real time web analytics
Report - - Old woking ww2 heavy anti aircraft battery command post- Surrey - Nov 2013 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Old woking ww2 heavy anti aircraft battery command post- Surrey - Nov 2013

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

soylent green

28DL Regular User
Regular User
I visited this site on the way to picking my daughter up from college! It's been on my radar for a while because its connected to Brooklands , which i have been working on a report about for some months! The Battery is set in a low lying field which was very wet, i should imagine this is the reason why the land hasn't been developed and the Gun Battery has survived! Inside their was some indication of drug abuse, which is never good to see and lots of graffiti which does if nothing else, brightens the place up a bit (not to everyone's taste i'm sure). It's a small site which i spent only about 30 minutes to look round and take some pics, i did have a chat with a guy who was walking his dogs and he told me how this Battery saved Woking as well as Brooklands during the war, which made me try to visualize the guns firing in anger at the German aircraft heading towards Brooklands!

Some history Taken from subterranea Britannica

The Old Woking Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery (BM5) serving the Brooklands Gun Defended Area (GDA) was located between Broadmead Road and the River Wey at Old Woking.The only surviving structure, located alongside a footpath is the battery command post which is in good condition. The gun pits in the adjacent field have all been filled in and there is no trace of any other buildings.
Official records for 1942 state that the battery was equipped with 4 X 3.7" mobile anti aircraft guns operated by 344 battery of 109 HAA regiment. Mobile guns were not permanently emplaced with a holdfast but were on wheels and axles and were the anti aircraft equipment of the field army. All the equipment could have been removed from the site within 30 minutes. There was no radar at this site.
This regiment later landed in France on D Day as part of 30 Corps and fought to Germany
There were six HAA gun sites in the Brooklands GDA of which three sites never had any guns emplaced.

Some pics

This is a typical layout of a Battery Post
cb8c5a5f-e291-49d6-aa22-3ecc9235209e_zps6ee2d7f7.jpg


IMG_3112_zps01c56578.jpg


IMG_3115_zps802294ea.jpg


IMG_3119_zpsec8b9bb3.jpg


IMG_3125_zpse3a0a501.jpg


IMG_3127_zpsd6e4aef0.jpg


IMG_3129_zpsc94fe566.jpg


IMG_3165_zpsd4b7facf.jpg


IMG_3160_zpsee3ab655.jpg


IMG_3154_zpsba8ab2ee.jpg


IMG_3150_zps2bcbd5da.jpg


IMG_3148_zpsb248c201.jpg


IMG_3163_zpsc82f3142.jpg


Thanks for looking
 
Top