Quote:
Originally Posted by Coquet
There's a mysterious concrete platform eroding out of the dunes a hundred metres to the north side of the Wellhaugh gun position as well.
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Interesting photograph Coquet. There may be many more constructions that still lie buried. The Home Guard had a section nicknamed 'The Secret Army'. They had a section which was very active in Amble and district.Made up of young men who, because they were deferred from Call-up because they worked in the coal mines and were well versed in handling dynamite, they were ideal as a back-up force for the Armed Forces if Britain had been invaded. As these men were miners does it follow that some constructions were built 'Out of Sight' in areas often used by the public and yet hidden from view?
I have a Army Issue Ordnance Survey map of Amble and District, which I have pored over often but, alas, no secret traces anywhere, a Army Issue compass and discharge papers of my uncle, who was a member of this squad. I knew he was in the Home Guard because he had a uniform but he never spoke of what he had been trained to do if invasion came. I found the bits and bobs when I cleared his bungalow after he died. According to a TV programme I saw later, these squads were formed throughout the country and, with local knowledge, would have been ideal for acts of sabotage and despatching collaborators. They worked thier normal shifts then trained afterwards. I am told there may be a remnant of a meeting point in Chevington Woods but cannot confirm this. It makes sense that there would be a well hidden accommodation for them somewhere. They wouldn't just go and destroy bridges etc then return home, or back to the pit, once the invasion was on, would they?