5
In the political turmoil that overshadowed the later years of the interwar period the nations of continental Europe, almost without exception, feared the very real possibility of another war. This unease manifested itself in the construction of a series of fortifications the like of which Europe had never seen before and would never see again.
Many of these defences were huge in scale with fighting positions served by a subterranean network of tunnels, often with light railways, linking ammunition stores, living and sleeping quarters and even recreation facilities. Alongside these massive concrete structures were smaller positions that included for the first time emplaced tank turrets that melded two arms of the military that were seemingly diametrically opposed: tanks and fortifications.
Tanks, the natural descendant of the cavalry, were designed for speed and mobility. They were designed to provide the armoured fist, the rapier blow. By contrast, fortifications were designed as a shield. They were built to deter the enemy, or if that failed, to slow them sufficiently to enable the main body of the army to be mobilized to meet the threat. Yet despite this apparent dichotomy, emplaced tank turrets provided a potent combination, just as in medieval times the sword and the shield worked in perfect harmony. However, in the early stages of the war the power of this amalgam was not truly realized. Many of the turrets installed by Belgium and France were outflanked as the German blitzkrieg bypassed pockets of resistance and thrust deep into the enemy rear, leaving the infantry to mop up.
Nevertheless, the potential of this type of fortification was recognized by the Germans and as the battles of conquest slowly turned into a battle for survival the idea was widely adopted with emplaced turrets used in all theatres of the European campaign. The success of these defences in protecting Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ were somewhat mixed not least because of the fact that the turrets were often poorly armed. The one notable exception was the Panther turret, which took a terrible toll on Allied tanks in Italy and persuaded the high command to avoid this type of defence wherever possible.
With the war over there were vast quantities of surplus tanks available and this, together with the straitened financial circumstances that many governments found themselves in, persuaded a number of countries to adopt the idea as a cost effective way of protecting their borders, airfields and other strategically important installations. Few turrets saw action in this period, but they provided a powerful deterrent and helped ensure that in Europe at least, the Cold War did not degenerate into open conflict.
As the years passed and the communist threat disappeared, so a new security threat emerged: terrorism. This menace could not be countered with fixed fortifications nor indeed with conventional forces full stop. As a consequence, and as countries sought to realize the ‘peace dividend’, these defences were, and are being, dismantled or scrapped. Almost without exception the turrets have been removed and shelters filled with concrete or demolished. This fate is also true of many of the original turrets, as the demands of modern life gradually see such fortifications ripped out to make way for new developments. Progress cannot be denied, but there has to be a balance and it is to be hoped that some of these fortifications can be saved for future generations. If not, this book will hopefully go some way towards preserving the memory of this oft overlooked but nevertheless interesting arm of modern fortifications.