TWENTIETH CENTURY DEFENCE SITES of TYNE and WEAR

Section 3 The Second World War
Anti-tank blocks (Fig 5)
The most common anti-tank blocks were
concrete cubes, with sides of either 3 feet 6
inches or 5 feet. Other designs included
“coffins”, pyramidal “pimples” and cylinders.
They were designed to stop the progress of
a tank, often in conjunction with pillboxes,
traps, or other defences, so that the
stationary tank was in the field of fire of antitank
weapons. Should that tank attempt to
mount the obstacle, it would expose the
unarmoured underside of the chassis (Lowry
1996, 85-7).
59 Tynemouth, Priory Haven,
Anti-Tank Block (HER 4654)
Priory Haven is a sheltered, sandy bay, lying
between the guns of Spanish Battery and
Tynemouth Castle, making it a prime
strategic target for any seaborne invasion of
the North East. To defend against this
perceived threat, a single line of anti-tank
blocks was constructed across the Haven in
1940 or ’41. The anti-tank blocks have now
been destroyed, but can be made out on a
slightly blurred 1941 RAF aerial photograph,
seen as a line of black cubes stretching
across the bay (Defence of Britain Project
S0007105).
Anti tank ditches
Built to a range of standard specifications, in
profile they were either V-shaped, squaresided
or asymmetrical. They were designed
to trap the tank and had steep un-climbable
vertical faces. Standard dimensions were laid
down – for example the V-shaped variant
was 5.49m wide and 3.35m deep. Almost all
of these ephemeral features have been
backfilled, but they may show on aerial
photographs (Lowry 1996, 87), quite possibly
being mistaken for prehistoric features if
encountered on archaeological sites lacking
datable finds!
51
Glider obstructions (Fig 5)
It was assumed that in the event of an
invasion there would be landings by
parachute, gliders or sea-planes. Thus
obstructions were put in place on sites
deemed suitable for landing. The process of
protecting Britain against aircraft landing
began in May 1940, when various different
types of obstructions, including wrecked cars
from scrapyards and old ploughs, were
placed in open fields near to vulnerable
points, such as ports and airfields. It was
hoped that this would prevent airborne forces
landing right next to strategically important
areas. However, the obstructions were not
intended to completely destroy any aircraft
that attempted to land: this would require
such a huge expenditure of manpower that it
would be totally impractical. Instead, the
emphasis was placed on constructing
obstacles that would discourage planes from
landing in the first place, or, if they did try to,
would prevent them from ever taking off
again. It was thought unlikely that the
Germans had a sufficiently large force of
single-use gliders to carry a whole army to
Britain, meaning that they would have to rely
on motorised transport aircraft making
repeated journeys. If obstructions could
prevent these planes from taking off again
after they had landed, it would greatly restrict
the number of troops that could be deployed
as part of an airborne invasion. Aircraft
trench and mound obstructions were typically
3 feet deep trenches with a mound of spoil
either side. The aircraft would topple or pivot
on the mounds, and fell into the trenches.
(Lowry 1996 and Ripley and Pears 1994-
2006)
58 Ryton Willows, Glider
Obstructions (HER 1904)
During World War Two, two parallel rows of
earthworks were dug running north- south in
a field in Ryton Willows, designed to prevent
enemy aircraft from using it as a landing