The Siegrfied Line: The Construction (continued)
Germany’s enemies knew the Siegfried Line for its distinctive “dragon teeth” tank traps, built of concrete gutters with large humps that prevented tanks from rolling through them. Several other tank trap networks were also in place. All of them were built horizontally in front of the bunkers. In the valleys, different systems were installed. For example, deep holes were dug and filled with water. Tank defense walls, approximately 500 meters long and five meters high, were constructed as dams. Shortly before an attack, the dams could be opened to flood the valleys.
The middle band of defense contained machine-gun stations, artillery, anti-tank weapon installations, artillery observation posts, and heavy bunkers with steel towers. Sprinkled throughout were very small bunkers with small steel observation towers that were only big enough for one man.
The innermost system was by far the most intricate: numerous large bunkers that connected to one another by underground tunnels built deep into the earth, so that only their steel towers were noticeable. In and among these fortifications were smaller, one-man bunkers and observation towers.
At strategically important intersections along the line, a battery of soldiers operated a heavy artillery station protected by four heavy guns. The Germans always positioned special tank defense batteries next to important roads and intersections, as well as in the fields near them. At first, they were 3.5, later 7.5, and eventually 8.8 centimeter PAK units, called “eighty-eight” guns by the Americans. These eighty-eight guns were used to attack tanks and to defend against airplanes.
All the bunkers were located so that they could be covered by at least one neighboring bunker. The same applied to PAK bunkers, because they were located close to the defense lines. Except for the bunker types MM19 and FN, no other bunker type had permanently installed guns. This was done for a simple tactical reason: all weapons used from inside the bunkers could also be used outside. Most of the bunkers were connected by trenches and were bolstered by small machine-gun nests in nearby woods or fields.
Farther inland were the heavy-artillery gun bunkers. These were equipped with 15-centimeter guns. With a range of up to 18 kilometers, they were set in groups of four. With one side open, the heavy artillery bunkers were flanked by smaller bunkers that housed the soldiers in charge. Two shifts of personnel were always assigned to a battery.
In order to make sure that water was always available, some of the main fortresses had their own water wells with electrical pump systems, and the rest had wells with hand pumps. Each bunker had a sewage line, a phone connection, and a manually-operated air circulation system, complete with gas and dust filters. Each had a bunker oven that was used for heating, which could be closed immediately in the event of attack, to prevent gas or water from spilling in through the exhaust pipes or smoke being blown back into the bunker. Each bunker also had an emergency exit filled with gravel at the outlet to protect soldiers against explosives. Some of these exits were eighty feet long and were so small that one could get through only by crawling. Bunkers were stocked with ammunition, food and tools, and they were lit by lanterns. Their primitive furniture looked as if it belonged in a submarine.
Bunkers of the C and D type held between five and ten soldiers, while those of the regular defense B-1 type held up to twenty military men. Six of the B-1 bunkers around Zweibruecken were command centers that could hold up to one hundred men.
In his propaganda statements, Hitler declared the B-1 bunkers invincible, due to their enormous firepower. Sunken two-and-a-half stories into the ground, they had two steel towers, each designed with six outlets for machine guns and heavy guns. Each B-1 bunker was equipped with an M-19 grenade thrower with automated feeder and flamethrowers. Door openings concealed large traps that would make it difficult for the enemy to enter, and other bunkers were situated to protect the entrances. (After the war, when I explored such bunkers, I almost fell into one of those traps myself.)