T2K Fortification

[swaghauler]

[QUOTE=Vespers War;84962]It would probably be less fully restored or restored significantly differently in the T2K timeline. The earliest reconstruction work dates back to the 1950s, but the fascine battery, outer retrenchments, and lower historic area structures were built in the mid to late 1990s.


I know. I was there for most of it as this is a favorite "haunt" of mine. I agree that most of the buildings would be "restored" differently (Hesco construction anyone?) but a lot of the excavations were done in time for the Twilight War.

One interesting feature of the Fort is the large "assembly area" on the higher hill above the batteries. This wasn't supposed to be a large open area. The French planned on building a "fortified manor house" like those found at Fort Niagra and other older NW US forts. These structures would include a large meeting/gathering hall as well as a very nice residence for a "lord" or "administrator." They were primarily used as a "seat of government" and meetings and trials would be held there. The upper stories would be living quarters for the person in charge of that region. The fort was abandoned by the French before a "government house" was erected there.

I could see a commanding watch tower being built there in 2000.

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Raellus

*Panzerstellung featuring obsolete tank turrets armed with MGs and light canon (Tobruks, I think they were called) were constructed and employed earlier in the war (like in some of the Atlantic Wall defenses). I know that in some parts of the Soviet Union and Switzerland, of all places, obsolescent tank turrets were emplaced in fixed fortifications defending strategic passes and such. -

Source is War Department Technical Manual TM-E 30-451 Handbook on German Forces.

Tobruk started out as an Italian fortification. In its most basic configuration, it was an open, circular pit lined with reinforced concrete with a neck-like opening at ground level. They vary in size, depending on the weapon mounted, but the diameter of the neck is kept as small as possible to reduce the risk of direct hits. Of intrest are the instructions to not build a concrete roof, as this will reveal the position to the enemy. A board of irregular shape, used as a lid, camouflages the circular opening and keeps out the rain.

There were three versions of the Tobruk:
The Type 58C (Ringstand) is the most common. It is a rectangular box measuring 12'2" long by 7'8" wide and 8'2" high. It consists of a lower ammunition magazine with an open entrance. The upper chamber has a metal ring mount for a MG34/MG42 machinegun that provides a 360 degree arc of fire.

The Type 61A was a mortar emplacement (for the 50mm light mortar). It had a larger open mount due to a concrete post in the middle (to mount the mortar). In this version, the ammo magazine was offset to one side.

The final version is the Panzerstellung. This was modified to mount the turret from a French Renault 35 tank.

Of interest when you look over the larger German fortifications, you will often note one or two Type 58C Tobruks that provide an observation/mg post to cover the top or entrance of the emplacement.

[dragoon500ly]

forgot to include the link for the German Army Handbook, the fortification information and sketchs are in chapter six.

https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Germany/HB/HB-1.html

[Southernap]

So out in the Pacific Northwest there are the remains of the US Coastal Defense Forts Casey, Worden, Columbia, Worden

All of which might be repurposed for use during the Twilight War.

Similarly, I haven't see anyone mention the numerous Flaktrum's that are in Austria and Germany. All of which unless they were ground zero probably still exist and may have been repurposed during the Twilight War.

As well I know in a numerous locations out west in the US there are block houses made out of wooden or stone (depending on your region). These usually had stocks of arms, powder, bullets, and food for folks to retreat to and defense themselves from hostiles in the region. One would assume that these would see a revival in a number of towns both in the US and Europe to defense against marauders. Granted these might not stand up against heavy arms like mortars or armored vehicles. That said, they still might be valuable to some locations as places to hide out and run off to when marauders come into town.

[dragoon500ly]

Came across an interesting book titled "Fortress Europe, European Fortifications of World War Two" by J.E. Kaufmann and R.M. Jurga.

This gives an overall of the prewar defences that covered Europe, including:
The French Maginot Line.

The German East Wall, West Wall, and the Baltic Sea Coast Defenses

The Belgian Liege and Namur Defenses, the Albert Canal Line, Antwerp's Defenses and the national Redoubt, the KW line, and the Coast Defenses.

The Netherlands Grebbe Line, Fortress Holland, and the Frontier Lines.

The Swiss Army Position and Border Line and the National Redoubt.

The British Coastal Defences, the Stop Lines as well as the defences of Gibraltar and Malta.

The Italian Vallo Alpino, the Coast Defenses, and the Island Defenses.

Scandinavia, including the Danish Coastal Defenses, the Norwegian Forts and Coastal Defenses, and the Swedish Coastal Defences and Fortress Boden.

The Czechoslovakian Maginot or Benes Line, and the Slovak Defenses.

The Polish Eastern Border, Western Border, and Coastal Defenses.

The Yugoslavian Italian Front, German Front, Hungarian Front, and Coastal Defenses.

The Balkans including the Metaxas Line and Forts, the Carol Lines, the Romanian Fortifications, and the Turkish Straits.

The Finnish Mannerheim Line, the Salpa Line, and the Coastal Defenses.

