149 The Guns of Godley Head.pdf

(19128 KB) Pobierz
battle
after the
THE GUNS OF GODLEY HEAD
HITLER’S HQ AT MARGIVAL
Number 149
49
9
770306 154097
£4.25
NUMBER 149
© Copyright
After the Battle
2010
Editor: Karel Margry
Editor-in-Chief: Winston G. Ramsey
Published by
Battle of Britain International Ltd.,
The Mews, Hobbs Cross House,
Hobbs Cross, Old Harlow,
Essex CM17 0NN, England
Telephone: 01279 41 8833
Fax: 01279 41 9386
E-mail: hq@afterthebattle.com
Website:
www.afterthebattle.com
Printed in Great Britain by
Warners Group Publications PLC,
Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH.
After the Battle
is published on the 15th
of February, May, August and November.
LONDON STOCKIST for the
After the Battle
range:
Motorbooks, 13/15 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4AN
Telephone: 020 7836 5376. Fax: 020 7497 2539
United Kingdom Newsagent Distribution:
Warners Group Publications PLC,
Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH
Australian Subscriptions and Back Issues:
Renniks Publications Pty Limited
Unit 3, 37-39 Green Street, Banksmeadow NSW 2019
Telephone: 61 2 9695 7055. Fax: 61 2 9695 7355
E-mail: info@renniks.com. Website:
www.renniks.com
Canadian Distribution and Subscriptions:
Vanwell Publishing Ltd.,
622 Welland Avenue, St. Catharines, Ontario
Telephone: (905) 937 3100. Fax: (905) 937 1760
Toll Free: 1-800-661-6136
E-mail: sales@vanwell.com
New Zealand Distribution:
Dal McGuirk’s “MILITARY ARCHIVE”, PO Box 24486,
Royal Oak, Auckland 1345, New Zealand
Telephone: 021 627 870. Fax: 9-6252817
E-mail: milrchiv@mist.co.nz
United States Distribution and Subscriptions:
RZM Imports Inc, 880 Canal St., Stamford, CT 06902
Telephone: 1-203-324-5100. Fax: 1-203-324-5106
E-mail: info@rzm.com Website:
www.rzm.com
Italian Distribution:
Tuttostoria, PO Box 395, 1-43100 Parma
Telephone: ++390521 29 27 33. Fax: ++390521 29 03 87
E-mail: info@tuttostoria.it Website:
www.tuttostoria.it
Dutch Language Edition:
SI Publicaties/Quo Vadis, Postbus 188,
6860 AD Oosterbeek
Telephone: 026-4462834. E-mail: si@sipublicaties.nl
During the Second World War, Lyttelton Harbour, on the east coast of New
Zealand’s South Island, was protected against enemy attacks by a heavy coastal
battery at Godley Head. Located at the northern mainland entrance to the natural
harbour, this headland was an ideal look-out and a perfect battery position. The
decision to build a battery there was already taken in December 1938 but construc-
tion of the gun casemates did not begin until after war had broken out in September
1939 and the first 6-inch guns were not operational until July 1941.
THE GUNS OF GODLEY HEAD
Long considered, the fortification of New
Zealand’s Godley Head was finally under-
taken on the brink of the Second World War.
Work on the largest defensive works on the
South Island since Victorian times began in
1939 and continued throughout the war and
beyond.
New Zealand is comprised of two primary
landmasses — the North and South Island —
plus numerous smaller islands. Situated in
the south-western Pacific Ocean, New
Zealand’s closest neighbours are Australia,
1,300 miles to the west, and Fiji, 1,300 miles
to the north.
In the late 19th century, the isolated
British colony faced the threat of an external
aggressor — first France, then Russia. Dur-
ing the ‘Russian scares’ of 1870-85, Lieu-
tenant Colonel Peter Scratchley, Royal Engi-
neers, judged that the most likely form of
attack against New Zealand would be from
enemy cruisers.
While it was assumed that any approach-
ing enemy vessels would be intercepted by
the Royal Navy, Scratchley nevertheless rec-
ommended coastal batteries, mines and tor-
pedoes to protect the country’s primary
ports. In line with Scratchley’s suggestions,
by 1885 there were four coastal guns —
64-pounder guns at Spur Point Battery and
Erskine Point and two 7-inch muzzle loaders
at Battery Point — guarding Lyttelton Har-
bour. A joint Defence Secret Committee of
August 1900 advocating the transfer of the
Fort Jervois guns to Godley Head was not
acted upon.
