WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

A day trip down to Spurn and Kilnsea during the week up in Yorkshire. This post will deal with Kilnsea first (Spurn Point to follow). Second war defences remaining in the Kilnsea area include three lozenge pillboxes, the remains of a coastal battery (9.2 inch guns I think), some massive anti-tank blocks and a defence structure of which I have no idea what it is.  It does not seem to be included in the Defence of Britain database. It is basically a large square with wide embrasures (for weapons or observation or both?), a continuous shelf running below the embrasures and three large tables at three of the corners (for mounting a medium machine gun?). There is a large interior chamber in the middle. The roof is interesting as it seems to be constructed in two parts separated by a gap - some 1930's design of pillboxes included air gaps in roofs, the purpose to help absorb the shock of any direct shell blast. I have attached a sketch plan (not to scale) based on memory. I have certainl...

The East Yorkshire Coast between Scarborough and Spurn Point can be roughly divided as follows: North of Bridlington - steep clay cliffs with many gulleys/ravines (or 'gaps') and to the south low height clay cliffs. The beaches are wide open sandy beaches, ideal to land an invasion force of all arms. Up to late summer of 1940, the British still expected the main invasion to take place on the East Coast; even when GHQ deduced the main invasion was planned to take place on the South Coast, a diversionary attack or large scale raids on the East Coast could not be ruled out. The defences on the beaches between Fraisthorpe and Barmston, south of Bridlington,  must surely have been some of the strongest in Britain (the density of surviving pillboxes exceeds any thing I've seen in Suffolk at any rate!) If you are interested in WW2 anti-invasion defences and ever get the chance, this is a site well worth a visit, but soon as it is deterioating each year due to coastal erosion. Toda...

As promised, the first post on anti-invasion defences on the East Yorkshire Coast visited last week. First I thought I would describe the two most common types of pillbox to be found in this area. The first is a lozenge pillbox, the design unique to Northern Command and by far the most common pillbox to be found along this coast. It had 10 firing positions each with an 80 deg field of fire. Typically there were six rifle embrasures in total in  the 'long sides' (four in the side without the entrance and two in the side with the entrance) and a light MG embrasure in each of the short sides. The entrance was screened with a loopholed L shaped blast wall or porch. However this arrangement could be mixed, eg all 10 firing positions being rifle embrasures or lmg embrasures included in the 'long side'.  The second type is known as the 'eared' pillbox, due to the arrangement of the blast wall resembling an ear, which screened two entrances. It would have housed two Vic...

A week in East Yorkshire visiting family last week - so had a quick look at a few pillboxes on the Eastern Command Line in west Suffolk on the way up. These included a shell proof infantry pillbox - looks like a large type 22 but is probably another design from CRE, Colchester possibly CRE1113 (M Osborne). Embrasures are standard bren gun types and it has a low entrance, protected by a separate blast wall. This particular example could be found at Lackford. At Icklingam, defending a bridge across the river Lark, can be found a type 28a and another CRE1113 type infantry pillbox. The Type 28a has had the embrasure narrowed indicating it has been modified for the 6 pounder anti-tank gun instead of the 2 pounder. Continuing north, just into the Norfolk border, stopped off at Three Holes Bridge to look at another type 28a. Over the next few posts, the blog will be temp. renamed WW2 Defences - E Yorkshire as I post on sites visited up there!! Image 1 & 2: Infantry pillbox, poss. to desig...