In preparation for Operation Overlord, the codename for the Battle of Normandy, Canadian troops build a replica section of the Atlantic Wall. In 1940 Germany had seized large areas of France, however were concerned about being attacked from the Americans, before they had a chance to invade Britain. Hitler gave the order for German soldiers…
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When Britain came under aerial attack in the Second World War, thousands of Heavy Anti-Aircraft batteries and associated army camps were built across the country. These are a fairly uniform and easy-to-recognise ruin one can find in anywhere from open farmland to housing estates. We have looked at other nearby batteries, such as those in…
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Before the Second World War, an experiment was carried out to test the effectiveness of searchlights, or floodlights, of a special mirror variety possibly used to concentrate more light. These prototypes were designed to be able to spot and dazzle German aircraft flying across British land, by lighting up the night’s sky. Each installation would…
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A pillbox can be found, which is located on the very eastern most point of Two Tree Island (just before the marshland), facing out at the invader coming down the Thames. It was in poor condition, suffering a gaping hole in it’s roof, and the concrete around it flaking away with the lightest touch. Despite…
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Left abandoned in Rainham, several concrete barges were placed here at Coldharbour Point as flood defences in 1953 and have formed part of the coastline ever since. Used primarily in the Second World War, these steel and concrete ships are also known as ferro cement barges, or FCB’s. Barges of these type were particularly important during…
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Radar Tower On the river Thames foreshore just south of the fort lies an early radar tower built in the Second World War. There was also once a searchlight emplacement here, now lost to erosion, but a tripoded MG pillbox does survive further west along the foreshore. Because radar was a very secret British technology…
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Nore Fort was a set of towers out in the very mouth of the River Thames, between Great Wakering and Sheerness. The fort designed by Guy Maunsell as a sea-platform anti-aircraft battery, and was built in 1942 during the Second World War. Nore followed an ‘Army’ style of fort; cuboid metal platforms on stilted reinforced-concrete…
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Redesigned to block off Russian subs in 1950-53, the boom was originally built on a smaller scale out of wood in 1944 during World War Two to block off enemy vessels from entering the Thames and attacking anchored shipping. It was also used as a possible mounting point for anti-aircraft guns and searchlights. It has…
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First visited by BTP Liam in 2011, revisited 2017. “I went on a day trip to Lavenham, in Sudbury back in 2011, and came across some relevant, although distant, material. On the A130 and A12 motorways, I spotted tons of pillboxes, most being either standard rectangular or 50p shapes, many identical (along the GHQ line). Despite not being…
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Whilst exploring the site of Rochford Airfield, extending around the current London-Southend Airport, we came across what appeared to be an overgrown Anderson shelter used as a shed – seemingly abandoned. Thanks to guest Jack Swestun for spotting the structure. The curved corrugated iron sections looked old enough to make it an Anderson, but the…
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