Machine gun positions

Machine gun positions were built on slopes behind barbed wire obstacles. They usually fired along the obstacle in front of next defense position. Floors of machine gun positions were U-shaped. The area was approximately four square meters. Positions high was about 1,5 meters. There could be one or two recess for ammunitions in the side walls. Roofs were made of steel rails which were covered with concrete. Thickness of the concrete roof was about 60 centimeters. Entrance to the position was a simple wooden door. There is only one main type of machine gun positions, but details vary between the different fortification areas. In some typologies this type of position was called also A-type. There is only one entire covered machine gun position left in the land front. It locates in manor of Tuomarinkylä, object XV:1.

Cross-section of MG position
A cross-section of the machine gun position. Right: a cross-section of ammunition recess. Note hollow for machine gun stand under the embrasure. (Detail from Russian construction drawing 1060, National Board of Antiquities, archives of the Department of Monuments and Sites)

 

MG position, X:5
A machine gun position in the steep hill side, object X:5. (1982)

 

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