Failed landing attempt on Britain 1940?

A lot of things about Shingle street, were probably, invented and exaggerated over a few pints and did not actually happen in 1940.

This is what my father has told me about, when he was at Shingle street, he cannot remember which year it was that he was there, but was probably 42 or 43 he was 17 or 18 at the time. (He was called up to Join the Army in Dec 1944 and left Jan 1948. Served in the R.E.M.E.) He was working for Earnest Doe of Essex. As a bulldozer/scraper driver and worked on the construction of several wartime Airfields in Norfolk and Suffolk, Shipdham and Woodbridge are two that he has talked most about.

Whist working at Shingle St and Boyton, (Building a tank training range) he lodged at 350 Foxhall Rd Ipswich and was taken to the site everyday by an ATS driver. He had to sign a document six pages long to say that he would not speak about what he was doing. (am assuming that this was the official secrets document) On the beach at Shingle St, he said there was a tower (Martello tower.) and two small buildings. He was instructed to dig a trench, starting near the tower and working towards the sea. This trench was to be 6 or 10 foot wide and 10 feet deep and about a 100yds long. This he did and when he went back to fill in /level the ground he saw that huge tanks had been placed in the trench with pipes running into the sea, was unsure whether the sides of the trench had concrete walls or not.

He also stated that while he was on that site, a truck would patrol the beach every morning and saw them bring bodies back, these bodies were in a bad state, so was not able to say who they were, but some were in uniform. (A lot of men of all branchs of service were lost at sea in the war years so it stands to reason that some must get washed onto beaches somewhere.)

Just so that those not privvy to the background aren’t left struggling to comprehend what is going on, there is an excellent account here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/dont_miss/codename/bodies_on_the_beach1.shtml

Which concludes

Although many legends have attached to Shingle Street in the past half-century, only the events detailed above can be established as fact.

Ultimately the story of Shingle Street is the story of two identical myths separated only by time. One, the more modern, bears witness to
the boundless credulity engendered by the media age.

A credulity amply demonstrated in the thread above.

Moggy

Hang on a mo… I’m sure I’ve seen a documentary on this, and it was quite good.

Can’t remember the title, but it had Micheal Caine, JR from Dallas, and Donald Sutherland in it.

Funny.

Apart from the story of something similar at Hastings there was also a tale about a supposed landing at Normans Bay (somebody else landed there once before a few years earlier!!) to capture radar technicians and equipment from nearby Pevensey RDF. Reports of hundreds dead. All complete tosh, of course. Funnily enough, stories of cover ups and missing files, too.

Again, very similar stories at Selsey Bill. Again, rubbish.

Yet again, stories of the “burning sea” defences being activated at several coastal locations in 1940 with the sea “….black with German dead”. I think it is mentioned in Richard Collier’s ‘Eagle Day’? Once again, the spectre of missing files and dead Germans buried secretly.

Sorry, but without evidence this is all just a silly urban myth and without that evidence I am afraid your story is a Turkey, Tarkey.

Very interesting to say the least, I hadnt heared this account before.

Look tarkey, why don’t we just put an end to this by you doing us the courtesy of answering a simple question.

Do you have actual evidence, not an anecdote, or hearsay, but physical evidence in the form of a report or such to prove that your ‘story’ of an incident at Shingle Street is true?

If so, please reveal it, otherwise, as stated previously, your belief is nought but a fairy tale.

Regards,

kev35

I don’t believe you or disbelieve you, because I don’t know what your secret is, so there is no way I can have an opinion without being told of your ‘secret’.

What a mouthful

Cheers

spitPRXIX

You can tell its the school holidays again can’t you…

Tarkey, tornado64, is there anybody else want to admit they’re not looking forward to big school in a few weeks?

There is no reason Grey Area, as you well know. tarkey’s bluff has been called.

Perhaps he was hoping for Andy Warhol’s promised 15 minutes of fame.

Pegards,

kev35

ok you believe what you want. What I said is what I believe, and with good reason. You are totally wrong about the loss of life and an invasion.
Its entirely up to you

I call shenanigans on this.

Why make claims in public that you are only prepared to substantiate in private?

Like I said its up to you, but you have to be sarcastic.

Its you decision

It’s not rocket science. If you want to tell someone tell us all, otherwise, don’t keep expecting people to believe something you are unwilling to provide proof of. Or are we expected to go looking for a tall, short man of medium height wearing a beige raincoat, sunglasses and a trilby who arrived at an as yet unspecified archive in a black helicopter and stole the only two files released on the mysterious incident that happened (or didn’t happen) at Shingle Street?

Regards,

kev35

ok you believe what you want. What I said is what I believe, and with good reason. You are totally wrong about the loss of life and an invasion.
Its entirely up to you

Tarkey

tarkey.

I know why you want me to PM you first, it’s because you want to swear me to secrecy over whatever you were going to divulge. That’s really not how it works. All that would do is help me to help you to perpetuate the myth. I won’t do that. But I’ve just realised that something you said is rather telling….

It was not an invasion but did involve Germans landing…..

……not in this case. something really happened with a large loss of life

A large loss of life involving whom?

But your first line really is the clincher isn’t it? Can we honestly be expected to believe that a landing by the Germans which was opposed and repulsed would not have been an almighty propaganda coup and boost to the morale of the British people? Churchill was a master, he would have milked every ounce of positive publicity possible and used the incident as a morale booster.

There is one huge difference between Slapton Sands and Shingle Street. There is evidence to prove Slapton Sands happened. I would suggest the onus is now on you, who is perpetuating that which you are not prepared to substantiate, to bring some evidence to the table.

Regards,

kev35

I don’t personally think there was any invasion, I think it was something either very controversial ie, a breach of the geneva convention, ‘friendly’ fire, or a genuine landing attempt (Very, Very doubtful though).

Cheers

SpitPRXIX

Yes I’d like to hear the ‘truth’, I’m not being dismissive or anything, I just won’t believe anything if there is no evidence.

Cheers

SpitPRXIX

Any chance of that PM tarkey?

Regards,

kev35

I asked you to PM me first as i need to clear up something first

Do German contemporary records, or subsequent documents, make any mention of this alleged landing attempt?

And even if these events actually took place, what possible reason could there be for an official whitewash lasting 70 years? It makes no sense.

Any chance of that PM tarkey?

Regards,

kev35

what did happen at Shingle street? it was so long ago yet my friend got hauled off and interviewed by the police for `poking around` there?