What do you think this is.

jas72 · 27 Apr 2019 at 17:39

On our local dog walking route (I live in Flanders in Belgium BTW) we see this concrete box. It's in the middle of a mud track. I've tried browsing local historic sites and photos but don't come up with anything.

Do you think it's from either of the Wars, it seems such a strong concrete structure to be in the middle of nowhere.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VnDEe2FfB6qoU23P9

There doesn't seem to be anyway into it apart from the hole at the front and it's buried in to the sidebank.

Perhaps it's just a feeding trough for cattle but thought it might interest some bored internaut.

wolfie138 · 27 Apr 2019 at 17:45

does look a bit like an overgrown pillbox, does the slot face any sort of route a threat might appear from?

Orionaut · 27 Apr 2019 at 17:46

jas72 said:
On our local dog walking route (I live in Flanders in Belgium BTW) we see this concrete box. It's in the middle of a mud track. I've tried browsing local historic sites and photos but don't come up with anything.

Do you think it's from either of the Wars, it seems such a strong concrete structure to be in the middle of nowhere.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VnDEe2FfB6qoU23P9

There doesn't seem to be anyway into it apart from the hole at the front and it's buried in to the sidebank.

Perhaps it's just a feeding trough for cattle but thought it might interest some bored internaut.

Pill box, partially buried.

Back in the day, some poor SOB had to sit inside it pointing a heavy caliber machine gun at the approaching enemy and fight to the death!

BigT · 27 Apr 2019 at 17:51

Pill box from the Second World War. We’ve got loads of them on the marshes in Kent. Farmers were paid a tidy sum to allow the MoD of the time to build them on their land.

Mike9000 · 27 Apr 2019 at 17:57

As above a pillbox. I lived on the Wirral as a kid and the place is littered with them.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/related.php?id=5869812&method=quick

Ocean Breeze · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:06

World War 2 bunker.

jas72 · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:15

thanks guys. It doesn't seem to be guarding anything much but of course it's years ago now.

The link above is great so many built in the UK as well :cool:

JBuk · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:19

See that tiny dilapidated concrete building in the over grown weeds, full of rats and smelly

that’s your house that is!

Orionaut · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:23

jas72 said:
thanks guys. It doesn't seem to be guarding anything much but of course it's years ago now.

These were not planted randomly.

There will be a specific piece of ground/approach/whatever that this will have been positioned to cover. it might be interesting to have another look and work out what it was. it might actually be something really quite small like a stream gulley.

Pill boxes were not ultimately expected to survive in the main. They were intended to slow down any advance and if lucky, eventually the occupants might have a chance to withdraw in good order.

But more often than not, it would have been a fight to the death or a surrender.

Orionaut · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:24

JBuk said:
See that tiny dilapidated concrete building in the over grown weeds, full of rats and smelly

that’s your house that is!

I am quite familiar with Newcastle!

vanandjuanunited · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:35

Have a look and see if it's mentioned on

https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/country.asp?countryid=2

godinman · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:38

Ocean Breeze said:
World War 2 bunker.

This, I believe.

wedrum · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:43

glenimp617 · 27 Apr 2019 at 18:59

Field grass, you can tell by the shade of green. My dad mows it for a living.

Orionaut · 27 Apr 2019 at 19:13

Another thought,

As you can clearly see from the photo.

This Pill box never saw any action!

Russinating · 27 Apr 2019 at 19:17

This isn't meant harshly, but I'm quite shocked you live in Flanders but don't know a pill box when you see one.

I'd highly recommend visiting some cemeteries, conservation sites and museums in the area and Ypres etc, which I presume you haven't much!

Tek81 · 27 Apr 2019 at 19:22

I'm not sure if it's the same in other areas, but the ones we have on the east coast have all been filled in, similar to the one in the picture. Apparently they were unsafe.

Ocean Breeze · 27 Apr 2019 at 19:29

There are loads of these on the west coast of France. People have them in their back gardens.

cheesyboy · 27 Apr 2019 at 19:30

tek81 said:
I'm not sure if it's the same in other areas, but the ones we have on the east coast have all been filled in, similar to the one in the picture. Apparently they were unsafe.

There's one about a mile from our house that I've been in, so not the case in the West.

Orionaut · 27 Apr 2019 at 19:53

Russinating said:
This isn't meant harshly, but I'm quite shocked you live in Flanders but don't know a pill box when you see one.

I'd highly recommend visiting some cemeteries, conservation sites and museums in the area and Ypres etc, which I presume you haven't much!

Didn't want to make the obvious point but yes!

Cannot really understand how somebody cannot recognize a pill box for what it is! :confused:

Flanders, in particular, is essentially a gigantic field of death. I doubt if there is anywhere where you can take a single step without treading on the final resting place of some poor Soldier.

The idea that anybody can grow up not really appreciating cataclysmic events that happened essentially within living memory (And not just the second one, but the first one too) is astonishing.

Again, As Russinating said. This isn't OP's fault. But it is the fault of all those who have ever taught him!