FRITZ'S "PILL-BOXES"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 71, 17 December 1917, Page 14

FRITZ'S "PILL-BOXES"

NEW GERMAN SYSTEM OF DEFENCE

LIABLE TO BECOME PRISONS

It wns ill Flanders that Hie British first ('nine in contact with the new "pillbox" German system or defence. Owing to the fact that, it had there been strengthened by the addition of blockhouses, the new system achieved success in holding up the British iitlaoli nn duly 31. As this new s.\slem enabled the Germans to hold their lines with fewer men than the tieucb sytskoi, its success, if. established as a regular thins, would have, enabled the (!ermans lo withstand for a- lengthy period a decisive military defeat on the Western front. These Noel; houses on the Vcbtern front, christened "pillboxes" by the British soldiers, are made of concreto reinforced by steel. The walls arc* as much as 5 feet in thickness, and they offer such resistance to shell firo that even a direct hit from a heavy shell generally fails to destroy them'. F/ich is built into the ground, only about half of the structure showing above the surface. From the floor to the roof is about 8 feet, and the internal measurement from the front wall to the back about 6 feet. The entrance is through a steel door at the back; The structure is fitted with loopholes for machino■Tinis and rifles: it has marines let into the concrete walls for storing bombs and ammunition.. It is also titted with ventilatinc shafts, with flues for stoves. The "pill-boxes" vary in size. Some of the small ones hold only eight men. but the large onescan accommodate fiO men or more. When the steel door at the back is closed there is no means of getting at the occupants. They are imnregnahle to infantry attack.' In .the British attack on July 31 near Ypres the "pill-boxes" became island forts in a sea of attack, \nnd they did some damage to the attackers." Some ground was gained on that occasion, but it was the first time for over twelve months that the British failed to gain all the objectives of an attack. For the first; time for -over twelve months the German defence held up a British attack. It became 'necessary for the British General Staff to devise i new system of attack' which would defeat the Germans' new system of defence. This they were not long in doing, hut the continuous heavy rains on the Flanders front, which turned tho ground into a. quagmire, delayed the initiation of the new system of attack.. Tt was not until September 20 that it was put in operation over the same section of the line where the block houses had held up the British. On this occasion tho 'Australians were placed in the centre, and thev did their part magnificently. The attack was completely successful; 'the-new German system of'defence was mastered. No public announcement regarding the successful system of dealing with block houses can be made, because tho one-ration of this system is to he continued, and it is not advisable lo enlighten the enemy as to details. But some interesting facts regarding tho attack can be made known. A number of the'block houses within the area attacked were found to have been turned over, and were lying on their hacks. In this condition they were quite harmless, as the slits for the machineguns and rifles- were pointing skywards. The occupants of these block houses were as effectually imprisoned as if they had been buried in dugouts. It was the explosion of heavy shells on the earth just in front of the block houses which turned them over. In other ways the block houses became prisons for the occupants instead of fortresses to resist attack. Although the minority proved imperious to shell-fire, the concussion caused hy heavy shells striking the walls or the roofs shattered the nerves of the occupants. From some of the forts no shots came who" the attackers amved hehind the British harmge. The forts had been hit so often d»r>nf the barrage that the occupants had heen reduced to n condition of nervous terror, and. were incapable of using their rifles or machine-guns.