns, only on more advanced mounts and with a more advanced fire control system. And the pillboxes of fortified areas, mainly on the eastern border of our Motherland, were built after 1945. By the way, in some places we are still ready to use them.


Machine gun mount I8-DP, manufactured in 1951

As a lyrical digression, we note that the well-known actor, musician and singer Mikhail Boyarsky served in the army in the 14th separate machine-gun and artillery regiment, right in the “Karelian fortified region”.

The modern concept of a pillbox is completely different, starting with the armored machine gun mount BUK with a crooked-barrel machine gun.


And ending with the universal fire structure "Gorchak", the machine guns in which are now all air-cooled.


Conclusions


It seems that this is far from the end of the development of the DOT with machine gun armament and including machine gun armament, it is just that the human shooter will be replaced by remotely controlled modules and artificial intelligence. After all, technically, it is not a big problem to mount the DUM itself, the robot loader, which will feed and load the machine gun from ready-made belts equipped in factory conditions. The main task is facing the engineers who create the software that controls the entire system, and the AI ​​that recognizes the target in any conditions and carries out guidance.

P.S. The authors express their deep gratitude to their colleagues from the Internet resources “Karelian Fortified Region”, “Environs of Petersburg”, MPC “Sestroretsk Line”, ICC “Stalin Line” and “Military Album” for information and photographs.
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  1. BAI
    +1
    28 January 2025 06: 13
    In the SVO now there are mainly pillboxes and only machine guns.
    That is, if there is no cover, the guns are powerless against the tank.
    1. +4
      28 January 2025 08: 49
      Quote: BAI
      In the SVO now there are mainly pillboxes and only machine guns.
      That is, if there is no cover, the guns are powerless against the tank.

      If we consider field fortification, then it is difficult to even call it a pillbox, rather just a covered cell with a splinter-proof canopy if we consider a position for firing, but mainly a system of trenches with rifle cells and various types of shelters, ranging from niches, "fox holes" and ending with ersatz dugouts. True, there are also typical prefabricated or monolithic reinforced concrete structures in the form of a pillbox, but they are relatively rare and the latter are mainly now in the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration on the new defensive lines of the enemy. On the other hand, why is it so difficult for us to knock them out of the Kursk region? Because the enemy occupied our prepared and very well prepared border cover lines, and there are full-profile covered trenches and buried shelters, etc.
      As for cover, machine gun pillboxes "live" longer only in the existing fire system and with field filling around. Now this has been supplemented by UAVs of all types. Back in the Winter War, having destroyed the positions of field filling around Finnish pillboxes and driven them into shelters with artillery fire, as well as suppressing the positions of AT guns, our T-28s blocked the sectors of fire from the embrasures of Finnish pillboxes, thereby allowing assault groups with attached sappers to block the pillbox and drag in explosives to blow it up.
  2. +8
    28 January 2025 06: 40
    The author forgot to mention no less serious fortifications, such as the Hindenburg Line, the Siegfried Line and the Czechoslovak fortified area, sometimes called the Czechoslovak Maginot Line. And the article gets a solid five!
    1. +6
      28 January 2025 07: 02
      Quote: Dutchman Michel
      The author forgot to mention no less serious fortifications

      be kind to the author, because the topic is machine guns in the bunker
    2. +10
      28 January 2025 08: 32
      Thank you for your assessment. In general, we were not going to list all the lines of long-term fortifications within the article, there are quite a lot of them. And this is a very broad topic. By the way, there are several dozen types and kinds of armored caps as a special case of the pillbox device. And there are also very interesting and heroic cases of pillbox defense in addition to ours, the Soviet ones. For example, the Greek sergeant Itsios Dimitrios, who killed about 230 Germans from his pillbox at the beginning of WWII, for which they shot him. Moreover, the article was intended to be about a specific Finnish machine-gun armament of a specific type of pillbox, but starting the topic we encountered the fact that first it needs to be expanded a little. So this article is more of a preamble.
      1. Des
        +5
        28 January 2025 09: 53
        Quote: Blue Fox
        Thank you for your assessment. In general, we were not going to list all the lines of long-term fortifications within the article, there are quite a lot of them. And this is a very broad topic. By the way, there are several dozen types and kinds of armored caps as a special case of the pillbox device. And there are also very interesting and heroic cases of pillbox defense in addition to ours, the Soviet ones. For example, the Greek sergeant Itsios Dimitrios, who killed about 230 Germans from his pillbox at the beginning of WWII, for which they shot him. Moreover, the article was intended to be about a specific Finnish machine-gun armament of a specific type of pillbox, but starting the topic we encountered the fact that first it needs to be expanded a little. So this article is more of a preamble.

        Your article is an honor for VO. I will be glad to continue.
        1. +5
          28 January 2025 10: 22
          Quote: Des
          Your article is an honor for VO. I will be glad to continue.

