3 days ago
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.
