A defensive fighting position is a type of earthwork constructed in a military context, generally large enough to accommodate anything from one soldier to a fire team (or similar sized unit).

Terminology

Tobruk type positions are named after the system of defensive positions constructed, initially, by the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

, Libya. After Tobruk fell to the Allies in January 1941, the existing positions were modified and significantly expanded by the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

which, along with other Allied forces, reused them in the

Siege of Tobruk The siege of Tobruk () took place between 10 April and 27 November 1941, during the Western Desert campaign (1940–1943) of the World War II, Second World War. An Allies of World War II, Allied force, consisting mostly of the 9th Division ...

. A foxhole is one type of defensive strategic position. It is a "small pit used for cover, usually for one or two personnel, and so constructed that the occupants can effectively fire from it". It is known more commonly within

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

slang as a "fighting position" or as a " ranger grave". It is known as a "fighting hole" in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, a "gun-pit" in

terminology, and a "fighting pit" in the

New Zealand Army The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...

. In

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

military argot it equates to a range of terms including slit trench, or fire trench (a trench deep enough for a soldier to stand in), a sangar (sandbagged fire position above ground) or shell scrape (a shallow depression that affords protection in the prone position), or simply—but less accurately—as a "

trench A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...

". During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

the term "rifle pit" was recognized by both U.S. Army and

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

forces. A protected emplacement or concealed post in which one or several machine guns are set up is known in U.S. English as a machine gun nest.

History

During the fighting in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

(1942–43), U.S. forces employed the

shell scrape A shell scrape is a type of military earthwork dug at a shallow but sufficient depth in the ground where a soldier can take shelter from weapons fire. While similar to a defensive fighting position in that the purpose is to shield a single soldier ...

. This was a very shallow excavation allowing one soldier to lie horizontally while shielding his body from nearby

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

bursts and

small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

fire. The shell scrape soon proved inadequate in this role, as the few inches of dirt above the soldier's body could often be penetrated by bullets or shell fragments. It also exposed the user to assault by enemy

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s, which could crush a soldier inside a shallow shell scrape by driving into it, then making a simple half-turn. After the

Battle of Kasserine Pass The Battle of Kasserine Pass took place from 19-24 February 1943 at Kasserine Pass, a gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. It was a part of the Tunisian campaign of World War II. The Axis forces, led b ...

(early 1943), U.S. troops increasingly adopted the modern ''

foxhole Foxhole may refer to: Military * Foxhole, a type of defensive fighting position A defensive fighting position is a type of Earthworks (engineering)#Military use, earthwork constructed in a military context, generally large enough to accommodat ...

'', a vertical, bottle-shaped hole that allowed a soldier to stand and fight with head and shoulders exposed. The foxhole widened near the bottom to allow a soldier to crouch down while under intense

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

fire or tank attack. Foxholes could be enlarged to two-soldier fighting positions, as well as excavated with firing steps for crew-served weapons or sumps for water drainage or live enemy grenade disposal.

Tobruks

The Germans used hardened fortifications in North Africa and later in other fortifications, such as the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...

, that were in essence foxholes made from concrete. The Germans knew them officially as ''Ringstände''; the Allies called them "Tobruks" because they had first encountered the structures during the fighting in Africa. Frequently, the Germans put a turret from an obsolete French or German tank on the foxhole. This gave the Tobruk enhanced firepower and the gunner protection from shrapnel and small arms. Image:German turret at Omaha Beach.jpg, German VK 3001H prototype turret mounted on "Tobruk" at

Omaha Beach Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors of the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies of World War II, Allies invaded German military administration in occupied Fra ...

, June 1944 File:Tobruk at the CI Military Museum.JPG, Tobruk protecting the entrance to the bunker that now houses the Channel Islands Military Museum. This turret from a Renault R35 was originally employed on a Tobruk at Saint Aubin's Fort,

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Modern designs

Modern militaries publish and distribute elaborate field manuals for the proper construction of DFPs in stages. Initially, a shallow "shell scrape" is dug, often called a ranger grave, which provides very limited protection. Each stage develops the fighting position, gradually increasing its effectiveness, while always maintaining functionality. In this way, a soldier can improve the position over time, while being able to stop at any time and use the position in a fight. Typically, a DFP is a pit or trench dug deep enough to stand in, with only the head exposed, and a small step at the bottom, called a fire step, that allows the soldier to crouch on to avoid fire and tank treads. The fire step usually slopes down into a deeper narrow slit called a grenade sump at the bottom to allow for live grenades to be kicked in to minimize damage from grenade fragments. When possible, DFPs are revetted with corrugated iron, star pickets and wire or local substitutes. Ideally, the revetting will also be dug in below ground level so as to minimise damage from fire and tank tracks. The revetting helps the DFP resist cave-in from near misses from artillery or mortars and tank tracks. Time permitting, DFPs can be enlarged to allow a machine gun crew and

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

to be protected, as well as additional overhead cover via timbers. In training, DFPs are usually dug by hand or in some cases by mechanical trench diggers. On operations, explosives, especially shaped charges ("beehives"), may be used to increase the speed of development. Developing and maintaining DFPs is a constant and ongoing task for soldiers deployed in combat areas. For this reason, in some armies, infantry soldiers are referred to as "gravel technicians", as they spend so much time digging. Because of the large expenditure in effort and materials required to build a DFP, it is important to ensure that the DFP is correctly sited. In order to site the DFP, the officer in charge ("OIC") should view the ground from the same level that the intended user's weapons will be sighted from. Normally, the OIC will need to lie on his belly to obtain the required perspective. This ensures that the position will be able to cover the desired sector. File:3rd Battalion 4th Marines dig in near Iraqi border 2003-03-20.JPEG, US Marines digging 'fighting holes' near the Iraqi border, 2003. File:US_Navy_030209-N-5319A-005_Seabees_of_Naval_Mobile_Construction_Battalion_Seventy-Four_(NMCB-74)_have_only_ten_minutes_to_dig.jpg, US Navy Seabees digging 'hasty scrapes', 2003. File:US Navy 030209-N-5319A-006 Construction Electrician 3rd Class Justin Vizcarrondo assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Seventy-Four (NMCB-74) uses an entrenching tool to dig a hasty scrape.jpg, US Navy Seabees near completed fighting position, 2003. File:US Navy 101104-N-8816D-008 Chief Steelworker Corey Mead, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 133, digs a fighting position during training.jpg, US Navy Seabees constructing a defensive machine gun position during training, 2010. File:US Navy 081104-N-7367K-011 Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1 keep guard the protective lines from a fighting position at forward operating base zero.jpg, US Navy Seabees with a completed defensive machine gun position during training, 2008. File:US Navy 101017-N-4440L-022 Equipment Operator Constructionman Travis Love, assigned to the air detail of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB).jpg, US Navy Seabees completed defensive machine gun position during training with camouflage netting and timber supports, 2010.

Notes

References

External links

U.S. WWII Newsmap, "Foxholes are Life Savers"
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UNT Libraries Digital Collections
{{Authority control Military tactics Land warfare Fortifications by type