Although the Russian menace had
receded by 1903, Major-General James
Babington, New Zealand Army, proposed a
battery of 6-inch guns for Godley and
Adderley Heads, at the entrance to Lyttelton
Harbour, though he later reversed his deci-
sion to concentrate on the defence of
Wellington and Auckland (on the North
Island): ‘This colony cannot maintain more
[sites] in an efficient state: it is a waste of
money to continue inefficient defences’.
Meanwhile in London, the Colonial Defence
Committee independently championed the
development of coastal artillery at Godley
Head, an area set aside as a military reserve
since 1851.
By David Mitchelhill-Green
This scheme was supported by a Royal
Engineers’ report and later reaffirmed by
Lord Kitchener, who toured the area in 1910.
But instead of ploughing money into addi-
tional fixed defences, Major-General Sir
Alexander Godley, who became General
Officer Commanding New Zealand Forces in
1910, turned instead to developing a national
Territorial Force (TF). In Godley’s opinion,
since it was impossible to install permanent
defences at ‘all the innumerable ports and
harbours’, the best way of repelling ‘an
invader’ would be to ‘go meet him while he is
landing and/or after he has landed’.
Advances in artillery, however, rendered
the original batteries at Lyttelton obsolete
and the harbour was protected by two 6-inch
and two 8-inch Armstrong ‘disappearing’
guns (‘disappearing’ because, as it fired, the
recoil pushed the gun back underground
where it could be reloaded under cover) at
Fort Jervois, on Ripapa Island, at the out-
break of war in July 1914. One of these guns
was later recommissioned in 1941 and
served until 1943. In a situation similar to
Australia’s first shot from Fort Nepean (see
After the Battle
No. 90), the small coaster
Whakatu
entered Lyttelton Harbour a
month after the declaration of war on
August 4 in brazen non-compliance of
wartime regulations. The ship’s captain,
‘such a belligerent type that he ignored com-
pletely the examination vessel at the Heads’,
continued to sail ‘on up the Harbour’ until a
‘6-inch shell across his bows brought him to
very smartly’. Such was the only shot fired in
anger at Lyttelton during the course of the
First World War. New Zealand’s coastal bat-
teries were stood down from 24-hour readi-
ness in April 1915 and perhaps the main
highlight at Lyttelton for the remainder of
the war was the incarceration of the auda-
cious Count Felix von Luckner, captain of
the three-masted German raider SMS
Seeadler,
on Ripapa Island following his cap-
ture at Fiji and subsequent escape from a
POW camp on Motuihe Island, near Auck-
land and recapture near the Kermadee
Islands north of New Zealand.
CONTENTS
THE GUNS OF GODLEY HEAD
WAR FILM
The True Glory
FRANCE
Führerhauptquartier
‘Wolfsschlucht 2’
IT HAPPENED HERE
The Potters Bar Incident —
April 26, 1941
WRECK DISCOVERY
No Longer Missing —
The Search for LW337
2
13
20
40
48
Front Cover:
The two emplacements for the
6-inch guns of the Godley Head Battery which
protected Lyttelton Harbour on the east coast
of New Zealand’s South Island. (David Green)
Centre Pages:
This aerial photo was taken in
April 1949 when Führerhauptquartier ‘Wolfs-
schlucht 2’ was still more or less in the condition
it was left when the Germans vacated it in
September 1944. The annotations accord with the
French numbering of the 1950s. (IGN)
Back Cover:
This rustic cross marks the spot
where Halifax LW337 crashed in Berlin on the
night of January 20/21, 1944. (Ralf Drescher)
Acknowledgements:
For his invaluable help
with the Godley Head story, the Editor would
like to thank Peter Wilkins. He also extends his
appreciation to Peter Cooke. For their help with
the ‘Wolfsschlucht 2’ story, he thanks Didier
Ledé of the ASW 2 Association; Dieter Zeigert,
author in conjunction with Franz Seidler of
Die
Führerhauptquartiere 1939-1945;
Pierre Rhode
and Werner Sünkel, authors of
Wolfsschlucht
2, Autopsie eines Führerhauptquartiers,
and
Bruno Renoult.
Photo Credits:
ATL — Alexander Turnbull
Library; BA — Bundesarchiv; IGN — Institut
Géographique National; MOD — Ministry of
Defence; USNA — US National Archives.
2
DOC CHRISTCHURCH
CHRISTCHURCH
GODLEY HEAD
GODLEY HEAD
LYTTELTON
Lyttelton Harbour is a natural feature serving the port town of
that name and lies south of Christchurch, the second largest city
Budgetary cutbacks in the immediate post-
war period scuttled a proposal by Admiral of
the Fleet Sir John Jellicoe (New Zealand’s
Governor-General from 1920 to 1924) to
reinforce the country’s harbour defences;
indeed New Zealand’s fiscal deficit forced
the closure of coastal defences including the
mothballing of Lyttelton’s coastal artillery.
