Belarus bunkers / wood lined dugouts etc

[bilko]

Anyone remember the RM episode where he went to Belarus and we saw the Jerusalem of the forest?
With the bunkers dug into the ground?, Like wooden log dugouts cut into the side of banks and then filled over. I have always been interested in subterrainian dwellings and i would love to find some good how to links for these kinds of shelters.
Not just your scrape covered with logs and soil but more like little cabins cut into the side of banks and covered. Anyone got any links or info on building please?

 

[innocent bystander]

Bilko, you want Shelter's Shacks and Shanties, by Dan Beard :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/203-8238908-2343142

There's some good stuff in there..

 

[bilko]

Darn you that is gonna cost me,
OH!!! £3.15, that's good.

 

[innocent bystander]

There is a museum in a wood near Eindoven, that has a couple in there. Apparently folks were hiding in the woods nearby and got found by the SS in ww2. They're not original ones but you get a good idea of how they're built...

 

[Spacemonkey]

On a similar vein, I have been all over the Somme battlefield to all the major points, but has anyone been to Salisbury Wood ( I believe it's called?) where the trenches and dugouts are almost exactly as they were? Is it worth a visit?

 

[bilko]

Just looking around on the net and the Anderson shelter is the nearest thing i can find that was used widely.

 

[stotRE]

What are you planning mate,and did you do anything for rememberance day?

 

[innocent bystander]

On a similar vein, I have been all over the Somme battlefield to all the major points, but has anyone been to Salisbury Wood ( I believe it's called?) where the trenches and dugouts are almost exactly as they were? Is it worth a visit?

Sanctuary Wood i think, near wipers.

http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/sanctuary_wood_trench_museum.htm

All these are worth visiting i think..

 

[bilko]

What are you planning mate,and did you do anything for rememberance day?

Iv'e been working all week mate including today unfortunately but i wore my poppy and told off several people for not having one. Infact i nearly shouted at every person in the street that didn't have one.
I needed a second one for when i took my jacket off so i went to a few confectioners and gave them both a good mouthful because they weren't selling them. One even said " What is poppy?" well you can imagine the rest

Erm planning? moi? that's a big problem nowadays. Too much planning and not enough doing .
I just wanted to find a 6 foot tall bank in a wooded area and carve out about 7" by 4" and line the walls with logs and make a roof and fill it over. Then make a narrow entrance about 3 foot long and use the rest of the earth to go down the sides and over the top of the entrance.
But i can't because i don't own any land so i will have to look at pictures instead.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Sanctuary Wood, that's it! I knew it was something beginning with 'S'....

 

[twelveboar]

Back in the early days when I took the Queens shilling, I found myself in an Indian resteraunt in Wolverhampton with a worthy Staff Seargent in the early hours of of a Rememberance Sunday morning. We held a minutes silence, then raised a glass to the ones that did not come home. As he pointed out, if we had died in the service of the country, would we rather be honoured by a parade or a booze up.

 

[stotRE]

Iv'e been working all week mate including today unfortunately but i wore my poppy and told off several people for not having one. Infact i nearly shouted at every person in the street that didn't have one.
I needed a second one for when i took my jacket off so i went to a few confectioners and gave them both a good mouthful because they weren't selling them. One even said " What is poppy?" well you can imagine the rest

Erm planning? moi? that's a big problem nowadays. Too much planning and not enough doing .
I just wanted to find a 6 foot tall bank in a wooded area and carve out about 7" by 4" and line the walls with logs and make a roof and fill it over. Then make a narrow entrance about 3 foot long and use the rest of the earth to go down the sides and over the top of the entrance.
But i can't because i don't own any land so i will have to look at pictures instead.

You need to do your digging at night mate

I met up with an old boy i know who fought in Aden with the guards and the SAS and the both of us went and laid a wreath for all the Aden vets who never made it back.

Afterwards we sank a couple of pints of the black stuff and talked s**t for the rest of the afternoon

I think that an underground 'bunker' would be quite warm if your still planning on going native in Canada but you would need to dig in during the summer because the ground freezes like concrete.

The use of dynamite would help in breaking up the hard ground as we used PE-4 all the time before digging in a MEXE shelter or 4 man battle trench.

Another technique that i have used is to find a large boulder in the side of a bank/cliff.
Carefully excavate underneath the boulder propping it with wooden posts as you go.
Loosen the earth a bit around the sides and top and then build a fire underneath.
After a while the fire burns through the supporting posts and the boulder will roll out of the way (make sure that the boulders path is clear and that the ground slopes away as you don't want the boulder to roll back )

You should end up with a fair sized cave but with a lot less digging.

 

[Spacemonkey]

You're just too clever for your own good...

 

[bambodoggy]

There's one of these on the site we stayed on during the Vildmark trip earlier tis year. It's about 9ft by 5ft with a fold down table and a stone fireplace and chimney, I don't have any pics of it but I'm told they are very common through out Sweden.

I'll try and remember to get a few pics of it over there next year.

Bam.

 

[Westnorfolk]

Hi Bilco

if you want a list of bunkers and underground things near you look here http://www.subbrit.org.uk/ this is the web site for subterania britanica, a group who list and attemp to conserve underground strictures especialy stuff from the cold war. the nearest comms bunker to me is now under an old peoples home!!!

 

[Nod]

We have a few of those near to me too. Many are overgrown and hidden in the undergrowth, so are hard to find unless you are specifically looking for one. A mate of mine passes one on his way home every night and didn't know it was there untill I showed him, and that is one of the more obvious ones.

It would be interesting to see if you could plan a round Britain trip, using the underground shelters as a sort of free B&B. Some of them still have the old bunks in them.

 

[Brian]

Bilko,

I went in a couple in 96 when I was in Bosnia, I was amazed at what they had done with them. They were dug into the side of the hills, very spacious, warm and some were quite elaborately decorated. There are a few things on the web under subterranean living but I couldn't see much on making your own the way you want to.

Brian