WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

This post will look at some of the pillboxes which were designed for the Command Line. Already covered on the last two posts are a couple of the 6 pounder gun pillboxes, probably to design C.R.E 1116. The other two designs are C.R.E 1113 - a shell proof pillbox for a section with Bren gun, designed to be sited on the front line to command the anti-tank obstacle. The other  design is C.E.E 1094, a bullet proof pillbox for one section with a Bren gun, sited to cover the front line pots from attack from the rear by parachutists.  Image 1-4: A shell proof pillbox, prob to design C.R.E 1113. Instead of the low level protected entrance, this one has a separate blast wall with embrasure. Image 5: Another example of C.R.E 1113. This one has an 'L' shaped blast wall. Image 6: An example of a bullet proof pillbox, prob to design C.R.E 1094. Image 7: An anti-aircraft central well in a C.R.E 1094 pillbox. There are examples of both the shell proof and bullet proof pillbox with and withou...

Another post on this visit, now way back in the past in April! First up is another probable CRE 1116  - on this one all the embrasures and the entrance are blocked (although just enough of a gap to hold a camera for an internal photo!) but it is identical to the one at Slough Farm. Also close by is a very well preserved Spigot Mortar position. Next up is some unusual graffiti - if you are lucky you occasionally come across some evidence of who built the pillbox or troops billeted nearby. But on this occasion the names are German and the date 1946! German POW's were still present in  Britain up to 1948 (400,000 in 1946, 150,000 in 1947 with the last repatriated  by Nov 1948) . The post-war British Government at first deliberately ignored the Geneva Convention by refusing to repatriate POW's. They were often forced to work on farms (and perhaps clearing the Anti-invasion defences?) in conditions often described as slave labour and fraternisation with the home po...

There are two interesting Type 22 pillboxes in the lavenham area, close to each other but quite different in character.  One is a first line position pillbox on the Command Line while the other is on the rear line.  All the other pillboxes in this area are of the new designs for the Command Line (C.R.E 1116, 1113 and 1096). Neither of these two seem to be on the list of the Command Line pillboxes. The one on the first line position would appear to have embrasures designed to take a Turnbull mount (a cradle designed to hold a light machine gun), of which two  have been fitted. It is bullet proof, with an internal anti-ricochet wall and a low level protected entrance, typical on this part of the Command Line. The two machine guns in these mounts would have covered a crossing over the Command line. The remaining embrasures have metal plates fitted to make them bullet proof. As the Turnbull mount was not introduced until late 1940, could this pillbox  have been built af...

In April I spent a pleasant day at Lavenham. So a few posts to follow on this visit starting with this 6 pdr anti-tank gun pillbox at Slough Farm.  It was sited to control the approach to, as well a crossing over, the Command Line. The anti-tank obstacle was the railway line, with deep cuttings in places, as well as sections of anti-tank ditch where the railway line did not provide an adequate obstacle. It is probably to design C.R.E 1116, one of three new designs of pillboxes to be used on the Command Line. It is obviously based on the Type 28a but was designed to house a static 6 pounder gun and not the 2 pounder gun. There is a holdfast for the gun and the main embrasure is narrower than that on a Type 28a designed for the 2 pounder. The other two differences are the low level protected entrance which is a common feature on pillboxes on the Command Line and a lack of internal Anti-Ricochet wall separating the infantry light machine gun  embrasures from the gun em...