WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

These shelters can be found at St Felix School, Southwold. They were constructed pre war during the Munich Crises, but as the School was requisitioned by the Army from 1940 onwards would no doubt have proved of use during the frequent 'tip and run' raids that Suffolk was subject to. The school was Eastern Command's HQ for Overlord being visited by both Churchill and Montgomery (St Felix School Historical Notes Website ) The shelters (nine in total) are all surface shelters, constructed from concrete and capped with earth. Each shelter had two entrances.  Above: Entrances to two of the shelters - each shelter had two entrances. The shelters had air vents on the roofs - today looking like strange mushrooms sprouting in the undergrowth! Above: Air vents on the roof of one of the shelters. It was possible to look inside two of the shelters. One full of litter, I did not fancy exploring but the other, much cleaner, I did have a look around. I wa...

Visited here twice recently, it is an interesting position on the Command Line. The Command Line continued to follow the L&N.E.R Marks Tey, Sudbury & Bury Branch from Lavenham to Bury St Edmunds. A machine dug anti-tank ditch enhanced the obstacle (and was presumably created by deepening an existing stream). The layout seems a little odd to me in that some of the front line pillboxes are only the bullet proof CRE 1094 (1'6" thickness) - only one CRE 1113 (3'6" thickness) seems to have been built in the area and that has sadly been destroyed post war (Serial No C25 - original serial no given in 1940). Normally I would expect 3'6" pillboxes in the forward positions and 1'6" pillboxes to the rear - see website for details on the layout of the Command Line. One of the pillboxes would seem to be a CRE Colchester unique design - in the shape of a caltrop.  So going from south to north first up is pillbox serial No C23, a typical CRE 1094 w...