World War Two: Evidence of damage/stuff left over now.
Discussion
We visited the U-boat pens at Lorient a couple of years back. As others have mentioned, the scale of them is incredible. I can't see how they can ever be demolished. Interestingly the Lorient site was still under German command until May 1945. The Allies didn't consider over running it as worthwhile, so simply bypassed it and left them to it.
They have a postwar French sub there which you can look round. If Das Boot doesn't make you claustrophobic, a trip round a real sub will. I really don't know how they put up with it.
They have a postwar French sub there which you can look round. If Das Boot doesn't make you claustrophobic, a trip round a real sub will. I really don't know how they put up with it.
Edited by RicksAlfas on Tuesday 22 September 16:24
Steve_W said:
On Mill Lane in Tidmarsh (outside Reading) there are these concrete drums with conical tops by the side of the road still. They were to be rolled into the road, where it crossed an anti-tank ditch, and stood up as a way of blocking the road in case of invasion:
https://goo.gl/maps/kgFr4dHySGn
The whole of the Sulham Valley (which Mill Lane crosses) is littered with old pillboxes etc. as it was part of one of the Stop lines round London. More info here, including a nice wartime aerial view of the thumping great anti tank ditch the pillboxes defended:
http://rexurbex.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-sulham-...
That's just just at the bottom of the hill from us. I'll look out for the concrete blocks next time I pass. Pity the photos are all missing from the blog though !https://goo.gl/maps/kgFr4dHySGn
The whole of the Sulham Valley (which Mill Lane crosses) is littered with old pillboxes etc. as it was part of one of the Stop lines round London. More info here, including a nice wartime aerial view of the thumping great anti tank ditch the pillboxes defended:
http://rexurbex.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-sulham-...
outnumbered said:
Steve_W said:
On Mill Lane in Tidmarsh (outside Reading) there are these concrete drums with conical tops by the side of the road still. They were to be rolled into the road, where it crossed an anti-tank ditch, and stood up as a way of blocking the road in case of invasion:
https://goo.gl/maps/kgFr4dHySGn
The whole of the Sulham Valley (which Mill Lane crosses) is littered with old pillboxes etc. as it was part of one of the Stop lines round London. More info here, including a nice wartime aerial view of the thumping great anti tank ditch the pillboxes defended:
http://rexurbex.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-sulham-...
That's just just at the bottom of the hill from us. I'll look out for the concrete blocks next time I pass. Pity the photos are all missing from the blog though !https://goo.gl/maps/kgFr4dHySGn
The whole of the Sulham Valley (which Mill Lane crosses) is littered with old pillboxes etc. as it was part of one of the Stop lines round London. More info here, including a nice wartime aerial view of the thumping great anti tank ditch the pillboxes defended:
http://rexurbex.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-sulham-...
Have found another site that has more info (maps, grid refs, photos) of all the stuff in the Sulham Valley than you'll ever need:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Spudukas-Pillbo...
And it includes several photos of the road blocks just in the field edge, such as this: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1759602
Within 20 mile radius of my house I have loads of WW2 evidence. Mainly ex-USAF air bases. Snetterton Heath, Deopham Green, Old Buckenham, Hethel, Watton, Tibehnam, Shipdham, Fersfield, Bodney, Hardwick to name a few. Most of these were B17 & B24 bases. Then there is the 8th Airforce HQ at Ketteringham Hall. A large WW2 fuel dump just off the main Norwich to Cambridge rail line at Ketteringham.
On top of that are the various pill boxes dotted around in the corners of fields overlooking strategic road crossing points. There is one built onto the side of a house which guarded the rail line in one direction & the road heading upto Old Buckenham air field in the other direction.
No wonder East Anglia was called "Little America"
On top of that are the various pill boxes dotted around in the corners of fields overlooking strategic road crossing points. There is one built onto the side of a house which guarded the rail line in one direction & the road heading upto Old Buckenham air field in the other direction.
No wonder East Anglia was called "Little America"
Monkey boy 1 said:
Within 20 mile radius of my house I have loads of WW2 evidence. Mainly ex-USAF air bases. Snetterton Heath, Deopham Green, Old Buckenham, Hethel, Watton, Tibehnam, Shipdham, Fersfield, Bodney, Hardwick to name a few. Most of these were B17 & B24 bases. Then there is the 8th Airforce HQ at Ketteringham Hall. A large WW2 fuel dump just off the main Norwich to Cambridge rail line at Ketteringham.
