During the retreat, the soldiers did not spare explosives - this wall was originally... a ceiling

not only pieces of high-strength reinforcement were used as a frame, but also rails

This is what a machine gun nest looks like from inside the shell of a bunker

and this handsome man partially stands in the yard of one of the village residents. The owner was not at home and it took a long time to persuade his relative to get inside. Previously, the “owner” stored potatoes there, but he abandoned this idea a long time ago - the entrance is inconvenient

The entrance grille door is not original, but also very old

The machine gun carriage inside survived - great luck!

there are also mounts with springs for the radio station

door to the main room with traces of explosion and bullet holes

commander's bunker - observation and fire adjustments were carried out from here. But he also took the fight and all his fighters died in the battle with the enemy army

entrance to the observation tower

valves still work

Alexander was lucky - he found the tail of an exploding mine near the bunker

what remains of the memorial - a brass plaque - was stolen by non-ferrous metal hunters...

a large bunker built using the subway method right in the hill. One of the few that withstood the onslaught of the enemy onslaught - the Germans simply could not fit heavy equipment to it - the location did not allow

inside there are tunnels flooded with groundwater - you can’t go there without special rubber shoes

another entrance to yet another bunker, which has experienced more than one “visit” by young people:(

By the way, on each fortification there are symbols of the USSR

the guys were a little shocked when I was the first to go down to the first, underground floor. And what was in my head then, it’s better not to ask :)

this iron remembers the weapons and equipment that were hung on it...


this two-tier bunker was blown up during the retreat

The Poisk group wants to take a piece of reinforcement from a bunker slab as a souvenir. The attempt failed :)

The entrance to the pillbox, on top of which a water pump guard's house was built in Soviet times. The house is already dilapidated. The bunker is still standing. Built around 1905

descent to the first floor, which is flooded with groundwater. According to legend, there is a cannon from tsarist times

And here is the carriage from a 1905 model cannon. Very rare

this hole on the right is for spent cartridges. When trying to find them in the basement, enthusiasts were disappointed... it seems that they were taken a long time ago, perhaps right after the war

a halt in the area of ​​an unfinished railway - supporting columns are visible on the right; the overhead movement of a train was supposed to be carried along them, which would deliver the necessary resources to the army. The project was not completed due to the entry of the Nazi German army into the Kiev Region.
In the middle ground on the left is Alexander Zubko, a photographer for Expert magazine, talking to the Poisk group. By the way, it was Alexander who invited me on this exciting tour of the Kursk Region. thanks to him

a monument near one of the surviving bunkers, made of metal. Only his soldiers did not survive...

The entrance has been preserved in its original form, although the wooden part, it seems, was changed in the mid-eighties

Traces of explosives that silenced the bunker. Can you imagine the power of the charge if a metal plate 3-4 centimeters thick was pierced...
One grenade cannot cause such damage; perhaps it was a bunch of grenades or large explosives

The bolt in the loophole is still actuated by one movement of the hand

And this is the famous bunker on the water, which was led by a “dagger”, i.e. side fire on moving enemy vehicles and infantry. The soldiers who took the battle caused significant damage to the enemy army

And now it is a picturesque part of the rural landscape, to which local fishermen have long been accustomed

The entrance to our last bunker, already in the evening. Having gathered our strength and circled around it, we descended into its silent corridors and rooms.
Our historians say that during excavations at the entrance to the bunker they found the remains of a soldier. Presumably, it was one and a soldier who was seriously wounded during the defense. At night he was dragged out of the bunker and buried at the entrance to a “medical” depth of 40-50 cm. War...

A machine gun carriage has been preserved inside. And traces of the presence of modern homo sapiens... But let me doubt the appropriateness of the second word:(

This is what the exit from the bunker looks like now

Workers of the Poisk society photograph the traces of a bunker antenna being blown up by a German grenade. This was a proven method for disabling our soldiers’ radios; unfortunately, there was no other constructive solution at that time. On the other hand, the German soldier still had to climb onto the roof of the bunker. Without heavy support equipment this was almost impossible

The place where a German grenade exploded. The internal antenna is completely damaged

On the left you can see the trace of the armored plate from the front part of the fortification; now the fastening fittings remain there. The “searchers” told about one of their acquaintances who took off his armor and now it serves him for peaceful purposes in his garden

And for this photo we express gratitude to Alexey Zubko, Expert magazine

Historical information: Kiev fortified area (abbreviated as KiUR) was created during 1929-1935. The first commandant of KiUR was P.E. Knyagitsky. KiUR covered Kyiv in a semicircle, resting its flanks on the river. Dnieper. Its first strip ran in the north and west from the villages of Birki and Demidov along the right bank of the river. Irpen (natural anti-tank line) to the village. Belogorodki, then turned southeast to the village. Tarasovka, Yurovka, Kremenishche, Mrygi. In the south, part of the pillboxes was inscribed in the remains of the ancient “Serpent Shaft”.
More detailed information can be found here.

A bunker is not a rival to a tank, but it can become an insurmountable obstacle for infantry that does not have enough tanks and guns. For example, in mountains or swampy areas.

