WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

  Ever since obtaining a copy of Richard Bass’s book The Spirits of the Sand, I’ve wanted to visit this area. Like many other people our holiday plans changed this year, and this provided the opportunity to get to see some of the remains of the American Assault Training Centre (ATC) in the Woolacombe area on the beautiful North Devon coast.    Above: Memorial to the ATC, Woolacombe. The ATC was set up to train the American divisions selected as assault divisions for the D-Day assault landings. It had been hoped that the major part of this training would have be carried out in America, with a number of Combined Operations Training Bases established in the UK to serve formations in their vicinity to prevent large scale movement to and from bases. Although all US divisions received some form of training in the assault of fixed defences in America, the complexity of the proposed landings soon made it evident that the Americans would need facilities in the UK to test new i...

Completely new territory for me today, a brief visit to some pillboxes on the Outer Bristol Defence Position (Stop Line Green). The Position ran from Highbridge in the south, in a ring approx. 20 miles from Bristol to a point on the River Severn six miles south of Gloucester in the north. Dulcote lies in the sector from Upper Godney to Dinder, where the anti-tank obstacle was the River Sheppey stream which was only a partial obstacle and needed improvement and an artificial obstacle in places. Much of the Position was enclosed, including the Dulcote area, and would have been expensive in troops to hold. In fact, it was calculated that 16 divisions would be required to hold the whole Position, and that serious attacks could not be repelled for any length of time.  Above; some of the artificial anti-tank obstacles - anti-tank cubes on Constitution Hill, not in their original position and sockets for anti-tank rails blocking the track up to Dinder Wood. Their was also an anti-tank dit...

During a recent visit to The Brecks,  a pleasant walk around Santon Downham revealed  some interesting  military heritage of both World Wars.  First was the village war Memorial, in the form of a silhouette of British soldier that will be familiar to anyone with an interest in the Great War.  Above: village war memorial   The bridge that crosses the Little Ouse was erected by the Canadians  as part of the logging line  from High Lodge to the sawmill near Santon Downham. This was part of the forestry operations set up by the Home Grown Timber Committee (set up in November 1915), which had powers to compulsorily purchase standing timber. No. 126 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps began to arrive in the Santon Downham Estate in April 1918. During WW2, the bridge was guarded by a spigot mortar, an example of the local hexagonal design within a raised concrete emplacement. Above: bridge erected by the Canadians as part of the logging line. Above: WW2 spi...

The 7th Armoured Division moved down from Casoria on 20th December 1943 to embark for Britain following its role in the Italian Campaign. It docked at Glasgow on 7 January 1944, and was soon on its way by train to Norfolk for training and recreation.  The 131 Brigade were billeted relatively comfortably in the Kings Lynn while the 22nd Armoured Brigade  were 'less fortunate' to be billeted in the Brandon area. Above : Memorial to the 7th Armoured Division: The Desert Rats, Thetford Forest. According to the Divisional History: “Our misgivings had already been aroused by the publication of an article in "Country Life" which, while attributing the district considerable importance for both archaeology and ornithology, made it clear that it possessed few, if any, other amenities. "Country Life" was right. Eager watchers, at the windows of the long troop trains, saw flat black fenland give way to sandy heath; Brandon station gave a glimpse at least of houses and a...