Were there Home Guard units in Sunderland?

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My grandad, a WW1 veteran was in the South Hylton Home Guard.
dcl0sc said:
My Grandfather was a welder @ Doxies and the same applied to him.
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My other grandad worked for Marconi so they wouldn’t let him serve. To this date I’ve never found out what he did. Official secrets and all that.
 
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quite a lot of civilian war dead at the hands of the Luftwaffe on both Wearside and Tyneside.

another one from the sky for us sandies!
 
When they started building Nissan on Usworth Airfield didn't they find an anti-aircraft gun emplacement that pops up out of the ground that everyone had forgotten was there?
 
Tuono said:
When they started building Nissan on Usworth Airfield didn't they find an anti-aircraft gun emplacement that pops up out of the ground that everyone had forgotten was there?
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That’s just reminded me: there was a decoy bombing site at Springwell.

World War II Bombing Decoy Site at Springwell - Parker - Washington History Society, Washington

World War II Bombing Decoy Site at Springwell information for Washington, Tyne And Wear, on the official site for Parker
www.washingtonhistorysociety.co.uk www.washingtonhistorysociety.co.uk
 
There was a huge gun battery at Clarke’s Farm just past Grangetown on the way to Ryhope, around where B&M Bargains is now.
 
My old dad was in the Home Guard .He was a teenager during the war and was on the AA guns at Whitburn. Mam say that when he first got a uniform she laughed her head off because it was about six sizes too big. People like him had to work 12 hours in the shipyards and then go on duty - it was a serious business for everyone those days. But no complaints there were lads at the front.
 
Lord Potts said:
My old dad was in the Home Guard .He was a teenager during the war and was on the AA guns at Whitburn. Mam say that when he first got a uniform she laughed her head off because it was about six sizes too big. People like him had to work 12 hours in the shipyards and then go on duty - it was a serious business for everyone those days. But no complaints there were lads at the front.
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can't imagine todays snowflakes stepping up.
 
Gillythedilf said:
There used to be an army barracks at the back of Hylton Castle in the grounds.

don’t know if it was to do with the 2nd W/War or not.


there was also that building just along from the dog track on the left as you just go into Boldon.It’s still there and used by paintball freaks.

I think everyone in the town should go and see the Acoustic mirror over Fulwell aswell behind the mill garage from the First World War.History on our doorstep
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The graduated Batallion of Sherwood Forrester's were based at seaburn in ww1 (seaburn camp) and trained at hylton castle, not sure about the 2nd WW though.
 
Will e said:
The graduated Batallion of Sherwood Forrester's were based at seaburn in ww1 (seaburn camp) and trained at hylton castle, not sure about the 2nd WW though.
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I never knew that. Me grandad was in the Sherwood Foresters in WW1 and married a Sunderland lass in 1919. He was from Bow in London, he never got stabbed though which is unusual for a Cockney.
 
Me Dad said the AA guns at Whitburn were replaced by a rocket battery towards the end of the war. It was never fired in anger because I believe there were no more heavy air raids on Sunderland after 1943. Nevertheless he said this thing which was American built could fire in to the air a cube of explosive AA rockets half a mile square that all detonated simultaneously. Any aircraft that were within the cube or were anywhere near it were toast.

On the description that he gave I have only once seen some very brief WWII footage of what I thought could be such a thing being fired and it looked devastating. May be some of our more knowledgeable posters on here can say what it was. I would certainly be interested I have wondered about it for years.
 
Tuono said:
I never knew that. Me grandad was in the Sherwood Foresters in WW1 and married a Sunderland lass in 1919. He was from Bow in London, he never got stabbed though which is unusual for a Cockney.
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AFAIK Young soldier's were sent to graduated Batallions when they had completed basic training, it's very likely that's how he met your grandma.
 
Lord Potts said:
Me Dad said the AA guns at Whitburn were replaced by a rocket battery towards the end of the war. It was never fired in anger because I believe there were no more heavy air raids on Sunderland after 1943. Nevertheless he said this thing which was American built could fire in to the air a cube of explosive AA rockets half a mile square that all detonated simultaneously. Any aircraft that were within the cube or were anywhere near it were toast.

On the description that he gave I have only once seen some very brief WWII footage of what I thought could be such a thing being fired and it looked devastating. May be some of our more knowledgeable posters on here can say what it was. I would certainly be interested I have wondered about it for years.
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My dad always tells me stories about my Granda (and his HG unit), paroling the sea front armed with very dangerous weapons indeed, just incase those pesky Germans tried to invade at Roker/Seaburn.

Yes you guessed it, a broom shank... :eek: :lol:

@Miltonnoonfez
 
Kevj said:
That’s just a Pillbox. A ROC post is fully underground with only man access and ventilation structures above ground.

There’s one which hasn’t been demolished near Easington apparently.

www.geograph.org.uk

Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Post,... © Andrew Curtis cc-by-sa/2.0

On high ground above the industrial sites of Dawdon, Easington and Seaham this monitoring post would have been in a fine position to observe nuclear destruction of Durham's coastal industry. Characteristically a line of telegraph poles terminate at the site providing a communication link. It was...
www.geograph.org.uk www.geograph.org.uk
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Your post is a bit confusing.

There were a few ROC posts of the type you describe in the area but most of those were built in the late 1950's,early 1960's built as part of the UK's cold war monitoring system. Supposedly nuclear bomb proof, the example at Easington to which you link wasn't actually built until 1962.

There also used to be a pre-cold war RAF radar dish on the same or nearby site (I think it's official title was RAF Cold Hesledon) and the servicemen who operated it used to live in barrack style housing on a small separate estate to the west of Hawthorn Village. That estate is now private housing.

There were however WW2 ROC decoy sites dotted around the area and you can find more information here.


Pill boxes were indeed a different structure altogether as Wiki explains:

A pillbox is a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard post, normally equipped with loopholes through which to fire weapons. It is in effect a trench firing step hardened to protect against small-arms fire and grenades and raised to improve the field of fire.

About 28,000 pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications were constructed in England in 1940 as part of the British anti-invasion preparations of World War II. About 6,500 of these structures still survive.[10]

I'm not familiar with Home Guard operations during WW2 but I suspect that pill boxes, whilst almost certainly not permanently manned, would have been the first port of call for the HG in the event of a threatened invasion.

Perhaps a more competent local historian than me can shed more light on the subject.
 
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