On top of that are the various pill boxes dotted around in the corners of fields overlooking strategic road crossing points. There is one built onto the side of a house which guarded the rail line in one direction & the road heading upto Old Buckenham air field in the other direction.
No wonder East Anglia was called "Little America"
The Muckleburgh collection on the North Norfolk coast has also restored some of the AA gun emplacements that were still in the areaOn top of that are the various pill boxes dotted around in the corners of fields overlooking strategic road crossing points. There is one built onto the side of a house which guarded the rail line in one direction & the road heading upto Old Buckenham air field in the other direction.
No wonder East Anglia was called "Little America"
http://www.muckleburgh.co.uk/gun-pits.html
Agree it's a bit strange cycling round the countryside only to find a pillbox just stood by the side of the road.
Berw said:
A valid question I suppose in view of the publicity Norway got,but you wouldn't need to steel a gun from the Germans to aid them, so to aid the Brits. Outside the intellectual elite of Oslo there was little support for the quislings. Norway is my only experience of living in what was 'occupied' Europe but there are loads of artifacts around, uniforms badges etc, even old guns. I suppose France etc is the same but I don't have the contacts there.
During World War II a great number of volunteers from Norway served within the ranks of the German Wehrmacht. Prior to 1940, there were few such volunteers, but after the invasion, their numbers increased dramatically totaling around 50,000 by wars end. Nowhere did Norwegians serve in greater numbers than in the ranks of the Waffen-SS...http://www.feldgrau.com/norway.html
Monkey boy 1 said:
Within 20 mile radius of my house I have loads of WW2 evidence. Mainly ex-USAF air bases. Snetterton Heath, Deopham Green, Old Buckenham, Hethel, Watton, Tibehnam, Shipdham, Fersfield, Bodney, Hardwick to name a few. Most of these were B17 & B24 bases. Then there is the 8th Airforce HQ at Ketteringham Hall. A large WW2 fuel dump just off the main Norwich to Cambridge rail line at Ketteringham.
On top of that are the various pill boxes dotted around in the corners of fields overlooking strategic road crossing points. There is one built onto the side of a house which guarded the rail line in one direction & the road heading upto Old Buckenham air field in the other direction.
No wonder East Anglia was called "Little America"
I used to go for bike rides out to those airfields when I was a kid. It's amazing how many they managed to build in such a small area - when it came to mass raids it must have been a nightmare to organise the take-offs without different squadrons crashing into each other. The fields are literally just 3 or 4 miles apart. The local pubs must have done a roaring trade.On top of that are the various pill boxes dotted around in the corners of fields overlooking strategic road crossing points. There is one built onto the side of a house which guarded the rail line in one direction & the road heading upto Old Buckenham air field in the other direction.
No wonder East Anglia was called "Little America"
My dad was away serving in India and he was a trifled concerned about my mum with all those Yanks in Norwich on their leave. She was almost in tears one day when she recounted the infamous night when Luftwaffe night-fighters followed them home and picked them off as they tried to land. She reckons you could see flames in the sky and on the ground all around Norwich (it's very flat, Norfolk, as Noel Coward said). The locals could only stand and watch.
When I was a kid I wondered why there was a huge hole in the small wood on the side of Bracondale in Norwich. I realise now it might have been caused during the bombing raid which killed the Colmans workers as they finished their shift at the factory. Is it still there?
nicanary said:
I used to go for bike rides out to those airfields when I was a kid. It's amazing how many they managed to build in such a small area - when it came to mass raids it must have been a nightmare to organise the take-offs without different squadrons crashing into each other. The fields are literally just 3 or 4 miles apart. The local pubs must have done a roaring trade.
My dad was away serving in India and he was a trifled concerned about my mum with all those Yanks in Norwich on their leave. She was almost in tears one day when she recounted the infamous night when Luftwaffe night-fighters followed them home and picked them off as they tried to land. She reckons you could see flames in the sky and on the ground all around Norwich (it's very flat, Norfolk, as Noel Coward said). The locals could only stand and watch.
When I was a kid I wondered why there was a huge hole in the small wood on the side of Bracondale in Norwich. I realise now it might have been caused during the bombing raid which killed the Colmans workers as they finished their shift at the factory. Is it still there?
The hole is still there, but I am sure it is too deep to have been a bomb crater. But who knows. May have to do some investigation on that one. My dad was away serving in India and he was a trifled concerned about my mum with all those Yanks in Norwich on their leave. She was almost in tears one day when she recounted the infamous night when Luftwaffe night-fighters followed them home and picked them off as they tried to land. She reckons you could see flames in the sky and on the ground all around Norwich (it's very flat, Norfolk, as Noel Coward said). The locals could only stand and watch.
