Summary

WWII ‘Diver’ Site N30/P.O.W. camp (destroyed),

Full description

In June 1944, attacks from V1 flying bombs began. Launched from the coast of mainland Europe, these “pilotless aircraft” were packed with explosives and directed against large-scale targets such as cities. As a direct and immediate response, thousands of Heavy and Light anti-aircraft guns were rushed to the South and East coasts of Britain to be set up in ‘Diver’ batteries (the codename for the operation). From Sussex to Yorkshire, a total of 1,190 of these sites have been identified in wartime records, each comprising a number of guns.

The attacks lasted for nine months until March 1945 when the launch sites had all been overrun by Allied forces. The “Diver” operation, which included the employment of fighter aircraft as well as the gun batteries, had been highly successful – some 1,972 flying bombs had been destroyed by anti-aircraft fire alone. <1>

In Rochford, eight Heavy anti-aircraft ‘Diver’ sites have been identified from wartime records and studies of 1940’s aerial photographs, two in Great Wakering and six on Foulness. <2>

This example, in the fields immediately N of Great Wakering Common, was wartime site No. N.30. Equipped with eight 3.7-inch guns, records show that in July 1944 it was manned by 110 Regiment and, four months later, by 184 (Mixed) Regiment, 616 Battery. Aerial photographs taken in May 1946 show the accommodation, or domestic, site comprising at least 43 huts – mainly “Nissen type” – standing in a distinct group in a field to the NW of the Common (centre TQ 9535 8791). The entrance and all roads, paths and trackways can be clearly seen. Adjacent to the accommodation field, to the NE of the Common, the soil marks of eight Heavy Anti-Aircraft gun emplacements can be seen in two rows of four (centre TQ 9556 8794) with the main track leading directly to them. This would be the typical layout of an eight-gun ‘Diver’ battery. However, the guns were almost certainly moved here from earlier positions as the marks of at least 10 more, less distinct and almost overlapping, gun emplacements can be made out (centre TQ 9541 8799). These appear to be in two groups of six and four.

It is locally recalled that at the end of the war the site became a prisoner-of-war camp. In the 1990’s the entire area was covered with four or five feet of top soil. <3>

Visited in July 2003, the site can be seen to be four or five feet above the level of the surrounding common. A drain which bisected the site from N to S, forming the boundary of the two adjacent fields, has been filled in and the two fields are now one large area planted with a cereal crop. Nothing appears to remain of the ‘Diver’ site except the track which led to the entrance and the filled-in crossing of a ditch immediately outside it at TQ 9534 8785.

Two photographs taken of site. <4>

<1> Dobinson, Colin, 1996, Twentieth Century Fortifications in England - Vol IV - Operation Diver (DESC TEXT). SEX60897.

<2> RAF, 1946, 106G-UK 1496-3353 (AP). SEX63598.

<3> local resident, 2003, WWII features, July 2003 (Verbal communication). SEX63595.

<4> Nash, Fred, 2003, WWII Defences in Rochford., two frames, July 2003 (Photograph). SEX63397.

Monument Types

• DIVER SITE (WWII, Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Events

• WWII Defences in Rochford (Ref: ?)

Protected Status

• Historic Environment Character Area: Thames Gateway 81
• Historic Environment Character Zone: Rochford 5
• Historic Environment Character Area: Rochford 5: Central Rochford District
• Historic Environment Character Zone: Rochford 9
• Historic Environment Character Area: Rochford 4
• Historic Environment Character Area: Thames Gateway 86

Sources and further reading

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