Plan-D also included various gun emplacements
(pillboxes) for protecting the dam.
The dams on the IJssel Line were of course extremely vulnerable to bombing and shell fire; for this reason they were surrounded with defenses. At the abutement piers, gun emplacements were built, fully supplied with antiaircraft guns and machine guns. These were constantly manned. In the area to be flooded, gun emplacements at various locations were established. For financial reasons, a lower cost solution was chosen in the form of Sherman tanks from which the motors and treeds were removed and the tank was then encased in concrete. Cement gun emplacements were also built for mounting 4-barrel machine guns or canon.
The living accommodations for the gun crews were limited to the barest essentials. In the event of inundation, the soldiers would need to rely on their own resources for an indeterminate length of time.
The dams on the IJssel Line were of course extremely vulnerable to bombing and shell fire; for this reason they were surrounded with defenses. At the abutement piers, gun emplacements were built, fully supplied with antiaircraft guns and machine guns. These were constantly manned. In the area to be flooded, gun emplacements at various locations were established. For financial reasons, a lower cost solution was chosen in the form of Sherman tanks from which the motors and treeds were removed and the tank was then encased in concrete. Cement gun emplacements were also built for mounting 4-barrel machine guns or canon.
The living accommodations for the gun crews were limited to the barest essentials. In the event of inundation, the soldiers would need to rely on their own resources for an indeterminate length of time.