Dunwich Common Revisited

I could not believe that Dunwich Common had been completely cleared of its WW2 remains so had another walk around today. Found some screw pickets and angle iron pickets that have been reused for game enclosures/tree planting in the past, and eventually stuck gold with a remaining 'destroyed' concrete structure with associated trenches/weapons-pits, similar to those at nearby Westleton. I had walked past these on at least three occasions so shows the value of revisiting sites and just to keep looking! Of note this time is that these works do coincide with a platoon locality (10th Cams, 15th Div). So is this location an existing platoon locality that was incorporated into the training works of Exercise Kruschen? As the destroyed concrete structure is identical to those at Westleton there is no doubt that this area was part of Kruschen. When I get round to completing the mapping of these works it will be interesting to see if the fields of fire from these 'igels' are all supporting each other.
I have now been going 'seriously' for one yr and the website has been going for 6 months (although only appearing on search engines for four months). I've corrected some obvious mistakes although others probably remain as I'm learning all the time! For this reason I've added a comments box on the Home Page of the website and would welcome any comments, positive or negative. Only hope it works, my IT skills are not that good!
Top: Screw Picket embedded in tree
Second Down: Screw Picket used in old game enclosure
Third Down: Trench, Dunwich Common
Bottom: Dugout with 'destroyed' concrete structure in background, Dunwich Common

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Eastern Command Line - a lazy post

As the title suggests, just a lazy post today, a few pics of CRE Colchester design pillboxes in the Sudbury area to round of the thread on this May visit. Also one pic of concrete road block cylinders now being used as part of river bank defences. This is the first time I have come across this type of road block in Suffolk although I suspect it was probably used quite widely on this Stop Line, perhaps I will come across more examples / references in time. These pictures do show a timeless landscape - traditional floodplain meadows still used for grazing, with the Second World War clearly marking its presence. Lets just hope both the pillboxes and grazing meadows will be preserved.

RAF Hethel Defence Post

At RAF Station Hethel, a remarkable defence post still exists. Admittedly, RAF Hethel is in Norfolk and not Suffolk, but the records for this site do provide some interest in relation to the defence of airfields in Eastern Command. Work on Hethel began in 1941 and the station was opened late 1942 and was actually one of the RAF Stations handed over to the USAAF for the use of its bomber units. The defence post was constructed in accordance with a new policy adopted by Eastern Command. Previously, airfield defences had been built as a result of the Taylor Report and largely consisted of pillboxes and breastworks which were large and conspicuous and vulnerable to air attack. Experience at Crete had shown the need for small inconspicuous field works. The new defences were to now consist of small two man weapon-slits and small machine gun pits constructed in accordance with “Infantry Training, 1937” Supplement No.3 – “The design and lay-out of Field Defences, 1942”. Above...

Anti-tank ditch

December 31st Decided to visit the anti-tank ditch at Aldringham Walks this afternoon. It was constructed between late 1940 and early 1941 and ran from (north to south) Sizewell to the north of Thorpeness Mere. Some of its length is still visible today (see map and bottom photo)). The war diary of 9th Cameronians (15th Div) mentions the construction of the ditch in Margaret Wood (vicinity of No 12 Platoon, B Coy). The diary also mentions a pillbox being destroyed by the RE in No 12 platoons area, but no luck in finding any remains this time. The diary would also indicate the ditch was a combined obstacle with Z1 scaffolding. The top left photo shows the remains of a weapons pit/shell slit; six pieces of angle iron revetment still exist - one of the pieces is clearly visible in the photo. Perhaps this is part of No 12 platoons position. Many years ago when beating up the young woodland I found a Yorkshire billhook with the WO arrow dated 1946, so this area would appear to have ...

WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

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