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This #RemembranceSunday 
https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">, we& #39;re taking a look back at the wartime history of one of our reserves - @RSPBMinsmere https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">
#Thread #LoveMinsmere
#Thread #LoveMinsmere
Before we acquired Minsmere in 1947, the Suffolk coast was seen as a likely target for invasion and measures were put in place to defend it. Some are still visible & represent important archaeological features, while others helped to shape Minsmere& #39;s journey as an RSPB reserve.
At the start of the visitor trail, concrete foundations for Nissan huts are visible. These were accommodations for the personnel of a battery of 3.7 inch heavy anti-aircraft guns, installed to shoot down V1 flying bombs as part of the so-called Operation Diver.
In a ruse to hide defences from aerial observation, a pillbox was even constructed within the ruins of a medieval chapel - an important feature in its own right!
Minsmere was prominent in preparations during the 1940/41 invasion scare, too. Exercise Kruschen - an early exercise undertaken to devise a drill to overcome concrete defences on Hitler’s Atlantic Wall - took place in early 1943 on the heaths.
Close to the shore, to be seen at low tide, are the remains of the "Dragon& #39;s Teeth", a defence line comprising of long, sharp metal spikes & rolled barbed wire, designed to rip the bottoms out of German barges, preventing them from landing.
Further inland is the most obvious wartime archaeology at Minsmere - the "tank traps". This line of concrete blocks were cast in situ to prevent tanks from coming ashore; one bears an inscription, carved into the concrete - "Wimpey Defence Line 1940."
By the 20th Century the levels had been drained for agriculture, but were re-flooded during WWII for defence. This flooding was the 1st step in restoring biodiversity, & that ultimately led to the RSPB managing the site - in the same year avocets first bred at Minsmere.
