The Defense of Britain Project has a file you can load into Google Earth to see the locations of pillboxes and other fortifications. As mentioned, both the GHQ Line and Taunton Stop Line followed the Great Western Railway (which includes the Cardiff—London route) in some areas.
I hadn’t thought of the ease of transporting construction materials. The GWR does make a continuous line from Bristol and points west to London, which rivers and canals do not do. And it’s at a convenient distance from the southern coast of England to form a border between defense sectors. Any embankments would offer a good vantage line, with the railway itself forming a sort of moat covered by MG fire rather than water.
It’s a simple fact of logistics that a little brick pillbox on the GWR is a better fortification than a huge concrete bunker on the Westwall. To reduce that pillbox, the Germans would need artillery, tanks, or Stukas that they just couldn’t have enough of. The pillbox would largely be defending against infantry. German doctrine means they would mass tanks and artillery in an effort to form Schwerpunkten, so the GHQ Line could well be overrun at some points. The idea would be to have the GHQ Reserve counterattack those spearheads while the fortifications delayed the infantry.
It’s actually fortuitous that Britain constructed rather flimsy fortifications, because it means that labor and supplies were spent on better things.
I hadn’t thought of the ease of transporting construction materials. The GWR does make a continuous line from Bristol and points west to London, which rivers and canals do not do. And it’s at a convenient distance from the southern coast of England to form a border between defense sectors. Any embankments would offer a good vantage line, with the railway itself forming a sort of moat covered by MG fire rather than water.
It’s a simple fact of logistics that a little brick pillbox on the GWR is a better fortification than a huge concrete bunker on the Westwall. To reduce that pillbox, the Germans would need artillery, tanks, or Stukas that they just couldn’t have enough of. The pillbox would largely be defending against infantry. German doctrine means they would mass tanks and artillery in an effort to form Schwerpunkten, so the GHQ Line could well be overrun at some points. The idea would be to have the GHQ Reserve counterattack those spearheads while the fortifications delayed the infantry.
It’s actually fortuitous that Britain constructed rather flimsy fortifications, because it means that labor and supplies were spent on better things.
