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| Military History The place for non-WWII military history discussion. |
March 5th, 2006, 04:41 PM
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I think it's more likely to be Heavy- and Light-...?
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March 5th, 2006, 04:51 PM
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Right, Martin.
Ice, in the case of the Hound Point beach emplacement, it's thought it was a mounting for a machine gun in the AA role, rather than an artillery piece.
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March 5th, 2006, 04:56 PM
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Got it, LAA would be machine guns and low caliber cannon and HAA would be artillery caliber guns. Makes sense.
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PEOPLE SLEEP PEACEABLY IN THEIR BEDS AT NIGHT ONLY BECAUSE ROUGH MEN STAND READY TO DO VIOLENCE ON THEIR BEHALF. GEORGE ORWELL
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March 8th, 2006, 09:15 AM
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Got across to Seton Sands in East Lothian on Monday, and found the place full of anti-invasion defences. Don't let the sunshine fool you; the wind would have cut you in two, so apologies for the couple of fuzzy snaps! 
This is an overview of a roadblock guarding the exit from Longniddry Bents (Links) onto the A198 Cockenzie to Dunbar road.
And closeup of the actual blocks...
The roadblock is flanked either side by 5' tall anti-tank blocks, and these actually form a continuous double (sometimes triple)line for 1 kilometre along the north side of the road.
These blocks continue around the coast to Gullane and Dunbar, but there are large gaps in places now.....
[ 08. March 2006, 04:25 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ] |
March 8th, 2006, 09:20 AM
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..while down on the beach I found this group of the more common 3' 6" high AT blocks....
...heading a line of concreted rail lines and AT blocks extending all the way to the low water mark....
These appear to have carried on up the beach to the road, in a sort of 'breakwater' fashion.
Further along the beach is a car park with a wall built entirely of recycled AT blocks, so this 'breakwater' effect might have been a common feature here originally. |
March 10th, 2006, 11:23 AM
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Check out this Liberator bomber wreck, Mill Hill, Near Glossop, courtesy of Geograph
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“This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren, and mightily bored they’ll be.” Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks commander of British XXX Corps September 16, 1944 prior to Operation Market.
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March 10th, 2006, 12:01 PM
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At least the salvage hunters haven't completely cleared the site. 
According to High Ground Wrecks & Relics by David J. Smith, the plane was being ferried from Burtonwood to Hardwicke when it crashed. The crew escaped with minor injuries.
Apparently the pilot had only had 4.5 hours experience of instrument flying in the previous six months, and was trying to stay below the cloud base.
David W. Earl, author of the volumes Hell on High Ground has his own site concerning air wrecks, but it's very frames-heavy!
Hell on High Ground
[ 10. March 2006, 07:23 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ] |
March 14th, 2006, 11:50 AM
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I hadn't realised that Eire built some defence lines in anticipation of a British Invasion. There's some pics and a map on the following link.
Click on this link and select the first result.
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“This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren, and mightily bored they’ll be.” Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks commander of British XXX Corps September 16, 1944 prior to Operation Market.
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March 14th, 2006, 02:54 PM
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Pillboxes on the Boyne to guard against a British invasion? The irony  ............
Cheers for that Ian; you've got me intrigued now on how many more there are in the Republic generally. |
March 14th, 2006, 03:08 PM
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The Irish Army caught a British intelligence officer in July 1940 plain clothes recceing likely invasion routes which increased their paranoia.
De Valera's (The Irish Prime Minister) nightmare scenario was apparently a German airborne landing in the North where his choices would be 1. Join the Brits in repelling the invaders, 2. Join the Germans in liberating NI, or 3. see who looks like winning and then deciding.
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“This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren, and mightily bored they’ll be.” Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks commander of British XXX Corps September 16, 1944 prior to Operation Market.
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March 14th, 2006, 03:17 PM
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Hmm..then he decided to play it safe; RAF aircraft were allowed to overfly Irish airspace, and German airmen/seamen caught in the Republic were quietly transported over the border to the British authorities. I remember a discussion on this on uboat.net a while back.
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March 14th, 2006, 03:20 PM
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Yes but there's a theory that the Luftwaffe bombing of Dublin was a slap on the wrists for being too cosy with the Allies.
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“This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren, and mightily bored they’ll be.” Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks commander of British XXX Corps September 16, 1944 prior to Operation Market.
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March 15th, 2006, 02:06 PM
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Even German fortifications in the Channel Islands aren't safe....
Heritage Groups angered by gun demolition
Apparently, that was a 4.7cm PaK36(T) emplacement in Jersey.
According to the Channel Islands Occupation Society previously unknown German bunkers are still being discovered.
[ 15. March 2006, 09:16 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ] |
March 16th, 2006, 06:09 AM
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'The developers have promised to rebuild it'.....yeah, right 
It's certainly a theme which could be developed. I can imagine an American tourist in London asking for directions to the Tower of London.'Unfortunately, it's been demolished so that we could build a Tourism Office'
' Really !? Where was it, then ?'
'Erm...right where we're standing now...'
[img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]
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March 16th, 2006, 08:36 AM
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Exactly, Martin. It's like the old field at Findo Gask in Perthshire that I posted pics of; they were in the middle of building luxury villas around the tower when I was there. What's the betting the 'resident's committee' get up a petition to the Planning department to remove this 'dangerous eyesore' within a year or two........ [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]  |
March 16th, 2006, 12:12 PM
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A sad reflection from those who just don't stop and think. [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]
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 Regards, Richard  
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March 16th, 2006, 12:20 PM
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Nice to see people like you Gordon taking photos of these sites [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]
Which are disappearing due to nature and man at this rate that's all we will have left.
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Regards, Richard
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March 16th, 2006, 12:58 PM
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Cheers Richard. Sometimes obsessions are good!
Just found this-
Search starts for Lampeter Spitfire crash site |
March 16th, 2006, 04:47 PM
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Interesting that link Gordon nice one.
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March 17th, 2006, 10:04 AM
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Something to make us all stop and think.
A very poignant memorial.
Gordon can you shed some light on this pilot?
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“This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren, and mightily bored they’ll be.” Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks commander of British XXX Corps September 16, 1944 prior to Operation Market.
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