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Being forced to remain indoors by my most beautiful and intelligent niece. A Radio 4 play (yawn) was occurring and the musical genius was playing the piano in appropriate places. She I must say was magnificent! Displaying the talent, intelligent understanding of the role, and sheer ability that left me wondering if indeed her dad really was my brother. However the play concerned a famous ballet choreographer, her men, and the Queen Mother. I confess I preferred the piano to the old queens. 'Drama,' never reflects real life, and the characters of the characters offered made me puke wish to turn off and listen to a woman talking about her baby! The old queens I've worked with always appeared decent enough folks for the most part, those at the top of their profession however always give me the impression that folks fawning around them has turned their head somewhat. That will not happen to my favourite pianist, her mother informs me!
But I digress, I began by attempting to inform you (those still awake) that I had spent that 45 minutes radio listening by wondering through the old albums. There I found this picture of a disused pill box. This was one of many installed across south east England in 1940, the intention being to hinder a Nazi advance. The policy was in fact erroneous, the better tactic, and one Rommel attempted in 1944 was to stop a bridgehead being built on the landing beaches. Once that is secured the day is lost, which is what happened in June '44. However these pill boxes were built in many spots considered able to defend any advance. Many still exist in back gardens, overseeing railway lines and river crossings, and here in the fold of a hill. Quite why this one is here, somewhere in the north of Essex or the south of Suffolk I cannot remember, but some general of sorts considered something worth defending here, most probably the roadway, or railway, now removed.
These small concrete emplacements would have held two or three men and a couple of machine guns. Their chances of survival under a real invasion would have been slim, although the enemy would not have been kindly disposed towards them I suspect. These low doors, often you have to crawl to enter, now find use as storehouses or play area s for children. Some are preserved as memorials others rot slowly and the vast majority have been removed. The effects of war remain for many years, some notable, many unseen, all enabling us to be grateful the invasion never occurred.
10 comments:
Well done your niece! I dont think I would have liked a play about the Queen mother either. I do find pill boxes rather fascinating although every time I find one and creep inside I think what horrendous claustrophobia I would have had. Not just with that but a number of things in the war, like those little planes. I wonder if claustrophobia was recognised as a disorder in those days or you were just considered a coward if you couldn't cope.
Great photo of the pill box by the way, I can imagine it there among the crops.
Hum, wouldn't want to be the gunman charged with shooting from one of those... I like reading your little history pieces btw... :)
You're so right when you say "the effects of war remain for many years...."
How wonderful it would be if man could live in harmony; and how fanciful and naive it is of me to say so!
Mother recounts her training when invasion was thought imminent...roads were to be blocked and with fallen trees (how never revealed, that was a job for another part of the army I imagine)
while mother and her colleagues were to prepare Molotov cocktails and throw them into the top of open turrets or against the tracks of the tanks which had, presumably, stopped to scratch their heads at the obstruction.
Mother asked what the tanks would be doing in the meantime and was accused of defeatism.
There's a wonderful metal pill box on the entry to the military camps near Fontevraud in the Loire Valley....it looks like a metal cigar case and I've always imagined that naughty soldiers are shut up in there for their misdemeanours as it would be a real sweat box in summer.
Jenny, Claustrophobia in the army when an enemy is near is not considered important. First things first. I would not fancy it myself, but under fire men ran to them!
Strawb, I admire your taste!
Lee, It is easy to live in harmony, just do what I want....
Fly, Mother sounds like a defeatist! Imagine asking what the enemy would do? Captain Mainwaring gave the correct response!
That may be, Adullamite...I do, too...with myself and my two furry rascals...and it works most of the time because most of the time I keep to myself! ;)
We have a few of these concrete monsters along our nearby river - they are mostly saturated with urine and heroine needles rather than giggling little people.
Bob, Kent of course had a great many of these, the landing was expected there. Sadly you are right about the abuse. I noticed one or two in Colchester appear to have vanished, possibly for that reason.
I can remember my dad talking a little about some assaults upon German pillboxes he participated in during WWII. They were not pretty stories.
Jerry, I suspect they were not pretty in any way.
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