WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

This post will look at the GPS plans of the four positions shown in the overview in Part 1 of this post.  Whether or not the positions were laid out deliberately as suggested below I have no idea , but although it cannot be appreciated by the plots, actually out on the ground it was easy to imagine the primary fire task of each weapon-slit. First the Overview  plot again: Next some diagrammatic representations of section posts from various manuals: Above: Top - section post, "The Instructor's manual of Fieldcraft and Battle Drill" Middle: Vickers MG section post, "Infantry Training 1937 - Supplement No. 3" Bottom: Section post, "Infantry Training 1937" The above images may help put the following Practice Trenches in to some sort of context. A section would seldom be called upon to occupy an isolated position - the ideal layout for a platoon post (three sections) would be arranged in a triangle to ens...

I must admit I enjoy wondering around looking for earthworks, quite often literally falling into them if they are covered in dense vegetation! You kind of feel in some cases its a race against time to record them before they disappear for good. They are obviously  much more ephemeral than the other surviving  icon of WW2 in Britain - the pillbox. I've spent a few days recently mapping a number of slit trenches in one area of Westleton heath. I set out intending to 'mop up' what I thought were a few isolated trenches found on previous exploratory wanderings, but they turned out to be far more substantial than my initial findings suggested. The following posts will look at some some of these earthworks in more detail and I'll admit the following thoughts and interpretations are all guesswork! . As I've said many times on this blog, the vast majority of earthworks on the Dunwich/Westleton complex of heaths are as a result of training. To date I have found no refere...