Report - HMS Forward, South Heighton - March 2014.

[Ojay]

HMS Forward, South Heighton

Deep beneath Heighton hill, lie the forgotten remains of a once vibrant maritime intelligence centre, which remained undetected during the Second World War

The mass of equipment required tor intelligence gathering, interpretation and dis-semination, was assembled 60ft below ground

The principal operational entrance, situated in Room 16 of the Guinness Trust Holiday Home, gave access via 122 steps to an impenetrable underground fortress

No expense was spared and the complex was well equipped for every contingency, from failure of the public utilities to direct enemy action

There were two telephone exchanges (one a four-position PMBXIA), ten Creed 7B teleprinters, two Typex machines a W/T office with 11 radios, and a VF-line telegraph terminal for 36 channels

The tunnels contained a stand-by generator, air-con system with gas filters, a galley, toilets and cabins for split shifts and the newly invented phenomenon of ‘daylight‘ fluoro lighting

From June 1940 to August 1945 the Guinness Trust Holiday Home, served as a Royal Navy headquarters establishment known as HMS Forward

Here, in 1941 a top-secret naval intelligence centre was set up to monitor all marine movements and hazards such as hostile aircraft off the Sussex coast

To provide its staff with a safe and bomb-proof working area, a large underground complex of tunnels was excavated in the chalk-rock hill on which the house stood

One entrance to the subtarranaan complex was located in room 16 of the house (extreme left of pic above) ^

CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNDERGROUND COMPLEX

Construction of the South Heighton underground complex commenced on May 28th 1941, and took six months to complete

Colonel John Foster, the Commander Royal Engineers (CRE) in IV Corps area, designed the subterranean labyrinth after visiting the underground headquarters of SE Command at Reigate

(then the HQ of Lieutenant-General Bernard Paget, and from November 17th, 1941 of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery)

No. 2 Section of No. 172 Tunnelling Company RE of the 1st Tunnelling Engineers Group conducted the excavation

The assignment of the principal offices in the Operational Area as they were from 1943 onwards

The tunnel was used from late 1941 until decommissioned on August 31st, 1945, and finally abandoned on November 21st of that year

The Canadian Corps Coastal Artillery maintained a headquarters here and shared the intelligence

HMS Forward was heavily involved in the saga of the German battle-cruisers Sharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on Feb 11th, 1942 and in the Dieppe raid of Aug 19th

The HQ played a crucial role in the events of the D-Day and post D-Day, once office was dedicated to TURCO

(duties to organise the most efficient and expedient use of serviceable landing craft returning from the Normandy beaches)

Nightly MTB raids to harass enemy shipping, commando 'snoops' on the occupied French coast and air/sea rescue missions were also coordinated from here

Many thanks to Canute for the heads up this place was a go-er again, after missing out by days a couple of years or so now

The place was sealed up soon after so I headed down with Soylent Green for a poke about, before once again it becomes too late..


Steps lead up to the Western entrance, which remained sealed for over 5 decades after the war

Western Entrance, including machine gun post

Beyond, a 337ft adit served the operational bunker

Along the adit, a toilet & wash room

At a point 350ft in, two large chambers were constructed at right angles to the tunnel to accommodate the power plant and ventilation machinery

(This is all that remains of the power plant/standby engine room

The axis of the tunnel turns 135 degrees, at this point the smaller arches replaced 9ft arches, beyond which the construction of the 5 chambers and 2 connecting galleries

(Descriptions of each of the 'chambers' can be seen on the maps & plans illustrated further up the thread) ^^

A fair few of the chambers are stripped bare these days, so I only bothered with pics of the more noteable bits


D-Day Plotting Room

An historic moment in the life of HMS Forward; the scene in the plotting room at 0730 hours on June 6th, 1944 (the morning of the D-Day landings in Normandy)

Lieutenant Robin Bruce-Lockhart on the telephone and Commodore J.S. Dalison seated with 14 others of varying rank, gender and military persuasion - RN, WRNS, RNVR, RCNVR, RAF and WAAF

All who had spent the entire night watch of this momentus day in the confined space of this small room

GPO Equipment Room

The two 2ft pits once served to accommodate the intelligence centre's GPO equipment,
comprising 9ft MAR's for the 36 VF modems for use with the centre's teleprinters/aux eqipment and Main Distribution Frame

Teleprinter Office

Signals Distribution Office

At the eastern end of the bunker, a stairwell leading to an external pill box/emergency exit

As you can see, has sadly since been back filled

As part of the original construction, an observation post/pillbox was built on the hillside above the complex here, and once connected via a 26ft vetrical shaft

It also served as an emergency exit from the tunnels and was disguised as a hen house,
complete with a wire netting compound and two dozen Light Sussex White and Rhode Island Red chickens

Looking up to the Battery/Accumulator room, stairs up from the operations area

The stairs on the left leading to mock hen house (as seen above) ^, also stairs on right leading to the Eastern access

And finally the long stairway leading to the easten entrance, once hidden away in room 16 of the Guinness Trust Holiday Home

(Note the grenade pit)


Machine gun embrasure, as seen from the stairs leading upto the Eastern exit

Split gate installed midway to avoid hitting steps/sloping roof

The once eastern access long gone, these day's leading to a manhole in some fuckers backyard, went to budge and some bored house wife dropped a bag of pegs down (priceless)

​