The abbreviation DOT stands for quite simply - a long-term firing point - a fire structure that can withstand the enemy’s onslaught for a long time. Sometimes, instead of the abbreviation DOT, DOS is used - a long-term fire structure. However, this is a tactical name for structures. Military engineers call them long and boring - Reinforced concrete (concrete, brick) structure for firing from a machine gun (cannon).

It is worth distinguishing the concept of a bunker from the concept of a bunker. The second abbreviation stands for wood-earth firing point - that is, a similar structure, but built not from reinforced concrete, but from logs and earth. Naturally, the strength and resistance to projectiles of the bunker is much lower. However, the bunker is being built ten times faster than the bunker, and it does not require steel and especially strong concrete, which were in short supply during the war.

A smart person won't go to the bunker

The heyday of bunkers occurred during the Second World War, or rather, at its very beginning. They were stuffed with the French Maginot Line, the German Siegfried Line, the Norman Atlantic Wall, the Soviet “Stalin Line” and the Finnish “Mannerheim Line”. But the same Second World War gave birth to effective means of combating these engineering structures: they can simply be bypassed, and if not, then uprooted with tanks. The bunker is no rival to a tank, even if it is armed with an anti-tank gun. He is motionless, and neighboring pillboxes cannot come to his aid. So mobile tanks in groups can deal with pillboxes, destroying them one by one.

However, they did not completely write off pillboxes - they are excellent against advancing infantry, which does not have enough tanks and guns for direct support. For example, in swampy areas or in the mountains.

Where to find them

On the battlefield, bunkers are much more common than bunkers. The first ones are erected by the infantrymen themselves, with the support of regimental sappers, when they occupy the defense at the reached line and the enemy is not yet pestering too much. The latter erect specially trained and equipped engineering and fortification units of troops with advance preparation of the defense line. Ahead, several tens of kilometers away, their troops are still fighting, but it is already clear that they will not be able to hold out there. They need to retreat and take cover behind strong defensive structures, barriers that the enemy cannot quickly overcome. Pillboxes at such a line are usually key strongholds of defense.

Pillboxes are also being built in the so-called URs - fortified areas prepared in advance for long defensive battles. Most often they are built in peacetime near the state border line. Bunkers in URs, as a rule, are much larger than field ones and, so to speak, more comfortable - usually two- and three-story. The lower floors contain large reserves of ammunition, ventilation and heating units, electric generators, food and water supplies, medical supplies and places for personnel to rest.

The latest example of the construction of fortified areas is a system of fortified areas along the Soviet-Chinese border in the Primorsky Territory, which was actively developed in the second half of the 1960s - the first half of the 1970s. The Chinese army of that time was numerous, but had few heavy weapons. Soviet border bunkers could play a very important role in the event of a military conflict.

Deadly Bucket

Let's consider one of the bunkers of a standard design, which were built on the Soviet-Chinese border. Like the famous Khrushchev five-story buildings, bunkers were built from ready-made reinforced concrete structures and were equipped with places for rest and eating, heating and ventilation systems.

The bunker of this project was a universal design. It had no embrasures and was completely hidden in the ground. Only the metal ring (shoulder strap) of the combat casemate went outside, on which it was possible to install a machine-gun turret from the BTR-70 with two machine guns (14.5 mm and 7.62 mm), a turret with a 30-mm rapid-fire cannon and a machine gun from the BMP-2 , a concealed machine gun mount or an armored head of a curved-barreled machine gun. If you use a curved-barreled machine gun, then such a bunker is almost impossible to detect and destroy. Only the armored head, the size of an ordinary bucket, rose above the surface of the earth, in which only the end of the machine gun barrel and the lens of the periscope sight were visible - everything else was hidden underground. A tank can drive over this head and not notice it. The concealing machine gun mount rises above the ground immediately at the moment of opening fire. However, an ordinary reinforced concrete dome with embrasures for machine guns can be placed over the combat casemate.

Invisible

When such a bunker is built and camouflaged, nothing gives it away on the ground. The most that can be seen is a concrete ring level with the ground, similar to an unfinished well. Next to it, two small green ventilation cylinders and a heating pipe with fungus stick out of the ground.

Let's remove the ground, and a modern bunker will open in front of us. Externally, it is a strong reinforced concrete box with dimensions of 5.05 × 3.25 × 2.35 m. A reinforced concrete ring with a diameter of 2.35 m and a height of 2 m is installed on it. The height of the entire structure is 4.35 m.

For clarity, the figure does not show the so-called “mattress”, but simply put, a thick reinforced concrete slab (about 1 m), buried horizontally in the ground approximately in the middle between the surface of the earth and the roof of the bunker, exceeding the length and width of the box by approximately 2.5 m DotA. The “mattress” protects the structure from destruction by heavy concrete-piercing shells with a caliber of up to 203 mm and aerial bombs of up to 100 kg.

To the casemate

Let's take a short tour of the bunker. To get into it, you need to go down the stairs from the trench. At the very end we are greeted by an armored sealed door. Having opened it, we find ourselves in the vestibule of the bunker and see two similar armored doors - one in the left wall, the second right in front of us.

