There is one law that is supreme in active areas.... it is "Dig or Die" Above ground you do not stand a cat in hells chance. So that raises this question. Every now and again we would find perfectly round holes sufficient for a man to stand up in, And deep enough not to be seen. The holes could never have been dug by hand, they were too perfectly round and the edges quite regular and smooth. We often came across these holes, and there was never any "Spoil" from the digging, We never found out how these holes were made? by who? and for what reason? Sapper
These are common in Florida and are referred to as sink holes. The limestone substrata is dissolved over the years by the ground water, and if the water table falls, the structural support for the soil is removed and the ground just falls in. These holes can be a few meters across or can envelop a house. Maybe the same forces are at work there.
We have the same phenomenom in the summer pastures for our cows. I remember when I was about ten years old a sheep had fallen into one of these (there are two to my knowledge) and by grandfather lowered me into it so I could help the sheep out.
I remember you mentioning these on another thread before brian. Can't remember which thread it was now though. Very strange indeed. Do you have any idea what they were for? Sounds like they were made by some digger machine or something.
They look machined made Lee, Nothing to do with weapons.,Just large enough for a man to stand up in. We never came across a machine that would do the job??? It is a complete mystery. Sapper
my mate told me the germans in normandy made terrific foxholes,trench systems,cut deep foxholes and trenches actually inside hedges.the area was much like home,small fields,orchards and high hedges,just like around westrop and easton,in wiltshire.yours,4th wilts.
It certainly sounds intriguing Brian. where they part of enemy positions that you had taken or were they behind Allied Lines?
Only in France Paul. Just now and again we would come across these very neat round holes. They never appeare to be part of any defensive fortifications. Somewhere I have a record of a Yank asleep in one, I will try to find it. Sapper
This Paul is self explanatory. I just found the paragraph in question It is from the late Captain Edwards RE memoirs "Bash on with 246 to Bremen" Patrols from the South Lancs, to which we were normally attached in action, were accompanied by parties from 3 Platoon, during the crossing of the stream at Tinchebray on August 15th., and I Platoon set about constructing a tank crossing over the stream on the night of 15/16th. August. Just before first light on the l6th. 3 Platoon took over the work and we completed the crossing by 0900 hours. During the last stages of the work, I had a look round. As it got lighter, I came across some of the circular defence trenches as used by the PanzerGrenadiere — suddenly I saw movement in one of them, and a German type helmet coming slowly up. I drew my Colt 45 pistol, given to me by an American Ranger near Vire, and stuck the barrel just under the lip of the helmet against the soldier’s temple, shouting “Hande hoch” To my surprise, up came an American soldier shouting “don’t shoot, I’m an American.” He had apparently nipped into the hide hole for a nap and was very lucky to get away with it. End of passage Sapper
Interesting - I wonder if this was just the type of foxhole they were trained to dig, or perhaps they had a Pioneer unit to construct them? Most intriguing!
I think that a hole so perfectly round without "Spoil" could be dug by hand. For a start, you could not bend over in them to dig out the bottom! and they were deep enough to stand up in. Sapper
Have you ever seen a photograph of one anywhere Sapper? This one's bugged me ever since you mentioned it a while back and I fear more of a visual cue might be essential. Was there ever any personal kit in the holes or were they always empty? Cheers, Adam.
Just a thought. Could they have been used as the foundation for some kind of gun emplacement which had since been moved on? Perhaps they had to be deep enough to hold the recoil as the gun was fired? I'm googling all sorts of things to try an shed some light on this. I'm intrigued now. ha.
From memory about 36? inches diameter. Perfectly round. Impossible to dig by hand. Too deep to dig laying on your tummy. too small a diameter to allow a man to bend over to dig..... impossible to bend double in one. Had to be machine excavated...You cannot bend over in the hole, so you cannot dig in one. Sapper
Brian I'm hoping that someone out there will solve your mystery for you.....I think you deserve a solution Whilst on the subject of slit trenches, or, as our American cousins used to say, foxholes, could you confirm my memories of how we used to dig them? Whilst in the line, as a wireless-op in LAA, we always had to dig ourselves a trench to sleep in. After digging the obligatory 6ft x 3 ft we always used to cut a "shelf" along the length of the trench in order to park our small kit, photos, mobile light (usually run on a 12 volt battery) and anything that we wanted to keep dry. As a wireless op I always had access to a charged up battery. According to how long a period we were in any particular place these trenches could become masterpieces of ingenuity and almost comfort. Was this confined to my unit or did you also manage to dig yourself a "home from home" ? Cheers Ron ps I just went back to my records and found the following piece: March : By early March we had arrived at Monte Cassino. Like most of our moves, we travelled after dark and so we did not get our first sight of the Monastery until the next morning. Our camp was just below the ridge of a small hill that faced the Monastery so that if you wanted to see what was going on you had to first walk up the hill and then peer over the crest. In front of us was the Liri valley, then the Monastery Hill with the actual Monastery right on the crest itself. It was very menacing, right from the word go, and it was fairly obvious that every move that was made below could be seen, plotted and shelled with relative impunity. Larry drew a few sketches while we were there and very much caught the menace of the Monastery to those of us who had to live below it. We dug in, literally, each man responsible for his own 6ftx3ftx3ft of Italian mud, and perched on top of each slit trench we put up our bivvies in a vain attempt to keep the rain out. Some of us tried to give our trenches a bit of individuality by making the top of the trench slightly wider thus making a ledge on which we could stand a lamp or our personal belongings. Part of the Regiment was engaged on smoke laying whilst others were defending the New Zealanders from attack by the Luftwaffe. The weather was atrocious, mud was the name of the game and my main memory of Cassino was always being wet.
In the 1980s I remember seeing a Leopard Pioneerpanzer cutting very similar holes with an 'earth auger' fitted on the end of it's boom. Very quick, very efficient and perfect for what they wanted. Useless to us, as us Brits concentrated on using the two man slit trench for our defensive digging. I don't know and have never seen evidence of the germans having a similar 'earth auger' fitted to any vehicles in WW2, but it does seem like that is what your description suggests.
