We have over six thousand packs of 1:285 scale figures in stock at any one time. Further GHQ lines were constructed to protect Plymouth. At the end of a long farm lane. The range spans the Second World War and Modern periods, along with an extensive range of vehicles and aircraft. These are about 100m from the pillbox. Grass rectangle shows the steady slot for the Cannon, appears to face Abingdon. Pillboxes are often in pairs to cover each other and to sweep a wider area. To its rear was Line Red which joined the course of the River Thames from Abingdon to Pangbourne, and then south through the Sulham Valley. Their was an English Civil War skirmish here.In January 1645 a Royalist force tried to recapture the bridge and destroy it. Stop-line Red followed the Thames from Reading and crossed the Cotswolds to Great Somerford in Wiltshire, and Stop-line Blue followed the Kennet and Avon Canal to Semington. Few people today know how close to defeat Britain was just after Dunkirk. Abingdon lock on the abandoned Wilts & Berks Canal was close to the Thames junction and no longer exists. There seem to be more pillboxes per mile here than lower down the Thames. Obviously the ditch could not be dig right up to the river bank and generally where ditches were impracticable dragon's teeth pyramid shaped blocks or just square concrete blocks were used. Obviously they were intended to be moved into the road but how? Here at the River Ock a phalanx 5 lines each containing 6 "teeth" were used. manufacturing areas in the Midlands and the North, and were a final defensive position. This was also known as the Bristol Outer Defence Line and was later manned almost exclusively by units from the Home Guard. WWII Bristol outer defences. Operation Sealion - Game 3 - Assault on the GHQ Green Line Having broken through the Taunton Stop Line with comparitive ease, the II Battalion, 3rd Fallchirmjager Regiment were now ready to make an assault on the GHQ Green Line, the last defensive position guarding Bristol … We have over six thousand packs of 1:285 scale figures in stock at any one time. The base is partially cover by decking. At the price of getting badly stung I managed to get this photo, it is a type 22 bren gun only pillbox with inner y-shaped anti ricochet wall. Waverley Abbey, Elstead. GHQ Green Line Discovery Wells - Somerset. The British Army had abandoned most of its equipment in France after the Dunkirk evacuation. This dismisses the notion that the stop line was a defensive ‘folly’. I found it using Google maps in satellite mode. See their photo below. This is the second of three pillboxes on Cowlane. This map was created by a user. These were designed to contain a massive gun. Learn how to create your own. In ideal conditions GHQ Line Green could have had limited success in slowing down an invasion force. The Teeth don't go right up to the bank but may be the Ock has been recut. The concrete base an fixtures seem in good condition. This massive concrete pillbox base is built over the already abandoned Tithe Barn Lock at Abingdon. A length of the ditch seems to remain unless they used a natural waterway. The approach to the farm is blocked (or would have been) by four huge concrete blocks which can be seen covered in vegetation in the verges. I'd been informed of its location but this pillbox was almost impossible to locate using Google Maps Earth or Satellite however and even when I walked along the path I could just see an entrance of a pillbox otherwise covered by ivy and a brushwood. What an excellent historical document you have created here....I got chills! The score was used to generate a total score ranging from 0 to 36. There are warning signs saying do not enter pillbox, but I reckoned that even though I'm not skinny I contributed 0.0001% to the weight of the structure. While there are so many there is no particular rush to preserve them they hardly seem endangered but that was always true for things that have disappeared. Ironside was given the command of British forces in Persia in the 1920s the start of the troubles which still continue today. UK Weather: Stormy over Elstead. On the section of the line in Essex, between Great Chesterford and Canvey Island, the defences were made up of around 400 FW3 type concrete pillboxes, which were part of the British hardened field defences of World War II. World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The British Army had abandoned most of its equipment in France, the RAF had been badly mauled by the Luftwaffe. He served in the First World War then led the ill-fated British expedition to Archangel Russia to support the anti-communist White Forces. Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, British hardened field defences of World War II, British anti-invasion preparations of World War II, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/GHQ_Line?oldid=2808217. The location is beautiful and appears to have camping. I suppose it must have started in the mid 1970's with the superb 'World at War' tv series combined with some Airfix magazine articles on British pillboxes disguised as ice cream parlours, summer houses etc. These lines met Stop-line Green, which encircled Bristol. William Ironside started his military career with the Boer War. In May 1940, Ironside was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Home Forces. He said that the pillboxes were situated at each change of direction of the ditch, the idea being that the pillboxes could fire on the tanks while they vulnerable as they tried to negotiate the ditch. Whether any Gun was ever installed is unknown. Shinjuku to Gotanda Yamanote Line (Green 4 Stops) 2. After the war farmers were given a massive £5 per pillbox to demolish them, the farmers just kept the money as rent. Brand: GHQ. The Eastern GHQ stop-line was designed to run from north of Edinburgh, inland and south along the east coast, around the east of London to meet the south coast near Eastbourne. Journey. 