An intelligence article on German defensive positions in Italy, from the Intelligence Bulletin, August 1944. [Editor's Note: The following article is wartime information on enemy defenses and tactics published for Allied soldiers. More accurate data on German defenses and tactics is available in postwar publications.]

SOME FORTIFICATIONS OBSERVED IN ITALY The imagination and painstaking workmanship which have gone into the design of German fortifications in Italy have been stressed in previous issues of the Intelligence Bulletin. The following illustrations and text indicate what a thorough and resourceful enemy the Allied forces in Italy have had to combat. (Even the fortifications which were constructed by Italian Army engineers reflect German influence.) Whether the enemy fortifications have been hasty or deliberate, nearly all have been planned to take every advantage of the terrain and to insure maximum effectiveness for the fire power to be employed. An important, but little-discussed, aspect of the German defense has been the enemy's shrewd use of natural camouflage to blend fortifications with the surrounding terrain. Without neglecting the important factor of texture, the Germans have paid a great deal of attention to color, as well. They have capitalized especially on the presence of so much white and yellow-white in the Italian landscape. These colors, incidentally, characterize most of the houses, farm buildings, roads, and rocky stretches in the countries bordering the Mediterranean. In an effort to block the routes to Naples, between the slope of Mt. Vesuvius and the sea, the enemy constructed pillboxes and casemates to dominate the main highway, the two railway lines, and the automobile highway (Autostrada). This circular pillbox, covering a road intersection at Camaldoli di Torre, represents a type of fortification widely used by the enemy. It has a subterranean entrance. At Villa Literno six pillboxes and two casemates guarded a railway overpass. Each ramp leading up to the overpass was protected by a pillbox and a casemate. Here, a pillbox is seen in the foreground and a casemate in the background. This pillbox was built to cover a road bend in Baia, south of Rome. The blocks with which it is faced blend with the wall of the house behind it. Adjoining a restaurant in Baia, a casemate was built to resemble an extension of the restaurant building. The casemate has four ports close to the ground, and was well situated to deliver antitank-gun fire. A detail of one end of the dummy restaurant is shown here. A portion of the outer wall has been removed to show the wall of the actual casemate. The firing ports of this pillbox, which commands a narrow road between Baia Harbor and Lake Fusaro, are protected by overhead ledges. Grass, wildflowers, and other vegetation have been cultivated on the roof of the pillbox to provide natural camouflage. On Mt. Rotondo, northeast of Cassino, the Germans prepared a concentration of at least 25 machine-gun positions in a strategic area dominating a highway running through an exposed valley. These positions were dug in the rocky hillside, were well concealed with scrub growth, and, at 200 feet, were hard to distinguish with the naked eye. Figure 4. The positions on Mt. Rotondo were constructed with such care, and were protected so strongly, that few were knocked out, although the area took a heavy pounding. First, the Germans cut a rough compartment out of the soft rock, or, in some instances, excavated an oval pit in a stretch of rocky earth. Heavy wooden sills were used to frame the edges of the hole, and then two layers of heavy timber (usually railway ties) were crisscrossed to roof the excavation. On top of this the Germans placed a layer of rocks and concrete, and then a layer of loose rocks. Tar paper was spread over the whole to provide waterproofing. Finally, a camouflage topping of small rocks and olive branches was added. Four or five wooden steps, heavily buttressed with sandbags, led down into the position. Most of the positions had only one firing port, well protected by sandbags and camouflaged with branches. This is a machine-gun position with most of its camouflage removed. Heavy fighting and shelling took place in this area. Later, the positions served as very useful shelters for Allied troops. Two covered German machine-gun positions, undamaged even after the heavy shelling which took place on Mt. Rotondo, appear in this photograph. That they are so hard to detect (one is at the lower left, the other at the upper right) is evidence of the success with which the camouflage blends with the surrounding terrain. South of Mignano, two circular antiaircraft-gun positions, each with an adjoining ammunition pit, were carefully built up with sandbags, stakes, and woven branches. Each contained two ammunition bays, revetted and roofed with boards and sandbags. This is one of the two positions. This detail of one of the antiaircraft-gun positions south of Mignano shows the ammunition bays and the interior wall. Two antitank ditches ran within a few feet of the position shown in the two preceding photographs. Underground personnel shelters had been dug deep in the slope of the ditch, and small auxiliary entrances to these dugouts had been prepared near the gun positions for hasty use in an emergency. One of these auxiliary entrances is shown here.

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