WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

On my recent trips upto Yorkshire, Carnaby Airfield was one site I visited.  Some more posts from Yorkshire to follow as well as some posts on the Corps Line in Suffolk. Work on constructing Carnaby aerodrome was started in the early years of the War. It was opened in 1944- the following text is from www.airfields-in-yorkshire.co.uk: " Carnaby opened in March 1944 as an emergency landing ground for Bomber Command to enable crippled bombers a safe place to land near the coast. Carnaby Moor, near Bridlington was ideal. A single runway almost 2 miles long and over 700ft wide was constructed. The airfield had to be available in any weather and as well as an anti skid bitumen surface for the runway, FIDO (Fog Investigation Dispersal Operation), a device of petrol burners used to burn off fog, was installed. The system used lighted petrol to lift the fog from the airfield thus enabling aircraft to land safely. Carnaby's wartime service was short but in it's operational life...

During my recent visit up to Yorkshire, I visited Atwick. As with much of the Yorkshire coast south of Bridlington, it is eroding fast here, and as with many sites along this stretch of coast, the front line defences have disappeared. The pillboxes surviving today were part of the rear line of defences. It is easy to see why this stretch of coast was heavily defended - as a sketch I came across at TNA shows - the whole beach from Bridlington to Spurn was suitable for landings, the cliffs would have easily been passable to German infantry, with suitable gaps along the coast for tanks. Above: A sketch of the beaches along the Yorkshire Coast (TNA) - the red areas are  suitable for landings, the green areas not - and below a view of the beach at Atwick looking north towards Bridlington and Flamborough Head. The surviving pillboxes are all of the Northern Command lozenge design. One which has its entrance sealed  has all its wooden weapons-shelves in place. Also surviving in ...

Recently back from a trip up to Yorkshire visiting family (so expect some more posts from Yorkshire!). Anyway on the way up I stopped off just north of Bury St Edmund's to take a quick look at some pillboxes on the Eastern Command Line. Not really  time for a detailed search but a quick recce of the ground for reference to a future visit. That saying, still some nice pillboxes seen. Here the anti-tank obstacle is the River Lark, which the Command Line followed from Bury St Edmond's until it met the GHQ Stop Line in Camridgeshire at the River Great Ouse. The pillboxes are all of the Eastern Command CRE design - 1094, 1113 and 1116. Note the Serial No reference referred to for the pillboxes etc is the reference  given in the original Engineers plans for the Command Line.  Above: River Lark - the anti-tank obstacle A couple of the pillboxes are of interest. One has metal rods fixed above the embrasure - for what purpose I don't know and it is the only pillbox I have seen t...