WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

Made a brief stop at Great Ashfield airfield today on my back from visiting family up north.  This aerodrome opened in March 1943, although the site it was constructed on was used by the RFC during the Great War for flying BE2cs. It was briefly used by Bomber Command  for practice landings for Stirlings before being handed over to the USAAF. In June 1943 it became home for 385th Bomber Group, nicknamed "Van's Valiants" after its CO, Col. Elliot Van Devanter. Above: Aerial of Great Ashfield airfield as seen today. The 385th Bomber Group flew B17's, flying 296 missions (8,200 sorties)and losing a total of 129 bombers to enemy fire plus another 40 to accidents. One of the destroyed bombers was lost to a Ju88 night intruder; destroyed in its hanger during the night 22nd May 1944, the only B17 destroyed on the ground during the War. The airfield / surrounding area was attacked at least two other times during the War - once on 6th October 1943 when six HEs ...

Although the GHQ Line did not run through Suffolk, the War Diary of one artillery Regt, that later moved to the Suffolk coast for beach defence, notes some of it’s experiences on manning the GHQ Line which makes interesting reading. The Regt was posted to a section of the line in Cambridgeshire during July 1940, when 2 Corps issued orders to man the whole of the GHQ line (excluding pillboxes at Stapleford and Fen Ditton). Despite the fact that only a third of the Regt had arms, orders were given to man all pillboxes to in it’s sector prevent them falling into enemy hands!! The Regt had to organize moving into new billets along the line and cookhouses had to be established.  During July 17 th – 18 th , thirteen 6 pdr anti-tank guns arrived for mounting in the pillboxes. However it was found that the pillbox embrasures had been made too small for the gun shield to be placed in position and had to be enlarged; 50 rounds per gun were issued. The Regt was still responsible for...

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...

The second post with a trench theme, this time Second War. This trench can actually be tied into a position to be held by the 2/4 South Lancs Regt in 1940 in the Mount Pleasant area, Dunwich. I've known about it for a while but only just got round to mapping it. Wish I had done it sooner as it has now been filled with brash from the clearance of road side scrub, which made recording by tape and offsets very tricky! Hence the plan shown is not as accurate as it could have been, but I believe it is still an accurate representation.  Above: Top the section post at Mount Pleasant from the 2/4 S Lancs War Diary. the green lines indicate rifle fire and the red line Bren gun fire. Middle and bottom - the trench today, full of brash! The  trench system consists of communication trenches leading to various weapon-pits and also perhaps a section of fire trench. There are also two large pits in the vicinity, one perhaps connected to part of the trench system. Abov...

With a few days off work, I've been out and about in the field. This is the first of two posts that will look at trenches - one from the First War and one from the Second! This afternoon, I decided to combine a visit to an excellent  second hand bookshop in Beccles (cost me £24!) with a visit to look at the First War practice trenches on the Common. These WW1 practice / training trenches  are fairly well known. Although they have long been infilled they show up as marks in the grass extremely well from the air and also on the ground as well. I don't have any information of which unit dug them or when. Although how Suffolk was to be defended in the First War is something I want to start looking at, I doubt if I will ever find out which units were billeted in Beccles or when these trenches were dug; they would obviously have nothing to do with Suffolk's fixed defences in WW1 but would have been dug by troops as practice before being sent out  to France.  ...

It's been a while since I last did a post and I have a few things to write up from various trips out and about this year. The first is a visit made back in the spring to a section of remaining seawall constructed on the Orford Battle Training area for 79th Armoured Division. This particular seawall features in a well know photograph of a Churchill tank scaling the wall using  an ARC Mk 1. Above: Well known image of a Churchill tank scaling a mock seawall on the Orford Battle Training area.  Today the remaining section of seawall is largely overgrown but it is clearly identifiable as the one in the above image, with even some of the embedded wire pickets to support the barbed wire in the above photo still remaining along with remains of 2" scaffolding poles which made up the railings. Above: Remains of the Orford seawall today. Note the barbed wire picket in image no 4 and the remains of the railing in image no 5.