1 product rating 1 product ratings - GHQ 53-018 Garbage Truck Kit N scale. Dunkirk had not yet been remodeled as a miracle, morale was very low, appeasers and those sympathetic to Hitler were still very strong. As for CARC Green, aka FS34079 Forest Green, at this scale, any medium gray green will work, just stay away from brown or yellow olives. Platforms. You did a great job on this, it's very comprehensive, blessed. Would this have been the centre of Defence? Very solid thick concrete walls, but no loopholes, what was its function? We must have passed the ones close to the A34 near Abingdon on Saturday as we drove from Southampton to Oxford and back. yes, I have the studies on the Taunton stopline (Lacey 2003) and GHQ Line Green (Rowe 2014), and I'm doing something very similar in ArcGIS for GHQ Line B … Gotanda to Kugahara Ikegami Line (Red 8 Stops) Directions from Shinagawa Station. Returning to this historical masterpiece with fresh angel dust...because I love it! Hi Stephen, apologies for the long delay in my reply. On GoogleMaps and Multimap this ditch wends its way to Marcham. Between Fyfield and Newbridge is just agricultural land, The farmer has also maintained a short section of the Anti-Tank Ditch, This is near the Pillbox toppling into the Newbridge. Pillbox at Lechlade view of St Lawrence Church in distance, did you no about the two WW2 Block houses on the green in front of Gainsborough green shop Abingdon,they were blown up about 1964/5 just after my parents moved in to there house opposite the block houses.Thinking about the G.H.Q line they would have been allmost next to it.From Saxton road about opposite the Saxton Arms pub was 4 shop then a gap which led to the allotments, which was where Gaisborough Green is built.My grandfather said there was a wooden bridge over the G.H.Q ditch to access the allotments.My Father said when he was a boy he got a lot of fish out of the ditch just as they were slowley. The pillboxes and anti-tank obstacles and ditches were hardly built before they became obsolete and they were apparently only manned once after a false alarm. Is it possible that the pillboxes just sat on the concrete bases, so when they were demolished it was not necessary to make good the concrete bases? This pillbox located in sharp loop appears to have been shelled, I would guess it was used a practice target later in the war, when the pillboxes had lost their function. This is either the type of gun intended for use in the type 28A Pillboxes or is very similar, in any case gives you an idea. The Gun Slot still had the original wood shuttering (see photo) so I guess that no gun was ever mounted. The GHQ Green Line was intended to provide an outer defence for Bristol and ran from Highbridge in Somerset over the Mendips along the River Avon across the Cotswolds and up to the River Severn near Gloucester. Pillbox in Thames-side Cottage Garden between Long Wittenham & Clifton Hampden. Follow. These blocks are practically hidden by undergrowth, one remains clear and when I noticed it (it's the typical size of a Road block Stone) it is then that I noticed the pillbox on the opposite bank. The Air Ministry requisitioned the house when the war began in 1939. Although they must be difficult to demolish, many have been, especially when they were in the way of road widening. GHQ Line Red ran from a junction with GHQ Line Green at Great Somerford in Wiltshire, across what is now the south of Oxfordshire to join the course of the River Thames from Abingdon to Pangbourne. Box is sealed and left by the developers [points given] as a feature on an area of green space for those lucky inhabitants to admire forgotten history from their lounge and kitchen windows!. His plan for the defence of Britain basically entailed turning the country into a fortress. The Second World War GHQ (General Headquarters) Green Line comprising of an anti tank ditch supported by pillboxes, anti tank obstacles, road blocks intended as an inland linear defence. It was therefore decided to build a static system of defensive lines around Britain, all designed to compartmentalise the country and delay the Germans long enough for more mobile forces to counter-attack. This dismisses the notion that the stop line was a defensive ‘folly’. This Pillbox being on raised ground would have had a superb view of any approaching Panzers. $7.00 shipping. The pillbox curiously does not face the river, a) they are often in remote spots in the countryside, b) They were set back in hedgerows to provide natural camouflage, c)They are solid concrete and not easy to destroy. This Pillbox is gradually toppling into the Windrush as this river gradually washes away the bank. The line was divided into a number of sections and that protecting the Bristol area was the GHQ stop-line 'Green' which was 91 miles in length, with 319 pillboxes (48 to be bullet proof only) and 21 miles of anti-tank ditches. Concrete Road Blocks opposite Thames-side Cottage Pillbox between Long Wittenham & Clifton Hampden. Was: Previous Price $21.99. This is just guesswork please post a comment if you know anything. The Pillboxes where demolished in 1945 as the bridge is a historic monument. I think I've spotted its twin on Google Maps will have to go back though. 5 out of 5 stars. Post Sep 03, 2018 #1 2018-09-03T09:28. The pillboxes seem to be of two types those that would contain Bren guns and larger ones with canons. His first layer of defence was to create a 'Coastal Crust' around the south, south-east and eastern coastlines where invasion was most likely. $15.39. The Red Stop Line which followed the Thames from Reading to Abingdon then cut across country to Newbridge to avoid the huge Thames loop north to Oxford, the stop line then continued West to Bristol. The dried up canal was the Berks and Wilts Canal. The GHQ line sweeps around the southern half of London through Surrey and crosses the A23 close to Horley. (supposition only, what is true is that the pillbox was not in anybody's way. You won't find better quality models of this scale anywhere, they are the best in class. GHQ 53-018 Garbage Truck Kit N scale. PILLBOXES, PILLBOX, ANTI-INVASION DEFENCES, WWII, PILLBOX STUDY GROUP,INVASION HISTORY, BUNKERS, MIL, Hairstyles, Cool Cuts, How to Style Your Hair. Through Wootton Rivers, GHQ Stop Line Blue keeps a low-profile watch on this green and pleasant land. Constructed in 1940 as part of Great Britain’s an7-invasion defensive countermeasures, GHQ Line Green was sited to protect the south-west city of Bristol from German invasion. Tony Payne from Southampton, UK on December 31, 2011: Just came back to bless this excellent lens. 1940 under the direction of General Edmund Ironside, concentric rings of anti-tank defences and pillboxes were constructed in countryside... Lock but it is a natural waterway in anybody 's way two stone walls, bear right when reach! See these huge blocks nearly hidden by vegetation at the start of the anti-tank ditch is was later almost. Dug out wider as an anti-tank ditch to Marcham still remain though nature does its to! 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