Sandpit (military)
The sandpit is a terrain model on which selected terrain shapes and terrain coverings are shown reduced as realistically as possible, either scaled according to the map or based on the imagination, depending on current needs.
The military sandpit is one of the most important training tools in the tactical training of young leaders and has been found in almost all lecture halls in German military schools since the mid-19th century at the latest. Since around 1920 ( Reichswehr ), all barracks were also equipped with at least two sandboxes per battalion. The sandpit is used to represent terrain sections three-dimensionally and to represent and play through with models or placeholders for tactical bodies ( troops ) situations. Combat training courses are usually prepared and followed up on the sandpit in order to make the training as efficient as possible and to achieve sustainable training success. In addition, it is particularly suitable for training small combat groups, combined arms combat and training young leaders and leaders in making decisions and giving orders. Depending on the training purpose and location , different types of sandboxes are used. Over time, the term sandpit has generalized to any type of three-dimensional terrain display, even if there is no sandpit.
Types of sandboxes
The simplest form is the terrain sandbox , which is applied without an actual sandbox in the grounds of available funds on the ground. It is used to prepare the troops for imminent tasks and to coordinate their interaction. For this purpose, the essential elevations of the terrain are reproduced by quickly piling up earth or just existing soil material and represented by inserting stones, leaves, cones or similar terrain coverings such as forests or towns. Paths are usually scratched into the ground with a branch. It makes sense to use twigs or branches to separate the sandpit from the surrounding ground in order to avoid unintentional entry by the meeting participants.
The most common form is the real sandpit made of wood with a filling of fine sand, which is usually used as a sandpit . Often no terrain is prepared in the sandpit. Depending on the content of the lesson or questions that arise in the lesson, the trainer creates a site appropriate to the location in a few simple steps in order to demonstrate the answer to the question or to work it out together with the trainees. Details of the terrain display are usually not given here. Only the bottom shapes are particularly emphasized, as they have the greatest influence on the weapon effect, clarity and cover. Paths are usually only represented by ribbons or roughly notched with a finger or a spatula.
The display sandpit or tactical sandpit is also constructed as a classic sandpit , in which, mostly by course participants or trainees, and more rarely by the instructor, a scale model of a given map section was made. Depending on the needs of the trainer, part of this sandpit can be left as a digging sandpit.
The radio sandpit was developed especially for mechanized combat troops from 1935 and is still in use today. Several connections for radio devices are attached to the classic sandpit, which can be prepared as a digging or viewing sandpit, so that the next generation of managers can learn and practice sending messages or commands via radio directly at the sandpit. Sandpit rooms with a radio sandpit usually have antenna bases on one of the windows on the outside wall of the building. This means that the same layer can be processed at the same time on several radio sandboxes in different rooms and buildings.
The shooting sandpit is usually set up as a display sandpit with the area of the shooting range and is used in particular to prepare shooting projects on shooting ranges in the open area in order to practice targeting , fire commands and the behavior of the assigned management and security personnel.
The fixed terrain model is not actually a sandpit, but a permanent, three-dimensional model made of plaster of paris or other materials. It is usually only created and used when long-term tactical planning or training is to be carried out in the same area. It is usually found at higher management levels on a very large scale (1: 50,000 upwards) or for territorial, fixed planning such as the protection or securing of facilities that should not or cannot be relocated even in times of war ( government bunkers , airfields, ports, depots ).
Construction and installation of a sandpit
Boxes 2 to 3 meters long, 1.5 to 2 meters wide and 15 to 20 cm high, which stand on trestles, are usually used as sandboxes for military training. They are made of impregnated pine wood, with a narrow side of a pane of glass inserted over the entire width, which allows the terrain to be observed from a certain angle as from a position. The sandpit is filled with fine, slightly damp sand up to 5 cm below the edge. Regular moistening of the sand is necessary for better malleability. The side with the glass plate usually indicates the position of the instructor. On the other sides, sloping shelves are attached to the box, on which the trainees can put writing utensils or guide documents.
For the installation of a sandpit or a prepared sandpit, threads are stretched over the sandpit that correspond to the grid cross of the map section to be displayed. This makes the representation true to scale much easier. A scale is attached to the upper edges with colored adhesive tape to make the distances easier to read. First, the terrain forms are built in the sandpit and then sprayed again with water for better durability. It should be noted that heights must be clearly oversubscribed in order to be recognized as such in the sandpit. Afterwards, the terrain is covered with models of houses or trees (wooden blocks, reindeer moss). Finally, usually with colored school chalk, which is rubbed over a sieve, paths, railway lines, bodies of water and other necessary features are marked after they have been nicked into the sand with a spatula or pencil.
Depending on your needs, the initial situation is presented in the sandbox when the training is set up or only after the training has started. Depending on the selected scale, figures of persons on a scale of 1:32, plastic plates marked with tactical symbols, model vehicles or self-made placeholders can be used. Care must be taken to clearly and easily distinguish between own and enemy troops or neutrals.
Sandpit cutlery and sandpit equipment
So-called sandpit cutlery is available for setting up and training on the sandpit. It consists of a spatula, hand brush (for roughening the surface), spray bottle (for moistening the sand), scissors, small shovel, fabric tapes, measuring tape, boards (for beating the sand smooth), metal sieve (for sifting through the sand and rubbing off the chalk), Cardboard box, matches and the sandpit equipment.
The sandpit equipment includes a number of square and rectangular plastic plates of different sizes in the colors blue and red, straight and curved plastic rods in blue and red in various lengths, several tactical symbols for field posts made of plastic in blue and red, wooden house models, a wooden roller with a handle and notches on the roll to represent paths, railway lines and bodies of water, as well as a lot of reindeer moss to represent forests and bushes.
literature
- 20 training aids for teaching and practical service. Series of publications Innereführung 5/1984, Federal Ministry of Defense, Bonn 1984.
- Hans Hemmeler : Working on the sandpit. Verlag Sauerländer , Aarau 1942. (= Schweizer Wehr series . No. 7.)
- Konrad Saß: sandpit school. Potsdam 1934.