Talk: Bunker

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Bunkers and pillboxes

Does anyone how a bunker differs from a pillbox? thanks, Dori 05:52, Nov 17, 2003 (UTC)

Bunkers are below-ground. In fact I believe the picture on the bunker page is actually of pillboxes. - Hephaestos 06:18, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Hmmm, those in the picture also have a below ground part. Does it have to be completely below ground for it to be considered a bunker? I am confused. Dori 06:24, Nov 17, 2003 (UTC)

Now I'm confused, having just looked in the dictionary, which implies a bunker can have an above-ground part. In common usage I've heard (as well as what's implied in the Wikipedia article), a bunker is completely underground, used mainly for command and control, or for storage, whereas a pillbox can have an underground part but necessarily needs an above-ground part to fire a weapon out of. My dictionary on the other hand implies a pillbox needs to be completely above-ground, and that a bunker can have an above-ground part. I usually rely on the dictionary, but I've never heard this usage in military parlance. - Hephaestos 07:58, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Not really an answer to the original question, but I now have an image in my head of two soldiers pinned down on a D-day beach, and one saying to the other "Technically, Sarge, the object that you are ordering us to charge in a heroic display resulting in a courageous but ultimately futile waste of human life is a bunker, not a pillbox". - Gandalf61 09:48, Nov 17, 2003 (UTC)

A pillbox was a cylindrical white card box, about 4cm high by 4cm in diameter, in which pills were dispensed. (cf pillbox hat.) It entered the language as a military slang term for small concrete bunkers of that shape. It is a common local term for such structures (most with no underground part and many square) on the North East coast of England, where many still remain from the last war. In the (British) army in the 1960s it was mocked as a "civilian" term, "bunker" or "machine gun emplacement" being considered correct. No idea what the current military usage is. Presumably the fuzzy dictionary definitions indicate the term has no clear and absolute usage. Anjouli 20:07, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Wow, thank you for the answer! Dori 03:29, Nov 20, 2003 (UTC)