World War 2 in your backyard

[Marcel]

Thanks guys. There is something about old bunkers that I find irrisistable. I'm sure I will be posting more pics here in the future.

 

[Wayne Little]

good stuff...Look forward to more....

 

[rochie]

after saying i would post some i have finally got around to getting some pictures.

these pillboxes guard the road from Seaton Carew / Hartlepool on the north east coast of England.
the road leads to what used to be ICI Billingham (Billingham is the town where i live)

the area where the pillboxes are is now very industrial on one side of the road and a wildlife reserve on the other, mainly for wet land birds, though seals also live in the river.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Marcel]

Thanks, Karl, very nice pictures. That last one seems very big! Can you enter them or are they sealed?

 

[rochie]

Thanks, Karl, very nice pictures. That last one seems very big! Can you enter them or are they sealed?

Thanks.

They are sealed up as far as i know, they are all on private land so are hard to get to for investigating

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Karl.
As far as I know, the larger of those bunkers was part of the anti-aircraft control system defending the ICI chemical works, a prime target for the Luftwaffe more or less throughout the war.

 

[rochie]

Good stuff Karl.
As far as I know, the larger of those bunkers was part of the anti-aircraft control system defending the ICI chemical works, a prime target for the Luftwaffe more or less throughout the war.

Could well be mate.

My Dornier came in from this direction and hit a barrage balloon at haverton hill and crashed in south bank

 

[Marcel]

So when were these pillboxes build? Before 1940?

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots Karl!

 

[Airframes]

Marcel, most of these type of defences, along with the coastal defences, were built at the outbreak of war, although I think some at major industrial sites, may have been erected earlier.

 

[rochie]

Here you go Marcel

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff Karl.

 

[Marcel]

Thanks Karl, great info.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Karl.
In that book on the Luftwaffe losses over the NE, the structure in pics 4 and 5 in your post are described as part of the control bunker for the local anti-aircraft defences. The others, as stated in the PDF, are of course infantry fire positions.

 

[Marcel]

Willemstad, located about 20 km from my home, has been a 'vestingstad', a fortified village for many centuries. Even the Germans used it for their 'Atlantic wall'. Here some of the German bunkers that you can still see.

 

[rochie]

pretty impressive buildings Marcel

 

[Marcel]

pretty impressive buildings Marcel

Thanks, the nice thing is, you can even legally enter the bunkers.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Great shots Marcel, an I agree with Karl, they're impressive structures. The Germans certainly didn't do thing by halves when it came to building defensive positions.