Intro to bunkers.

Norway and Iceland were wonderful, but now I am back in the United States.  I have some good pictures of Fjell Fortress in Bergen, Norway.  I will use many of these in an ongoing series of posts about Axis bunkers, and in detail pertaining to Fjell Fortress.  Until then,  here are just a few key points about some of the basics of German bunker design and relevant terminology.  They will probably come up again often in later posts.

 Above:  The firing position in a "Tobruk".

Ringstand:  Also known to the Allies as "Tobruks", in reference to very similar Italian positions encountered outside of Tobruk, Libya.  Ringstand are holes in the ground, generally made of concrete.  There is room for one man in this hole to operate a heavy weapon, such as a machine gun or shoulder launched anti-tank weapon.  A Ringstand protected all but the top of a mans shoulders and his head.  Many of these positions had an armored shield that could mount a machine gun, and rotate with the soldier 360 degrees.  Connecting to the hole was a waiting room with a bench, which then connected to a small entry chamber and exit.  Frequently Ringstand were also installed on the roofs of larger bunkers.  In those cases the Ringstand did not connect to the rest of the bunker proper.  These positions were popular because they were cheap and easy to produce (as far as bunkers go), and proved to be very effective for their intended role.  

Above:  The layout for a Regelbau type bunker. 

Regelbau:  When reading or hearing about German bunkers built through the 30s and 40s, you will hear this term a lot.  Regelbau was a term given to a highly successful series of bunker designs that could be standardized in development and construction, and sometimes even be prefabricated.  An advantage of this kind of planning was that many of these bunkers were well rounded in their role for defense, since they all had to be standardized to a set of principals.  Think of Regelbau bunkers as "regulation bunkers".

Above:  In the steep, narrow walls of a communications trench.

Communications Trench:  It is relevant to note that this does not refer exclusively to the act of passing one message to another.  Communications refers to the ability to move not only information, but of material, men and equipment.  Thus a road which your supply columns use will also be referred to as a communications network.  A communications trench then for example, is not necessarily designed to fight from, but instead to move in. Although in some cases it could be a part of a fighting position.  More than likely the trench walls will be too high, or without enough places to step up high and fight.  The walls are very narrow and steep, in order to better protect occupants from explosive or shrapnel effects.  This also tends to make it harder to see.  Communications trenches are vital for static defense, and positional warfare.

Above:  Flak 38, 4 x 20 mm guns.

Flak:  This is a reference to German anti-aircraft weapons systems.  The term covers a wide swath of machines.  The most common German systems of the second world war used combinations of 20 mm auto cannons in single, double, triple and quadruple mounts.  Single or double mounts for heavier 37 mm auto cannons, and of course the famous 88 mm Flak 36 all purpose gun.  Other weapon systems included the deadly 128 mm Flak 40.