Why do these WW2 beach relics exist?
Have you ever walked on a beach and wondered the reason behind large blocks of concrete or pieces of rusted metal sticking out of the tiles?
Recent storms and shifting sands have exposed various Second World War sea defenses at sites in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Although today the East Anglian coast is a largely peaceful landscape, from the summer of 1940 it became a frenzied construction site.
Defenses were quickly built to protect against the possibility of a Nazi invasion, Dave Thurlow said [John Fairhall/BBC]
“It was crazy throughout July, August and September 1940 as they built defenses all along the coast of the UK as fast as they could to prevent an invasion,” said Dave Thurlow, who works at the RSPB reserve north of Sizewell in Suffolk.
After the establishment of the British Expeditionary Force, little had been done to build defenses around the United Kingdom. Forced to be evacuated from Dunkirk beaches.
“Germany’s victory in France was very rapid and very decisive,” said the military historian and author.
“No one at the time could believe that Hitler had no plans to invade England.”
The aim was to slow down the invading German troops [John Fairhall/BBC]
“A lot of builders have made great use of it,” said Andrew Fakes from Winterton-on-Sea, further up the Norfolk coast.
“They built a lot of pillboxes and there was a lot of barbed wire.
“There were long pier masts with mines attached to them, and they were all to defend a large gun emplacement with an old 1909 naval gun pointing out to sea.”
Anti-tank defenses began in 1940, consisting of rows of huge concrete blocks intended to slow advancing tanks, built by the Royal Engineers and Pioneer Corps.
Some soldiers, including Pte Wilkes, carved their initials into the blocks as they worked.
“Dad always spoke very badly of the Pioneer Corps, they didn’t seem to be very productive,” said Fakes, president of the Great Yarmouth Local History and Archeology Society.
The installation of sea defenses on the Minsmere coast began in 1940. [www.erichoskingtrust.com]
Meanwhile, at Minsmere, the first thing the authorities did to prevent a possible invasion was to open a sluice gate.
He filled the swamp with sea water.
Then the construction of anti-tank defenses, trenches and the so-called “dragon’s teeth” began.
“These were steel beams designed to break up the bottom of invasion barges, set in concrete and dropped out to sea at low water,” Thurlow explained.
last line of coastal defense It consisted of a row of 9 ft (2.7 m) scaffolding poles connected and secured by horizontal poles.
They were placed just above high water and were intended to slow landing barges as they reached high water or to prevent the tanks from gaining enough speed to pass the barrier at low tide.
Its remains recently resurfaced from the beach [Dave Thurlow]
If conditions are right, the ruins of this pier can still be seen at Minsmere.
“Parts of it were left on isolated beaches like this one, and from time to time during winter storms you can see fragmented remains following the tides,” Thurlow said.
He explained that defenses are usually exposed for two or three weeks before the tile hides them once again.
This isn’t the first time Minsmere’s Second World War history has been unearthed.
A similar incident occurred in 2013 and again in 2022before the tides and wind cover the pier once again.
Dr D., a senior research fellow in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Sophie Day said the east Suffolk coast had a “fairly dynamic front and soft geology of shore and cliffs”.
“Coastal change is caused by factors such as wave action; climate change and sea level rise will have an impact on this, accelerating natural sediment transport and erosion processes,” he said.
Meanwhile a Royal Meteorological Society’s 2024 reportHe said Britain’s climate had become increasingly wetter since 1980, but it did not appear to be windier or stormier.
Thurlow adds that the remains of these defenses and the dragon’s teeth are “extremely rare” to survive from that period.
He said 7,153 anti-tank blocks, 4,886 large dragon teeth and 1,886 small dragon teeth had been built along a 17-mile (27 km) stretch of the Suffolk coast from Benacre to Martello Tower at Aldeburgh.
More than 4,500 mushroom mines were also laid and 140 small fortified block houses called pillboxes were built, as well as 20 machine gun pillboxes.
“We were talking about a massive construction program … it was going to be a completely national effort to build these defenses,” Thurlow said.
“This was made possible because the British Expeditionary Force had experience of construction defense during the Phoney War in France and of course there were loads of civilian contractors with their cement mixers and cranes.”
Andrew Fakes said the Army felt defenses were necessary to keep the enemy at bay, but ultimately they saw no action. [John Fairhall/BBC]
Fakes said the British high command doubted the Germans would launch the main invasion along the East Anglian coast, but feared “a diversionary raid here”.
“I guess we weren’t in great danger, but no one knew that at the time,” he said.
By July 1940 almost 1.5 million men joined the Homeland Security As England’s last line of defense tiny top secret resistance army.
Both men see these remnants of an increasingly distant conflict as an important part of British history.
“As memory fades, it is important to remember what that generation went through during those terrible years of World War II and what potentially could have happened if Germany had invaded,” Thurlow said.
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