For the next installment of my Rooftop of the World series (think a cross between Nepal & Tibet), I have my protagonists attempting to dig a fortified position during Winter. Since I have never done this myself in snow, are there any personal anecdotes? Do the conditions change how you construct your fighting positions & what do you emphasize? Would you still use a pick & shovel or are there better tools for the jobs? Thanks LRB
Well, out of experience of having to dig holes in Indiana at 10 degrees Fahrenheit, I can tell you it is much more difficult due to the ground being frozen. Your hands go numb without gloves, which makes maneuvering the shovel difficult. In an area like Nepal and Tibet, I would assume there is a lot of snowfall, so you would maybe need to construct any roofing at slanted angles to prevent collapse.
It'd be hard, long, noisy work, and mountainous terrain might not really have all that much dirt to dig through before you hit rock anyway.
- some kind of heater to heat ground before digging may be needed. - piling boulder and rocks might be easier than digging.
From looking at images from the Sino-Indian war of 1962 that was fought in the late autumn, it looks like the defensive structures were built by stacking rocks / logs or by bringing up sandbags. Hasty defensive works would be difficult to make since the ground is rocky and would be frozen.
At that altitude and weather conditions you can only really get fighting holes by using C4 or Semtex. You, hopefully, manage to get a pick hole deep enough to put in a small charge and BOOM, fighting hole (hopefully). As noted the other way is to pile up rocks or use sandbags (assuming you can get enough dirt to fill the damned things. You also have the fairly noteworthy impact of the altitude, which reduces endurance (unless you have Gurkha troops, who look around and say, "cute little hill"). For a reasonable overview I would recommend that you seek out books about Chosin during the Korean War or, of course, Stalingrad. Lacks the altitude, but has all the cold
Thanks for the help Gents, it feels like your thoughts have guided me in the right direction. FWIW my protagonists are 99 % based on Gurkhas, or as others would say "I can't believe they're not Gurkhas." .