Bunker

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

A bunker is a military building for defense. They are usually built below ground. Blockhouses are like bunkers, but are built above ground. Bunkers were of big importance during World War I and World War II. Bunkers were built during the Cold War for important political people and for the general public because of the scare of a nuclear war.

Contents 1 Types of bunkers 1.1 Trench 1.2 Pillbox 1.3 Industrial 2 Famous bunkers 3 See also 4 References 5 Other websites

[change] Types of bunkers

There are many different types of bunkers:

[change] Trench

A trench is a small building made of concrete that is dug into the ground partway. These are usually parts of a big system of trenches. These kinds of bunkers give people fighting better protection than an open trench. They also give top protection against air attack (grenades, mortar fire and shells). They also provide shelter against the weather.^[1]

[change] Pillbox

A pillbox is a small building made of concrete that also has small windows that people can shoot guns out of. The name came from the fact that they look like the boxes that pills came in.^[2] Pillboxes were used a lot during World War I when defense in depth was being used. Pillboxes are most often found camouflaged so that they are harder to spot. They can also be part of a trench system, where the pillbox is a firing step that has been built to take grenade blasts and smaller mortar fire. Pillboxes were also built to help protect strategic structures such as bridges or jetties.

[change] Industrial

Industrial bunkers are built like regular bunkers and they can be mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes places that people live in. They were built by nations during World War II to help protect the important industries from getting bombed. Many mines in France and Germany were made into bunkers by both the Germans and the French in both World War I and World War II.

[change] Famous bunkers

Famous bunkers include the World War II V-weapon buildings in Germany (e.g., Mittelwerk, La Coupole, and Éperlecques) and the Cold War buildings in the United States (Cheyenne Mountain, Site R, and The Greenbrier) and Canada (Diefenbunker).

[change] See also

• Blockhouse
• Blast shelter
• Fallout shelter

• Examples of bunkers:
  • Atlantic Wall, coasts of Western Europe, built by Nazi Germany during WWII
  • GHQ Line, southern England, built by Great Britain during WWII
  • Maginot Line, eastern France, built by France, pre-WWII
  • Siegfried Line, western Germany, built by Germany during WWI and again pre-WWII
  • Taunton Stop Line, southwest England, built by Great Britain during WWII

[change] References

[change] Other websites

• Bunkers or bunker systems:
  • Europe Bunker Pictures (images, locations and information, mainly Atlantikwall, also some about Cold War structures)
  • Europe WW2 bunkers in Europe (reference website about museums and sites of WW2 pillboxes, bunkers and other defensive structures with maps and photos)
  • Great Britain Coastal Defences North Norfolk (image collection of WW2 coastal defences)
  • Great Britain Pillboxes UK (reference website about WW2 pillboxes and other defensive structures)
  • Great Britain UK Heritage: Pillboxes (short article about "Miniature modern castles")
  • Great Britain Subterranea Britannica: Cold War (information on Cold War-era underground structures in Britain)