WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

Probably stating the obvious, but my visits / explorations are not just confined to Suffolk. So on the odd occasion I will post on locations outside Suffolk (have already done so with the Somme Posts), both by trawling through photos taken in the past and on current visits - hopefully acceptable as this is only a blog - the website will remain dedicated to Suffolk! So today's offering are some pics of German bunkers taken in Poland. Cannot give any details on their history (except they do not seem to have seen action as there is no sign of any damage), but they can be found in the Biebrza River Valley. If you ever visit this area, go to the Information Centre and buy the excellent map of the area which marks all the bunkers and forts (2nd war and earlier). This area is also excellent for birding - River / Aquatic / Marsh Warbler, Black Storks, White-winged Black Tern, Corncrake, Penduline Tit, Bluethroat, Citrine Wagtail, Lessor-spotted Eagle etc, etc not to mention Elk! The trench...

Decided to have a look at some of the defences of Ipswich's northern perimeter. The railway defines the boundary of the defences in this area and was in places an effective anti-tank obstacle with a series of deep cuttings. The line was defended with pillboxes and road blocks on crossing points. Awhile ago I obtained a German map of Ipswich dated 1941. The Germans produced large no's of town plan maps of the UK as well as the Karte Von England 1:100,000 (cm's) maps. Not quite sure why, since invasion plans of the UK had been virtually abandoned by 1941. Eventually I hope to plot the Ipswich's defences on this map, a start being made today. Pillboxes visited  included a Type 28a guarding a bridge over the railway line at Tuddenham Road. However today it is completely hidden by a hedge - so you will have to make do with a photo taken a couple of yrs ago after some work on the hedge had been carried out. On Henley Road, two 3' cubes can be seen, the remains of a road b...

This post's title relates to a 4" BL static Gun mounted at Thorpness, one of four that arrived in Suffolk in the summer of 1940 - three mounted in a static role (nicknamed 'John', 'Luke' and 'St Peter'), the forth one apparently mounted on a ship in the RN training establishment at Shottley (but still manned by field gunners!). The 55th Div War Diary describes how one evening, RA Eastern Command announced to CRA 55th Div that four 4" naval guns and wooden baulks to mount them on would shortly arrive by rail. Each gun weighed 25 cwt, the cradle and pedestal 48 cwt and each of the two wooden baulks 24 cwt. The War Diary notes that 55th Div Artillery had no equipment at all to deal with these sort of weights. The problem of getting them into position was solved in the end by enlisting the help a party of naval ratings under the command of Lt Scotland RN who were mounting coastal defence artillery in 55th Div area, a R.A.O.C recovery crane and a libera...

Sun Jul 25th. Mapped the remains of this battery location today. I had long suspected that the remains in this area were from a Diver camp and documents seen in my recent visit to TNA do indeed confirm that Diver Battery 'S1' was in this area. This battery consisted of four 3.7" HAA guns, part of the 'Diver Gun Strip'. The 'Diver Gun Strip' was actually an extension of the London 'Diver Box' defences against German V1 Flying bombs and in East Anglia, extended from Clacton to Great Yarmouth. The remains consist of standings on which huts would have been erected and also remains of the sewage/sullage disposal system. The camp  occupies an area were, earlier in the war, anti-landing trenches had been dug. Sections of the ditches in the camp area have been in-filled. One pit, of what I presume are cess pits for sewage/sullage, has been dug dug into the bottom of one of the anti-landing ditches. There are also the remains of some sort of fencing/screen, ...

As well as the CHL Radar site already I've already posted about, also took in three pillboxes and the site of the Pakefield Emergency Coastal battery. The first pillbox is on the north side of Kessingland beach front, in the grounds of a small housing development. A typical 'Suffolk Square', but the entrance and all embrasures have been blocked up. The second is on the higher cliffs in between Kessingland and Pakefiled and required a climb up the cliffs to reach! Another 'Suffolk Square', sunk into the ground to embrasure level that would have enjoyed a sweeping field of fire over the beach (assuming of course it was actually built on the cliff front and is not there today as a result of coastal erosion!). Its now almost hidden from site by brambles. Further north still, can be found the site of Pakefield Emergency Battery. Even during the war, coastal erosion was a problem and the site of the guns and battery observation post has now disappeared, with just a few br...

An interesting walk along the coast from Kessingland to Pakefield last Monday. Took in three pillboxes, Pakefield CHL Radar site and the site of Pakefield Emergency Coastal Battery. This post will concentrate on Pakefield CHL Radar station. The British had realised the need for methods of detecting aircraft in the event of war and in the mid thirties, research was undertaken and developed on the use of  'Radio Direction Finding', or RDF. A prototype RDF system was built at Bawdsey (called Chain Home or CH) in 1937, and further development led to a 'beamed radar' (called Chain Home Low or CHL). This was more reliable than CH in bad weather and had a range of upto 160 km. Pakefield was one of the CHL sites operational during the war. Toady the remaining buildings are perilously close to the cliff edge. The site was also used as a Cold War Royal Observer Corps post. Reference: www.radarworld.org Image 1: Main building, Pakefield CHL, perilously close to the cliff edge Imag...