The author has written several publications that cover aspects of military history. These publications cover:
- Researching British Military History on the Internet – this is a book written in 2007.
- A history of Brixham Battery, Brixham, Devon
- A history of Torquay (Corbyn Head) Battery, Torquay, Devon
- A history of the Fixed Coastal Defenses at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Castle Battery and Brownstone Battery)
- A history of RAF Weston Zoyland, Somerset
- A history of RAF Harrowbeer, Plymouth, Devon
- A history of Hut 9 / Island Farm, Bridgend, Wales
Please note that the PO Box address (PO Box 356, Paignton, Devon, TQ3 1WZ) referred to in the documents below is no longer active.
Researching British Military History on the Internet – The British Army and the Armies of the Commonwealth, Empire and Dominions
This book was originally published in paper format and it listed many internet sites that were (are) useful when researching the British Army. It was printed in 2007 so some of the contents are now (2025) out of date but many of the sites listed are still valid.
It also has a list of British Army Regimental Museums and the units which they cover. This list is beneficial as it was not produced anywhere else at the time of original publication.
The text of the book below is “as sent to the printers” when it was originally published. Copies of the card (outer) covers are not included and the format is in A5 size as the book was in this format. That is why it is “double paged”.
Brixham Battery
There is some “debate” as to when the current site at Brixham was originally established for usage as an Artillery Battery. There are claims that the current site was originally built for defence against the Spanish Armada (1588) (See English Riviera Magazine Oct / Nov 2025 page 32). However, the author has not seen any source documents proving this. It is possible that any such defenses could relate to Berry Head, Brixham as this site was also used for coastal defence.
The author has seen documents (dated c. 1800-1810) that prove there were artillery based fortifications at Brixham, Devon, since the Napoleonic times. These documents / diagrams give a view from the seaward side. They are not very specific as to the Battery’s exact location but they do give a rough area / guide as to the location of the Battery at this time.
At one site within the Battery’s current grounds there are metal arcs (tracer rails) that were used during Victorian times for turning / rotating artillery guns. So usage in this era can also be proven.
What is known and can be proved is that during World War 2 an Emergency Battery was constructed there. As it is a local ex-military site to the author, he has written the document below on its history. This document principally concerns the Second World War period.
Brixham Battery worked closely with the Battery at Corbyn Head, Torquay and there was an accident at Torquay where one of the artillery guns malfunctioned and blew up. There were several casualties both killed and wounded from the Regular Army and the Home Guard. However, the information on the casualties in the appropriate War Diary is not crystal clear. The War Diary (WO166/15045) uses the term “DI Injured” for 2 Regular Army personnel implying that in total 3 Regular Army were killed [DI = Died of Injuries] and 2 seriously injured. Other sources say 1 Regular was killed and 2 injured.
The document below contains a diary of events relating to these Batteries and this Diary is not repeated in the Corbyn Head document. Hence, the discussion above regarding the causalities.
18 Coast Artillery Group was responsible for both Brixham and Torquay Batteries. This unit was created on 15 October 1940 (which post-dates the Battery arriving at Brixham) and was re-designated 556 Coast Regiment on 1 June 1941 (see WO166/1755). The HQ was at Brixham 25 November 1940 and moved to Totnes 28 December 1940 when 209 Infantry Brigade vacated their Totnes HQ.
The author is currently researching the Fixed Coastal Defenses at Dartmouth and surprisingly there is information in Dartmouth records relating to the Corbyn Head (Torquay) disaster.
Torquay (Corbyn Head) Battery
This Battery was a companion Coastal Artillery Battery to Brixham Battery during World War 2 and they worked very closely together. Torquay is also local to the author and this is the motivation behind this document.
It is strange that the original source documents for this Battery usually say that the Battery was situated on the landward side of the main Torquay to Paignton road but the battery’s guns were on the seaward side of the road. This document uses the former location as it is what the period (i.e. original source) documents use. However, the monument to the Corbyn Head disaster where several Home Guard and Regular Army personnel were killed is on the seaward side close to where the guns would have been. The reason for this difference is unknown and the Battery must have spanned across the road which then raises the question as to whether the road was diverted! Probably, the terminology may relate to the definition of where the Battery was – do you use the Battery Observation Post, the barracks, other structures, or the gun emplacements to define the location.
