"Pillboxes on the Western Front" Topic

I have painted up a couple of pillboxes which I will use in my 20mm First World War games, there's a better description and pictures on my blog:

link

Thanks for looking

These look great. Really good job on the painting front. Thanks for listing the colours you used for concrete on your blog.

One question though. Do the roofs come separate or are they one piece castings?

Thanks.

For the not so Princely sum of $.25 USD you could've made you're own. Just sayin'…
They are nice looking, though.

Aubrey, yes, they are single castings, solid little things they are too.

Rrobby, I know, I know, next time, I promise, I will make my own!

They look great!

They look good, and adding damage to them really helps bring them to life

Cheers chaps, yeah Bracken, they were way too new looking before I took the drill them.

Out of curiosity, how would the real versions of these have been built given they were probably under direct observation? I know the original defensive bunkers were constructed prior to a withdrawal (and thus not under direct British fire), but I am aware that some were added later when the Germans adopted more fluid defensive tactics.

A lot of the German ones were built with individual blocks manufactured behind the lines and the pill box built on site. Some of the smaller machine gun and OPs were manufactured off site and installed overnight. There are several references from the RE about Moir machine gun pill box construction and it seems it took four trucks to transport one along with twelve men to build it on the front line.

Remember that the guns were not always firing and during night time it was relatively quiet and this is when construction was going on.

The Germans also created hardened positions in situ as well. As with the British, the work in progress would occur at night and the area was camoflagued during the night. Many German bunkers show the negative 'image' of the wooden shuttering.

Robert