WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

The 34th Division constructed a memorial dedicated to the 'memory of Officers, Warrant Officers, and men of the Artillery and Engineers of the 34th British Division who fought near this spot October-November 1917' next to a  to a German pillbox near Poecapelle. The 34th Division took part in the sixth and final phase of 3rd Ypres (22 October - 6 November), in an action designed to secure the high ground around Passchendaaele, taking part in the opening attack on  22 October 1917. Memorial to 34th Div. artillery and engineers, near Poelcapelle, sited next to a German pillbox. Anyone who has visited the battlefields of the Ypres salient will be well aware of the fact that the Germans made much use of concrete pillboxes. As trenches were impossible to dig, the defence was placed in strongly concreted "pill-boxes" in the ruins of barns and farmhouses. The average thickness was around 3 feet, which was proof against all except the heaviest of shells. The German...

All remaining British pillboxes in the Somme area  date from 1918, after the lines had stabilized after Ludendorff's Spring Offensive, which commenced on 21 March 1918. OBSERVATION POST - JEREMIAH HEDGE The German 1918 Spring offensive swept over the old battlefields of the 1916 Somme Offensive, with the Germans taking the dominating Serre ridge again.  A prominent feature in the area was Jeremiah Hedge, which behind the  the Germans had established dugouts and machine gun posts. If the Germans could be driven off this high ground back into the valley below, the British front line would be more secure and the opportunity for the Germans to resume the attack in this area on the high ground would be denied to them. The task of taking Jeremiah hedge fell to the New Zealand Division, which completed the task on 30 March. The German Offensive died down in Somme area in early April as Ludendorff turned his attention to the Lys for Operation Georgette .  In Jeremiah Hedg...

Ploegsteert Wood is about 9 miles south of Ypres. The area saw heavy fighting in 1914 as the Germans tried to take Ypres in their drive to the coast. The British line held, but Ypres formed a dangerous salient in their lines, with the Germans holding the dominating high ground. Ploegsteert Wood (map 1) became a quite sector after this initial fighting, with the subsequent fierce fighting for Ypres taking part further north in 1915 and 1917. The Germans captured the wood in April 1918 (map 2) during the battle of the Flanders Hills, with the British re-taking the wood at the end of September during the Advance to Victory. Within the wood there still can be found a number of shelters and machine gun pillboxes (map 3), the subject of this post. Map 1: Line as it stabilized at end of 1914 (Ploegsteert is towards the bottom of the map) Map 2: German April 1918 offensive Map 3: Pillboxes and shelters plotted on a 1917 trench map of the wood. PILLBOXES OR 'FORTS...