E-Book Overview
Osprey Publishing, 2012. — 66 р. — (Osprey Fortress 107). — ISBN: 1849085935.
Starting in 1940, Germany was subjected to a growing threat of Allied bomber attack. The RAF night bombing offensive built up in a slow but unrelenting crescendo through the Ruhr campaign in the summer of 1944 and culminating in the attacks on Berlin in the autumn and early winter of 1943- 44. They were joined by US daylight raids which first began to have a serious impact on German industry in the autumn of 1943. This book focuses on the land-based infrastructure of Germany’s defense against the air onslaught. Besides active defense against air attack, Germany also invested heavily in passive defense such as air raid shelters. While much of this defense was conventional such as underground shelters and the dual use of subways and other structures, Germany faced some unique dilemmas in protecting cities against night fire bomb raids. As a result, German architects designed massive above-ground defense shelters which were amongst the most massive defensive structures built in World War II.
E-Book Content
DEFENSE OF THE THIRD REICH 1941–45
STEVEN J ZALOGA
ILLUSTRATED BY ADAM HOOK © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
FORTRESS • 107
DEFENSE OF THE THIRD REICH 1941–45
STEVEN J ZALOGA
ILLUSTRATED BY ADAM HOOK Series editor Marcus Cowper
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
4
FLAK EMPLACEMENTS
5
Pre-war Luftwaffe Flak Acceleration of air defense in 1940 Integrated air defense Flak expansion Flak emplacements Light Flak revival Atlantikwall Flak
AIR-RAID FORTIFICATIONS
24
Pre-war initiatives Basement shelters Enclosed trench shelters Air defense bunkers Military shelters The Flak towers One-man bunkers The bombing intensifies
DARK WORLD: UNDERGROUND FORTIFIED FACTORIES Battle of the factories
Factory bunkers
48
Operation Desert
THE SITES TODAY
59
FURTHER READING
60
INDEX
64
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
DEFENSE OF THE THIRD REICH 1940–45 INTRODUCTION From 1940 to 1945, Germany was subjected to the most intense aerial bombing campaign to date, totalling some two million tons of bombs. Germany’s response to the Allied air attacks was a mix of active and passive air defense tactics, including fighter aircraft, Flak, and air-raid protection. An important but often overlooked aspect of these air defense efforts was an associated fortification program. The Luftwaffe’s lavishly equipped Flak force is well known, but its methods of deployment and use of field works is detailed here for the first time. The largest single fortification effort inside Germany during the war was a program to create air-raid bunkers and other forms of shelters, an effort four times the size of the Maginot Line construction program. In the final year of the war, Germany attempted to shield its most vital factories from air attack by an urgent scheme to construct underground and fortified factories. Although now forgotten, the Third Reich’s air defense fortification program was intensely studied by the Allies after the war and served as the inspiration for many Cold War bunker programs.
The LVZ-West fortification program in the late 1930s in the Saar included numerous command posts such as this LVZ-K bunker, variously designated as a Kommandostand or Gefechtsstand. This bunker was typically used as a Flak battalion command post and was designed to accommodate 24 troops. It was 16m (52ft) wide, 8m (26ft) deep and used 455 cubic metres (600,000 cubic yards) of concrete. (Library of Congress)
4 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
The ea