The ability to construct quick but effective fortifications in the field has historically fallen to the soldiers of the Royal Engineers. This dirty and backbreaking work may not be precise, but it is based very soundly on experience and scientific experimentation. During the 19th and 20th centuries, as weaponry and… Read More »Field Fortifications: How thick was thick enough?
The British Isles and Ireland are island nations dependant on their domination of the coastline and waters surrounding them. With estimates of upwards of 11,000 miles and 1,700 miles respectively, the task of providing protection for and communication around these vast coastlines is a problem that has been attempted numerous… Read More »Guarding the Coast
One rainy afternoon in lockdown, I thought I would do some research on finding evidence for the WW2 radar sites that were once dotted around Northern Ireland. Finding photographic evidence of what were once secret installations is still quite tricky almost 80 years on! I have been fortunate enough to… Read More »Radar in Northern Ireland 1939 – 1945
The start of the twentieth century was a post-industrial technological arms race, and the traces left behind are like a timeline of pioneering developments in an attempt to outsmart our adversaries. Two of those boundary-breaking technologies were wireless telegraphy and aviation. The story of Radio Direction Finding, or RDF, joins… Read More »Second World War Aircraft Direction Finding Part I – Background
In the second part of this article, I will pull together information and images from several sources in an attempt to interpret some of the cryptic remains from what I believe to be direction-finding sites across the country. Update 2024: Prompted to reevaluate my interpretation of these sites by author… Read More »Second World War Aircraft Direction Finding Part II – Interpreting the Remains
The image above is a 1918 photograph of a Dechets barrack hut constructed by the Tarrant Company in France utilising recycled wood from boxes and crates (IWM Q6769 A hut made of old boxes and crates by women carpenters working at the Tarrant Hut Workshops, June 1918). The purpose of… Read More »Prefabricated Military Accommodation Part I – Early 20th Century
With any conflict comes a risk to national infrastructure by terrorist organisations as a means to exert power and create panic and unrest among the population in the name of their cause. Long before the official start of Operation Banner in 1969, local Government and security forces (SF) were concerned… Read More »Protecting Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure
Having conducted some research in the Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal (BD) archives at Carver Barracks, I came across a fascinating report covering the neutralising of a WW2 German Type GC parachute mine at Burghley Road, London, by Major G.R. Fletcher MBE, Royal Engineers. When I started to read the report… Read More »Parachute Mine Defused in London, October 1969
In 1972 Brigadier Sir Ian Jardine had the task of writing a history of the Northern Ireland emergency including an annex on equipment development. The document below is the content of this annex, dated 22 May 1972, and undersigned by the Assistant Chief of the General Staff (Operation Requirements) or… Read More »The Development of Internal Security Equipment for Northern Ireland (1972)
Located on what is now Steeple Road PSNI Training Centre, was a 440 bed camp of the North Irish Horse. Very little is evident today of what was vacated over 100 years ago, but the site boundary is almost identical to what the reserve cavalry soldiers would recognise from their… Read More »North Irish Horse Camp, Antrim