Turning left, we find ourselves in a small room - a “ventilation and power casemate”. There is an electrical panel on the wall, the cables from which disperse throughout the rest of the rooms. Underneath it are batteries for emergency lighting, which are enough for autonomous operation for 1–2 days.

In addition, a filter-ventilation unit is located in the casemate. An interesting device is VZU-100, which is placed on the outer end of the ventilation pipe. It provides free passage of air into the pipe, but instantly closes as soon as a jump in air pressure occurs outside (a shock wave of a conventional, thermobaric or nuclear weapon), completely blocking the access of air to the bunker for several seconds.

Let's return to the vestibule and open the armored door located opposite the entrance. We find ourselves in an auxiliary casemate, which contains cabinets for ammunition, a table for preparing cartridge belts and cooling removable machine-gun barrels. Between the cabinets there is a staircase leading to the combat casemate. We get into it through a hatch in the roof of the auxiliary casemate. Today it is simply an empty reinforced concrete circular room with a diameter of 2.35 meters and a height of 2 meters, open at the top. Its arrangement and armament can be very different - from one or two Kalashnikov machine guns to a 30-mm rapid-fire cannon, an ATGM installation and even man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems.

But such a bunker is unsuitable for installing a tank turret with a cannon. This requires large auxiliary premises and a more powerful electrical power plant.

Barracks

Let's go back down to the auxiliary casemate and through the armored door we will go to the bunker barracks. Directly in front of us is the duty desk with a telephone. On the left on the wall hangs a flat tank for drinking water, on the right there is a cabinet for the personal belongings of the bunker garrison and food. Behind the closet are three-tier bunks for personnel to rest. Considering that at least two people from the garrison personnel are constantly on duty in the combat casemate (one in the ventilation-power casemate and one guarding the entrance), then there is more than enough space in the bunker. People relax like on a warship - one by one.

Unlike all other rooms of the bunker, the barracks, in addition to forced ventilation, has its own passive ventilation: fresh air enters the barracks through the supply pipe, and exhaust air comes out through the chimney. This ventilation and heating system ensures a comfortable temperature in the barracks and makes it possible not to use forced ventilation if the bunker is not engaged in combat.

From experience living in underground structures, it is known that one only has to use the stove for cooking and heating in very severe frosts. Such structures retain heat very well, the stoves, due to the peculiarities of their location, never smoke, and the fuel burns with high intensity. So even in severe frosts, it is quite enough to heat the stove for 1–2 hours so that the heat will last for more than a day. The tour is over.

Estimate

Suppose you decide to build a personal bunker on your site. Here is a brief estimate of the construction. “Chinese” bunkers are assembled from standard ready-made elements produced at field concrete plants. The labor consumption for the construction of the bunker is 450 man-hours (of which 175 man-hours are for the installation of the structure itself), 5.2 machine-hours of a bulldozer and 8 m3 of a truck crane. The volume of displaced soil (excavation of the pit and its backfill) will be 250 m3. 26 m3 of fortification reinforced concrete will be required for the structure and another 45 m3 for the mattress.

This structure has one very significant drawback. It can be erected only in places with light soil, where the groundwater level is quite low. Let us remind you that the floor of the structure is at a depth of 4.35 m, and with a high groundwater level, even the best waterproofing will not save the bunker from flooding. You can, of course, install a water pump, but there will still be constant dampness in the premises, which negatively affects not only people’s health, but also the condition of weapons and ammunition. Consequently, the bunker of the “Chinese” project cannot be erected in rocky and swampy soils, as well as in permafrost areas. Don't despair - there are other projects for such areas.

Hiding

Let's assume you have made a pillbox. Now we need to hide it from prying eyes. The camouflage of the “Chinese” bunker is very simple. You can simply throw a camouflage net over the combat casemate, simulating it as a gas or fuel tank, a dilapidated house or a pile of stones. Everything here depends on the nature of the area and your imagination.

Disguising such a structure even from modern technical means of surveillance and reconnaissance is not so difficult. It is much more difficult to hide the activity of a bunker, especially the movement of people. In winter, the bunker emits smoke from the heating system, but even if the smoke can be hidden, the heat escaping through ventilation pipes and doors and carbon dioxide from people’s breath are quite easily recorded by thermal imaging surveillance equipment. Often the bunker indicates the need to clear the shelling sector of snow in winter and grass in summer. And a tactically competent enemy officer, without much difficulty, determines from the map and by examining the area the most likely locations of bunkers and directs the attention of his observers to them.

We deceive

Thus, it is impossible to hide the presence of a bunker on the site for a long time. But you can create five or six false ones not far from a real bunker. The enemy will understand that of all the bunkers, only one is real, but which one? The simplest version of a false pillbox is a stripe on a stone painted with matte black paint, or a piece of board inserted into an inconspicuous earthen mound. Such camouflage can imitate the embrasure of a bunker quite well.

Of course, in order to mislead the enemy, it is necessary to imitate vital activity - the movement of people, smoke, flowing warm air. Moreover, all this should not be of an obvious, demonstrative nature. Compliance with measures in simulating the life of a bunker is vitally important.

