Posted: 9/10/2014 3:30:12 PM EDT
I thought I knew a lot about WWII. But this was new to me. The Germans built prefabricated,two man, MG equipped, armored pill boxes which were then install along defensive lines. They were used on both the Russian and Italian fronts. It looks like the MG was bore sighted to the periscope.
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Cool engineering... but kinda inefficient use of resources (that occurred a lot in the Nazi military it seems).
For the same manpower and less material, you could probably dig 4 or 5 good MG emplacements that would offer about 87% of the protection and more flexibility of fire. |
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Cool engineering... but kinda inefficient use of resources (that occurred a lot in the Nazi military it seems). For the same manpower and less material, you could probably dig 4 or 5 good MG emplacements that would offer about 87% of the protection and more flexibility of fire. I think the attraction is that they are light enough that they could be dropped into position and still give good protection quickly. Though I doubt they would fair well vs. heavy artillery or direct fire AT weapons. Whereas a concrete or earth fortification would take longer to build and you could never recover it. |
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Wonder how think the armor was, and when hit, it would ring like a bell 
http://histomil.com/viewtopic.php?f=212&t=7534 |
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Cool engineering... but kinda inefficient use of resources (that occurred a lot in the Nazi military it seems). For the same manpower and less material, you could probably dig 4 or 5 good MG emplacements that would offer about 87% of the protection and more flexibility of fire. plus the dug in emplacements could support each other. These gizmos don't look capable of that. |
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plus the dug in emplacements could support each other. These gizmos don't look capable of that. Quoted:
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Cool engineering... but kinda inefficient use of resources (that occurred a lot in the Nazi military it seems). For the same manpower and less material, you could probably dig 4 or 5 good MG emplacements that would offer about 87% of the protection and more flexibility of fire. plus the dug in emplacements could support each other. These gizmos don't look capable of that. Can't dig/build them as fast. But the Panzernest has a very limited arch of fire at 60 degrees. |
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Can't dig/build them as fast. But the Panzernest has a very limited arch of fire at 60 degrees. Maybe... but it looks like you have to dig a big-ass hole to put this gizmo in anyway... and isn't that the time-consuming part of making an emplacement? (disclaimer: I've never made one) |
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Maybe... but it looks like you have to dig a big-ass hole to put this gizmo in anyway... and isn't that the time-consuming part of making an emplacement? (disclaimer: I've never made one) Quoted:
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Can't dig/build them as fast. But the Panzernest has a very limited arch of fire at 60 degrees. Maybe... but it looks like you have to dig a big-ass hole to put this gizmo in anyway... and isn't that the time-consuming part of making an emplacement? (disclaimer: I've never made one) Explosives make short work if you are really in a hurry. Its all about man hours but filling sand bags and stacking sand bags isn't a fast job either. All and all they were probally a waste of industrial production capability for the Germans. But they had a lot of that in their war production. Direct fire AT weapons and heavy artillery will level almost all field fortifications. Really they are for slowing down an enemy advance or making them maneuver around. They are not an impregnable wall |
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Damn... I hate to think of the details you give to the folks that disagree with you.  Quoted:
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that's really fucking cool You can be my A-gunner and work the vent pump billows. Damn... I hate to think of the details you give to the folks that disagree with you. I'm sure it would be a mouthful
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