Slades Hill army camp was a Second World War British Army camp and anti-aircraft battery in Slades Hill, Enfield, London, that formed part of London's defences against attack by German bombers.
Slades Hill army camp was a Second World War British Army camp and anti-aircraft battery in Slades Hill, Enfield, London, that formed part of London's defences against attack by German bombers.
The camp and gun emplacement was established at the start of the Second World War in Slades Hill, Enfield. A half-battery of 3.7-inch mobile guns had previously been temporarily sited nearby during the Munich Crisis of 1938. [2] The road to the camp from Enfield Road, previously a track, was made into a permanent way and is now known locally as Camp Road. [3] The Merryhills Brook crosses Camp Road and Salmon's Brook runs along the eastern side of the site. To the south of the camp was the 26th Enfield Rifle and Pistol Club, which still exists, and which dates from the Boer War. [4]
The anti-aircraft battery was on the adjacent Hog Hill, just north of the camp. It had four QF 4.5-inch Mark II anti-aircraft guns that were adapted from the naval gun of the same gauge [2] and approved for land use in 1938. They were set in concrete emplacements and formed part of the defences of London against attack by German bombers. The report from the guns was said to be so loud that when they were in action the main doors of nearby Chase Farm Hospital were blasted open. [5]
In 1941, Winston Churchill's daughter Mary, who had enlisted in the Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Army, was posted to the battery before she was transferred to a different one in Hyde Park. [2] [6]
After the war, the camp was converted to an army records office. It closed in the early 1960s; later, much of the site was covered in spoil from local road-building. [2]
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The Auxiliary Territorial Service was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 February 1949, when it was merged into the Women's Royal Army Corps.
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51st (London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment was a volunteer air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army from 1922 until 1955. During World War II it served in Norway, The Blitz, North Africa, and finally in Italy until the end of the war in Europe, by which time a proportion of the regiment's personnel were African soldiers, and the guns were engaging ground targets rather than aircraft.
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The 89th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) raised in Kent just before the outbreak of World War II. It served during the Battle of Britain and defended the Suez Canal while batteries served in the Battle of Crete and the Siege of Tobruk. The regiment then fought through the North African and Italian campaigns.
The Lithgow Heavy Anti Aircraft Gun Stations and Dummy Station is a heritage-listed former gun emplacements, anti aircraft gun batteries and dummy batteries and now disused railway signal box located via Kirkley Street, Bowenfels, City of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1941 to 1942 by Water Conservation & Irrigation Commission, Defence. It is also known as Lithgow Anti Aircraft Gun Emplacements and Heavy Anti Aircraft guns 3.7 inch anti aircraft guns. The property is owned by Lithgow City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 August 2011.
Scaur Hill Fort, also called Scaur Hill Lines and Somerset Lines, is a fortified position erected in the 1870s at Scaur Hill, on Somerset Island, in Sandys Parish, the westernmost parish of the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda.
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Station 385 is a heritage-listed former anti-aircraft defence and gun emplacement at 50 Pritchard Street, Lytton, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1943 by the Allied Works Council. It is also known as Lytton Heavy Anti-Aircraft battery emplacement and Gun Station 385. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 June 2019.