For example, during the Great Patriotic War on the central front in the winter of 1943, intelligence officer Semyon Nagovitsyn distinguished a false bunker from a real one, noting that the Germans regularly cleared snow from the shelling sector of the false bunker, while before the real one they did not do this. Moreover, during the change of machine gun crew in the real bunker, the movement of people was not particularly carefully hidden, while in the false bunker it could be detected with great difficulty. In other words, the Germans overplayed their hand, trying too clearly to show that the real bunker was false, and vice versa.

We're completely confusing

When pillboxes were erected on the Chinese border at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, sappers tried in every possible way to hide the work, and the Chinese tried to pinpoint every place where bunkers were built. Despite the fact that it is impossible to hide such labor-intensive work, the Chinese were still fooled. Our sappers covered the construction sites with vertical masks made of camouflage nets, preventing the Chinese border guards from observing what was happening behind the net. Such masks were also installed in many other places where bunkers were not intended to be erected. They brought excavators to all the sites, brought concrete parts, dug the ground, and... abandoned them after a few days. The same thing was repeated at the second, third, fourth sections. After some time, the sappers returned, did something, and disappeared again. Eventually the camouflage nets were removed and the sappers disappeared. This meant that another bunker had been built. But where exactly?

Related video:

In many Soviet films about the war, we heard the word bunker. What is a bunker and how was it used? Military experts know the answer to this question, but modern generations who have not seen the war live will be interested.

Bunker as an element of soldier protection

If we talk about the bunker (decoding - wood-earth firing point), then at one time it was a fairly effective means of camouflage, intended for firing at enemy forces. Note that if the shelter was well camouflaged, the enemy could not destroy it. The main combat task of the soldiers who were sitting at this point was to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible, while keeping the bunker itself intact and safe.

What is a bunker with a frameless structure? This is a military structure that is partially buried in the ground. Internal equipment is minimal. The embrasure is so wide that fire can be fired within a radius of up to 50 degrees. It is advisable to install a shield on top of the embrasure to protect against grenades, because a precise hit from a grenade or other dangerous object will destroy the bunker. What is the destruction of this fortification? Of course, the death of the soldiers who were in it.

Such firing points are no longer used today

Today's young military personnel will only be able to learn about the bunker in military history classes, which was relevant during the Second World War. An earthen firing point is an engineering structure that was used already during the 1st World War. Materials for construction: earth, grass for camouflage.

Everything is clear about the land. A bunker is being constructed in a deeply dug hole. What is camouflage grass? The firing position must be covered as much as possible in order to give the area of ​​this fortification the most natural appearance. Wood and stones are used in the construction of the bunker. In the images we see a log roof. Stones could be used in different ways, for example for flooring.

Examples of long-term fortifications. Option for tactical actions when destroying a bunker.

bunker- long-term firing point. Usually a concrete or reinforced concrete, less often a steel fortification structure for firing from heavy small arms or artillery systems. Can be located on the surface or buried in the ground. Sometimes the term DOS is used - long-term fire structure.

bunker- wood-earth firing point. This is a field structure for firing heavy small arms. There were bunkers for artillery systems, but very rarely. Usually this is a wooden frame made of logs and beams dug into the ground. Variations using other local materials are possible. Thus, Finnish bunkers often had double log walls filled with fragments of granite. Sometimes the term DZOS is used - wood-earth fire structure.

Casemate- a room in a long-term fortification structure intended for the placement of weapons systems, ammunition and other materiel.

Barracks- a room in a long-term fortification structure intended for shelter and rest of personnel.

Caponier- a structure adjacent to the main fortification structure intended for firing along the walls of the main fortification structure in order to destroy enemy soldiers who broke through directly to it. A caponier capable of firing in only one direction is called a semi-caponier.

Examples of long-term fortifications

Let's look at various options for bunkers, using the example of those that were built on the Mannerheim Line and stormed by Soviet troops during the war between Finland and the USSR (11/30/1939-3/13/1940).

Single embrasure bunker with barracks for 26 people

The pillbox is designed to conduct flanking fire in one direction. It is covered from the front by a small hill, but the armored cap (1) of the command and observation post (COP), rising above the roof of the bunker and projected against the sky, gives away the location of the structure.

On the rear side of the bunker there are two entrances - casemate (2) and barracks (1).
The thickness of the external walls and ceilings is 90 cm, the internal walls are 40-60 cm. The doors are made of planks 5 cm thick, lined with thin iron. Two heating stove pipes and four ventilation pipes rise above the roof.

The pillbox consists of one machine-gun casemate (1) measuring 2x3 meters, a barracks (2) equipped with two-tier bunks for 26 people, a command and observation post room (3) with an armored cap and a service room (4). This room was probably intended for storing material supplies, or was used as a command post for the commander of a unit (company or battalion) defending a given area of ​​terrain.
You can get into the casemate from the corridor (5), which connects to the control room, the barracks (2) and the casemate vestibule (6). You can enter the barracks both from the corridor and from the outside through the barracks entrance through a double vestibule (7 and 7a).
Only the barracks are heated by two stoves installed in enclosures formed by reinforcing short walls-pilasters. There is no well or latrine in the building.
There was a telephone only in the premises of the checkpoint. There is no internal communication in the bunker. Exhaust ventilation with the help of pipes extending onto the bunker cover from the barracks (two pipes), the control point (one pipe and the machine gun casemate (one pipe). There is no electrical wiring, and therefore no electric lighting in the building. There is also no place for fuel storage. The floor is concrete, covered with boards.
There are no additional loopholes either in the doors or in the walls for self-defense of the structure. The height of the room is 1.9 -2 meters. The outside walls are the color of bare concrete, inside they are whitewashed with lime.

