Okay! Time for the first blog!
Before I get into it though, I need to start by highlighting some of the issues that surround making such blog posts and posting research into Anti-Invasion defences online.
Copyright Disclaimer Time
The work I am presenting in this blog was created by and is owned by me. It is therefore protected by the UK’s copyright and intellectual property laws. As such, I do not allow this work to be copied in any way, shape or form. This includes the historical data that I am presenting, in particular data relating to locations either presented in the text or maps I have produced. Just because this work is produced and published as online content does not mean it is free to copy without consent and is certainly not free to be attributed as the work of someone else. Referencing this work properly is absolutely fine however and you can easily do this with an online app such as the Scribbr Harvard Referencing Generator.
I also need to make it clear that ‘fair dealing’ does not permit all location data to be copied without my consent. See the link, Section 6, for what ‘fair dealing’ permits in UK copyright law.
Finally, I also have a professional responsibility to ensure that the historical and archaeological environment is not abused or damaged. As a result, I have to limit what information I share online. Unfortunately, location information, especially that relating to ‘unrecorded sites’, is sought after and often used to inform unethical activities, such as trespass, which in itself though not illegal, has a negative impact on current landowners by putting their property at risk of damage, and can also seriously impact their right to privacy. In more extreme cases sensitive location data relating to wartime sites is used to inform illegal metal detecting, and illegal excavation or vegetation clearance in protected landscapes such as Scheduled Monuments or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
With that all out of the way, let’s get into this blog.
Introduction
Let me start by outlining why such documentary research is vitally important.
As with all archaeological investigations and research, context is key. This is no different with the Second World War and surviving wartime defences. With the Second World War, however, we have the luxury of a largely untapped resource in the form of War Diaries and Command files. It is rare in archaeology to have a readily available documentary source to tap into to add detail and significance as well as vitally needed context to an archaeological resource and allow additional archaeological investigation.
Investigating the defensive, landscape, and historical context of surviving defences (through historical research and archaeological recording methods) is key to understanding their use, effectiveness and importance and is also key to ascribing significance. Very few people have done such research or analysis and today, especially from an archaeological perspective, all we really know about the majority of surviving defences is their location. It’s worth me saying now that in my experience we know more about Roman forts than we do wartime pillboxes built only 80 or so years ago.
This all important context and research is key to ensuring preservation. It’s not until the all important context of surviving defences, especially their historical and landscape context, along with an assessment of their form and function and local typology is demonstrated that the significance of surviving defence types can be realised. It’s even more important to make sure this work is done and presented well before a site comes at risk. This is the only way more examples will be spared demolition during development. However, this is only if people interact with their local Historic Environment Record (HERs) and ensure their research is provided for inclusion within the HER. The HER is a vital component of the planning process but as a result of the current lack of available information regarding the significance of surviving wartime defences, there is little information that can be used to argue for retention during development. A current serious lack of interaction with HERs, along with the lack of research and fieldwork, has hampered preservation and today there is a lot of catching up to do after two decades of relative inactivity.
This is why I undertake such documentary research. I do it to add much needed context to surviving wartime defences and to demonstrate that their history at a local level is much more complex and important than appreciated, and wartime defenses themselves are an important archaeological resource that can be used to better assess the period within which they were built.
I also ensure all relevant data is submitted for accession to the local HER, in this case Norfolk Historic Environment Service, so that it can inform the planning process and highlight the importance and significance of surviving wartime defences. This not only draws attention to, and awareness of, this importance but also determines how sites are considered for preservation at a local level, while the data itself is archived in perpetuity.
With that out of the way, through this blog I aim to demonstrate my journey through the documentary record; setting the historical context of Thetford’s defences, as well as giving pointers to those wishing to undertake their own research into defences elsewhere in the UK.
So let’s start at the beginning and take a look at what I’ve found out so far.
