Flak towers?

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by IceFire

What are those (aside from the obvious)?

I'm not quite sure what you're question is.

The German "flakturms" look like castles and were built on the outskirts of major cities such as Vienna and Berlin from 1942 on to protect against allied bombing raids. They were designed not only as AA gun outposts, but also bomb-proof command centers and air raid shelters. As you can see, they are quite tough. A few were demolished after the war, but most exist to this day.

The structures on stilts in the water are one of the Thames Estuary "sea forts" built starting in 1942 to protect against German bombing raids. Before then, German raiders could fly straight and level up the Thames estuary, more or less protected from flak as they completed their bomb runs against London.

To make things tougher for the Germans, the British constructed several "sea forts" about 6 miles off the Kentish coast. Each consisted of 6 subsidiary forts, fitted with AA guns, linked to a central command and control fort. They were manned until the 1950s, when they were either abandoned or torn down.

In the 1960s, a few were colonized by "pirate" radio station operators seeking to skirt the UK's restrictive broadcasting regulations.

Subsequently, they were abandoned again, although at least one is inhabited by a rather eccentric (former) English major and his family, who have declared their sea fort to be sovereign territory!

http://www.sealandgov.org/history.html