Pillboxes and bunkers

[Copper]

Steve, can we have a peek at what the pillboxes will look like or a description? I assume they will be treated like a building or a vehicle that can be occupied. Will heavy weapons be allowed to occupy (AT guns).

Thanks!

[MikeyD]

There is small pict of a concrete pillbox being blasted by a Sherman in one of the screenshots. Picture 5 of 39. Admittedly it doesn't show much, its just a pillbox-sized pilbox looking something like the old CMx1 bunker but nicer.

It came as something of a surprise researching the topic, to find that beyond the immediate coast and a couple other positions, poured concrete bunkers were not the norm in the French countryide. You find most of your bunkers/pillboxes along the Gothic line, along the West Wall, and surprisingly in the English countryside - which is probably why they appear so often in old war movies. If the guys at BFC have plans for overhauling bunkers (and I have no inside knowledge on that) they may be waiting til bunkers become more relevant to the theatre of operations. West Wall and Eastern Front.

http://www.battlefront.com/images/stories/CMBN/Gall1/bunkerassault2.jpg

[Gromit]

Hopefully we will see some nice bunkers for all those off-the-beach areas. You know, made out of trees and other cobbled together "stuff". Would be much more prevalent than a pillbox would IMO- scenario constraints notwithstanding of course!

[Copper]

MikeyD,

Thanks for the redirect on the picture. I now see the pillbox shape.

[LongLeftFlank]

Well, the assault on the Brest fortress is pretty obvious, but as you say, that's on the coast.

But for some reason, I can't think of the battle for Saint Lo and its surrounding heights without thinking "pillboxes", although I forget exactly why. Some Google work brings up references to heavy fortifications, but there's no explicit mention of cement fortifications.

The Bloody Hill Before St. Lo

The enemy had been fortifying Hill 192 for months. It was studded with foxholes, machine gun nests and expertly camouflaged observation points. Hedgerows sprouted along its gradual slope. Behind these, Germans huddled in dugouts.

BTW, I also found the war diary of the 654 TD Battalion, day by day. Interesting stuff, and very gruesome in places, while we're arguing over whether CMBN is "too bloody" vs RL or not....

The [dead] platoon of [uS] Infantry across the street is a gruesome sight to behold. I believe, even tho as hard as it might be, that every American should have to look at this sight. American soldiers a complete platoon of them slaughtered as they attacked the enemy pill box. Some fell to their knees and are still knelling with their heads down as if in prayer. Some are blown apart into hundreds of pieces; some are in the prone position as if firing; some are sitting. The body of their platoon sergeant is covered with an enemy bedsack and body trapped. To the entrance sits a light reconnaissance tank hit by an enemy 75mm gun burned to a charred mass of steel and the bodies of three American soldiers on it; that is what's left. Just above the tank is an enemy SP 75mm gun, the barrel still hot where they slaughtered the first three tanks as they came around the curve. The shoulders of the road and all roads are sewn with mines. The Engineers removed one Teller Mine which the whole command post group luckily drove over without hitting it. The surrounding woods are a torn mass of fragments as the result of our artillery fire.

The enemy had well dug in positions and excellently camouflaged and nothing less than a direct hit would effect him physically.