Double bunker bunker with barracks for 24 people

It is completely placed on the surface, with only two walls (back and side) slightly embedded in the slope of the hill. From the front it is covered by a stone ridge and is inaccessible to either artillery fire or tanks. It is also difficult for infantry to reach it from the front, because the approaches to the ridge are covered with flanking fire by another bunker or bunker. Two embrasures placed in a ledge allow firing in only one direction - towards one’s right flank. The armored cap of the command and observation post (3) rises above the structure.

The bunker has two entrances - barracks (2) and casemate (1). Through the casemate entrance through the vestibule you can get into one of the two machine-gun casemates, and from it into the corridor and other rooms of the bunker. Through the barracks entrance you can get into the barracks through the vestibule, and from there into the rest of the bunker rooms. Both entrances are closed with wooden doors made of 5 cm thick boards, covered with thin roofing iron.

All walls of the bunker are vertical reinforced concrete with a thickness of 70-90 cm. The covering of the structure is also reinforced concrete with a thickness of 70-90 cm. A similar bunker of an older construction does not have an armored cap. The thickness of the internal walls is from 40 to 60cm. The internal height of the premises is about 2 meters. The height of the firing line (from the ground to the middle of the embrasures) is 1.6 m. The dimensions of the embrasures on the outside are 60x20cm.

Inside, it consists of two machine-gun casemates (1 and 2), a room for a command and observation post (3) (practically it’s just a vestibule under an armored cap) and a barracks with two-tier bunks for 24 people (4). These are the main premises of the bunker. The barracks, machine gun casemates and control points are connected by a corridor (5). The casemate entrance has a casemate vestibule (6), and the barracks entrance has a double barracks vestibule (7). From the barracks, through the door you can get into a small room (8), for the commander of the unit (company or battalion) defending this area of ​​the terrain.

In the enclosures formed by transverse short reinforcing walls (9) there is a stove and a well, as well as racks for ammunition, food and other supplies.
There was a telephone only in the premises of the checkpoint. There is no internal communication in the bunker. Exhaust ventilation using pipes extending onto the bunker cover from each room except vestibules and the corridor. There is no electrical wiring, and therefore no electric lighting, in the building. There is also no latrine or place to store fuel.
In machine gun casemates, the embrasures do not have any metal flaps, devices for securing the machine gun, placing boxes with cartridge belts, or anti-grenade nets. There are no devices for forced ventilation of at least machine-gun casemates (in other bunkers there was still forced ventilation of casemates with manual drive).
The floor throughout the building is concrete. The outer walls are not painted and do not have any devices (hooks, loops, rods) for organizing camouflage, but the color of the concrete itself, in combination with the moss that covers most of the walls and covering, gives a tone close to the surrounding area. The interior walls are whitewashed with lime.
There are no additional embrasures or loopholes for the purpose of self-defense of the bunker either in the doors or in the walls.

Four-hammer bunker with barracks for 30 people

Designed to conduct flanking fire in the direction of both flanks. It has two embrasures in each direction. From the front, the bunker is covered with an embankment. On the roof of the bunker there is an armored cap for surveillance.

It has four machine gun casemates (No. 1, 2, 3, 4). Casemates No. 1 and 3 each have one machine-gun embrasure, and casemates No. 2 and 4, in addition, have one additional embrasure in the rear wall of the pillbox for firing from personal weapons.
The figure shows part of the bunker with casemates No. 3 and 4. Blue arrows with the letter A indicate the main machine gun embrasures, and the letter B shows additional ones for firing from personal weapons. One of them is on the wall of casemate No. 4, and the second is in the wall of the casemate corridor. This embrasure provides protection for the open vestibule of casemate No. 4. It is clearly visible that you can get inside the bunker through the open vestibule and the door of casemate No. 4, first into the casemate, and then from it into the casemate corridor, and from there into casemate No. 3 and the bunker barracks. The situation is similar on the opposite side of the bunker, where casemates Nos. 1 and 2 are located (in a mirror image).

In the bunker barracks (1) there are two-tier bunks for thirty people, a heating stove (2), the pipe of which is led through the back wall of the bunker and a well (3). The barracks can only be accessed from the casemate corridors. In the enclosures formed by reinforcing walls-pilasters, shelving for property is arranged.
In addition, the bunker has a service room (4) and a command and observation post room (5) above which there is an armored cap in the roof.

The thickness of the external walls is 90-110cm, internal 40-60. Roof 90cm. The floor is concrete. There is no lighting inside. The telephone cable was installed in the barracks, and not in the office building or control room. The wooden doors, covered with sheet iron, are locked from the inside. There are one ventilation pipes in the machine gun casemates, two in the barracks and one in the service room.
The bunker does not have any camouflage paint or other camouflage. It is located entirely on the surface and is clearly visible from the rear. From the front it is well camouflaged by a mound overgrown with grass, moss and small bushes.
Judging by the capacity of the barracks and the possibility of firing in the direction of both flanks, it can be assumed that this bunker was the key one in a certain area.

