What were the pillbox exactly (in WW2)?

Question

Thanks parrotjoh esp. for the photos.

Answer 1

a small bunker in concrete where a small troop of solders is protected against most calibers that are used on the battlefield also there is a possibility to use a machine gun and or a field - antitank gun from in the protection of the building .
The German army used to build them in different type for different use and also in different types of strenghten ( from "fieldmassige" = a not permanent building till "verstark stendig" = possible to resisted against a full hit of the heaviest field artillery )
A pillbox is mostly never used alone but several in a group so that there fields of fire interlock together .

have a look at the link there you will find several pictures of them

Answer 2

Pillboxes were small heavily reinforced structures for military positions. They were usually of reinforced concrete, fairly small, and had a firing slit at the front. Of course if you were in one, and the bad guys got behind you, and your firing slit was facing the wrong direction,you were in deep doo-doo, because it is hard to run away whilst in a pillbox. In addition, the bad guys were bound to eventually get enough explosives or flamethrowers together to blow you, and your pillbox, up. Oh yeah, these things were normally mostly stuck into the ground, with only the top couple of feet sticking out.
The larger form of the pillbox is known as a bunker.
Hope this is of use to you.

Answer 3

American GI's called the concrete gun emplacements "pillboxes". A defending force would create heavily reinforced concrete chambers. Sometimes these were isolated but often they were part of larger complexes including tunnels and living areas. The Japanese made frequent use of pill boxes. The flamethrower was invented specifically to destroy the people inside the boxes. You can see the remains of American Pill Boxes on Kodiak Island in Alaska.

Answer 4

Germany erected a line of fortifications and barriers along the western front, (shore of North Sea and English Cannel).
This included round concrete gun emplacements, which resembled the white cardboard pill boxes used at the that time.
Thus the gun implacements were nicknaned pill boxes and were responsible for many allied deaths on the landings.

Although the Navies and Air arms tried to take them out with direct hits, the most successfull was to sneak up on top and lob a grenade into the gun slot or rear entrance door.

Answer 5

A pillbox was a small fortified bunker, usually made of concrete. They were used by snipers or machine gunners to serve as stationary positions to fire at incoming enemy troops.

Here are pictures from Normandy:
http://www.508pir.org/photogallery/album_barger/france_2.htm
http://www.oxley.us/images/Dday/UtahBeachpillbox.JPG