Late at night on Saturday 11 September 1920, a daring raid was carried out on the Coastguard Station at Torr Head, County Antrim. It was reported that between 40-50 armed and masked Sinn Feiners arrived by motor vehicle at the remote station, forcibly entering each of the billets of the… Read More »The razing of Torr Head Coastguard Station
Tucked away in a forest on the southern coast of the Moray Firth, is the remains of 80-year-old pillbox camouflage; possibly the only example of this type left in Great Britain. The pillbox has been draped with fine galvanised wire netting, onto which camouflage materials would have been laid or… Read More »Wire netting on camouflaged pillboxes
In a memo dated 7 December 1941 from the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, he defines the two roles that coast artillery searchlights (C.A.S.L.) fulfil. Each role was provided with a different type of light. These are: Observation lights This type of light was provided to detect hostile vessels. They could have… Read More »Coast Artillery – Searchlight Types
Public knowledge and understanding of Second World War British pillboxes is often incomplete. Constructed in their thousands after the withdrawal from Dunkirk, their effective widespread usefulness endured only for a few months, but 8 decades later they are sometimes all that remains of a vast defensive network. In this first… Read More »A gentle introduction to pillboxes (Video)
The legacies left behind following any conflict can be far-reaching. While we may not always have been on the conventional frontline, events in ‘our wee country’ have had a considerable impact on the landscape and our lives. Through my research, I hope to reveal the wide variety of defensive structures… Read More »What is Frontline Ulster?
The tunnel system known as Lord Airey’s Shelter is still owned by the Ministry of Defence, except the Tracer cave which is under the guardianship of the Gibraltar Museum. Access is tightly controlled and limited to around 20 people per year, with guided tours arranged through the museum for a… Read More »Operation Tracer, Part 2 – Exploring the tunnel
To date the primary role (…) has been against threatened attack from Spain across North Front. Owing to changes in the Situation during the past year, a seaborne attack is now considered possible. The primary role (…) has been changed to an anti-tank and anti-landingcraft one. This extract shows a… Read More »Operation Tracer, Part 1 – Gibraltar’s castle in the sky
In 1945, the Allies had narrowly won the Second World War but soon realised that a new and potentially dangerous world power was emerging. In what was to become the Cold War, Great Britain, weakened after the virtual collapse of the Empire, aligned with the United States in a war… Read More »Visit report – RAF Saxa Vord
My research into locating Second World War direction-finding stations has been ongoing for a few years now. However, after back and forward emails with author and historian Ian Brown, I think we now know much more about these sites. One of the main aims of this research was to locate… Read More »Second World War Aircraft Direction Finding Part III – Mapping the Network
Pillbox characterisation is nuanced. The adopted naming convention often refers to these hardened field defences from the Second World War to the drawing number issued by the War Office (WO) Directorate for Fortifications and Works (DFW); for example Type 22 or Type 26. The DFW branch responsible for defence design… Read More »A prefabricated anti-tank pillbox – worthy of its own name?