General Background
In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. Following the
withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from continental
Europe with the evacuation from Dunkirk and the fall of France at
the end of May 1940, Britain was effectively surrounded by occupied
territory. The Nazi-Soviet Pact which partitioned Poland meant that
Germany could concentrate forces in the west. The threat of an
invasion of the British Isles was high.
We now know that the German plan for invasion (Operation
Seelowe – “Sea Lion”) involved the short sea crossing at the
eastern end of the Channel. But at the time, it was believed that
the threat of invasion by air or sea could materialise almost
anywhere. Certainly the possibility of forces crossing from Norway
and Denmark could not be discounted; and eastern Scotland was
fortified against this eventuality.
Defences took two main forms. Around the shore the so-called
“Coastal Crust” was formed. Using fixed defences such as
pill-boxes, trench-lines, concertina wire, minefields and anti-tank
blocks, the areas of the coast judged vulnerable to invasion were
hardened. Areas where glider-borne forces could land were also
interdicted using networks of large upright poles. These fixed
defences tell only part of the story. Until recently it was not
generally known that the British authorities were also committed to
using chemical weapons to defend against invasion. Airfields near
coastal areas held stores of mustard gas and air units based there
were secretly tasked with delivering the gas in aerosol form over
the beaches if the invasion threat materialised. One of the
airfields and units so charged was No 614 Squadron at
RAF Macmerry
Inland, lines of fixed defences, usually arranged along natural
obstacles such as rivers or canals, were set up as “Stop Lines” to
hold and slow invading forces once ashore. East Lothian had no
designated Stop Lines. However, McKryton has set up a series of
caches in Fife to mark elements of the Fife Stop Line which gives
an excellent picture of how defences would be managed to slow and
destroy invading forces. A Bookmark list of these caches is
here.
There are two related websites which deal with the Second World
War in East Lothian. One is run by the
East Lothian Museums Service. The other relates to a two-volume
book “East Lothian at
War” (Volume One is now out of print.)
This article in Wikipaedia gives a helpful summary of British
anti-invasion defences.
Links Wood Road Block
Park at the end of Lime Tree Walk at N 56.01.199 W
002.35.960. The marked parking spaces are often more than
filled and parking spreads down the verge on the south side of the
road. This is also the parking recommended for
St Baldred’s Cradle and
Links Wood Pillbox. The caches can be combined in a circular
walk.
Fixed road blocks caused problems for normal war-time traffic,
so a model was devised that could be quickly assembled in case of
invasion. The standard road block required two large concrete
blocks, one each side of the road. One block had sockets cast into
it, the other slots. These would be used to locate steel bars
(often sections of rail line) across the road. Cast concrete
cylinders would be located nearby and manhandled into place to
support the road block and give it depth.
Although there are no steel bars nearby, this example in Links
Wood is otherwise undisturbed. The large socket and slot blocks are
still aligned and 4 cast cylinders are neatly arranged ready to be
rolled into place. The lines of anti-tank blocks in which the road
block sits also still stretch through the woods (which have regrown
since the war) on either side.
If you make the circular walk, there is a platform of a pillbox
covering Bathan’s Strand, with the roof and front wall lying on the
rocks below around N 56°01.369, W002°35.181. The steps down
to the position are overgrown but still discernible. Standing on
the platform gives a good sense of the enfilade fire that could
have brought on any invasion force landing on the beach here. There
are also the remains of another road block at N 56°01.369, W
002°35.421. These have been moved and are being buried in the
sand.