At the same time the Washington Naval
Treaty of 1922, which pre-empted the three
largest naval powers — Great Britain, the
United States and Japan — from entering
into a new arms race, alarmed the New
Zealand government because of the size lim-
itations placed on the Royal Navy. Offsetting
this concern, however, was Britain’s 1921
decision to construct a large naval base at
Singapore. Added economic woes in subse-
quent years amid the Great Depression
forced New Zealand’s Labour government
to suspend compulsory military training, the
fight against poverty a more pressing need.
But as anti-militaristic sentiment swelled and
the ranks in the Army’s Permanent Force
continued to ebb, events abroad prompted a
rethink. With the ending of Britain’s ‘Ten
Year Rule’ — namely that no major conflict
would arise in the next decade — as a conse-
quence of Japanese intervention in China
and Germany’s re-armament programme, a
review of New Zealand’s defence require-
ments was tabled in October 1933. It encour-
aged Cabinet to upgrade the nation’s coastal
defences with a priority second only to the
development of a capable air force. Sites for
several new coastal forts were identified,
though for the moment, all were located on
the North Island.
As part of a 1937 reorganisation of the
New Zealand Army, a Territorial Force Spe-
cial Reserve was formed that would provide
the ‘necessary personnel for the heavy
[coastal batteries] and . . . the specialists
required’ for the fortress infantry battalions.
These reservists, unlike regular territorials,
would train for an initial three months and
afterwards attend a yearly ten-day camp dur-
ing the term of their three-year enlistment.
In the event of war breaking out, these
fortress troops would be mobilised immedi-
ately. A fresh examination of the coastal
defences by the Chiefs-of-Staff Committee
regarded an attack on home soil by the
Japanese as ‘highly improbable’. Moreover,
Fortress Singapore was deemed ‘secure’.
Reiterating earlier assessments, the commit-
The guns have gone but their emplace-
ments remain following restoration by
the Godley Head Heritage Trust in 2009.
in New Zealand and the largest urban area on South Island. The
Godley Head battery formed part of the Lyttelton Fortress area.
When war broke out in September 1939, construction of the main gun position was
still waiting to get started. As an emergency stop-gap, two carriage-mounted Mark III
60-pounder First World War field guns were quickly moved to the site on September
9 and set up on simple concrete pads several hundred yards north of the intended
main battery position. The 30 gunners manning them initially cooked and ate in
trenches, the wind at times being so strong that it literally blew the food from their
plates! As the area was then still devoid of buildings except for the lighthouse and
keeper’s cottage, they lived in tents until proper barracks became available in mid-
1940. Godley Battery, the main gun site built later, was in front of the trees visible on
the ridge line in the distance.
3
ATB
DES SMITH COLLECTION
GOOGLE EARTH
tee found that the main danger to New
Zealand was either an attack by enemy cruis-
ers, submarines and motor torpedo boats;
limited strikes by carrier-based aircraft, or an
amphibious raid by small landing parties. A
subsequent warning by Wing Commander
the Hon. Ralph Cochrane, RAF, that any
enemy attack would most likely be seaborne
was followed by Cabinet consensus in
December 1938 to establish a 6-inch counter-
bombardment battery at Godley Head.
With Europe edging toward hostilities, a
new assessment of the strategic importance
of the Pacific was held in Wellington in April
1939. In recognising the possibility of a local
conflict in concert with war in Europe, which
would naturally obstruct any assistance from
Britain, the review recommended the bol-
stering of New Zealand’s home defences. In
the meantime a public tender for the con-
struction of defensive works on Godley
Head — two 6-inch gun emplacements, two
battery observation posts, a plotting room
and ancillary facilities — had closed. Con-
struction of the gun pits, originally intended
to begin in July 1939, was delayed, however,
by a combination of bad weather and the pri-
ority given to other military projects follow-
ing New Zealand’s declaration of war against
Germany on September 3, 1939.
