The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1917-12-08
BIG GUNS BEAT
The "PILL BOX"
Concrete Forts No Longer Are
Decisive Factors.
HARD NUTS FOR INFANTRY
Took Heavy Toll In Lives Until Brit
ish Heavy Artillery Found Them
Accurate Observation and Good
Shooting Puts German Device on
the Shelf - Were Deemed I'm
preonable.


the Shelf - Were Deemed I'm
preonable.
The pill box" has come-and gone.
Like the submarine, the giant Gotna'
biplane, the liquid fire and gas and
other German inventions which were
to turn the tide of battle in Germany's
favor, these much-talked-of concrete
forts have been laid on the shelf
as far as settling the war is consid-
cred. They are not Intellectual, but
they are not decisive factors, writes
Frank w. Getty in the New York
Tribune.
The pill box" or pillar box, as the
German communique have 1t, is a rec
tangular structure, built generally by
piling boxes of concrete one upon the
other, like children's toy blocks. They
are then allowed to form into a solid
mass of concrete about a yard thick,
which affords the gunners inside pro-
lection against anything except a di-
rect hit by something over nine inches.
In action they bristle with machine
guns, which are thrust out through
numerous cracks and lOOpholes, the
gunners, safe behind their thick walls,
being able to rake advancing infantry
without exposing themselves. Each
"pill box holds from 40 to so men,
and becomes a veritable deathtrap if
a British heavy does land shell on
it or a cloud Of poison gas sweeps that
way.
Were Hard Nuts for Infantry.
The Boches have shown great adap-
liability in placing these pill boxes
where they will be most effective. They
had soWed them in and out among the
little hollOwS on the western slopes
of Passchendaele ridge, frequently run
ming up a rim of concrete around a
shell crater, leaving the top uncov-
cred. Where they did this, of course,
a high trajectory British barrage
quickly made the position untenable,
but such pillar boxes as escaped the
hail of steel and lead which preceded
the British advances were difficult
nuts for the infantry to crack.
The German high command insti-
tuted the pillar boxes for two reasons.
First, the terrific barrage fire which
the British guns OF all caliberS sent
over before an attack rendered even
the deepest and most carefully con-
structed front line trenches utenable.
The second and chief reason why
the general staff turned its attention
seriously to these concrete structures
was that the mud of Flanders is no
place for trench warfare. Whenever
the Germans went down six feet in
their trench systems they found them
selves standing in water. Troops
could not live under such conditions,
and something had to be devised above
ground.
1t was this same jelly-like mud
however, which solved the fate of the
German pillar box, even as it was
responsible for it's institution. Be
cause, in most places, the mud was so
soft, and because, in many places, wa
ter was only about two and half feet
under the surface, foundations for
these concrete structures could only
be sunk to a depth of about two feet.
Consequently, when a British high ex-
plosive shell struck anywhere in the
vicinity there was imminent possibil-
ity of the pill box" collapsing like
house of cards and a few tons of con-
crete coming down on the gunners
packed inside.
When the ''pill box" was first dis
covered in the German line of de-
fense east of Ypres had an interview
with a military authority, who in
formed me that they would De tremen-
dously difficult to overcome. He was
frankly pessimistic over the prospect
of having to advance through this new
form of defensive warfare.
Today that same authority told me
how the "pill boxes" had been con-
quered.
Accurate Gunnery Wins.
'You will remember that at the time
the pillar boxes first made their ap
pearance," he said, Il told you that
they represented a very serious OBJ
Stacle to our advance in Flanders.
This seemed so at the time because
only a direct hit from big gun could
put them out of business.
'We have overcome the menace of
the pill box by good military strategy.
Our success is mainly due to our accu-
rate observation. and good shooting!
We knew that only a big shell would
put one of the beggarS out of COM
mission, so we deliberately set out to
make it possible for our big guns to
find their marks, small as they were.
"Our aviatOrs furnished US with the
most perfect, detailed photographs of
the whole area which was sown with
these structures. Maps on a large
scale were constructed, and the science
of artillery has become so exact these
days that our gunners were able to
score many direct hits on these small
objects When q direct hit was scored,
that was The end Of the pill box and
everyone inside il. Even when a high
explosive shell failed to land square