There's very little to see in the Republic of Ireland with regards to the country's involvement in the Second World War. That's because officially, Ireland was neutral during the conflict and officially took no part in the war. However, unofficially, Ireland took a number of steps with regard to defence, should the worst happen and the country be invaded from the south or west coasts.
Officially, there was no agreement with the United Kingdom between the two nations, however it has transpired since then that there were a number of agreements between the countries should Ireland be invaded by hostile forces (presumably with a view to invading Northern Ireland) and a number of strategies were put in place both politically and also physically on the ground.
Here we see one of a small number of pillbox bunkers that were installed in key locations to defend the country's infrastructure. Should conflict arise, soldiers would man these structures armed with machine guns.
Today, this minor backwater of a road may be a curious location for such a key installation, however back in the 1940s, this was the main road from Cork to Bandon (and the south west coast) so would have been a key location with regards to defence. The addition of the wider N71 road just to the east means that most traffic now bypasses this location and indeed the main approach to Bandon is now from the east via this new road rather than originally from the north.
The Pillbox Series - This is a series of caches set next to Pill boxes or other gun emplacements, if you wish to add to the series please contact the Somerset Smurfs for a number here just fill out the request form and Somerset Smurfs will do the rest.
This will keep track of the Pillbox numbers and names to avoid duplication.
The Pillbox Study Group website is full of information click here.
On the Pillbox Study Group site click links and downloads for a Google Earth Overlay of the Extended Defence of Britain Database which shows every location on Google Earth.
There is also a Bookmark list.