          Thank you very much for the high rating. We try, especially since some of the photo material was taken by us specifically for publications. The next article will concern a Finnish pillbox with an armored cap, but a very unusual one. We have already written a little about them here on "Military Review" and on our VK.
          1. +1
            29 January 2025 14: 29
            Thank you very much for the high rating. We try, especially since some of the photo material was taken by us specifically for publications. The next article will concern a Finnish pillbox with an armored cap, but a very unusual one. We have already written a little about them here on "Military Review" and on our VK.

            The article is absolutely gorgeous! I'm waiting for the continuation. Thanks to the authors for interesting topics analyzed in popular language.
  3. +2
    28 January 2025 09: 06
    Thanks to the authors for the excellent.
    It would be nice if a kind soul could be found and make a thematic cycle on the fortifications of different countries in the 20th century.
    1. +5
      28 January 2025 10: 31
      It would be nice if a kind soul could be found and make a thematic cycle on the fortifications of different countries in the 20th century.

      Thank you for your rating. We can recommend the book "Fortification of World War II 1939-1945 Europe" by J.E. Kaufman
  4. 0
    28 January 2025 09: 08
    Quote: Blue Fox
    and because the enemy occupied our prepared and very well prepared border cover lines, and there were also full-profile covered trenches and deepened shelters, etc.

    In fact, the Germans discovered much more serious defensive lines in 1918 and in 1940.
    There is no justification for the current situation, except betrayal.
    1. +5
      28 January 2025 10: 38
      In fact, the Germans opened much more serious defensive lines in 1918 and in 1940.

      Not without it. However, ours were no pushovers despite many omissions, battles on the borders of the Kyiv fortified area continued almost until the end of August 1941, the Karelian fortified area, with the exception of individual captured enemy bunkers, did not allow the enemy Finns to reach Leningrad, the Minsk fortified area also gave the Germans a run for their money, and there were also bunkers in Sevastopol, Kingisepp Fortified Area, Sebezh, Krasnogvardeysky, etc.
  5. +3
    28 January 2025 11: 32
    It should be noted that the share of pillboxes with artillery or machine gun-artillery armament, compared to the simply gigantic number of pillboxes with only machine gun armament, is very small.

    As far as I understand, there were few artillery pillboxes due to the greater firing range of the guns - they were simply needed in smaller numbers than machine guns. In addition, the most common task of artillery pillboxes (gun semi-caponiers) was to cover the gaps between adjacent defensive nodes.
    e) between the defense nodes, gaps of 5 to 8 km are allowed, which must be reliably blocked by fire from long-term artillery structures and field artillery from defense nodes. The gaps between the defense nodes can be filled with means of field fortification and defended by field troops;

    When constructing new and developing existing fortified areas, the following three types of defensive nodes shall be adopted:

    Type I - front 10-12 km, depth 8-10 km; built in the most important directions and has approximately the following structures:
    artillery and machine gun caponiers (45 mm guns paired with machine guns) - 6;
    machine gun semi-caponiers - 20;
    reinforced concrete points with frontal fire (2-3 machine guns) - 14;
    artillery semi-caponiers (two 76 mm guns each) - 6-8;
    casemated heavy batteries (4 guns each) 107 or 122 mm guns - 3 or
    prepared sites for heavy batteries with shelters and magazines for shells - 4-5;
    armored anti-tank gun emplacements (45 mm guns) - 10-15;
    prepared positions and observation posts for one anti-aircraft artillery piece - 1-2;
    command and observation points - 12-15;
    searchlight shelters - 8;
    underground shelters for defense node troops and field troops - no more than a total capacity for four companies - 4;
    underground communication passages - depending on the area;
    anti-tank and anti-personnel obstacles of 3-4 km per one km of the front.
    © "UR System" 1938
    1. +1
      28 January 2025 11: 58
      As far as I understand, there were few artillery pillboxes due to the greater firing range of the guns - they were simply needed in smaller numbers than machine guns. In addition, the most common task of artillery pillboxes (gun semi-caponiers) was to cover the gaps between adjacent defensive nodes.

