Closure of the beaches

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by JuWoo, Nov 1, 2011.

  1. JuWoo

    JuWoo Junior Member

    I have heard that Britain's beaches were closed for the duration of the war, certainly along the south east coast, with mines laid and barbed wire defences, conctrete tank traps etc. Does anyone know when this happened and if it was country-wide? I presume it must have been fairly extensive because there would be no point in leaving even small gaps along the coast. Were our seaside resorts literally out-of-bounds to civilians for those years? And does anyone remember anything about the cleanup operation afterwards? Or their families enjoying the beaches when they re-opened after the war - or were they still considered dangerous because of the danger of undiscovered mines?
     
  2. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    In September 1939 one could still go on the beaches at Brighton and Hove and I was actually swimming in the sea on the day war broke out.

    By the time I was in the army and at Whitby (in December 1942) the beaches were well and truly sealed off with barbed wire etc.

    Ron
     
  3. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Sure were closed. The whole of the beach was covered in steel defences, and dragons teeth anti tank obstacles off the beach.Those obstacles stayed there for many years after the war. Oddly enough, the Sapper Company that made the anti invasion defences, and laid the mines on the beaches, (In 1942) was the one I joined much later...... a huge coincidence...
     
  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  5. La-de-da-Gunner Graham

    La-de-da-Gunner Graham Senior Member

    I remember as a child, the concrete anti-tank obstacles on the beach in near Gullane, east of Edinburgh. They are still there as I recall.

    Keith
     
  6. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Hello and welcome to the forum.

    Laying mines on beaches is a little bit dodgy as the constant tidal actions will play havoc with then, exposing and moving them for instance.

    The worst feature would be the salt water effecting the metal casings rendering the mine extremely unstable or defective.

    The Germans laid mines on stakes around the beaches in France, but the sea water still effected them.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  7. idler

    idler GeneralList

  8. phylo_roadking

    phylo_roadking Very Senior Member

    The Germans laid mines on stakes around the beaches in France, but the sea water still effected them


    So did British frogmen operating from X-craft, IIRC ;)
     
  9. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    So did British frogmen operating from X-craft, IIRC ;)

    I remember seeing a documentary when a couple of special forces personnel landed on the Normandy Beaches, with instructions to take a close look at the mines on the stakes and see if they were wired in series to explode several if one went off.

    This was not long before D-Day.

    Both were captured and one was interviewed by Rommel, who assured him that he would be well treated and not shot as per AH orders for Commandos and special forces.

    Brave men indeed.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  10. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

  11. sparky34

    sparky34 Senior Member

    im not sure all beaches were out of bounds as such .I remember spending 2 weeks at GRAGS HOME in MORCAMBE about 1944 . and we spent time on the beach
    but of course thats on the west of the country ..
     
  12. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

  13. Skoyen89

    Skoyen89 Senior Member

    Cornwall's beaches were mined from July 1940 onwards and concrete roadblocks/barriers placed on the beach exits. The minefields were wired off but there were still accidents as it seems not all of each of the larger beaches were mined and people still used them. Not sure when they were lifted.

    Skoyen89
     
  14. ceolredmonger

    ceolredmonger Member

    From September 1944 Britain began an official relaxing of anti-invasion measures. One of the results was the announcement on 28 October that the Home Guard was to stand down on 1 November. The Auxilliaries stood down on 19 Nov. Maintenance of the beach defences stopped and dismantling began with varying degrees of seriousness.

    My dad was in the RAF and told stories that whilst awaiting posting to the Far East, they were employed taking working parties of German PoWs to dismantle beach defences in mid-late 1944, in East Anglia. They had a scam whereby they took the prisoners to fruit farms (Chivers Jam) where Italian PoWs (by then technically internees) worked rather than to the coast. They pocketed any earnings and the prisoners were happy to avoid the dangerous work.

    Keith Matthews
     
  15. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Our beaches were mined and recorded as standard RE practice. Fenced with warnings.
    After the war a squad of Sappers thoroughly swept every inch of the beach. Declared the beach safe? BUT mines are notorious for shifting about in the sand when subjected to tides and sand shifts They can go down 6 feet or more,travel sideways as the beach shape changes. many years after a boy from one of the local Prep schools was killed when a mine came near the surface.

    The beach was re swept...Nothing... The legacy of war. I often wonder how many innocent folk are killed in the former battlefields of Europe areas?
    Sapper
     
  16. sparky34

    sparky34 Senior Member

    BRIAN was there a certain distance between mines when being laid on the beach
    or was a lot of it guess work ...??
     
  17. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    All British beaches, where an invasion was thought likely,were mined and beach defences erected.This was the norm until there mine clearance programmes were initiated after the war.German POWs were used by Allied Powers including those countries occupied by the German Reich.

    We also used our people.I have a late friend who sustained a badly multilated right hand when an anti personel device exploded on a Norfolk beach.

    The French cleared their beaches using German POWs.I remember seeing a common grave in the German cemetery outside Saintes,Charente Maritime, holding 6 Germans. The date was 1948 and it occurred to me that it related to a beach mine clearance incident.There must have been extensive minefields to clear on the Atlantic Wall.

    The West Jutland beach minefields were cleared by German POWs supervised by a British major at the cost, if I remember correctly, nearly 2000 casualties.

    For the RAF, beach defences were a threat to survival if an aircraft crashed on to a beach minefield.There a number of cases where there was a total loss of life due to one of our aircraft our defences.

    Prevention of German aircraft landing in ideal places such as sports fields were afforded by the erection of poles.I remember these devices being erected for some time during the war and only seeing them removed when presumabily, the threat of invasion had passed.Next to the sports field but on a slight incline was alarge cerea field which I think would have provided the ideal landing place for a glider.
     
  18. Drayton

    Drayton Senior Member

    I'm not sure all beaches were out of bounds. I remember spending 2 weeks at GRAGS HOME in MORCAMBE about 1944, and we spent time on the beach, but of course that's on the west of the country...

    Yes, the beaches put out of bounds "for the duration", as it was called, were those on the east and south coasts. The west coast was still accessible, and I recall a family holiday at Aberystwyth in 1941.
     
  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    The beaches of Great Britain also proved difficult to clear, particularly when dealing with tides and shifting shorelines. Approximately 350,000 mines in 2,000 mine fields needed to be cleared. The last mined beach at Trimmingham was finally opened to the public in 1972. The beach mines proved to be devastating to civilians. One Dorset beach was declared safe and open to the public, but it proved fatal to five schoolboys who played with a mine that they found. There, beach clearance was carried out by the Royal Engineers and Ukrainian prisoners of war. Between 1945 and 1957, 155 deminers were killed and five
    WWII Ordnance Still Haunts Europe and the Asia Pacific Rim, by Margaret Buse (4.2)
     
  20. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Sparky it largely depended on what the threat was. In front of the Chateau de la londe we laid 400 mines at 2 mines per yard front, wired, and recorded. The officer has the responsibility of recording the mine field and of wiring it off. The recording is very precise as we may have to pick them up again later..... That we did several times. The Germans use dummy fields on many occasions.|Although they were dummy they had to be checked and certified as "safe"
    A common sight was ,metal sign with a skull and crossbones and "Achtung Minen" Each one took up precious time. They also knew the exact artillery readings for the field in question.... They took the ranges of all the mine fields...... I have seen oil paintings inthe captured gun pits with the range and elevation of the whole panorama in their field of vision ......VERY CLEVER
     

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