World War Two: Evidence of damage/stuff left over now.

[RedLeicester]

V6Pushfit said:

The banker then unravelled the back story of why Oradour has been the subject of the atrocity.

Eh?

[Gilhooligan]

Edinburger said:

Good find. I've never been to Cramond Island but (as per my last post) there's a fortified island just underneath the Forth Bridge too.

It's well worth a visit. There's lots of gun emplacements around the other side:





Interested to know where these semi-submerged buildings in a field near Dalkeith are as I live 5 mins from Dalkeith.

[Oystercatcher]

Great thread!

SpudLink said:

... as a small child I remember happily playing in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the Blitz.

Same here, lived near Archway in the early 60's and the various bits of waste ground were all called 'bomb sites'. Didn't make the connection until later...

Next door had a massive air raid shelter that took up most of their garden. It was made out of thick concrete and too difficult to remove so just left there.

'Our' house (we had the top floor) had wonky floors and the owner said it was due to the bombing. Thanks to that Bomb Sights website posted above I now know a bomb landed just round the corner, effectively about 4 doors away.

Where I am now we're surrounded by old airfields, Chelveston, Podington, Grafton Underwood, Harrington etc. Some have memorials to the brave people who flew from them.

Edited by Oystercatcher on Monday 14th September 18:15

[marksbike]

Plenty of evidence in france! Went on a biking trip in 2010 and stopped off over night in Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, did a little exploring and found German bunkers and gun emplacements.

[mcelliott]

All photos courtesy of Festung Guernsey.

A limber in a fairly recently opened tunnel, probably less than 10 years ago.



A Wurzburg radar, just before removal in 1995.



Circa late 1960s - extraction of field kitchen.



Fill yer boots lad! Discovery of ammo boxes etc. late 60s.



The tunnels had a habit of collapsing - photo from the 70s.



Extraction of German half track and fuel tanks, autumn 1947.



Entrance of the German Underground Hospital, 1944.



Same entrance two years later, about to the re-opened. Note the railway track leading directly into the tunnel.



German Underground Hospital again, photo taken during the war, probably around 1943/'44.



This picture is of the same scene on discovery in 1946.



A Char B1-bis tank hidden in one of the tunnels prior to its removal in 1952. Most of the equipment was later broken up and sold as scrap, what wasn't sold was shipped and dumped in an area of water known as Hurd's Deep, just north of the Island of Alderney.

[1878]

A different kind of damage here - Tyneham in Dorset. Village was taken over during WW2 for practice by Allied forces ahead of D-Day. The village was never given back after the way. Some of the buildings are ruined, the schoolhouse contains some pictures and information, the church is immaculately kept. Well worth a visit and there is some good walking along the South West Coast path - but check before going as the surrounding land is still used for range training.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham
http://tynehamvillage.org/a-brief-history-of-tyneh...

[moorx]

1878 said:

A different kind of damage here - Tyneham in Dorset. Village was taken over during WW2 for practice by Allied forces ahead of D-Day. The village was never given back after the way. Some of the buildings are ruined, the schoolhouse contains some pictures and information, the church is immaculately kept. Well worth a visit and there is some good walking along the South West Coast path - but check before going as the surrounding land is still used for range training.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham
http://tynehamvillage.org/a-brief-history-of-tyneh...

You've reminded me of another one, that we often used to drive past during our forays into Wales from the west country - Epynt, near the Brecon Beacons.

http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/page45.html

[spyder dryver]

Halmyre said:

Sticks. said:

Edinburger said:

Sticks. said:

This boat used to belong to Goering apparently. Taken at Rye, across from the boatyard.

I don't mean to laugh, but seriously? That's Goering's boat? In Sussex?

According to the local chap who'd been around the boatyeard most of his 85 years. How much more proof do you want?

He wasn't a Mr Hilter from Minehead by any chance?

Goering's "other" yacht, the Carin 2 is apparently being restored in a port on the Red Sea.
It has a fascinating history, having been claimed by Montgomery after the war and being used by the Royal Navy. It later featured in the "Hitler Diaries" debacle.
Lots of pics on the net. Here are on old one and a recent one, which some wag has shopped. Ha-ha!



Full story here...
[url]http://www.welcometowallyworld.com/frontpage/2008/4/26/hitlers-diary-hermann-goerings-yacht.html[url]

[anonymous-user]

moorx said:

1878 said:

A different kind of damage here - Tyneham in Dorset. Village was taken over during WW2 for practice by Allied forces ahead of D-Day. The village was never given back after the way. Some of the buildings are ruined, the schoolhouse contains some pictures and information, the church is immaculately kept. Well worth a visit and there is some good walking along the South West Coast path - but check before going as the surrounding land is still used for range training.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham
http://tynehamvillage.org/a-brief-history-of-tyneh...

You've reminded me of another one, that we often used to drive past during our forays into Wales from the west country - Epynt, near the Brecon Beacons.

http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/page45.html

There's also Stanford in Norfolk, AKA Stanta to any Army boys on here who may have trained there (it's a current training facility today).

To keep it PH, it's also very close to the site of the Top Gear test between the Boxster and the AMG SLK where Clarkson was up against army snipers. (Series 6, Episode 5)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford,_Norfolk

https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Stanford,+Norf...