      If we analyze most European fortified areas, starting from Maginot and ending with the most modern Swiss, as well as our Far Eastern and the modernization of Kaur, then we get the second one. Of course, special attention was paid to the most important transport arteries, be it a road (especially in a narrow defile or like in the Alps, on a pass) or a canal or river nearby (a la "Vepsky castle" on the Svir near the Finns, in which our captured L-17 is just in the direction of the ferry crossing across the river). Well, as a local, you don't need to write about the TOT and the APC in Kaur :). The same as about the ISs in the Far East in the fortified areas. Perhaps the above-mentioned APC "Elephant" is interesting - its guns are directed away from the road, it covers the gap between two battalion defense lines, Sestroretsk and Beloostrovsky.
      P.S. Swiss pillboxes have their own flavor :), sometimes they are not just turrets from "Centurions", but these gun pillboxes.
      1. +3
        28 January 2025 14: 24
        "In the first lines of my letter" I want to thank the authors for their good work hi. But, while reading, I was haunted by a nagging question. The pillboxes and fortified areas of the Maginot, Eben-Emael, Stalin, Siegfried, and Mannernheim series are well and widely described in many works, which is probably due to their real use in the BD. But their counterparts from small, non-belligerent, and permanently neutral Switzerland usually remain "behind the scenes." And there are many interesting and non-standard solutions hidden there, both in terms of engineering fortification and in terms of armament (I came across material that in certain pillboxes, in the 20s and 30s of the last century, there were still creatively modified bronze guns).
        Quote: Blue Fox
        Swiss pillboxes have their own flavor :),

        Could the authors take on this very interesting and little-covered material? It is obvious that they are "in the know". I think many VO readers would be grateful to them for this hi
        1. +3
          28 January 2025 15: 02
          in certain pillboxes, in the 20-30s of the last century, there were still creatively modified bronze guns

          Thanks for the kind words. Never heard of bronze cannons, but we admit something exotic.
          Could the authors take on this very interesting and little-covered material? It is clear that they are "in the know"

          How can I tell you... We have some materials on this topic, but they were obtained from sources some of which are now inaccessible even with VPN, especially since, in relation to Switzerland, some of the structures have been completely mothballed for the time being (well done, of course) and the only information we have is amateur photos from the outside. We are a little bit in the know :) You see, we do not make money with our publications, moreover, we, the authors, in addition to our professional activities, also have a certain, so to speak, social burden. We have been engaged in search and local history activities for many years. Now the next article is being prepared only because we have a break in expeditions. And then, for example, we are now busy searching for a specialist with a georadar so that in the spring he can help us determine the exact location of the mass grave of our soldiers who died in 1941 in the cauldron near Porlampi. However, if you want, you can read about this on our VK.
          We will definitely think about the publication about the "Swiss"!
      2. +5
        28 January 2025 15: 17
        Quote: Blue Fox
        Well, as a local, you don't need to write about TOT and APK in KaUR.

        Yeah... there was everything there. Up to the point that the tank is fighting near Ust-Tosno, and its turret is in Kaur. smile

        Art. BOT (KV) with a gun 85 m/m "Pobeda"

        Quote: Blue Fox
        The only interesting thing is the above-mentioned Slon APCS, since its guns are pointed away from the road, and it covers the gap between two battalion defensive lines, Sestroretsky and Beloostrovsky.

        Well, there's a hole a couple of kilometers wide between the BROs. The terrain, of course, isn't particularly accessible - a lake, a river and swamps, but you can get through in winter. But in open terrain, and even on ice, a pair of 76mm will show themselves just fine against infantry.
        And the road was blocked by three machine gun pillboxes. Plus, there is THAT one on the road, not according to the diagram.
  6. +2
    28 January 2025 13: 18
    In Crimea, on "Tavrida", there is a preserved pillbox, one of the line. They did not hold out for long. The Germans used artillery and tanks to shoot at the firing points in the flat steppe at maximum range. And then the tanks ironed out the trenches, which were left without cover. The rails-coverings inside are all cut up by shrapnel...
    1. +3
      28 January 2025 13: 36
      The Germans used artillery and tanks at maximum range to fire at firing points in the flat steppe.

      They had been doing this trick since the Maginot Line, however, just like ours on the Mannerheim Line, they put out of action pillboxes with frontal embrasures for firing first of all. Despite their protection. Here is an example from the Mannerheim, one of the "million" pillboxes, highly protected by armor plates. And against such, up to 152-mm guns were rolled out for direct fire.
      1. +4
        28 January 2025 15: 42
        Quote: Blue Fox
        And against such things, up to 152-mm guns were rolled out for direct fire.


        Winter 1940. Karelian Isthmus. Gun, gun commander Tretyakov, units of Lieutenant Volosenko of the 455th KAP fires direct fire at White Finnish firing points in the Muola area.
        A 152 mm howitzer-gun model 1937 ML-20, a light tank T-26 and infantry, possibly a gun cover group, were brought into direct fire.
        Photo from the archive of a reconnaissance officer of the 455th Corps Artillery Regiment.