September 1939 to July 1940: 18th Infantry Division
Vitally important to my research is considering all phases of the deployment of the Home Forces in defence of the UK not just 1940, and not just focussing on the Home Guard! Today, many believe that the threat of invasion only reared its head after the Fall of France in June 1940 and was countered by old men and young boys equipped with pitchforks, poorly organised and sent out to die pointlessly to defend against a heavily mechanised enemy force while the army mustered inland to counterattack.
The reality is, especially from the perspective of the Home Forces, that the threat of invasion started as soon as war was declared and the units deployed to defend the country comprised primarily of Regular and Territorial Army soldiers, alongside Commonwealth and Free Forces. In terms of Norfolk, I’ve even found evidence that preparations for defending the county started before war had even been declared, but that’s a story for a future blog.
Before starting to look specifically at Thetford I have decided to start my research by looking at the Command, Corps and Division organisation for the defence of Norfolk. This will help to set the defences of Thetford within their wider, local context at both the county and inter-county level. Doing so is important as it helps to demonstrate the defensive context of Thetford and the soldiers that defended the town; helping to visualise how the town sat within the wider scheme of defence, as well as appreciate how important the surviving defences are today by demonstrating their historical context.
Command and Corps organisation is pretty straightforward to define. Norfolk sat within Eastern Command (Figure 1). There were several commands established within the Home Forces. These comprised several counties, with the Command set up to coordinate military activity within these counties and in time of war coordinate defence of these counties and support units deployed within the area of responsibility of the Command. Eastern Command was responsible for a large area, comprising Norfolk and Suffolk and much of the south-east and the south as far as Sussex.
Corps are even easier to define as they didn’t exist in 1939 or early-1940! They came into being much later and would not be deployed within the Home Forces until the fall of France and the evacuations of the British Expeditionary Force, and associated Commonwealth and Free Forces from mainland Europe in mid-1940 had concluded. The documents currently point to the Divisions deployed to East Anglia coming under the direct command of Eastern Command in 1939 until June 1940.
If you would like to find out more about Commands and Corps structure in July 1940, please do check out the Home Forces Resources over on the UK Second World War Heritage website.
September 1939
Preparation for defence of Norfolk was organised within a short space of time following the declaration of war, with four Divisions deployed to defend Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. This points to 64,000 soldiers in total, assuming the Divisions were at full strength. Equipment was also an issue in the early days of the Home Forces, but again is something that I will investigate later.
On the 30th of September 1939, the Headquarters for the 18th Infantry Division was established on the outskirts of Norwich (Source: WO 166/464 September 1939). The 18th Infantry Division was a Territorial Army Division.
I will look into the number of troops available in the 18th Division at this time, and issues surrounding supply in a later blog. For now I’m going to stick with looking into the Division structure.
And it is in the first months of the war where Thetford’s defensive story starts.
Operation Order No.1
I’ll cover these Operation Orders in more detail in a later blog as they’re extremely detailed and their development over time needs to be demonstrated separately to get a better idea of their importance. For now, I just want to focus primarily on Division and Brigade deployment as outlined by the 18th Division’s first operation order issued on the 30th of October 1939.
Operation Order No.1 was the first order issued outlining how East Anglia was to be defended.
The fear was that an invading force could set sail from ports in Northern Germany and quickly make landfall on the coast of East Anglia. This threat was taken very seriously by the Home Forces Commander in Chief, General Walter Kirke. The threat to East Anglia was a prime concern throughout the war.
The 18th Division was deployed exclusively within Norfolk. By October, the 18th Division was joined by the 54th Infantry Division located to their south in Suffolk and Essex. A further two Divisions, the 48th and 51st (Highland) Infantry Divisions, along with the 1st Armoured Division (Source: WO 166/464 Operation Order No. 1), were deployed inland to support the up front infantry Divisions (Figure 2). The Divisions deployed in East Anglia were all Territorials.
In the event of invasion, the 18th and 54th Divisions would hold the coast and inland areas as much as possible, which the 48th and 51st Divisions would deploy on a line from King’s Lynn to Colchester as a blocking element, most likely with the aim of containing the invading force if it broke through the 18th or 54th Divisions and started to push towards London to the south-west (Figure 3).
