WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

Firstly I accept that I am going to labelled a first class anorak with this post. Declaring you have an interest in pillboxes is bad enough but tractors etc?? Anyway the reason for this post follows on from my visit to the TNA last week - highly successful with the highlight being the potential matching of many earthworks I found last winter to a training exercise held in 1943 (that's for future posts though!). Anyway back to tractors - in one War Diary of Engineers involved firstly in the constrcution of anti-tank ditches on the GHQ line in Essex, before moving to Suffolk, a list of mechanical equipment was given. So I thought this post (and one or two subsequent) may be of interest to give a flavour of the machinery used to construct the anti-invasion defences in Britain. This is part 1 - the D4 and D8 tractor. No 2 section 135 Mechanical Engineers commenced work on the GHQ Line in Essex on June 18th 1940 with: 2 RB19 Dragline 5 RB10 Dragline 1 1/14 Smith Shovel 1 D8 tracto...

This post is a good illustration of when recording by GPS can break down. The remains of the camp for this Diver battery is largely under tree cover which certainly affects the accuracy of GPS. Also in many cases only part of the concrete bases on which huts were built upon are visible - the rest hidden by years of leaf litter. The reduced accuracy of GPS under tree cover and having to guess some of the corners of the concrete bases means only a best guess of the outline of the camp can be produced. Above: Image 1: Location map of Diver Battery T5 and LAA Battery TD3 Image 2: Aerial photo of battery, 1945. The domestic camp and gun positions can be clearly seen. The gun position is in the area  just to the east of the current RSPB visitor centre. Image 3 - GPS plot of the remains of the domestic camp, Diver battery T5. Image 4 - Nail used for fastening corrugated iron sheets to wooden battens. Image 5 and 6 - some of the remains of concrete bases on which  huts wo...

Never got round to looking into these, visited during the summer, Ramsholt Churchyard. Today seems a good time for this post. HMS Spartiate was RN establishment based in St Enoch Hotel, Glasgow. it was responsible for the security and safety of the River Clyde. A large number of motor boats were commandeered to form the River Clyde Patrol, crewed largely by local yachtsmen, many operating as volunteers. Chief Stoker Chambers died of illness. I have not been able to find anything out about Private Stackhouse. The CWGC lists his age as unknown.