        At that time, for the first time, BM and OM artillery - 203-mm B-4 howitzers - were used for direct fire. In violation of all instructions.
        In the area of ​​the division operating in the direction of Oinal, there had been no successful attempts to fire at the pillboxes with direct fire before our arrival. One of the commanders tried to move the guns to an open position, but came under concentrated enemy fire and returned.
        At 3 a.m. on February 25, I received an order to take out the gun and destroy the pillbox with direct fire. My platoon was the first to begin direct fire.
        The circumstances were unfortunate. The pillbox was covered by a high forest. Our firing position was under fire from the flanking fire of the Finnish infantry and snipers. The White Finns were firing heavily at the sappers who were trying to clear a firing sector for us. The sappers, having suffered losses, retreated.
        But there was no other position. Nowhere else could one get so close to the pillbox's floor wall.
        We decided to stop right here. The gun was hauled out by two tractors and turned around under fire in such a way as to avoid the need for subsequent reversals. This gave us the opportunity to fire quickly and without much difficulty.
        The gun commander, Comrade Stepkin, seeing that the sapper unit was retreating under fire from the White Finns, without clearing a sector in the forest for shelling, suggested:
        — We have only one way out: to destroy the forest with shells.
        I agreed with him.
        With eight grenades we cleared the way for the concrete-piercing shells. A clearing up to two meters wide and 70 meters long was formed in the forest. The pillbox opened up. That day we managed to half destroy it with ten shells. At night we took the gun back a kilometer and returned again in the morning.
        * * *
        In three days of direct fire on pillboxes, under heavy machine gun and mortar fire from the enemy, we lost only one man.
        © Fights in Finland. Participants' memories: 2 parts.
        1. +1
          28 January 2025 16: 21
          At the same time, for the first time, BM and OM artillery - 203-mm B-4 howitzers - were used for direct fire. In violation of all instructions

          Great example.
          In addition to Mu, as far as I remember, the sailors in the Ink fortified area, as well as the infantry in Le and Sj, and in the latter against the eastern casemate of the Poppius, were definitely rolling out large caliber guns for direct fire.
  7. +3
    28 January 2025 14: 11
    In 1990 or 91 I drove from Lipovtsy to Pogranichny. And all along the road I saw pillboxes to the left and right. But they were completely different from the author's. Or was it only visible on the ground? I don't know...
    And on the nearby hills there were fortified areas everywhere, as my son explained to me. There were tanks buried there, up to the turret, with their barrels naturally pointing towards Pogranichny. It interested me, but I never found a clear explanation at that time. And it’s not surprising in those years.
    Maybe the authors will write about that fortified area too?
    It was very informative to read!
    Thanks to the authors!
    This is not like in the neighboring VO thread about the spread vulva of an interesting, in quotes, historian of VOSh....
    1. +4
      28 January 2025 14: 32
      I drove from Lipovtsy to Pogranichny. And along the entire length, to the left and right of the road, I saw pillboxes

      This is a pillbox of the 105th Grodekovskiy fortified area, almost all of them are pre-war if we are talking about reinforced concrete structures, dug-in tanks are from after the Great Patriotic War. The pre-war structures there are typical with other fortified areas in the European part of the country. For example, here is an unfinished artillery semi-caponier for two 76-mm guns, similar to the one in the color photo with the T-34 in the article, only it has casemates with a step to the other side. Most likely it was used as a pillbox for guns on wheels.
      1. +1
        28 January 2025 15: 19
        Thanks for the reply.
        Yes, it looks very similar to what you showed in the photo. And it was clear that all these pillboxes were quite old, judging by the state of the concrete. Quite overgrown.
        But the ones on the hills, you could see that they were inhabited. Everything was cleared, there was barbed wire around, and there were other signs of life on them.
        + hi
  8. +1
    28 January 2025 15: 00
    Thanks for the tour. I work in the Mannerheim Line area now, so I see it every day.
    1. +3
      28 January 2025 15: 07
      Myself, I am currently working in the Mannerheim Line area.

      You're welcome. And a counter request, just in case, if your professional activity somehow intersects with excavation work, then sometimes take a look at the cartridge cases. I'm interested in rifle ones with Japanese hieroglyphs :)
  9. 0
    28 January 2025 19: 38
    The first time I saw the term in print was: crooked-barrel machine gun.
    1. +2
      28 January 2025 19: 45
      crooked-barrel machine gun

      it is also called curvilinear
      1. +2
        28 January 2025 20: 19
        It was my mistake, I should have looked it up on Google.
  10. +1
    29 January 2025 07: 14
    Drones will put an end to this anachronism. You can fly up from any direction, hover, observe, retarget, use AI in conditions of suppression, the ability to use almost any means of destruction. Bottom line: 1-2 hits and the point is gone. Cheap and effective.
    1. +2
      29 January 2025 11: 20
      Quote: Pankrat25
      Drones will put an end to this anachronism as well.

      If there is no defense against UAVs, then they put a cross on everything - on tanks, on infantry fighting vehicles, on infantry.
      And the cross on the pillbox is put by guided ammunition. With illumination, a couple of "Smelchak" is enough - there is no need to plow the entire area around with expensive shells or drag an even more expensive large-caliber gun to direct fire, under enemy fire.