Pill box question.

HI all I have a question about a pill box close to my house (see pic)What is the smaller Hole used for .Any ideas?

 

Thanks for the link but this is a pill box in New Zealand ,so it is Allied
It was built cause New Zealand feared invasion from the Japanese.
The Japanese never got that far.

 

I just took a glance at the thing, and just a WAG would seem to be an "observation" slot for a man with binoculars or a range-finder scope of some sort to use with little exposure to himself. Just a Wild A*S Guess understand!

 

Thanks for the reply I thought this may have been what is is used for.

 

Good oen Clint, thats exactly what I had guessed and would have said.

 

Hi Could also be for a rifleman to shoot from standing Up. I looked at about 30 pictures of different types of Pill Boxes, and Non had that hole.

This could also be a possibility a vent hole, to create negative air flow or posative I can't remember which one? It removes the smoke
from the Pill box when machine guns are firing. Look in a heating furnace room that heats with Oil or Natural Gas you always will have
a big hole and a small hole leading outdoors to create are flow in the room.

But I always thought as a Plumber, where was the "Water Closet" in those enclosed boxes?

 

On the small aperture, are they replicated on several sides? And do they sit right at roof level?
As it looks like a colloquial design I was just wondering, that if not purely another obs hole, it could be where a beam went to support shuttering when the roof was poured/built? And now the wood has rotted/dropped out.
Pure speculation, but you do see a few odd little building related quirks like that on British Pillboxes that were knocked up before standardisation had kicked in.

I can't see an obs hole just like that, & in that position, on any standard design yet, but there are a few that have a larger piece (light ATG) in the main apertures, and MGs or rifles in small loops like that to cover the gun. One apparently from the Maginot line has similar positioning.
Is there any trace of ironwork around the inside of the small hole?

~A

 

Yes on the right side top corner you can see the same hole at the same Height. It looks like It's been cemented and blocked.

 

More information on this pill box.It was designed for a crew of 3 ,had 2 vickers machine guns.There are 118 of them in the Auckland area of new Zealand.Not one of them ever saw any action .
here some more pictures.

 

Thought you may like to see this.
what a view from the pill box

 

The interior shot is most interesting. If one assumes the camera was at eye level for an average man then the large openings are rather high . Would anyone care to speculate how a Vickers would be mounted and where the gunner would be, standing?. It seems strange ergonomically and it makes the small openings more vents perhaps than observation ports. Where does one's head go ? I would have thought they were observation ports from the outside. The "view" is beautiful in this peaceful time.

It is amazing how many pill boxes are left in Europe but never though abiout them being in NZ but it makes sense.

GB

 

I am six foot from the height of the ports I would say the gunners would be standing.
I think I need to make another trip there to get the exact measurements.

 

BHL, would you care to give us a location for the Pillbox?
Possible that a survey of it is out there somewhere.

~A

 

The location is Longbay Auckland New zealand

 

Just forward Facing .