The Soviet Stalin Line, the Molotov Line, and the Coastal Defenses.

And finally, The Atlantic Wall.

Includes details on the design, weapons, black and white photos, as well as numerous line drawings to wet your appetite!!

[Southernap]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

Came across an interesting book titled "Fortress Europe, European Fortifications of World War Two" by J.E. Kaufmann and R.M. Jurga.

The book at Amazon

For those that want to add to their reference stash.

[Raellus]

Great resources, gents. Thanks for sharing.

Osprey Publishing's Fortress series has some interesting volumes that are germane to T2k. I can speak to a couple specific examples.

Fortress 11: Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (1) AD provides a great overview of castles in Poland, many of which are located on the banks of the Vistula. I used it to build encounters for a Pirates of the Vistula PbP campaign, and to write the Rook's Gambit adventure module (link in my sig).

Special Forces Camps in Vietnam 1961–70 (Fortress) is a good resource for GMs wishing to include fortifications that one might expect to encounter around cantonments of around company to battalion size.

Other titles cover some of the fortifications previously mentioned by other posters in this thread.

[dragoon500ly]

Another excellent resource is "Fortress Third Reich" by J.E. Kaufmaan, H.W. Kaufmann & Robert M. Jurga

This work covers the post-Franco-Prussian War, the Great War, Second Reich and Reichswehr, the pre-war Wehrmacht, the WW2 Wehrmacht (including the coastal fortifications, air-raid defenses, Herr Schekengrubers Command and Control bunkers, info on the armored trains, the U-Boat Pens, der Atlantic Wall, the V-1 and V-2 sites and some very interesting appendices that included the armored parts of German fortifications; the concrete specifications, specifics from a German evaluation of the effects of bomb and heavy naval guns on the Atlantic Wall.

Should still be available on amazon!

[Raellus]

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-w...8a51975e09a4b7

"For now, that means assembling prefabricated materials into underground shelters using a Soviet-era design. They have already shipped 123 of the 2-meter (6 1/2-foot) -wide, 6-meter (20-foot) -long structures structures to areas that include eastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk provinces. Each shelter requires nearly 2 tons of steel. The bunkers are built to withstand projectiles with calibers of up to 152 millimeters, can accommodate up to six soldiers and need to be buried 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) underground." (Emphasis added.)

Unfortunately, the article doesn't contain any useful images of said pre-fab bunkers. I'd love to see a schematic.

In the T2kU, I'd reckon the Soviets would have seeded scores, if not hundreds, of these bunkers across Poland during NATO's initial push east.

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[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by Raellus

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-w...8a51975e09a4b7

"For now, that means assembling prefabricated materials into underground shelters using a Soviet-era design. They have already shipped 123 of the 2-meter (6 1/2-foot) -wide, 6-meter (20-foot) -long structures structures to areas that include eastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk provinces. Each shelter requires nearly 2 tons of steel. The bunkers are built to withstand projectiles with calibers of up to 152 millimeters, can accommodate up to six soldiers and need to be buried 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) underground." (Emphasis added.)

Unfortunately, the article doesn't contain any useful images of said pre-fab bunkers. I'd love to see a schematic.

In the T2kU, I'd reckon the Soviets would have seeded scores, if not hundreds, of these bunkers across Poland during NATO's initial push east.

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I haven't seen a schematic, but mil.in.ua has a series of images of one being installed.

Also an option would be the much smaller Russian hard points from this Twitter thread that were being transported in pairs on 6x6 trucks.

And in reference to the wooden blockhouse that Southernap posted a few years ago, there's at least one reconstructed one on the East Coast - Fort King George in Darien, Georgia was rebuilt in 1988. Its wooden walls are 4 inches thick

[Raellus]

Thanks for the links, VW.

This site has a ton of pics of Soviet 'Monolith' nuclear bunkers in Poland and the former East Germany. There's also map of other sites throughout Europe.

https://www.sightraider.com/soviet-m...-FNvqzztT5ToMA

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[Raellus]

This article is so nice, I had to post it twice (it's also in the Ukraine War thread).

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UKR...E/mopakddwbpa/

It features maps, satellite images, diagrams, and sketches of Russian defenses in Ukraine.

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[The Zappster]

Great article. Shows how little warfare has changed for the "poor bloody infantry" dispute multi million dollar missiles.

[Homer]

Digging out the old diagrams of the Soviet bear claw positions and their obstacles belts, it’s beginning to look familiar. As always, time favors the defender.

Rolling back the security zone, breaching, and clearing defensive positions is one of the most complex combined arms endeavors there is. Even with PGMs, MICLICs, and mounted breaching there will be a requirement at some point for bayonet and grenade work.

Of course, a poorly built defense can be a trap for the defender. Like all things, its attention to detail and rehearsal. That requires leadership which may be in short supply.

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by The Zappster

Great article. Shows how little warfare has changed for the "poor bloody infantry" dispute multi million dollar missiles.

Well, you still got to go places and be there to make stuff happen. Stopping people from doing that is the only way to defend territory.