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108 D. C. Cowley, J. A. Guy, D. M. Henderson
The most spectacular structures on the range, however, are the remains of a
mock-up of the anti-invasion beach defences built by the German army along
the Atlantic seaboard of the Continent during WW II. This was one of a number
of other such practice works (Shepheard, 1994, Thomas, 1995) constructed
during 1943 as part of the intensive rehearsals for Allied D-Day landings. The
49th and the 52nd (Lowland) Divisions trained in the area in 1943-44, along
with the 1/4th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, based in Crieff. Mock-ups
of German coastal defences were also built near Muthill by the 294 Field
Company Royal Engineers. Operations related specifically to the breaching of
the defences were the remit of the Assault Engineers. If there was any
modification of the range during the Cold War it has not left much trace, and
the range is now dormant.
The WW II Practice Works
The elements of the site dating to WW II are described in detail below,
divided between defensive (i.e. German) and offensive (i.e. allied) positions
(Figure 2). The defensive positions lie to the east of the public road and
comprise a section of reinforced-concrete ‘Atlantic Wall’, fronted by an anti-tank
ditch, lying at the north-east end of the terrace, and a system of bunkers and
gun emplacements linked by trenches that extends over a distance of 600 m to
the south-west of the Wall. The system incorporates the trenches dug during
WW I. The offensive positions lie to the west of the road and mainly comprise
a series of gun emplacements and levelled platforms set out along a graded
access track. The depot where raw materials for the construction of the WW II
site were handled lies to the north (NN 8404 0406; beyond the top of Figure 2).
Practice works such as these required considerable intelligence information,
including aerial photography of actual German defences on the continent.
Thus, the Sheriffmuir area may be a model of a specific segment of known
beach, but it may also be a ‘composite’, drawn from a number of different
locations. The recollections of a Captain M. A. Philip (Brigade Signals Officer,
185 Bde 3 Div.) recorded in the Imperial War Museum Oral History Collection
provide a useful insight into the operation of the practice works.
“We began some Combined Operations exercises, pretty primitive at first, known as
‘dryshod-exercises’. A road or some other suitable landmark represented the coastline,
and if you were on one side of it you were technically afloat and on the other side on land
again. Men and vehicles were fed across the ‘coastline’ at specified intervals to represent
landing craft discharging their contents.”
This description has clear resonance on Sheriffmuir, the sinuous line of the
graded track to the west of the public road representing the shore, and the
ground shelving gently up towards the ‘Atlantic Wall’, a good approximation of
a beach.
Defensive Positions: The ‘Atlantic Wall’ and Tobruk Shelter
The ‘Atlantic Wall’, incongruous in its moorland setting, is a massive block of
reinforced concrete 86 m long and about 3 m in height. Just over half of the