Tag: Bunker
A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks. Bunkers are mostly below ground, compared to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. They were used extensively in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities (for example, in the event of nuclear war). Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes.
Bunker is a relatively recent addition to the English language to describe a military structure. According to the Oxford English Dictionary its is a “A military dug-out; a reinforced concrete shelter” and its first use was 13 October 1939 “A Nazi field gun hidden in a cemented ‘bunker’ on the Western front” (War Pictorial). The word is German in origin and was used by the Germans to describe bombproof shelters both above ground as in Hochbunker and below ground as in the Führerbunker. All the early references to its usage in the Oxford…
