nf3996 Posted 17 August , 2010 Share Posted 17 August , 2010 This thread follows on from one entitled 'The Queen's then Army Ordnance Corps, or vice versa' in the 'Soldiers' section. I've placed it here so as not to interrupt the suggestions coming in there, and also in the hope that it will catch the attention of those who may not have been following that thread as well as those who have. Amongst my late grandfather's photographs I have come across 16 which appear to show the construction, or removal, of a coastal battery. I'm attaching seven of them here and I'd be most interested in any information that others can provide about where the location might be, what the various buildings and pieces or equipment are, what's going on etc. By way of background, my grandfather was conscripted, probably in 1916, and served in the (Royal) Army Ordnance Corps in France and Flanders. He was discharged in October 1919, but appears to have spent a short time in The Queen's regiment before discharge. The group photo shows RAOC soldiers, including my grandfather, outside a hut; the window and roof of the hut are the same style as that in the wider picture of several huts. As all the soldiers have RAOC badges, rather than the earlier AOC badges, and a couple appear to be wearing medal stripes above their left breast pockets, I assume this photo, and therefore the others with it, dates from 1919. The majority of the photos are badly exposed and/or out of focus, but I've worked on them in Photoshop to try to produce acceptable images to display here. They clearly show a coastal location – the sea is visible in the background of many of them – and what looks like the construction of a coastal battery. However, if they date from after the end of the War, why was such a battery being built? The photos weren't in any particular order, so I may have them the wrong way round and they may actually be showing its removal instead. The site has a rail link as the gun barrels can be seen on a railway wagon; it's also near a town or a group of buildings, which can be seen in the far background of one of the photos. There appears to be quite a mix of soldiers and civilians working on the site, and in one photo a mother and child (plus a soldier) are posing alongside the gun barrel; this also makes me think the photos are from 1919 – would civilians have been so readily admitted to a military site during the War itself? As I don't know of any particular locations where my grandfather served (France and Flanders is very general), I'm really keen to pin down the location of these photos. Does anyone recognize where it is? Did the RAOC serve as part of the Army of Occupation? Were the photos perhaps taken in the UK? And can anyone add to the little information above about what the photographs show? Many thanks, Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andiS Posted 19 August , 2010 Share Posted 19 August , 2010 I know this is a long shot, and probably totally wide of the mark (accidentally to use two artillery metaphors) but could it be Ireland somewhere? There's something about the tone of the render on the hut walls (even allowing for the photoshop) that reminds me of the way the basalt sand makes rendered buildings in Ulster look. That landscape could also be somewhere on the northern coast of Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 19 August , 2010 Share Posted 19 August , 2010 I know this is a long shot, and probably totally wide of the mark (accidentally to use two artillery metaphors) but could it be Ireland somewhere? There's something about the tone of the render on the hut walls (even allowing for the photoshop) that reminds me of the way the basalt sand makes rendered buildings in Ulster look. That landscape could also be somewhere on the northern coast of Ireland. Don't think the huts are rendered - if you look closely you can see the joins between panels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andiS Posted 19 August , 2010 Share Posted 19 August , 2010 Don't think the huts are rendered - if you look closely you can see the joins between panels I can see what you mean on the gable ends, but the huts could be rendered. Wherever they are if they are rendered then that would that imply something of fairly permenent nature, while if not something more ad-hoc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 19 August , 2010 Share Posted 19 August , 2010 You can also make out joints under the window at the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 19 August , 2010 Share Posted 19 August , 2010 Possibly one of the German coastal batteries in Belgium. I believe there was a turreted one that sometimes shelled Dunkirk. These would have been dismantled C 1919 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted 19 August , 2010 Author Share Posted 19 August , 2010 Possibly one of the German coastal batteries in Belgium. I believe there was a turreted one that sometimes shelled Dunkirk. These would have been dismantled C 1919 This sounded promising so I had a look at the Yser and Belgian Coast Michelin Guide as that shows things as they were in 1919. It mentions a 15in naval gun posted 23 miles from Dunkirk that shelled the town at regular intervals from April 1915 onwards. I found two such guns in the Guide. One was inland near Moerdijck. It was named the Pommern or Leugenboom Battery and comprised a 15in long-range gun. I've scanned the photo from the guide, and you'll see it doesn't match the type of gun in my grandfather's photos. The other was the Deutschland or Jacobinessen Battery on the coast near Blankenberghe, which had four 15in guns. I've also scanned these photos from the guide, but again it doesn't match. I looked at the rest of the Guide to see what other coastal batteries there were in Belgium, but I can see nothing there that matches my grandfather's photographs, the coast in particular being very different - low dunes rather than an elevated location. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted 19 August , 2010 Author Share Posted 19 August , 2010 And now the Deutschland or Jacobinessen Battery. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 19 August , 2010 Share Posted 19 August , 2010 There was a battery somewhere near Dixmunde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wst Posted 24 January , 2015 Share Posted 24 January , 2015 The pictures shown in the first post are not from Battery Pommern, located in Koekelare (Leugenboom = area of Koekelare). Koekelare is near Diksmuide (is is not called 'Dixmunde' ;-) ). extra: You can still visit the artillery platform of Battery Pommern and a new museum called "Lange Max Museum" about the gun. (I live in Koekelare and I help at the museum.) www.langemaxmuseum.be www.facebook.com/langemaxmuseum kind regards, Wouter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 24 January , 2015 Share Posted 24 January , 2015 Shoeburyness ...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobL Posted 24 January , 2015 Share Posted 24 January , 2015 Looks to me like the construction of the Tyne Turret, fitted with two 12 inch guns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelfe Posted 25 January , 2015 Share Posted 25 January , 2015 It's not at all clear whether it is a mounting or demounting. If it was a British gun I would expect to see a 'District (Armament) Officer' RGA and possibly a RGA Master Gunner. Mounting a British coast gun was not left to the RAOC! Looking at Maurice-Jones' 'The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army', the list of all British coast defences 1914-18 (ie including colonies, excluding dominions) shows no guns larger that 9.2-in. 15 inch were mounted in the 1930-40s but only at Dover and Singapore and 14 in at Dover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobL Posted 25 January , 2015 Share Posted 25 January , 2015 Work didn't start until 1917 and finished in 1921 and only there for five years, it used turrets from HMS Illustrious which match the image above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted 8 March , 2018 Author Share Posted 8 March , 2018 RobL is correct. I've recently had it confirmed that this shows the construction of the Roberts Battery (aka Tyne Turrets) near Hartley and Seaton Sluice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted 9 March , 2018 Author Share Posted 9 March , 2018 I've been told that there was an article about the construction of the Tyne Turrets in Fort (the journal of the Fortress Study Group) back in 1984. I was wondering if anyone here is a member of the Fortress Study Group and has access to that article, which I'd be most interested in reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 4 November , 2018 Share Posted 4 November , 2018 Video, inside Roberts Battery in 2018, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 20 January , 2019 Share Posted 20 January , 2019 Hi Im now the owner of Fort House which was where some of the above photos were taken. Fort House was the army camp 200m from the gun itself. We are undertaking a restoration project and would like to talk to you about the photos and your family connections. The images below show the original observation tower and the view towards where the gun was located. Please do get in touch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 21 January , 2019 Share Posted 21 January , 2019 This picture of Collywell Bay shows the peninsular where the Robert's Battery is located. I had always wondered what the lattice object was. From the construction photographs above it looks like it was the gantry used for construction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 21 January , 2019 Share Posted 21 January , 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted 13 January , 2020 Share Posted 13 January , 2020 Any idea which unit manned this battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 13 January , 2020 Share Posted 13 January , 2020 Probably either 12 or 47 Company RGA. The Tynemouth RGA of the TF may also have been involved but I doubt that they would have been used to man 12" guns. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted 14 January , 2020 Share Posted 14 January , 2020 Thanks Ron, Being barracked on site and the war being over, I would be interested to know if the Blyth Battery also looked after these guns. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 6 September , 2020 Share Posted 6 September , 2020 The lower levels of the Roberts battery can still be accessed through the drainage tunnel to this day. However many rooms appear to have caved in so thats a shame. This is an updated map of what can still be accessed in the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now