I took advantage of some of the nice weather in July, whilst RSM Pies was taking Private Pies to a birthday party in Horley, I decided to take Corporal Pies out for a gander at some of the GHQ line pillboxes in the area rather than sit and watch toddlers throw up on the bouncy castle.
The GHQ line sweeps around the southern half of London through Surrey and crosses the A23 close to Horley. The A23 would have been the main axis of advance if the Germans had chosen the Brighton area to land an invasion force and was therefore heavily defended with a number of Nodal Points and a strengthened GHQ line as the final hurdle before the suburbs of London. The line here, and at other locations where it crosses major roads such as at Sidlow Bridge, consists of a double row of Infantry pillboxes positioned to overlook the Burstow Stream which forms a formidable anti-tank obstacle. The front line of pillboxes consists of thick walled type 24’s and a local infantry variant of the type 28 design. The rear line covers the front line closely and consists of thin walled type 24’s.
The map below shows the layout of the two lines, front in yellow, rear in green, with the stream marked in blue. There’s no sign of the roadblock or S0013798 and S0002558 doesn’t exist at the placemarked location. Looking at the map I suspect it’s actually at the east end of the copse south of S0012406 I’ll go back and check sometime.
The first pillbox we encountered is a front line type 24 S0012399. We didn’t access this one because of the standing crop and lots of tractors in the vicinity. But it’s clearly not being treated too well by the farmer.
Next up is S0002556 a rear line thin walled type 24.
Rear view, complete with nettles that I sent Corporal Pies in to flatten in his shorts, as that’s what junior NCO’s are for.
Internally the thin walls are evident at the small rifle embrasures.
The standard anti-ricochet wall is damaged but the rest of the box is in reasonable nick.
After a short walk through a field of bullocks where Corporal Pies displayed a distinct lack of stiff upper lip we saw this thin walled rear line type 24 S0012406. It’s nestled in the hedge line and again we didn’t access it as it was some way off the path and practically in the garden of the farmhouse.
The next one is S0012402 a thick walled front line type 24 overlooking the stream. Earth camouflage is still evident on the roof and banked up around the sides. The shuttering is in a poor state.
Front view.
The Bren embrasures are standard for this area with two slots in the shelf for the rear tripod legs and a hole under the embrasure for the front leg. It’s in good condition internally with no graffiti despite being only a few yards off the path.
The next one S0012407 is more of the same. A thick walled front line type 24.
Quite a bit of damage to the shuttering and the raft the box is built on is visible.
Same embrasure type as elsewhere in this area.
And yet another front line type 24 S0012409.
Interesting to note that the embrasures on all these boxes have a thin render of concrete around them which has been damaged on this example. I’m not sure what purpose it served, maybe to make the pre-cast embrasure look more formidable than it is?
Again, original paintwork and standard embrasure inside.
Last but not least is one of the type 28 variants S0002559. This large rectangular box has all four corners chamfered but only two edges of the roof are chamfered, those facing the enemy.
Rear view showing the unchamfered roof.
There’s no anti-ricochet wall and two of the four embrasures are for Brens.
The other two embrasures show that two of the walls are actually thin which explains the lack of chamfer on the roof on these two sides. The Bren embrasures are lacking the shelf and slots common to the area although this one has the hole for the front tripod leg.
The other by the entrance doesn’t have any way of accommodating a tripod.
Thanks for looking, more to follow soon.
The GHQ line sweeps around the southern half of London through Surrey and crosses the A23 close to Horley. The A23 would have been the main axis of advance if the Germans had chosen the Brighton area to land an invasion force and was therefore heavily defended with a number of Nodal Points and a strengthened GHQ line as the final hurdle before the suburbs of London. The line here, and at other locations where it crosses major roads such as at Sidlow Bridge, consists of a double row of Infantry pillboxes positioned to overlook the Burstow Stream which forms a formidable anti-tank obstacle. The front line of pillboxes consists of thick walled type 24’s and a local infantry variant of the type 28 design. The rear line covers the front line closely and consists of thin walled type 24’s.
The map below shows the layout of the two lines, front in yellow, rear in green, with the stream marked in blue. There’s no sign of the roadblock or S0013798 and S0002558 doesn’t exist at the placemarked location. Looking at the map I suspect it’s actually at the east end of the copse south of S0012406 I’ll go back and check sometime.
The first pillbox we encountered is a front line type 24 S0012399. We didn’t access this one because of the standing crop and lots of tractors in the vicinity. But it’s clearly not being treated too well by the farmer.
Next up is S0002556 a rear line thin walled type 24.
Rear view, complete with nettles that I sent Corporal Pies in to flatten in his shorts, as that’s what junior NCO’s are for.
Internally the thin walls are evident at the small rifle embrasures.
The standard anti-ricochet wall is damaged but the rest of the box is in reasonable nick.
After a short walk through a field of bullocks where Corporal Pies displayed a distinct lack of stiff upper lip we saw this thin walled rear line type 24 S0012406. It’s nestled in the hedge line and again we didn’t access it as it was some way off the path and practically in the garden of the farmhouse.
The next one is S0012402 a thick walled front line type 24 overlooking the stream. Earth camouflage is still evident on the roof and banked up around the sides. The shuttering is in a poor state.
Front view.
The Bren embrasures are standard for this area with two slots in the shelf for the rear tripod legs and a hole under the embrasure for the front leg. It’s in good condition internally with no graffiti despite being only a few yards off the path.
The next one S0012407 is more of the same. A thick walled front line type 24.
Quite a bit of damage to the shuttering and the raft the box is built on is visible.
Same embrasure type as elsewhere in this area.
And yet another front line type 24 S0012409.
Interesting to note that the embrasures on all these boxes have a thin render of concrete around them which has been damaged on this example. I’m not sure what purpose it served, maybe to make the pre-cast embrasure look more formidable than it is?
Again, original paintwork and standard embrasure inside.
Last but not least is one of the type 28 variants S0002559. This large rectangular box has all four corners chamfered but only two edges of the roof are chamfered, those facing the enemy.
Rear view showing the unchamfered roof.
There’s no anti-ricochet wall and two of the four embrasures are for Brens.
The other two embrasures show that two of the walls are actually thin which explains the lack of chamfer on the roof on these two sides. The Bren embrasures are lacking the shelf and slots common to the area although this one has the hole for the front tripod leg.
The other by the entrance doesn’t have any way of accommodating a tripod.
Thanks for looking, more to follow soon.