When I was a kid I wondered why there was a huge hole in the small wood on the side of Bracondale in Norwich. I realise now it might have been caused during the bombing raid which killed the Colmans workers as they finished their shift at the factory. Is it still there?
The company I used to work for in Norwich (LSE) still has camouflage paint on the outside of the factory buildings and what used to be one of their other sites in Norwich has a roof which is a lattice work design just like the Wellington Bomber and is a listed building because of it They used to make parts the Boulton & Paul Defiant there.
.Off Park Road, (near the mint pub) Banstead is an access road leading to 8 rectangular Magazines used to store Anti aircraft shells for the Big guns around South London
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3148384,-0.18238...
Equipment Ammunition Depot, Banstead. Known as No. 116. Constructed in 1938, under the responsibility of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Used to store shells for 3.7" and 4.5" aircraft guns and rockets with a maximum capacity of 960 tons of ammunition. The Banstead depot supplied anti-aircraft guns in a ring around the south west of London from Dulwich to Raynes Park. The first issues were made in September 1939, four days before the war was declared. The depot was closed down in 1953.
It consists of eight rectangular magazines surrounded by blast walls and earthen banks. Each magazine contains two rows of nine bays, separated by an internal wall. Entrances are at the four corners, where concrete loading bays are found.
The magazines are separated by anti-blast traverses consisting of low walls of concrete, or corrugated zinc sheets and posts, topped by earthen mounds. Access to the magazines was provided by a concrete road from Park Road, which branches out into a loop road with three arms. The magazines were surrounded by an earthen bank, largely destroyed, and the entire site was contained within a steel mesh and barbed wire fence. Two metal sentry boxes are preserved along the fence.
Place is used for mobile home and car storage now.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3148384,-0.18238...
Equipment Ammunition Depot, Banstead. Known as No. 116. Constructed in 1938, under the responsibility of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Used to store shells for 3.7" and 4.5" aircraft guns and rockets with a maximum capacity of 960 tons of ammunition. The Banstead depot supplied anti-aircraft guns in a ring around the south west of London from Dulwich to Raynes Park. The first issues were made in September 1939, four days before the war was declared. The depot was closed down in 1953.
It consists of eight rectangular magazines surrounded by blast walls and earthen banks. Each magazine contains two rows of nine bays, separated by an internal wall. Entrances are at the four corners, where concrete loading bays are found.
The magazines are separated by anti-blast traverses consisting of low walls of concrete, or corrugated zinc sheets and posts, topped by earthen mounds. Access to the magazines was provided by a concrete road from Park Road, which branches out into a loop road with three arms. The magazines were surrounded by an earthen bank, largely destroyed, and the entire site was contained within a steel mesh and barbed wire fence. Two metal sentry boxes are preserved along the fence.
Place is used for mobile home and car storage now.
A few pics you guys might be interested in on my website
http://www.ww2germantours.com/photo-archive/
I have thousands of pictures that is just a tiny selection
I will try to find time to post some more stuff up. Perhaps UK related
http://www.ww2germantours.com/photo-archive/
I have thousands of pictures that is just a tiny selection
I will try to find time to post some more stuff up. Perhaps UK related
Legacywr said:
One thing made clear by this thread is, that in the event of a land invasion, we would have been f
ked! 
The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
We were bloody lucky that Hitler favoured the British and turned his sights on Russia.ked! The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
Without doubt the heroic efforts of Fighter command played a massive role in changing Hitler's 'Operation SeaLion' invasion plans.
Legacywr said:
One thing made clear by this thread is, that in the event of a land invasion, we would have been fked!
The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
Not sure how you reach this conclusion!ked! The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
Take a look at the Defense Of Britain Database, particularly the Goolge Earth down load in this link:
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/...
fatboy18 said:
Legacywr said:
One thing made clear by this thread is, that in the event of a land invasion, we would have been fked!
The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
We were bloody lucky that Hitler favoured the British and turned his sights on Russia.ked! The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
Without doubt the heroic efforts of Fighter command played a massive role in changing Hitler's 'Operation SeaLion' invasion plans.
Halmyre said:
fatboy18 said:
Legacywr said:
One thing made clear by this thread is, that in the event of a land invasion, we would have been fked!
The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
We were bloody lucky that Hitler favoured the British and turned his sights on Russia.ked! The efforts were so(understandably)poor, they may aswell not have bothered at all!
Without doubt the heroic efforts of Fighter command played a massive role in changing Hitler's 'Operation SeaLion' invasion plans.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff