German paratroopers have fought their way into Galatas town, pushing Allies out in a brutal house-by-house melee; "These New Zealanders fight like bulldogs!" https://t.co/yZTcz4Wkhs
Ever-stronger German forces on Crete are staging all-out assault on Galatas, a crucial Allied strongpoint; Luftwaffe have smashed New Zealanders' defenses. https://t.co/aSoMmvDQlA
Vast explosion: HMS Hood has been blown in two. Of 1,418 crew, there are just 3 survivors, Ted Briggs one of them. Battleship Bismarck has her first kill. https://t.co/siaIm5LwRw
HMS Hood's ammunition is on fire; Ted Briggs: "shrapnel has made the upper decks a charnel-house; screams of the maimed are a strident chorus." https://t.co/ctUJfDAg8m
HMS Hood opens fire- at the wrong ship, Bismarck's escort "Prince Eugen"; Bismarck retaliates: huge broadside at HMS Hood, smashing into British ship's weak deck armour. https://t.co/9DGjfvLfsu
Battlecruiser HMS Hood is the largest, heaviest warship in the world, & HMS Prince George is newly-commissioned battleship- so new she still has shipyard crew working below decks. https://t.co/iLexi0If3O
Two of the British warships hunting German battleship Bismarck has spotted their target off the coast of Iceland. HMS Hood & HMS Prince of Wales are moving in to attack. https://t.co/4Lkmb1NAD5
German advance in Crete finds scenes of slaughter; Luftwaffe officer Walter Gerick: "Dead parachutists hang in olive trees, swinging gently in breeze." https://t.co/S7D7GPhrlw
Luftwaffe are back in the skies over Crete, doing horrific damage to Royal Navy guarding island; two more Royal Navy destroyers, HMS Kelly & HMS Kashmir, sunk with 100s dead. https://t.co/dYu6i5nDhA
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
Leave a Reply
- 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
Great talk on this the other night. I worked in a Govt block on the site in the late 60s/early 70s and have always wondered what the odd buildings we could see from the windows were for. Rumours were that it was an RSG (Regional Seat of Government) and, though it wasn’t that, it was top secret and had a Cold War use so perhaps the rumours weren’t that far off. Fascinating and suprising that it survives. Many thanks.