Editing Blockhouse (section)

== Concrete blockhouses ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Gulf War]] -->
During [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], many types of blockhouses were built, when time allowed usually constructed of [[reinforced concrete]]. The major difference between a modern blockhouse and a [[bunker]] is that a bunker is constructed mostly below ground level while a blockhouse is constructed mostly above ground level.<ref>For the difference between blockhouses and bunkers see {{harvnb|Schneider|Kitchen|2002|p=87}}, {{harvnb|BACM Research|2009|p=209}}, {{harvnb|Davis|2007|p=290}}</ref>

[[File:Admiralty Citadel2008.jpg|thumb|The [[Admiralty Citadel]], St James' Park, London, in 2008]]

Some blockhouses like those constructed in England in 1940 were built [[British anti-invasion preparations of World War II|in anticipation of a German invasion]]; they were often [[hexagonal]] in shape and were called "[[pillbox (military)|pillbox]]es". About 28,000 [[British hardened field defences of World War II|pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications]] were constructed, of which about 6,500 still survive.<ref name = dob_review >{{cite web | title=A Review Of The Defence of Britain Project | work=Report | url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/review/index.html | access-date=2006-05-30 | archive-date=23 November 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123103253/http://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/review/index.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:FlakturmLAugarten030323h.jpg|thumb|upright|A German-built [[Flak tower|Flakturm]] (Flak tower) in the [[Augarten]] Vienna, Austria]]

The [[Military citadels under London#Admiralty Citadel|Admiralty Citadel]] in London is one of the sturdiest above-ground structures built during World War II. It was constructed in 1940–1941 as a bomb-proof operations centre for the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]], with foundations nine metres deep and a concrete roof six metres thick. It too was intended to serve as a strongpoint in defending against the feared invasion.<!-- for citation see main article -->

In Berlin and other cities during [[World War II]] some massive blockhouses were built as air-raid shelters and [[anti-aircraft artillery]] platforms. They were called ''[[Hochbunker]]'' (literally, "high bunkers"; better translated as "above ground bunkers", to distinguish them from the usual deep i.e. underground air raid shelters) and those that functioned as anti-aircraft artillery platforms were also called [[Flak tower]]s. Some were over six stories high; several survive to this day because of the high cost of demolition. The {{Interlanguage link multi|Hochbunker Pallasstraße|de}} in Berlin-[[Schöneberg]] has a post-war block of flats built over it. During the [[Cold War]] the shelter was in use as a NATO foodstore.{{Citation needed|date=December 2016}}

In the [[guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War]] (1922–1923), a network of blockhouses was constructed to protect the railways from guerrilla attacks.{{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Blockhouses and coordinated road systems were used in the [[encirclement campaigns]] of [[Chiang Kai-shek]] against the [[Chinese Communist Party]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Spence|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Spence|title=In Search of Modern China|page=403|publisher=}}</ref>