The Fortification Pack (work in progress)

[MarkSheppard]

Something I'm going to be working on from time to time, to add to the various fort icons already in the game; to allow better representations of the WW2 era forts of Europe.

First up is the Abri [infantry shelter] of Coucou in the Metz Fortified Region (magniot line). It was laid out as follows:



These were placed behind the main protection line, on reverse slopes.

Total Capacity is probably 50 men; broken down into
4 x Officer Bunkerage
48 x Enlisted Men Bunkage

with 2 x LMGs firing forward to protect the entrance.

There is one GFM Cloche on the top, which can be an unarmed observation cupola, or an armed one, the armor thickness on these is generally 250mm minimum, with a roof thickness of 250-300mm.

Armed GFMs have either:

1 x LMG
OR
1 x 50mm Mortar.

The Bunker's protection level appears to be French Level 2; protection against 240-mm calibre weapons; based on a scaled concrete thickness of 2.25 meters I found.

Here's a rough icon I ginned up.



I know it's not much, but we gotta start somewhere. Refinement can come later.

FYI; the information and drawings are from J.E. Kaufmann's and Robert M. Jurga's Fortress Europe - European Fortifications of World War II

[PatG]

Nice addition.

I have a few related questions. Which way is front? If the right side, then is this designed as an shelter against artillery? If to the left, is the grey section ("2" on the drawing) a fighting trench? If so, what's your thinking on representing rifle fire from the squaddies? It seems a bit wasteful to provide 2.25m of concrete for a hidey hole with only a couple of mgs.

Art comment: The "sun" is top right so the shaded area on the cloche should be rotated 45 degrees clockwise.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else you have planned.

[MarkSheppard]

Which way is front?

I assume you mean the side pointing towards the enemy? It's the one with the cloche on it. (right)

If the right side, then is this designed as an shelter against artillery?

Pretty much yeah. It's actually a two level bunker, with room to sleep 50~ people.

If to the left, is the grey section ("2" on the drawing) a fighting trench?

No, it's a fougasse. Modern day version of the ancient moat.

The two (1) items in the diagram are actually drawbridges which can be cranked in or pulled up, and as a bonus, if you try to throw a grenade or satchel charge at the entrance, the charge will end up inside the fougasse and explode away from the entrance.

It seems a bit wasteful to provide 2.25m of concrete for a hidey hole with only a couple of mgs.

2.25m is actually quite light, being only Level 2 and protects from 240mm weapons. The French went up to level four and protection from 400~mm weapons in their bunkers.

As for the few MGs, yeah, it does seem wasteful, but it's primary purpose is to provide a gastight, artillery proof barracks for 50~ men (possibly as high as 100 if hotbunking is used), which is connected via an underground tunnel to other fighting bunkers and positions.

[MarkSheppard]

Doing some exploratory work, so I can understand and set up the icon just right, so that it looks "right" when placed on a reverse slope.



I ditched the hand drawn earth and stuff over the bunker in favor of a transparent line, so that you can make the bunker blend in with terrain...

Just needs a bit more work....

Got it to work. New icon attached.

Settings to use in ShpED:

X Size: 88
Y Size: 88
X Offs: 0
Y Offs: 0
Left: -55
Top: -35
Right: 0
Bottom: 33

It really does work like a charm.

[PatG]

Very nice. So I gather that this will be just one of a series of bunker types - looking forward to seeing more.

[MarkSheppard]

Okay, so this is one I haven't figured out the armor for.



When the British essentially bombed Gneiesenau (sp?) so badly that she had to be scrapped, her turrets were re-used for coastal defense in Norway and elsewhere.

Here's the SHPed Specs:

Hull/Barbette:

X Size: 88
Y Size: 88
X Offs: 0
Y Offs: 0
Left: -21
Top: -21
Right: 20
Bottom: 20

Turret:

X Size: 88
Y Size: 88
X Offs: 0
Y Offs: 0
Left: -29
Top: -18
Right: 48
Bottom: 20

I'm attaching the drawing I used to help do it; so if anyone wants to take a crack at improving my icon.....

Apparently I got it wrong. The Germans removed the stereoscopic rangefinder hoods from the turrets when they remounted them in Norway, and put it onto a concrete pedestal: