A dugout is a field shelter that performs the function of protecting the military from the damaging factors of enemy weapons, as well as a safe place to rest and sleep. It is made in the form of a depression in the ground. The floor, walls and ceiling are made of wooden flat boards or round wood (log cabin). But if there are no trees near, then the dugout is laid out from stone. Above the structure is sheathed with a protective metal flooring, which is able to withstand a direct hit by a shell and save the soldiers from imminent death. This entire structure is covered with a layer of turf for masking.
Of the furniture in the dugout, there are mainly bunk beds, a large table and long benches built from the same boards that were used to build the shelter.
The dugout can be equipped with electricity, ventilation and a heating device. But any attempt to make it more comfortable for the soldiers to live reduces the percentage of protection, for example, from radioactive fallout after an explosion. And the stove flooded in winter for heating the underground premises with a treacherous black smoke against a background of white snow will tell the enemy about the location of the shelter of the soldiers. The more tightly the dugout will be, the more reliable its protection against the consequences of the explosion, therefore, it has no windows or doors. You canโt shoot from it or use the premises for military operations, you can only hide in it.
Material
As a rule, a military dugout is a hastily built shelter for which material is used that is available near military operations. Modern dugouts are made from finished materials, for example, from steel sheets in the form of an arc, which in the assembled state represent a circle. It is psychologically difficult to be in a metal shelter: there is a feeling of a sealed, sealed on all sides of the foundation pit.
Depending on the number of people involved in the construction, it can take from two to four days to create it.
The flooring, which performs the function of protection, is made of steel or any durable material that can withstand a powerful blast wave.
Capacity
The maximum capacity is usually up to eight people per dugout. These are very small structures that build 20-30 pieces on the line of contact with the enemy. The distance from one dugout to another is a few meters. They are not combined with each other, and the exit of each dugout is located in the side that is most protected from the enemy.
Origin of the word
The meaning of the word blindage is rooted in France. Translated from French, it means "cover up." Dugouts have always been used in military conflicts on both sides of hostilities. They were built not only to shelter warring soldiers, but also were located in field hospitals, military headquarters, warehouses with ammunition and food.
There are two types of dugouts according to the type of construction: hidden in the ground and half buried. Basically, the first option was built so that the enemy did not find shelter, the location of which was considered a military secret for the opposing side. The enemy did not have to know where the dugouts are located in order to eliminate the risk of targeted bombing.
The dugouts in which the ammunition was stored were built away from shelters for resting soldiers.
Finds of treasure hunters
Until now, in the dense forests you can find a shelter preserved from the Second World War, in which objects of that time remained. The German dugout was built from more durable materials, and sometimes from double reinforced concrete flooring, so such shelters are perfectly preserved in their original form, despite decades.
Treasure hunter metal detectors often respond to iron spoons, thermoses, bullets and orders buried in the dugouts of German soldiers. To this day, they find the remains of warehouses - former dugouts with ammunition, where sappers immediately begin to work.
The Russian dugout is a less solid construction, unlike the German one, because it was built in 2-3 days, and often already in the process of fighting.