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Monument details
| HER Number: | 1477739 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of a Second World War light anti aircraft (Diver) battery on the coast at Littlestone on Sea |
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Summary
Site of a Second World War light anti aircraft (Diver) battery on the coast at Littlestone on Sea. It formed part of the Littlestone Section of 43 Anti Aircraft Brigade Light Anti Aircraft Artillery. Earthworks which may have formed the anti-aircraft battery were visible on vertical aerial photographs of 1946 just to the south of the current Lifeboat Station. These features, along with a further possible gun emplacement, were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.
| Grid Reference: | TR 0830 2370 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR02SE |
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| Parish: | NEW ROMNEY, SHEPWAY, KENT |
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Monument Types
Full description
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Site of a Second World War light anti aircraft (Diver) battery on the coast at Littlestone on Sea. This was armed with
40mm guns, and was manned by 2886 RAF Regiment when it was deployed here on 17th July 1944. It formed part of
the Littlestone Section of 43 Anti Aircraft Brigade Light Anti Aircraft Artillery (1).
The earthworks which may be the remains of the Second World War anti-aircraft gun emplacement mentioned in the documentary sources (1) are centred at TR 0827 2363 and extend across an area measuring approximately 49m SSW to NNE, and eight metres WNW to ESE. The possible battery remains consist of five earthwork mounds which may have been the sites of the gun emplacements. The southernmost two mounds have hollows or dips in the centre of them. The mounds measure between four and eight metres across.
A possible weapons pit, or further possible anti-aircraft gun emplacement is also visible on the 1946 photographs, just to the east of the line of mounds. It is centred at TR 0830 2364 and measures approximately 12x10m. None of these earthworks are visible on the vertical aerial photographs of 1943, which correlates with the documentary source mentioned above (1), which states the battery was established in 1944.
By the time of vertical aerial photographs of 2007, this site had been developed as part of the lifeboat station, so no traces of the former anti-aircraft gun emplacement can now be seen on aerial photographs (2-4).
<1> Dobinson, C., Operation Diver : England's Defence Against the Flying Bomb, June 1944-March 1945, pp 213 (Monograph). SWX23707.
<2> Vertical aerial photograph reference number (Unspecified Type). SWX23897.
<3> 1946, NMR CPE/UK/1752 4002-3 21-SEPT-1946 (Photograph). SWX23760.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | <1> | Monograph: Dobinson, C.. Operation Diver : England's Defence Against the Flying Bomb, June 1944-March 1945. pp 213. |
| <2> | (No record type): Vertical aerial photograph reference number. |
| <3> | Photograph: 1946. NMR CPE/UK/1752 4002-3 21-SEPT-1946. |