Option for tactical actions when destroying a bunker

Detecting a bunker is not an easy task; the bunker is usually well camouflaged. The bunker looks like a simple mound on the ground. The bunker is lined with turf, and if positions are prepared in advance, it can contain not only grass, but also bushes and even trees.

The bunker embrasure is, as a rule, closed except during periods of firing. Observation is carried out either using special periscopes, or simply from a different position. The machine gun crew of a bunker can fire “blindly”, receiving instructions from the outside, since when constructing bunkers, all landmarks and lines are targeted in advance. The flap can hide the embrasure well. Often, the damper is a massive concrete slab that is raised and lowered using jacks.
From the outside, the embrasure can be covered with a wide-mesh camouflage net through which fire is fired. In addition, a second, denser internal camouflage net can be used, which is removed before opening fire. The external network is stationary; It is attached with its upper edge to pegs driven into the pavement, and with its lower edge to pegs driven into the ground. The internal net is movable, since it is attached with its upper edge to the folding shield of the embrasure, and with its lower edge to the same pegs as the outer net. When firing, simultaneously with the discarded shield of the embrasure, the internal network also falls.

The main difficulty in the fight against Finnish bunkers during the Soviet-Finnish war was that these structures were skillfully applied to the terrain and were located so that from a great distance they were practically invisible (hidden by folds of the terrain, forest), but when approaching Our tanks and guns often could not do this due to numerous natural and artificial obstacles. In addition, many of the bunkers were intended for flanking fire and were completely invisible from the front and inaccessible to flat fire.

The same skillful application of bunkers to the terrain led artillery observers to numerous errors in the firing results (it was difficult to correctly estimate the range of shell explosions from the target). Thus, the Soviet infantry found itself face to face with the bunker and the surrounding bunkers and trenches of the Finnish infantry.

It must be taken into account that the fire is fired from the depths of the room, so flashes of shots and pulsating streams of smoke are almost invisible to anyone. Only those who look deep into the embrasure can see something. A slight shift to the side - flashes and smoke become invisible. There are very few points from which they can be seen, and they, as a rule, are known to the bunker garrison and are well targeted. There is also no cloud of dust raised by powder gases. The sound is muffled and its source is unclear. Pillboxes are often designed exclusively for flanking fire and are deployed to the front at an angle approaching 90 degrees. In this case, parallel to the direction of fire towards the enemy, a shaft is poured, which does not allow shelling of the embrasure from the front.

It is possible to identify the enemy bunker system by indirect signs: by the paths leading to them, by the movement of soldiers, by wisps of smoke from ventilation pipes; according to the availability of sentries.
At night and at dusk, it is easier to detect embrasures - by flashes from shots. If D0T is silent, then you need to try to provoke fire in the same way as they provoke sniper fire - using dolls.
If flashes are detected at night, then the direction of them is marked with small white pegs (matches). Two pegs are driven into the ground so that over the tips of both pegs the gaze rests under the flash. During the day, using pegs in the same direction, they inspect the area. If flares are short-lived, you should at least approximately “link” the flare to any landmark - a star or a tree visible against the sky.

By the way, hanging with pegs can also be used to organize fire at night - directions to probable areas of fire are marked before dark, and at night they are used to guide the target.
The night designation of the direction of movement (attack) is based on the same principle. Two fires or other light sources are placed one behind the other in the direction of movement; If the group, when moving, deviates from the main direction of movement, then the light sources, when looking back, begin to diverge from one another. If the group adheres to the correct direction of movement, then the light sources merge into one.
You can also indicate the direction of movement by fixing the machine gun in one position and shooting tracer bullets, aiming slightly to the side of the target that needs to be achieved by moving. To prevent the enemy from understanding why they are shooting at one place, several false firing points are assigned that fire tracer bullets.

Upon discovery of the bunkers, you need to try to strip them with artillery fire, remove their earthen jacket - to make it easier for your troops to navigate and then fire with concrete-piercing shells. Methodical bombardment of a bunker with artillery fire makes it possible to disable its garrison without destruction, since constant explosions have a shocking effect.

To create cover for attackers, the area in the immediate vicinity of the bunker is bombarded with artillery, which creates craters. Folds in the terrain and craters will make it possible for a small group of soldiers to secretly crawl to the firing point within a short throw.

Of course, the enemy will try to restore the earthen jacket by covering the bunker with sandbags and filling up the craters surrounding it. The attackers' task is to prevent this from happening with fire. Considering that craters are good cover, the enemy can mine them.

Attackers should take into account that often bunkers are surrounded by a group of 3-4 bunkers (wood-earth firing points) or placed in a group of the same bunkers, some of which are “silent”. “Silent” firing points open fire either at the most intense moments of the battle or after the attackers have destroyed other bunkers and bunkers, which allows “silent” firing points not to be detected for a long time.

