The Best Attractions In Choppington

WW2 TOP SECRET AUXILIARY UNIT OPERATIONAL BUNKER Nr DOVER

Deep in a woodland in Kent lays a forgotten relic of the past.

A Dover Auxiliary Unit Operational bunker was used during the Second World War as part of Britain’s secret resistance and underground fighting force.

These units were designed to spring into action should Hitler’s forces make it to the UK. Secret bunkers, observation posts and wireless stations were built inland from the coast.

The idea was that after an invasion the unit's members would lie hidden for 5 days and then appear and bring havoc to the invading army by sabotaging transport links and setting booby traps etc. In reality, it was thought that such units would only have a 10-day life expectancy.

The Patrol consisted of 8 known members:

Sergeant George Marsh.
Samuel Osborne.
Thomas Holmans.
Charles Fayer.
Dennis Dewar.

All of the men where from the local area.

Training took place every Sunday at Tappington Hall near Denton, and personal equipment included a .38 revolver, rubber truncheon, knuckledusters and a fighting knife where used.

The patrol had no particular targets should an attack occur, but it was thought that Hockley Sole, a large house at Standen in the Alkham Valley would have been favoured as a base by the German army and should, therefore, be destroyed.

The Bunker was built by Canadian engineers and had a corrugated iron roofed chamber. A tree stump was bolted onto a manhole cover which was hinged to allow access down an 8ft deep concrete shaft which then led to a chamber built into the hillside. An escape tunnel led to a Nissan hut 3ft off the ground.

The bunker had to remain an absolute secret which wasn’t easy even in the middle of the countryside as poachers frequented the woods and would spot regularly used paths or disturbance in the undergrowth.

Unfortunately, a local lady who lived at the bottom of the track very nearly happened upon the base one day while walking her dog. A Patrol member managed to divert her away, but it was suggested that if Hitler’s army did invade, then she would have to be done away with.

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