In Aldershot, the 1st Armoured Division with the 52nd Anti-Tank Regiment was set at 6 hours readiness to push towards the east and provide support to the Divisions already deployed to East Anglia in the event of invasion (Source: WO 166/464 Operation Order No. 1). They were also poised to push towards London to ‘arrest’ movement to the north or south of the city. This formation was a precursor to the GHQ Reserve established in June 1940 under General Ironside’s scheme of national defence.
If you’ve watched my Order of Battle tutorial (if you still haven’t then click the link to give it a watch now!), you will know that each Division was subdivided into Brigades and Battalions.
The three Brigades of the 18th Division were deployed in a pretty standard ‘two up, one back’ deployment, with two Brigades located to defend the coast and inland areas and the third located to the rear to counterattack (Figure 4). It’s worth me pointing out here that at no point during the war was the defence of the UK solely static. Unfortunately, today many people see pillboxes and other static defences and wrongly assume all defence of the country was static. The reality is that even down to Battalion and Company level, all the way up to Division, Corps, Command and General Headquarters (GHQ) Home Forces, there were units within each military formation specifically allotted to the task of mobile counterattack and the defence of the UK was by no means static with units expected to sit still and slog it out with the invading force until they were either wiped out or succeeded in their defence.
Thetford’s Story Starts
With this in mind, this is where Thetford’s story starts. The 55th Infantry Brigade was deployed in the vicinity of the town as the 18th Division’s mobile counterattack force.
The 55th Brigade were deployed in an area between Brandon and Thetford, poised to counterattack in support of the 53rd and 54th Brigades (Figure 5). As such, within the early months of the war, Thetford sat within an area specifically set aside for the 18th Division’s mobile element.
At this point, the 55th Brigade comprised the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Cambridgeshire Regiment and the 5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. The total number of soldiers within a Brigade at this point was 2,920. This must have been quite an increase in the local population!
At this point, the role of the 55th Brigade was quite straightforward. In the event of invasion, the 55th Brigade would have assessed the situation and awaited orders to counterattack in support of the forward Brigades. To the rear, the 48th and 51st Division, along with the 1st Armoured Division would have deployed on a line to the south of the town to block the enemy’s approach if they broke through the 18th and 54th Divisions to their front.
Outro
In the formative months of the Home Forces reformation during the Second World War, we can already see the essence of the later defence schemes.
A total of four Divisions were deployed to defend East Anglia, which at the time was quite a considerable force to mobilise shortly after the declaration of war. Similar numbers of Divisions would be deployed to the area during 1940 and 1941.
There were two Divisions deployed to move to the east and set up a blocking action to the rear of the forward Brigades of the 18th and 54th Divisions, with the 18th Division deploying the 55th Infantry Brigade around Thetford and Brandon to provide an additional mobile counterattack within the 18th Division area which encompassed all of Norfolk.
We even see the formation of a GHQ Reserve deployed around Aldershot under orders to deploy to East Anglia and counterattack if a landing was made by the enemy.
Within a few months of war being declared, Thetford started to be involved in the measures taken to defend East Anglia against invasion. This theme would continue into 1940 and beyond.
Next Time
This Division deployment would remain relatively unchanged until July 1940, when the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division was deployed to the area and the first of many changes to the local organisation of defence took place. We’ll take a look at that change in the next blog.
Operation Orders would be issued on an almost monthly basis, however, seeing defensive strategy change considerably within the months after war was declared. There are still a lot more documents to investigate yet!
As always my thanks go to the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society for supporting this project through grant funding. I would also like to thank N. Locke for the proof read 😀
Sources
Dobinson, C.S., 1996. Twentieth Century Fortifications in England Volume II: Anti-Invasion defences of WWII. Council for British Archaeology.
The National Archives of the UK (TNA): WO 166/464 18th Division General Staff War Diary Oct 39 – Dec 40
Chris Kolonko-Weet 