To storm bunkers, suppression of all enemy firing points is organized. It is difficult to achieve the destruction of fortified points, that’s why they are fortified. It is best to place artillery of a small caliber on direct fire to fire at bunkers, but the enemy will actively oppose the work of such artillery. Therefore, suppression in this case will consist of preventing the enemy from conducting observation and, accordingly, adjusting fire. A blinded firing point will usually fire at no man's land, which must be crossed as quickly as possible.
Additionally, positions around the bunker are surrounded by fire to prevent enemy reinforcements from being brought to it.

Fortified firing points that mutually support each other must be attacked simultaneously. The fact is that the bunker can continue to operate even after the attacking infantry climbs onto its roof. And with mutual fire, pillboxes can clear each other of attackers. Enemy artillery can do the same. She can fire at her own bunker, knowing that the garrison is not afraid of fire. Actually, this is the peculiarity of storming a position equipped with pillboxes. In the worst case, you need to simulate an attack on a neighboring bunker with a small unit so that, while defending itself, the bunker garrison stops supporting its neighbor. If possible, the enemy's view of the captured bunker should be prevented by placing smoke.

We also need sniper fire at the embrasures and viewing slots to force the bunker garrison to close the shutter and stop shooting. You can use armored vehicles to plug embrasures or firing sectors of bunkers.

After suppressing the bunkers and conducting a conventional attack on the positions between the bunkers, a special group is sent through the enemy’s positions to his rear, without stopping to clear the trenches, with the goal of subsequently approaching the bunker from its rear side - from the side of the door. At the same time, units must be allocated that clear and control positions around the bunker. To pass through the positions, armored personnel carriers or tanks with drags attached to armored sleds can be used.

In the immediate vicinity of the bunker there is always space that is not fired upon by the bunker itself, which should be used. A group of attackers comes from the side of the bunker door, trying to blow it up and throw grenades at the bunker garrison.
When throwing in a grenade with a retarder, it is advisable, after pulling the pin, release the lever and count “twenty-two, twenty-two” (2 seconds), and then throw the grenade into the bunker room. A 2-second hold will prevent the grenades from being thrown back or from being thrown by the garrison into the grenade detonation niches inside the bunker.
If the door is armored and it is not possible to undermine it, or there is a special embrasure covering the approach to the door, then you can use the ventilation shafts or try to use the embrasures. After blowing up the ventilation holes, you can pour gasoline or another flammable mixture into them and detonate them. The resulting fire can cause serious damage to the bunker garrison.

To enhance the effect of the explosion, it is recommended to use the double detonation method. Two charges are lowered onto a rope into the ventilation hole. One (the top one) should explode a little earlier than the bottom one. Then its blast wave will create a kind of wall, from which the blast wave of the second explosion will be reflected and direct the explosion inward. If it is not possible to undermine the embrasures, then they must be filled with sandbags. Sometimes it is possible to close the embrasure of a bunker using a long pole or overcoat. You can try throwing smoke bombs into the air ducts.
An attack on a bunker must be carried out very quickly, otherwise the enemy will throw the attackers from the bunker, and with the help of the bunker’s fire, you can clear field positions occupied during the assault.

The command of the Red Army relied on the Rzhev-Vyazemsk line, which, despite its name, stretched from north to south throughout the European part of the USSR. From Ostashkov and Selizharovo, through Rzhev, Vyazma, Kirov, Bryansk and Trubchevsk (along the Desna River with its tributaries). In fact, the line can be found even further north and south of these cities.
By October 1941, it was in varying degrees of readiness. The structures on it were quite diverse: from simple bunkers, to reinforced concrete monolithic bunkers and semi-caponiers, equipped with the latest casemate installations NPS-3 and bunker-4.
There are well-founded opinions that the line was built “in one thread.” Indeed, in some places this happened, but I am inclined to assume that in some places they simply did not have time to complete the construction, in some places the rear and cut-off positions were not filled with troops, or they were withdrawn from positions .
As you know, the line was broken in early October 1941. One of the reasons for the breakthrough is the incorrect concentration of troops. Roughly speaking, German troops hit the most sensitive places. The lack of communication and coordination between the troops (the reasons for this are unclear), as well as the overwhelming air superiority of German aviation, did not allow for a proper response to breakthroughs.
In many places the Red Army began to retreat in disarray, resulting in the abandonment of the defensive line around 9 October. This greatly facilitated the ability of German troops to maneuver.
For a long time, people preferred not to remember the existence of this huge line of fortifications. Most memories boil down to the tragedy of the retreat, encirclement and death of the Red Army soldiers.
Many structures of the Rzhevsko-Vyazemskaya line have survived to this day. A number of defensive areas were left without a fight and were not affected by the fighting during the counter-offensive of the Red Army. Thus, they remained virtually untouchable. Of course, much of what was left behind - clothes, blankets, food, fuel, equipment - was stolen by local residents, both during the war and in our time. In the 90s, a significant part of the equipment of bunkers was scrapped. Currently, concrete boxes, traces of trenches, anti-tank ditches, remains of dugouts and shelters are preserved.
The most famous buildings are located in the Tver region in the area of ​​Ostashkov and Selizharov. However, they do not provide a complete picture of what was built.
First, let's look at the general map, which shows objects related to the Rzhevsko-Vyazemskaya line, which were more or less localized. It is noticeable that in the Bryansk region (in the south) it comes in three layers.

