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North Wales Live
a day ago
- North Wales Live
The 'dragon's teeth' and 'pillboxes' that dot North Wales and why they were put there
North Wales is full of landmarks and historic sites - with as much heritage per square mile as any part of Europe. Some tower over towns like the castles of Edward I or dominate their surroundings like the famous mansion homes of the former lords of the manor. Their histories are well known but there are other smaller slabs of the past that lurk on the coast and the mountain passes of Eryri, which many would not notice. Or even if they do they may not know why they are there. These remains of "dragons' teeth" anti-tank devices, pillboxes (concrete dug-in guard-posts), spigot mortar mounts (bases with a central spigot designed to hold am anti-tank spigot mortar) and even sniper posts give an insight into the very real threat of invasion in the 1940s as German tanks rolled across the continent. In May 1940, while tens of thousands of British, French, Belgian and Dutch troops continued to be plucked off the beaches of Dunkirk by the Royal and Merchant Navies, new Commander in Chief of Home Forces, General Ironside, issued orders to commence the building of anti-invasion defences. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox The obvious invasion route was a short hop across the English Channel but Britain had to be prepared for all eventualities - including the Germans using neutral Eire as a stepping stone to invade from the west. In north west Wales stop-lines were hastily constructed in the spring and summer of 1940. While people may associate these with the obvious coastal weak points, the lines also included parts of Eryri and places like the Sychnant Pass near Conwy. The Home Front Museum in Llandudno said: "General Ironside chose to defend the country by using a series of 'stop-lines' - defensive lines using natural obstacles and geographical features coupled with pill-boxes, anti-tank barriers, trenches, minefields and barbed wire to hold up the advancing enemy. "The actual direction of enemy attack was of course unknown and while the short 'hop' across the Channel might be the most obvious, it was important that the military prepared for every eventuality. "One possible direction of attack was from the west, from neutral Ireland. In fact, Hitler and his Generals twice considered attacking Britain from this direction which they codenamed Operation Green. In north west Wales stop-lines were hastily constructed in the spring and summer of 1940. "One took a line roughly from Bangor, down the Ogwen Valley to Capel Curig and then to Pen-y-Gwryd and onto Porthmadog. While the second was a larger arc that ran from Fairbourne near Dolgellau in the south to Llandudno on the north coast. "A third defensive line ran from Aberdyfi to Prestatyn. There is still much evidence of WW2 defences in north west Wales including 'dragons' teeth' anti-tank devices, pillboxes, spigot mortar mounts and even sniper posts. "On the Dwygyfylchi side of the Sychnant Pass there is still an anti-tank wall and the base of an anti-tank block while here in Llandudno the pillboxes at West Shore and Penrhyn Bay may have gone, but there are still loopholes (strategically placed openings in walls or fortifications, designed for firing weapons) in the walls of Maesdu Golf Club and the former Gogarth Abbey Hotel. "In the Nant Ffrancon, Ogwen Valley and Pen-y-pass areas of Snowdonia (Eryri) evidence of fortifications are still visible today. Anti-tank blocks were built of local stone at the head of the Nant Ffrancon while various spigot mortar emplacements can be found around Ogwen Cottage and Nant Peris. "A number of pill-boxes are also evident in the Ogwen Valley and around the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel." Thankfully due to the success of the Battle of Britain in the skies and Hitler turning his attention to the East the invasion never came. But many of those defences still mark the landscape - a reminder of a time when the future of the United Kingdom was under threat.
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Scotsman
07-05-2025
- General
- Scotsman
VE Day: The Nazi attack on Scotland feared by army commanders
Preparations were made in Scotland for the feared Nazi invasion of Operation Sealion. Sign up to our History and Heritage newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Military top brass feared tens of thousands of German troops could be parachuted into Scotland ahead of a Nazi invasion of the British Isles. As the Battle of Britain raged across the south coast of England in August 1940, concerns were raised that Scotland would play a key part in the landing of the armed forces of the Third Reich should Britain lose air supremacy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hitler had already warned in July that he was preparing a landing operation in England after Britain rejected his final offer of a peace settlement following the fall of France and the Low countries that Spring. Scotland was already preparing its defences with the Home Forces mobilising volunteers on the coastline from all ports from Newhaven to Peterhead, including Aberdeen and Dundee. Fortification of the Shetland Isles began along with the deployment of troops following the invasion of Norway and Denmark in May 1940. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad By August, top secret briefings were drawn up about the possible approaches of a Nazi invasion, known as Operation Sealion. Scotland, it emerged in declassified documents, was feared to be included in the earliest stages of the plan. One paper presented to the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office warned enemy forces could capture RAF airfields at Dyce near Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, Lossiemouth, Kinloss, Leuchars, Montrose, Evanton near Invergordon ,Wick and six in Orkney and Shetland. The document dated August 6, was called 'German air-borne landings in northern Scotland with a view to the neutralisation of fleet bases as a preliminary to the invasion of England'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It claimed the Germans could 'land in Scotland 20,500 airborne troops during the first three days for the purpose of capturing and holding all the aerodromes north of the Tay'. It added: 'They could subsequently maintain and reinforce these troops by approximately 900 men per day, bringing the total number of airborne troops landed during the first week of operation to 24,000. 'If this is an essential first step in a German invasion of Great Britain, they would be prepared to employ all their resources to ensure that this first step was successful.' The document crossed the desk of General Alan Brooke, the commander-in-chief of Home Forces. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It stated that 440 parachutists could land on the outskirts of each of the aerodromes, some which may have suffered preliminary bombardment. The document added: 'After releasing their parachutists, transport aircraft would return to bases in Norway, Denmark and Holland to refuel and reload.' The paper claimed the attack could come 'at any moment' with the "most dangerous" time being from August until the end of September. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad General Brooke, in his assessment of the papers, said he did not have the troop numbers to offer wholesale cover of Scotland in light of a potential invasion. While ordering that the harbour at Lerwick should be secured, his preference was to concentrate numbers around the east coast of England in order to protect London. He wrote: 'It is not possible to send and maintain in the Shetlands a garrison which would be proof against a large-scale air and sea-borne operation and I have told the Commander-in-Chief, Scottish Command, that he is to make it a primary objective to secure and hold the port of Lerwick, without which the enemy would also find it difficult to maintain himself. 'The moral and psychological effect of a German occupation of the islands, which are separated by so short a distance from our main fleet anchorage, would be most unfortunate Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad General Brooke added: 'As regards the rest of Scotland, I have only a certain number of troops and I consider it preferable to maintain a preponderance in the East Anglian and the Home Counties for the defence of London.' By late September, the threat of invasion had diminished following the Battle of Britain. Germany's failure to overcome the RAF and take control of the English Channel, due largely to its lack of heavy bombers and failure to strike critically important targets, made invasion all but impossible.
