"Firing into the Brown" #102 - D-Day, Gosport Advanced Lines photo'd by the Luftwaffe (!) and stuff...

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another (long over due) update..

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It ill behoves me on todays very special date not to make mention of what will be the 82nd Anniversary of Operation Neptune, or what is better known as D-Day

Commandos of HQ 4th Special Service Brigade, coming ashore from LCI(S) landing craft on Nan Red beach, Juno area, at St Aubin-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944. Image: IWM (B 5218)

Time to remember all those brave men and women who went ashore, aided those going ashore, flew over to protect, and landed from above on that day.. what a generation...

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Something popped up on a  Farcebook feed today, and as is the way of maps and aerial pictures got my interest levels up far higher than any average normal persons would have been..  😁

So you may remember my visits to Bastion #1 [clicky] and a couple of years ago to Battery #2 [clicky] at Stokes Bay, and that certainly after the visit to Bastion #1 I expressed an interest in tracing some of the Gosport Lines. That should be Lines plural of course, as the original lines, or fortifications, that Bastion #1 was part of, were then superseded by the Advanced Lines ('advanced' because they were further out from what they were built to protect due to advances in the artillery technology of the time) Battery #2 could be considered part of. the advanced lines..

So what was it that popped up on Farcebook?? This.. 

...which comes comes courtesy of the Luftwaffe (😐) and was taken in September 1943 apparently. It is one, a stupendously clear and informative picture, and two, shows in crystal clarity the five major forts that formed the western facing Gosport Advanced Lines, way before the population and building density ramped up to current levels..

This is them today.. I've labelled them for clarity.. note the effects of 80 odd years of humans breeding and building! 😁

West at top - Solent on the left..

The forts run north to south (with Battery #2 being furthest south).. Forts Elson, Grange, and Rowner are all situated within MoD establishments so are only open to the public rarely*. Gomer was demolished in 1964 and a housing estate was built on it. 

This next one is again courtesy of the Luftwaffe and taken in September '42 - it was a lovely day, clearly.. Forts Gomer (bottom), Grange and Rowner are clear, and what I think is a tree lined road running behind them..

Finally, this picture dates from just after WW2 - note the runways between Grange and Rowner, I suspect we'll come back to them at some point.. 😏

*Fingers crossed there may be an opportunity to visit Forts Grange and Rowner with the Palmerston Forts Society in August..

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Laters, as the young people are want to say... and the Remuda game will appear at some time!