Item 07: John D. Wilson diary, 19 September-28 December 1917 - Page 21
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[Page 21]
but still substantial. There are ventilating walls shafts and flues for stoves, loop holes for machine guns and rifles, & magazines let into the concrete walls for bombs and ammunition. The structure is let into the ground for half its length hight, so that the loop holes are almost flush with the ground level, & the entrance door has to be reached by a trench. Total concealment is impossible, because the loop holes must be above ground, and that leaves the massive roof standing out like a mound. Still, clever camouflage will do a lot, especially in the way of hiding the places from the observer in the air.
The Pill-box is really an Island fort and its resisting power is extraordinary; it will take a direct hit from the biggest shell and remain unbroken, though it often happens that the tremendous shock of the impact kills the whole of the garrison inside. There have been cases of the pill box being turned over by a big shell striking the ground in front and bursting underneath leaving the front loop holes staring up to the sky ready for the bombs which our men drop into them as an