British Resistance

[Topdog]

During the war there were small numbers of auxilliaries recruited who would take the fight to the germans, if we were to be invaded. There were a number of bunkers constructed where caches of weappons and equipment were stored. One such member who has recently died, told his son that there was a bunker on their farm but never disclosed where. Is there any way of hunting down the location either from records or possible locations? Ideas please.

[abn deuce]

A really fascinating quest . Are there no other family members or old friends of the father who could be asked about the truth of this ?

 

I guess it could be anywhere , either buried somewhere on the property , or hidden in a remote part of the farm , since I d think it was for stealth and not a pillbox to defend some location ...... it could be part of some structure as in a basement or below a basement , might be disguised as something else a well cover ,or a grain storage , that had a hidden space .

 

They do have ground penetrating radar and aerial photo's often will reveal buried objects when taken at different times of year depending on soil and vegetation .

 

Keep this updated it will make for a great detective story .

[Mark]

Might be possible to look on google earth and see any differences in the land, any shaded areas etc, worth a try

[Richard Farrant]

During the war there were small numbers of auxilliaries recruited who would take the fight to the germans, if we were to be invaded. There were a number of bunkers constructed where caches of weappons and equipment were stored. One such member who has recently died, told his son that there was a bunker on their farm but never disclosed where. Is there any way of hunting down the location either from records or possible locations? Ideas please.

 

Hi Topdog,

 

An old work colleague was in one of these units in Kent. He told me quite a bit. The hides were never documented and they were built by Royal Engineers from other parts of the country to the location. It is only word of mouth from the auxilliary personnel that locations are know. A lot were destroyed after the war.

 

There is a website that shows some as they are now, search "auxiliary" on this link :

www.subbrit.org.uk

He lent me a book that was published in 1968, called The Last ditch, by David Lampe, ISBN 0304925195. There were photos of members and a lot of personal recollections from around the country.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Richard Farrant
book info

[No Signals]

Years ago I identified such a hide on the coast in Yorkshire. It is fair to say that they were designed and located to be difficult to find and the entrances were ingenious. If you can find a copy of David Lampes 'Last Ditch' it is an incredible read, especially the parts about the 'hides', of which there were a variety of different types. From information I have come up with since it seems it was often the case that the digging was done under the cover of the locating of an anti-aircraft gun , or some other temporary mobile item, which was then 'moved on' after the real job was done. It will have been located near an established track or other line of approach so that there would be no obvious out of the ordinary sets of footprints leading to it. The one I identified was built adjacent to a tumbled down dry stone wall and allowed the occupants the ability to get to it along the line of the wall and leave no trail. The entrance lid to the access shaft was covered with rubble/stones from this wall cemented in to it and so to any one passing by, even looking very closely, it is very difficult to discerne from the rest of the area. The lid was raised by means of a counterbalance system, now lost, which was operated by the simple insertion of a glass marble into a tube built in to the lid which rolled down inside, this upset the balance and opened it up. If some thing such as this is the setup on your farm you just wont find it after all this time. The book lists lots of other equally ingenious access doors. Information available suggests a lot of the hides were destroyed after the war but a surprising number do still survive. The Defence of Britain Project located and listed a number of them, both lost and surviving and these are listed on the searchable project database. As has been pointed out you might find something by looking on Google Earth but this really will be a long shot and will require a very lucky set of conditions. I've done a lot of research over the years using aerial photos and the conditions need to be just right to show up many things. even when you know they are there. E.g Google Earth shows nothing in a location I have an aerial photo of, taken at just the right time of year and in the right ground conditions, which shows a huge complex of buildings. Picking out a small deep bunker would be very lucky. Are you willing to give a grid reference for the farm so that those of us sad enough to be interested can lend and extra pair of search eyes? If there are local records, or local memories, which suggest temporary military fixtures such as AA batteries, or more often just a single gun or searchlight, then that might be a better route to go down. Local libraries may have documents referring to such things. Best of luck with the search!

[Topdog]

Thanks for the replies guys. I will check google earth and try to get a grid ref.

David

[Snapper]

Grimmer has note of one in woodland near Southend that may still be there. It's on the list for a recce. We're playing with AA guns at the moment.

 

MB