(It doesn't look like that any more, about 8 years ago I designed an extension there for the Army to train on, making it more like a semi-urban Afghan base, more visible here: http://binged.it/1KbBIrx )

Apologies, I don't know how to make other webpages appear as images...

[anonymous-user]

My ex wife has the foundations of an anti aircraft gun on her farm in Norway, interesting to us because her father when he as 16 sneaked in one night in 1944 and stole two rifles from the sleeping sentries, one for him one for his 14 year old brother, buried them waiting for the British to invade, they were never used and are now on the wall of the house.

[anonymous-user]

Berw said:

My ex wife has the foundations of an anti aircraft gun on her farm in Norway, interesting to us because her father when he as 16 sneaked in one night in 1944 and stole two rifles from the sleeping sentries, one for him one for his 14 year old brother, buried them waiting for the British to invade, they were never used and are now on the wall of the house.

Waiting to repel the Brits? Or to aid? (Not a loaded question, just asking )

[CR6ZZ]

Spotted many, many bullet ridden statues and bombed out churches when last in France.

[anonymous-user]

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.

[NelsonM3]

spyder dryver said:

Halmyre said:

Sticks. said:

Edinburger said:

Sticks. said:

This boat used to belong to Goering apparently. Taken at Rye, across from the boatyard.

I don't mean to laugh, but seriously? That's Goering's boat? In Sussex?

According to the local chap who'd been around the boatyeard most of his 85 years. How much more proof do you want?

He wasn't a Mr Hilter from Minehead by any chance?

Goering's "other" yacht, the Carin 2 is apparently being restored in a port on the Red Sea.
It has a fascinating history, having been claimed by Montgomery after the war and being used by the Royal Navy. It later featured in the "Hitler Diaries" debacle.
Lots of pics on the net. Here are on old one and a recent one, which some wag has shopped. Ha-ha!



Full story here...
[url]http://www.welcometowallyworld.com/frontpage/2008/4/26/hitlers-diary-hermann-goerings-yacht.html[url]

Love that it has an Israeli flag on it

[steveo3002]

ww2 control tower now a family home

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Slideshow-Family-h...

[Asterix]

yellowjack said:

Asterix said:

yellowjack said:

I remember this...



...from pre-deployment training for Iraq tours. It's the Roundhouse in Hohne Garrison in Germany. A former Wehrmacht mess built in 1936. Bits of the interior are quite spectacular, and there are quite a few reminders of the original owners dotted about the place...




ETA: http://www.truppenuebungsplatzbergen.com/roundhous...

I remember that place well.

Jeez, that's going back some.

I never thought to look at the garrisons I went to.

A good chunk of Osnabruck Garrison's buildings were former Wehrmacht barracks. 25 Engr Regt were housed in huge old barrack blocks in Roberts Barracks, but out of town, 23 Engr Regt in Quebec Barracks were on a former POW camp, but all of the buildings were post war permanent replacements for the wooden huts. The layout, though, pretty much followed the plan of a prison camp. I believe it's now undergoing redevelopment by the German authorities, since draw-down left it vacant.

Yeah, my old barracks in Traz (Mercer) was built just after the war finished so was boring in that way.

Have you seen this site? http://baor-locations.org/osnabruckvarious.aspx.ht...

Another place I stayed, Napier Barracks in Dortmund, has lots more WWII history.

[IroningMan]

Asterix said:

Yeah, my old barracks in Traz (Mercer) was built just after the war finished so was boring in that way.

Have you seen this site? http://baor-locations.org/osnabruckvarious.aspx.ht...

Another place I stayed, Napier Barracks in Dortmund, has lots more WWII history.

Fabulous site - thanks for that.

I spent time in Fallingbostel, Hameln, Detmold and Berlin - I used to swim in the Olympic indoor training pool that's photographed on the site and it looked the same in the 80's, except it was in colour then...

Cold War Berlin was an exceptionally interesting place to live as a teenager.

[Asterix]

Asterix said:

We used to do a bit of training at this place - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordensburg_Vogelsang

Lots of the statues and walls are covered in bullet and shrapnel holes.

Here's some more info on this place - very interesting.
http://baor-locations.org/Vogelsang.aspx.html

Used to be great doing this...



...over the valley

[Ian_H]

wildcat45 said:

Huff said:

It's a bit quick and crude, but how about this:



Surprising how much remains

Mate that is amazing thank you!

Is that in Jesmond near to Newcastle? I had a great aunt who lived there and you could see where the railings had been cut and she still had an air raid shelter in the back yard. This is going back about 30 years.

[Rude-boy]

Morningside said:

Pillboxes are everywhere. There are some at Southwold, Walberswick and Blythburgh.

At Southwold there are also some very large concrete tank traps and Blythburgh still floods on purpose to stop a land invasion. Oddly at Southwold on Mights Bridge there is one hidden on the Reydon side.

Yep, round here there are pillboxes everywhere.

Went to look at a house for sale near the railway line at Diss and in the garden of the house is the remains of a very large gun emplacement for the protection of the line.

A friend in Worcester once owned a house which was constructed in 1938, complete with access to an air raid shelter built underground in the garden.