The reader is referred to the Brixham Battery document above as it has a Diary of Events concerning the Batteries at Torquay and Brixham. There is some discussion regarding the casualties of the Corbyn Head disaster (see above) and the author’s current research into the Fixed Coastal Defenses at Dartmouth is revealing aspects of the disaster that were not recorded in the records for Torquay and Brixham.
Fixed Coastal Defenses at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Castle Battery and Brownstone Battery)
The Regimental HQ for the Batteries at Brixham and Torquay was mainly stationed at Dartmouth. Also, the Army Plotting Room and the Naval Plotting Rooms which allocated targets / alerts etc. to Brixham and Torquay were located in Dartmouth – probably at the RN College.
There were two Batteries at Dartmouth. The first one to be used / constructed was at Dartmouth Castle and the second was at Brownstone (near Kingswear). Dartmouth Castle, Brixham and Torquay all used 4.7-inch guns whilst Brownstone used 6-inch guns.
RAF Station Weston Zoyland
Weston Zoyland was an RAF base from the early 1920s until the mid-1950s. It started life as a grass airfield used as a summer camp by the RAF during the 1920s and it matured during World War 2. It had several functions such as an Armaments Training Camp, a base to cover the south west coastline and it was used by the United States Army Air Force for the D-Day parachute landings in Northern France. After the war it was used by the RAF for work related to the Korean War and the atomic bomb tests (near Australia).
RAF Harrowbeer
RAF Harrowbeer was a World War 2 airfield outside Plymouth. It started as a satellite airfield during 1940/41 as the concept of satellite airfields was implemented during the Battle of Britain. Satellite airfields were airfields located reasonably close to a larger (Main) airfield. The concept was that the satellites could be used if the main larger airfield was under attack etc. The satellites usually had less facilities than the main airfields and they enabled dispersion of the aircraft and alternative runways that could be used if the main ones were damaged etc.
Hut 9 / Island Farm, Bridgend, Wales
In the late 1930s the British Government acknowledged that there may be a future war against Germany occurring in the next few years. The main Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) was located in Woolwich, London and this was deemed to be in easy range of enemy (German) bomber aircraft. Secondly, it was noted that a large upscaling in ordnance production would be necessary and that the factories should be geographically dispersed.
Bridgend was noted as it had good maritime and land transport access so plans were developed to create a large ROF in the locality. This factory became one of the largest employers in Wales and there was a need for housing the factories workers. Many of these workers were female and they were living away from their homes.
Island Farm Camp was then developed for accommodating the factory’s female workers but lots of them found that this accommodation was drab and dull. Many of these female workers preferred long commutes rather than staying at Island Farm Camp – causing the Camp to fall into disuse.
American troops started arriving in the UK around late 1943 / early 1944 ready for the D-Day invasion and naturally they had to be housed. This gave Island Farm Camp a new lease of life and as it was used by the US Army. They then moved out before the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 and the camp became empty again.
After the D-Day landings many Germans were being taken as Prisoners of War (PoWs). Also, the Italians had been surrendering en masse to the Allies so there was a need to house both nationalities. Thus, Island Farm Camp now became a Prisoner of War Camp but mainly for officers.
In early 1945 the German officers staged a mass breakout from the Camp by building a tunnel from Hut 9 to outside of the Camp’s perimeter. A significant number escaped (sources differ on the exact number) and this was the largest mass escape from a UK based PoW Camp.
This was not the only major “claim to fame” that the Camp had. After the war ended, the Camp housed around 100 very senior (nearly all German) officers until they were repatriated.
The local Council decided to have the Camp demolished in the 1980s as many of the buildings were aging. Only Hut 9, from which the escape happened, was kept and it is now preserved as a memorial. Thus the name “Hut 9” for the current site. The document below gives much more detail than this short summary.