Let's move on to some specifics.

One of the famous defensive areas was the intersection of the current M-1 highway and the Dnieper. The defense was set up along the eastern bank of the Dnieper, road and railway bridges and other crossings were held under fire from naval artillery, for which special positions were equipped.
German troops did not attack in this direction and the units located in this area had to retreat (having previously used up all the ammunition for naval guns). Based on diagrams from the website Feat of the People, it was possible to localize some of the positions of naval guns and the location of bunkers and bunkers.
In the diagram, “baluns” indicate the positions of the guns (1=100 mm, 3=13-mm, 5=152 mm). Squares are built and designed (at the time the diagram was left) bunkers, triangles are bunkers. As you can see, the positions were quite powerful.

During one of the trips we managed to find well-preserved pillboxes. Here, as well as to the south, a significant part of the bunkers were built using log frames, which were then filled with concrete. By now, these structures have rotted or burned out - only the concrete “shells” have survived. However, there are also standard bunkers for a 45 mm gun, the exact same ones can be seen, for example, in Borodino.

A typical bunker based on a wooden frame. In this case, for a 45 mm gun

Olenino

Perhaps the most impressive are the defensive areas located in the vicinity of the city of Olenino. Fortunately, this area is of little interest to the “diggers,” there were no hostilities, and the dugouts were cleared by local residents back in 1941.
These places (south of Olenino) are described in the famous work “Vanka Company.” The area was left without a fight in early October 1941. According to some reports, German troops entered it only a month later.
Most of the structures are standard and monolithic, equipped with casemate installations NPS-3 and DOT-4. Each “defense stronghold” is surrounded by an anti-tank ditch, which is still well preserved.
As a rule, on the approaches to bunkers and bunkers there are “wolf pits”, which did not allow tanks to approach the embrasure from the flank and close it. Nearby there are shelters and dugouts connected by covered trenches.
A significant part of the positions around the bunkers is heavily overgrown with forest and it is quite difficult to get a more or less complete picture. This is roughly what this area looks like according to “official data” - many bunkers have the status of monuments. However, their coordinates are given so approximately that it is very difficult to find them on the ground, in a dense forest.

The stars are bunkers or groups of bunkers, the red lines are anti-tank ditches (some are supposed).

But here you can see pillboxes for a 76 mm gun, a 45 mm gun, a pillbox with a bunker mount-4, although only embrasures remain from them, as well as from bunkers with NPS-3 machine gun mounts. There are very interesting bunkers made on the basis of a log house, but with high, monolithic front walls and concrete embrasures.

Let's consider one “defense stronghold”, which is located near the village of Turnaevo.

The pillboxes are stretched out in one line and cover the road, which in 1941 was the main “route” - the current Riga highway did not exist then. Although the pillboxes were planted below the topographic ridge, they would hardly have gone unnoticed by German intelligence.

A bunker with a 45 gun is located on the right flank. Most likely, further (to the right) there were trenches and perhaps there was a machine-gun position, but now everything there is covered.

Pillbox for 45 guns. Bounded. It is a mound overgrown with grass.

View from the inside, through the embrasure. The stop for the bed is visible on the left. It can be seen that the ceiling is made of metal beams (I-beams) between which pieces of boards are placed.

View from the inside through the entrance. A typical bunker design for a 45 mm gun is visible.

It is interesting that there is a groove in the upper part of the entrance, which may have housed a “gate” structure. Most likely, such bunkers were closed with gates, both from bad weather and for security (so that strangers would not climb in).

To the left is an observation point (OP) with three embrasures. Unfortunately, the entrance to it is completely covered.

This is an observation slit along the front.

The entrance is blocked, the trench and the embankment are swollen. The door to the NP probably disappeared during the war.

observation slit.

Even further to the left, directly next to the road, there is a bunker with a bunker-4 installation.

It could fire from both a 45 mm cannon and a machine gun. A metal ball was once installed in this embrasure...

Apparently they couldn’t or didn’t want to unscrew the studs...

The remains of a log house, an embrasure and an apparently solid “floor slab” are visible. The inclined front wall of the bunker is noteworthy.

Embrasure.

Machine gun semi-caponier with NPS-3.

The firing sector intersects with the bunker. It is not very clear why the wing was made. Alas, the entrance is completely covered with earth, and the sector in front of the embrasure has been turned into a landfill. (We should clean it up.)

An embankment covered the entrance. And the tree has also grown.

On the very left flank there is a bunker with bunker-4. I do not rule out that there is something even further to the left.

The characteristic “obtuse” angle of the bunker is visible. The embrasure is close to the ground.

Hooks, releases of fittings - were usually used to secure the camouflage.

A typical entrance to a bunker (DOT-4) has a sleeve collection chamber inside below the floor level. Entering it there is every chance of falling a meter and a half into the water...

Firing sector, in front of the forest there should be an anti-tank ditch.

These structures covered the road that ran from west to east in the direction of Rzhev. Nowadays there is almost no traffic on it, and the village itself looks uninhabited.