World War 2 in your backyard

[Marcel]

Common guys, where are your photo's?
Here some I uploaded a few years ago, so you might have seen them. The Grebbeberg. In the first picture you can see the traces of the original trenches, eroded away after 70 years and became shallow. The other one is reconstructed.

 

[Gnomey]

Good stuff Marcel!

 

[bobbysocks]

i think one of my nice weather hobbies would be hitting these places with a metal detector...after getting the appropriate permission of course.

 

[A4K]

Great shots again Marcel!

Mine are indeed stored in Pécs, I'll dig them out on my next visit.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I will get mine posted up here soon. Nights at the hangar is just killing my time off. In a few weeks, I go back to day schedule and I will be back on the forum as usual. That also means more posting and I can get the pics up.

 

[Marcel]

Been to Hoek van Holland today with my wife. If you ever visit there, go for a walk in th dunes. It's full of Atlantik wall remains. Didn't bring my camera, so you'll have to do with some quick ones from my phone.

 

[fubar57]

Great thread Marcel and I hope to see more photos from others here as well. The only thing from WW2 in my backyard(if you want to count 173miles away as back yard) is the ALCAN Highway, stretching about 1387 miles, from Dawson Creek, B.C. to Delta Junction Alaska. It was started in Mar. '42 and completed Oct. '42

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

The area around Calgary was home to several BCATP airfields during the war. Inforunately, much of this heritage has disappeared but there are a few remnants around. Here's an original map from that time:

I've been thinking of doing some day trips but have not yet done so and therefore have no pics to share. However, here's an interesting link from someone who has searched out and photographed some of the old hangars and monuments.

A Tour of BCATP Sites — Directions

 

[fubar57]

Are all the ⊕ marks BCATP airfields Andy? If so, wow, I didn't know there were that many.

Geo

 

[Matt308]

Up the road a couple of hours from here is a state park that is based upon Fort Casey. Been years since I've been there, but I'll post some pics from the internet below. Fort Casey was built in the late 1890s as part of a triangular defence (three local forts) against shipborn invasion of the Puget Sound from those pesky Canadians (just kidding). This fort mounted 10" retractable cannons in dissappearing mounts. While a purpose built fort for WWII, it was upgraded in support of potential Japanese invasion. The fort and its supplemental defenes of 75mm mounted cannon was considered obsolete however and was deemed highly vulnerable to air attack

 

[Matt308]

In these next pics you can see the baracks and officer's quarters. The gun emplacements were built into the side of the hill, popping up only to fire. The fire control bunkers are visible as well as the magazine bunkers. There is an illustration of how the magazines were automated to move the 10" shells. Only two 10" guns remain. One in the firing "pop-up" position and the other retracted and not visible from the field of fire.

 

[fubar57]

Cool Matt. Reminds me of Fort Rodd Hill in Victoria, B.C. but Fort Casey is much larger. Paper mill in the background of the first picture?

Geo

 

[Matt308]

In these next photos you can see the reverse side of the gun emplacements with all the bunkers built into the back of the hill. Fort Casey is around 500 acres large if I recall correctly. Here is also a perimeter wall entrance and a closer pic of a 75mm defensive gun emplacement. The last two pics are of the door to the telegraph bunker and the more modern fire control bunkers.

 

[Matt308]

Cool Matt. Reminds me of Fort Rodd Hill in Victoria, B.C. but Fort Casey is much larger. Paper mill in the background of the first picture?

Geo

Not sure actually. Lots of woodmills in the area, so wouldn't suprise me.

 

[GrauGeist]

When I was a kid growing up in Orange County (Southern California) we had remnants of WWII there all around. Of course, no battlefields, but there were shore batteries and ammo magazines (bunkers) all along the coastal bluffs. There were also airfields like the Santa Ana Army Airbase, Los Alamitos Army Airfield, MCAS El Toro, NLTAS Santa Ana (airship station), etc. There was also the nearby NWS Seal Beach which still stores 16" naval shells and of course, to the south is MCAS Camp Pendleton.

I was planning on visiting WWII sites in Bulgaria this summer that my sweetheart knows of (Plovdiv, Sofia), but of course those plans were changed...planning on doing it next year now

 

[Gnomey]

Cool stuff guys!

 

[Crimea_River]

Are all the ⊕ marks BCATP airfields Andy? If so, wow, I didn't know there were that many.

Geo

Yes they are Geo. And that's just locally.

 

[Marcel]

Great stuff guys. Hope you'll be able to make that trip, Crimea.
Matt, the fort looks very similar to fort Mott, which Njaco and I vistited last April. Nice to see those guns in place. Were these guns also present during WW2 or were they reinstalled later?

 

[vikingBerserker]

Cool pics!

 

[Matt308]

Great stuff guys. Hope you'll be able to make that trip, Crimea.
Matt, the fort looks very similar to fort Mott, which Njaco and I vistited last April. Nice to see those guns in place. Were these guns also present during WW2 or were they reinstalled later?

The 10"ers were there during WWII, but I think they had no illusions that if a true invasion were to take place enemy air assets would have quickly taken care of them, let alone the firepower on a modern battleship (bigger guns and better fire direction). Only two guns left as I recall.