{"id":5435,"date":"2015-03-08T17:30:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T17:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/?page_id=194"},"modified":"2025-10-04T10:53:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T09:53:38","slug":"british-pillboxes-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/british-pillboxes-in-france\/","title":{"rendered":"British Pillboxes in France"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two pillboxes for a Vickers machine-gun near \u2018Moulin du Rhin\u2019 east of Dunkirk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They are part of a group of four pillboxes that defended the inundated polders in the western part of the Maginot Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The front of one of the pillboxes near \u2018Moulin du Rhin\u2019. The embrasure is slightly damaged, but this is probably due to the corrosion of the reinforcement. The embrasure is very low because a high elevation wasn’t necessary in the flat polders. At the same time it gave more protection against flat trajectory guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The embrasure of a MG pillbox.\u00a0It has been reinforced with 5cm thick wood that is still in a perfect condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The interior of a MG pillbox.\u00a0The inner walls are made of bricks.\u00a0Note the steel plated roof.\u00a0This prevented any lose concrete falling onto the occupants and would highlight cracks during bombardments, making it very demoralising for the emplacement crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two simple pillboxes for a two-ponder gun near \u2018Hondschoote\u2019. These are a good example of the bad co-operation between the French and British Troops.\u00a0They were built behind a French blockhouse that became a dead angle for the guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The front of one of the two 2-pounder pillboxes.\u00a0The embrasure is very low in order to protect the gun against fire from high velocity guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The rear shows the real character of this pillbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact only the front is constructed of concrete, while the rear is made of bricks.\u00a0It\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0seem that this pillbox had a roof.\u00a0Note the narrow entrance that made it almost impossible to get the gun out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another pillbox for a 2-pounder gun near \u2018Hondschoote\u2019.\u00a0The \u2018oreillon\u2019 right of the embrasure is very rare in British pillboxes in France.\u00a0This pillbox has an angled entrance which seems to make it almost impossible to get the gun into the structure itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For comparison, a French blockhouse type \u2018Groupe d\u2019Armee 1\u2019.\u00a0Normally this type was armed with two 8mm Hotchkiss MG\u2019s and two 25mm AT guns combined with a frontal Observation Post. However, all the blockhouses of this type near Dunkirk lack the support of their weapons, whereas these were installed in the same type of blockhouse in other sectors more to the east. Perhaps the French had envisaged the use of British weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A small pillbox of mixed construction near the \u2018Mont des Cats\u2019.The walls are constructed of brick but the roof is concrete.\u00a0The armament probably consisted of a light machine-gun. In the background you can see a French blockhouse for a 25mm gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: These Two Photo\u2019s Have Now Been Identified As German Pillboxes!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The area around \u2018Lille\u2019 was defended by troops of the BEF.\u00c2\u00a0It consists of a trench shelter with an adjacent MG pillbox. Note the very large base on which it was constructed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This particular example is located south of \u2018Wervicq-Sud\u2019 and fires westward. It is a German bunker, having a large entrance at the rear with an ammunition niche on both sides.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A small pillbox near \u2018Dombrie\u2019, a village west of the River Scheldt (Escaut). It has very small embrasures for a rifle.\u00a0This particular example is located 100m from a French blockhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Large Pillbox near Quesno-sur-Deule.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
It has six embrasures: two frontal, two flanking and two small ones for the defence of the two entrances. It seems that it was camouflaged like a house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
At one side there were three small bushes at regular distances to support the beams of the false roof.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Caspar Vermeulen Wrting from The Netherlands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two pillboxes for a Vickers machine-gun near \u2018Moulin du Rhin\u2019 east of Dunkirk. They are part of a group of four pillboxes that defended the inundated polders in the western part of the Maginot Line. The front of one of the pillboxes near \u2018Moulin du Rhin\u2019. The embrasure is slightly damaged, but this is probably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990],"tags":[288,266],"class_list":{"0":"post-5435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-british","9":"tag-france","10":"czr-hentry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}