UG - WW2 Radio Station, Portsmouth

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Bunker Bill

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Tied this visit in with the Coopers shelter which is nearby.

Underground WW2 Radio Station built in conection with the D - day Invasion, this was connected by cable to the Fort above.

This is a great place with a main entrance going in about160, ' going through a l/h turn and then down a set of stairs to another level, with what was once a Radio room, the tunnel caries on through another room on to the escape exit.
Lots of interesting things including the remains of the old power cable coming through the ceiling, The Scull carving on the wall, a nook where another lot of cables came through.
The tunnels are part chalk wall and part Steel reinforced, some of the floors are concrete.
Bit of a slipery climb.

The entrances are 30-40 above ground level now due to excavations in the Quarry, i believe the chalk was used for the then new Motorway construction.

Some History.
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During the construction of the Underground Headquarters (UGHQ) under Fort Southwick which acted as the nerve centre for operation Overlord (invasion of Europe), the Army tunnelled into the face of the Paulsgrove chalk pit and built a secure radio station. The purpose of this facility was to act as a transmitting / receiving station for the UGHQ. The idea was to keep the highly visible aerial arrays well away from the UGHQ in case they attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe. The reason why the actual Radio Station as well as the aerial masts were positioned together was to keep the length of the transmission cable to a minimum thus preserving its efficiency. The distance between Fort Southwick and the Radio Station to the east, is half a mile, and the two would have been linked by secure communications lines.



plan pic from the net

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Main entrance.

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The Paulsgrove Skull :icon_evil

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Armoured cable coming through the ceiling.

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Cut out where cables came through.

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Last edited:
Very nice find and interesting history, Bill. What's the story about the 'skull'? Is it just a random image through deterioration, or something else?
Cheers. :)
 

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