FORTIFYING GODLEY HEAD
The outbreak of war added importance to
the fortification of Godley Head, though
work on the gun pits was further interrupted
by the unavailability of the two 6-inch Mark
XXIV guns originally assigned to the cliff-
top fortress. For a short time the ‘defended
port’ of Lyttelton was protected by the single
4-inch examination battery inside the har-
bour at Battery Point. A dummy battery
comprising two telegraph poles under a tar-
paulin was briefly ‘operational’ until blustery
weather exposed the deception. To compen-
sate for the lack of available artillery, two
Mark III 60-pounder field guns, accompa-
nied by 30 gunners of the Territorial Force
Special Reserve, 23rd Heavy Battery, New
Zealand Artillery (NZA), were rushed from
Trentham Camp near Wellington on North
Island on September 9. The First World War
vintage guns were immediately set up on
concrete pads as an interim measure ‘for use
seawards by day to prevent hostile vessels
bombarding from anchor in the vicinity of
the harbour’. The 60-pounder battery was
known as the 17th Heavy Battery (Godley
Head), 11th Heavy (Coast) Regiment, until
June 1941 when the first 6-inch guns were
brought into service.
Godley Head’s two battery observations
posts (BOPs) — No. 1 at 784 feet above sea
level, No. 2 adjacent to the guns on top of the
300-foot cliff –, a miniature range, plotting
room and engine room were completed by
the end of 1940. A decision by the Royal
New Zealand Navy not to reconfigure a sec-
ond armed merchant cruiser released two 6-
inch Mark VII naval guns for use as coastal
In January 1941, work was begun on a temporary 6-inch gun battery on the headlands
south-east of Taylor’s Mistake, directly behind and to the sides of the existing 60-pounder
sites, as an interim measure till the main 6-inch battery was completed on the lighthouse
site. Named Taylor Battery, it comprised two ex-naval breach-loading 6-inch Mark VII
guns on PIII pivot mountings in reinforced-concrete barbette (literally, over the edge)
positions. To transport the heavy gun barrels from Lyttelton Port to the battery site, the
Army had to call in the help of nearby RNZAF Station Wigram which provided their
specialised aircraft-moving vehicle to do the job. Being only a temporary facility, the bat-
tery had neither engine room nor magazine. Ready-use lockers were built into the rear of
each gun platform, reserve ammunition and cartridges being stored under canvas
nearby. A basic battery observation post was set up between and to the rear of the two
guns. The guns were later provided with three-quarter (i.e. open to the rear) steel-plate
turrets. The battery was operational for only six months — from July until December
1941 — being closed down when the first of the Mark XXIV guns came into service.
Today only the emplacements remain. When the site was closed down, the Mark VII
guns were dismounted (they reportedly went to the Bay of Islands). Some time later
the Army made an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the northernmost gun platform.
The last of the site’s buildings were removed in 1984.
artillery in late 1940. Authorisation was
granted the following January for their
installation in a temporary battery, known as
Taylor Battery due to its proximity to neigh-
bouring Taylor’s Mistake. In the interim,
construction had begun on two more
emplacements several hundred yards to the
south-east for the long-anticipated Mark
XXIV guns. The two long-serving 60-
pounders were finally relieved in July 1941
when Taylor Battery’s 6-inch guns became
operational. A month earlier battery regi-
mental headquarters had moved to Godley
Head, the battery redesignated as the 87th
Heavy Battery. Later, in August 1941, it
became the 80th Heavy Battery.
Left:
The army also built a number of pill-
boxes on the slope overlooking Taylor’s
Mistake. Each one mounted a Lewis
machine gun.
ATB
4
ATB
DOC CHRISTCHURCH
DOC CHRISTCHURCH
Left:
The camp, which could accommodate 400 persons, com-
prised 91 buildings, including barracks, quartermaster’s store,
kitchen, laundry, ablution block, messes and medical post. This is
the view looking towards the hill.
Right:
The Godley Head
Heritage Trust is working to turn the former regimental head-
quarters/quartermaster’s store (left) into a museum.
5
PETER WILKINS
ATB
Above:
A camp to house the personnel
was established 450 yards behind the
headland. Construction began in July
1939. Three permanent buildings — the
Officers’ Mess, Sergeants/Other Ranks
Mess and the regimental office/quarter-
master’s store — were completed in per-
manent materials but war shortages
forced the construction of the remaining
barracks and facilities in wood. Later on,
the influx of WAAC personnel and fortress
troops required many additional build-
ings. The water supply for the camp
posed a major problem for in spite of
sinking several bore holes, no natural
source could be found on the Head. A
supply was eventually obtained from the
reservoir at Taylor’s Mistake, an addi-
tional 455,000-litre reservoir being estab-
lished at Black Rock and one of 136,500
litres at Lyons Main. This is the view of
the camp looking out towards the sea.
Right:
The three permanent buildings and
the Medical Inspection Room (the only
wartime wooden building to survive) and
the parking lot are all that remain.
DOC CHRISTCHURCH

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin