Public urged to help locate hidden wartime 'Scallywag' bunkers

[bigeye]

AN/PRC-319

www.cryptomuseum.com

I missed this gem as I was skimming through your fascinating find:

'As late as 1996, the United Kingdom revealed to the German government the existence of SB weapons and equipment caches in West Berlin. The content of these caches offer an insight into the equipment supplied to (German) SBO. In two of the secret caches, buried in the Grünewald forest, police found boxes with 9 mm pistols and ammunition, knives, navigation equipment, a RS-6 ‘spy radio’, various manuals, tank and aircraft recognition books, a flask of brandy, and chocolate as well as a copy of ‘Total Resistance’, the guerrilla warfare manual written in 1957 by Swiss Major Hans von Dach'

 

[Lacking Moral Fibre]

There is one of these bunkers in the orchard near my house in Selling Kent. It has been opened up in the last 15 years sadly it wasn't filled with sten guns or gammon bombs. It is located next to a large oak tree which until it blew down 5 years ago or so still had metal brackets for an antenna-so I was told.

 

[Just_plain_you]

There is one of these bunkers in the orchard near my house in Selling Kent. It has been opened up in the last 15 years sadly it wasn't filled with sten guns or gammon bombs. It is located next to a large oak tree which until it blew down 5 years ago or so still had metal brackets for an antenna-so I was told.

There's another one in Merryworth Woods.

 

[QRK2]

I missed this gem as I was skimming through your fascinating find:

'As late as 1996, the United Kingdom revealed to the German government the existence of SB weapons and equipment caches in West Berlin. The content of these caches offer an insight into the equipment supplied to (German) SBO. In two of the secret caches, buried in the Grünewald forest, police found boxes with 9 mm pistols and ammunition, knives, navigation equipment, a RS-6 ‘spy radio’, various manuals, tank and aircraft recognition books, a flask of brandy, and chocolate as well as a copy of ‘Total Resistance’, the guerrilla warfare manual written in 1957 by Swiss Major Hans von Dach'

Everyone was at it.

Sophisticated Soviet spy radio discovered buried in former forest in Germany

It was buried shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

www.livescience.com

Mystery of the Soviet spy radio found in a Welsh field

THEIR trade was treachery but Cold War spies became box office gold in thrillers like The Ipcress File.

www.walesonline.co.uk

 

[QRK2]

I missed this gem as I was skimming through your fascinating find:

'As late as 1996, the United Kingdom revealed to the German government the existence of SB weapons and equipment caches in West Berlin. The content of these caches offer an insight into the equipment supplied to (German) SBO. In two of the secret caches, buried in the Grünewald forest, police found boxes with 9 mm pistols and ammunition, knives, navigation equipment, a RS-6 ‘spy radio’, various manuals, tank and aircraft recognition books, a flask of brandy, and chocolate as well as a copy of ‘Total Resistance’, the guerrilla warfare manual written in 1957 by Swiss Major Hans von Dach'

I've posted the link before but the third reel of this film shows a cold war option being exercised:

SAS ARTISTS RIFLES COMMEMORATIVE FILM [Allocated Title]

Compilation, in rough-cut form, commemorates history of the Special Air Service Artists Rifles Regiment from its origins in 1860 up to its contemporary role gathering intelligence in Germany, passing via its association with the Royal Academy, where a wreath is laid to mark the centenary of this...

www.iwm.org.uk

 

[Lacking Moral Fibre]

There's another one in Merryworth Woods.

Ah Merryworth woods! Started my military career there in the early 1980's with the cadets, I got to fire one blank round with a .303. It was supposed to have been a launch site for the Greenham Common based cruise missiles in the event of WW3. I know because I was attached to the USAF and in1989 instead of deploying to SPTA for every ecercise we took part in a big exercise mainly involving the TA. We ended up at the Ashdown Forest and were going to head to Mereworth but that didn't happen. These sites would have been deployed to in a real world war situation.
My dear old Gran remembered driving past Mereworth on the way to hop picking and seeing German PoW's standing behind the wire.

 

[bigeye]

Ah Merryworth woods! Started my military career there in the early 1980's with the cadets, I got to fire one blank round with a .303. It was supposed to have been a launch site for the Greenham Common based cruise missiles in the event of WW3. I know because I was attached to the USAF and in1989 instead of deploying to SPTA for every ecercise we took part in a big exercise mainly involving the TA. We ended up at the Ashdown Forest and were going to head to Mereworth but that didn't happen. These sites would have been deployed to in a real world war situation.
My dear old Gran remembered driving past Mereworth on the way to hop picking and seeing German PoW's standing behind the wire.

I did part of a HEFAT course there a couple of years ago. For our purposes the training area was a dodgy Eastern European country divided by civil war. Our OPFOR were wearing Russian style uniforms and carrying AKs and had set up VCPs.

I don't whether the MoD had informed the ACF CoC that we were also there but the cadets and their instructors were somewhat surprised when a group of civies in ballistic vests came crashing through their 'camp' pursued later by the aforementioned OPFOR.

 

[wolfgang]

Apparently there was one of these OBs very close to my parents former home at Alvah.I knew a couple of the patrol members,just ordinary,small-town guys.They certainly didn't come across as throat-cutting assassins!As remarked upthread,brave men and unsung heroes.https://www.staybehinds.com/patrol/banff-patrol

 

[Bus Pass 01]

Everyone was at it.

Sophisticated Soviet spy radio discovered buried in former forest in Germany

It was buried shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

www.livescience.com

Mystery of the Soviet spy radio found in a Welsh field

THEIR trade was treachery but Cold War spies became box office gold in thrillers like The Ipcress File.

www.walesonline.co.uk

May be also check an allotment shed in Islington?

 

[Bacongrills]

My grandad was in this mob, unfortunately he took his suicide pill 20 minutes after being issued it when the CO told them they hadn't in fact volunteered for a corned beef testing establishment in the Orkneys but had to throw themselves under a panzer clutching a sausage bag full of dynamite.

 

[Whiskybreath]

burst send

...was certainly in use, and had been for years.

 

[stuskimac]

Not sure if this link works, just watched this series tonight on Amazon prime, covers this subject quite well with interesting interviews with ex-auxiliary members, 8 episodes about 25mins long.

Amazon product

Eta: nope link doesn't work, screenshot instead maybe?

 

[Yokel]

Slight tangent - were discreet costal look out posts built in likely invasion area? Any German invasion would not be a single thing - there would need to be supplies brought in by sea and possible further landings to bypass pockets of resistance?

Coast watchers were a big thing in the Far East and were run by Australia. Were similar measures planned here?

 

[CutLunchCommando]

Slight tangent - were discreet costal look out posts built in likely invasion area? Any German invasion would not be a single thing - there would need to be supplies brought in by sea and possible further landings to bypass pockets of resistance?

Coast watchers were a big thing in the Far East and were run by Australia. Were similar measures planned here?

I have heard it said that some coast watching was done by people who had cataract surgery. Apparently, this aloowed the to see UV light which was apparently thought to be used by U-Boats. Never heard anything about what service they slotted into though. Perhaps it was a sub-task of the ROC (or OC as they began)?

 

[Signalman]

There was another good thread on this subject a couple of years ago, but I can't find it at the mo. As mentioned then, we used to play in this one at Canaston Wood (near Oakwood Theme Park and Bluestone Holiday Village) in Pembrokeshire when we were kids. My mate's granddad Mr Scale (a local farmer) was a member of the team and he'd shown my mate where it was: https://www.staybehinds.com/patrol/canaston-wood-distribution-base

I recently discovered that my old Scout Leader Johnny Warlow had also been a teenage member of the local team until he was conscripted into the Army and ended up fighting from Normandy to Germany.

The hide had two big chambers like buried corrugated Nissen Huts, arranged in a 'T', with a brick connecting chamber. One had completely collapsed (perhaps blown up?), becoming a large crater in the woodland floor, but the other chamber and the brick antechamber were still perfectly intact and was accessed by a hatch at one end. There was also a small side-room, like a toilet or large broom cupboard, off the brick antechamber. There was also a smaller crater beyond the big one, so perhaps another buried chamber or tunnel? There was also a brick-lined, coffin-like chamber on the woodland floor about 100 feet away, which we guessed was perhaps a hidden armoury or explosive store?

I went back there in 2007, after a gap of about 20 years; the hatch-cover had gone and the chamber was largely filled with earth which had slipped in (the corrugated iron had probably rotted through), so it was impossible to get inside.

 

[Turret_Monster]

Not arguing with that. But it has become so much of a core image of WWII it's actually crippling the understanding of the Home Guard. It seems all but impossible to make headway or gain any purchase unless you mention Dads Army. Even if you use t as a hook to try and move people to a better understanding you fail.

Not so long ago I was looking for Home Guard miniatures. The options are 1: Dads Army, 2: LDV types, 3: Standard UK 1939 infantry aged about 80. All are incorrect for the majority of the HG
Where's the 40 year old (average age of the HG btw) with his unique equipment such as the P.17 rifle and webbing? It's like this concept doesn't exist in the minds of anyone.

I see it more as an example of how a huge majority of people get all of their history from fictionalised TV shows. Presumably they believe everything they saw in The Tudors and now The Crown.

 

[QRK2]

I see it more as an example of how a huge majority of people get all of their history from fictionalised TV shows. Presumably they believe everything they saw in The Tudors and now The Crown.

...and Blackadder

 

[Listy]

I see it more as an example of how a huge majority of people get all of their history from fictionalised TV shows. Presumably they believe everything they saw in The Tudors and now The Crown.

I'm not so sure. I'm used to dealing with World of Tanks players who think they know about tanks. The Dads Army thing has a different feel to it.

 

[Yokel]

I have heard it said that some coast watching was done by people who had cataract surgery. Apparently, this aloowed the to see UV light which was apparently thought to be used by U-Boats. Never heard anything about what service they slotted into though. Perhaps it was a sub-task of the ROC (or OC as they began)?

I am sure that the ROC watched for aircraft only - and later V1 Doodlebug. I presume there were other volunteers who looked out for enemy ships and mining - there was a Royal Naval Minewatching Serice into the early fifties.

I'm not so sure. I'm used to dealing with World of Tanks players who think they know about tanks. The Dads Army thing has a different feel to it.

However - how many people would know about the Home Guard if it were not for Dad's Army?

 

[jagman2]

Everyone was at it.

Sophisticated Soviet spy radio discovered buried in former forest in Germany

It was buried shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

www.livescience.com

Mystery of the Soviet spy radio found in a Welsh field

THEIR trade was treachery but Cold War spies became box office gold in thrillers like The Ipcress File.

www.walesonline.co.uk

Aberystwyth not such a mystery, MI5 was supposed to go to the areshole of nowhere outside Towyn in the event of the third world war.
Assuming the Russians had an idea it would make sense for them to ave prepared to be keeping an eye on the place