The Forton ATI is part of the Taunton stopline defences.
Info and History
“A World War 2 anti-invasion stop line, facing west, built between July and November 1940.
The stop line runs for approximately 50 miles from the mouth of River Brue to the mouth of the River Axe in Devon (with some infrastructure in Dorset). Some rear positions were prepared to the E of line. It connected to the ‘GHQ Line Green’ running East along River Brue.
The line followed the River Parrett to Bridgwater where it joined the Bridgwater to Taunton Canal. From Creech St Michael it followed the old Chard Canal until SW of Ilton where it joined the Great Western Railway. The line left the GWR to the north of Chard Junction from where it followed the Southern Railway and River Axe running south into Devon.
The planned infrastructure (most of which was built) included 233 pillboxes, 61 medium machine gun emplacements, 21 anti-tank gun emplacements, 83 road blocks, 22 railway blocks and 46 demolitions.
The anti-tank obstacle consisted of about 24 miles of waterways, 7 miles of improved water obstacles, 11 miles of anti-tank ditches and 8 miles of artificial obstacles (eg cubes).
From autumn 1940, twelve locations were prepared for all-round defence as ‘anti-tank islands’ of which 9 were in Somerset - Bridgwater, Durston, Creech St Michael, Wrantage and Crimson Hill, Ilton, Ilminster, Chard, Forton and Perry Street.”
The defences in this report are some of the ones which form the south west corner of the ATI. The headings contain the original 1940 serial numbers for each PB along with its type. DOB numbers are also given for reference where available. A GE map shot of the area is shown below.
T RD B 26 – S0000303 – Roadblock
AT cubes are all that remain of this roadblock. T 113 overlooks it.
T 112 – S0000302 – Type 24 PB, modified
This PB is the thick walled type and has one embrasure modified for MMG. Another interesting feature is the two grooves in front of the LMG embrasures probably for locating a Bren bipod.
T 113 – S0000301 – Type 24 PB, modified
This has exactly the same internal detail as T 112 and the boxes are in sight of each other. This one covers the roadblock.
M 25 – Type 24 PB
Not strictly part of the Forton ATI as it covers the now dismantled Forton rail bridge and has a TSL designation. Given that the stoplines and ATI’s merged top and tail so to speak, I’ve included it here. Interestingly it has the wind driven pump on top which is attributed to another nearby pillbox on the DOB database. Cptpies will not be surprised to note another possible error on the original database unless they both have wind pumps of course.
There is another roadblock shown, M RD 44, on the original records however there is no evidence of its remains that I could find.
That’s it for now, thanks for taking the time to look in.
Info and History
“A World War 2 anti-invasion stop line, facing west, built between July and November 1940.
The stop line runs for approximately 50 miles from the mouth of River Brue to the mouth of the River Axe in Devon (with some infrastructure in Dorset). Some rear positions were prepared to the E of line. It connected to the ‘GHQ Line Green’ running East along River Brue.
The line followed the River Parrett to Bridgwater where it joined the Bridgwater to Taunton Canal. From Creech St Michael it followed the old Chard Canal until SW of Ilton where it joined the Great Western Railway. The line left the GWR to the north of Chard Junction from where it followed the Southern Railway and River Axe running south into Devon.
The planned infrastructure (most of which was built) included 233 pillboxes, 61 medium machine gun emplacements, 21 anti-tank gun emplacements, 83 road blocks, 22 railway blocks and 46 demolitions.
The anti-tank obstacle consisted of about 24 miles of waterways, 7 miles of improved water obstacles, 11 miles of anti-tank ditches and 8 miles of artificial obstacles (eg cubes).
From autumn 1940, twelve locations were prepared for all-round defence as ‘anti-tank islands’ of which 9 were in Somerset - Bridgwater, Durston, Creech St Michael, Wrantage and Crimson Hill, Ilton, Ilminster, Chard, Forton and Perry Street.”
The defences in this report are some of the ones which form the south west corner of the ATI. The headings contain the original 1940 serial numbers for each PB along with its type. DOB numbers are also given for reference where available. A GE map shot of the area is shown below.
T RD B 26 – S0000303 – Roadblock
AT cubes are all that remain of this roadblock. T 113 overlooks it.
T 112 – S0000302 – Type 24 PB, modified
This PB is the thick walled type and has one embrasure modified for MMG. Another interesting feature is the two grooves in front of the LMG embrasures probably for locating a Bren bipod.
T 113 – S0000301 – Type 24 PB, modified
This has exactly the same internal detail as T 112 and the boxes are in sight of each other. This one covers the roadblock.
M 25 – Type 24 PB
Not strictly part of the Forton ATI as it covers the now dismantled Forton rail bridge and has a TSL designation. Given that the stoplines and ATI’s merged top and tail so to speak, I’ve included it here. Interestingly it has the wind driven pump on top which is attributed to another nearby pillbox on the DOB database. Cptpies will not be surprised to note another possible error on the original database unless they both have wind pumps of course.
There is another roadblock shown, M RD 44, on the original records however there is no evidence of its remains that I could find.
That’s it for now, thanks for taking the time to look in.
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