More French colonies join the Allies: Admiral Darlan, American-appointed "High Commissioner" of Morocco & Algeria, has negotiated peaceful surrender of French West Africa, transferring huge swath of colonial territory from Nazi-aligned Vichy government. https://t.co/JMY4FtHm69
Winston Churchill: "I sympathise with General von Thoma: defeat, humiliation, annihilation and, worst of all... dinner with General Montgomery." https://t.co/GuGDXhZ1ZV
Celebrating Allied victory in Egypt, Gen. Montgomery invites to dinner German General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, commander of the Afrikakorps- captured after Axis collapse in El Alamein. https://t.co/8IMdOeSvbk
British "Operation Freshman", glider-borne commando mission attempting to blow up a hydroelectric plant in Nazi-occupied Norway, has ended in disaster. Both gliders crashed & badly injured surviving troops have been captured by Germans. https://t.co/dG0abbyXi3
Red Army encirclement has stranded 250,000 German, Romanian, & allied Russian troops in frozen territory around Stalingrad. https://t.co/NhawcYPJkc
Soviet soldiers embrace as two wings of the Red Army meet south of Stalingrad: pincers of Operation Uranus have closed, trapping German Sixth Army in the ruins of the city. https://t.co/JLnPDoz8ot
German High Command are horrified by huge Soviet assault around Stalingrad- after months of believing Red Army to be on its last legs. https://t.co/3Pq0ensKxB
Southern assault of Operation Uranus has begun: 500,000 Red Army men are sweeping around Stalingrad, smashing into Axis flanks north & south of the city. New York Times map shows the battlelines: https://t.co/sgYzGG8eeI
British troops are invading Benghazi: chasing German Army as it flees from Egypt, Allies now capture key Libyan port. https://t.co/yDEv0zz0ME
Soviets have deployed 900 new T-34 tanks into the Uranus assault. In last week, Germans have sent hundreds of Luftwaffe bombers west, to face Allied forces landing in North Africa. https://t.co/nCxfQ4Y29U
Romanian troops, guarding Axis flanks near Stalingrad, are desperately overstretched- easy prey for the Red Army's onslaught. https://t.co/G176zju97v
Red Army are launching Operation Uranus, a huge new offensive: colossal 500,000-man pincer movement to smash into German rear & strand the 6th Army in Stalingrad. https://t.co/A2Ho1AyDVK
The Site
The surface surrounding the bunker has changed considerably since the War. One of the major changes was the dismantling of the many Nissen Huts and water tanks that existed in the early 1940’s. The other was the erection of the DSS buildings in 1948 to house offices of the fledgling National Health Service.
The area actually on top did used to contain many shrubs and trees (as can be seen from the map) though today it is just grassed over. There is still some greenery that exists on the south side around the concrete mast plinths.
The bunker had two main entrances/exits, on the west and east side for obvious reasons (in case of attack, fire etc.).
The map below shows the site in 1948, as it was at the time.
There was also a generator hut with surrounding blast wall (not shown on map). It could be found at the west side of the compound, close to Ponteland Road just inside the fence.
FollowOne Response to The Site
- Dropped in to the bunker today for a routine dehumidifier check. All working well and bunker pretty dry now. Had a… https://t.co/QmRmX6v1Ra
- Not posted for a while - been busy elsewhere - found some interesting booklets though. Will, hopefully end up on di… https://t.co/GkOFdiHyOO
- Found another section of the Ejector room door skin and scraped the wimpey dark green off to reveal more original l… https://t.co/Ft7AoQXEWc
- Popped in this Sunday to check the dehumidifiers and decided to have a quick look at the pile of rubbish in the to… https://t.co/NCT130O8jr
- Another Sunday another clean up session and a bit of door sliding. Once again the Vacmaster donated by… https://t.co/giF5OZfChn
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