Bunker

A bunker is a defensive warfare fortification to protect oneself.

A bunker is also:

• a hazard, usually filled with sand, on a golf course.
• a storage area for a bulk product, such as coal or wood

Bunkers in Albania
(Photo by Marc Morell (http://2ie.mpl.ird.fr/mm/albania))

Bunkers are mostly below ground, while a blockhouse is mostly above ground level. They were used extensively in World War I and World War II. In the 1950s, the bunker became part of Americana culture. A famous bunker is the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Some installations are giant underground complexes. The Soviet Union maintained huge bunkers during the Cold War. In Albania, Enver Hoxha littered the small country with 500,000 - 700,000 bunkers.

Bunkers as part of a trench system

Another type of bunker or blockhouse is a little concrete post, partly dug into the ground, which is usually a part of a trench system. Such bunkers give the defending soldiers better protection than the open trench and also include top protection against aerial attack (grenades, mortar shells). The front bunker of a trench system usually includes machine guns or mortars and form a domainant shooting post. The Rear bunkers are usually used as command posts, for storage and as field hospitals to attend to wounded soldiers.

Pillbox

A pillbox on the East coast of England. Part of the defences build during World War II (the railings are a modern addition)

Dug-in guard posts (with shooting slights) made from concrete are also known as "pillboxes". Some of the pillboxes have camouflage in order to provide the guards better protection and the element of surprise. They may be part of a trench system, or with other pillboxes form an interlocking line of defence by providing covering fire to each other, or they may be placed to guard strategic structures such as bridges and jetties.

Industrial bunker

Typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, and sometimes living quarters.

See also

• Führerbunker
• bunker buster, nuclear bunker buster
• fallout shelter
• air raid shelter
• World War II concrete bunker fortifications Maginot Line, Siegfried Line, Atlantic Wall GHQ Line,

External links

• British World War 2 Pillboxes (http://www.pillboxesuk.co.uk)
• UK Heritage: Pillboxes - "miniature modern castles" (http://www.heritage.me.uk/misc/pillboxes.htm)
• Subterranea Britannica (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/index.shtml) Information on Cold War-era underground structures in Britain
• British World War 2 Pillboxes in Malta (http://www.educ.um.edu.mt/militarymalta/html/pillboxes.html)
• Image of one of the hochbunker of Vienna
• Image of the hochbunker of Trier

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