World War II Anti-Tank Defences Blandford Forum, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

During World War II Blandford Forum lay within the Southern Command defence area under the command of V Corps who were in turn responsible for 50 Division, holding the forward areas of Dorset. In July 1940 V Corps selected the first layout of nodal defence points, designating ten towns as divisional anti-tank islands and prepared them for all-round defence. Amongst these was Blandford Forum, which was also the focal point of the stop-line that ran along the River Stour from Stalbridge to Christchurch. In configuring Blandford Forum as a nodal defence point the creation of obstacles used three basic principles. In the first instance, the existing means of communication, in the form of the road and railway bridges over the River Stour, were prepared for demolition whilst the road surfaces were prepared for cratering. Secondly, the existing natural obstacle of the River Stour and the man-made obstacles of the cutting and embankments of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway were enhanced. The river, which runs from the north-west of the town in a loop along the west side and then along the south side before heading south-east towards Langton Long Blandford, provided considerable defence to the southern and western sides of the town whilst the cutting and embankments of the railway formed the majority of the remainder of the perimeter of the defences on the eastern side of the town. In addition, the existing C18 ha-ha that formed the boundary between Lord Portman's Bryanston Estate and the Borough of Blandford was also strengthened with reinforced concrete to create an anti-tank ditch. As a third measure the natural and man-made defences of the perimeter of the anti-tank island were complemented by the construction of wholly new anti-tank obstacles, mainly in the form of concrete anti-tank blocks. These were used to complement the existing railway earthworks on the eastern side of the town, such as those placed beneath the two railway bridges, but the majority were utilised on the western side of the town, in conjunction with the anti-tank ditch. As every anti-tank obstacle was covered by weaponry they were supplemented by a series of pillboxes. Further obstacles were provided in the form of a series of mines that were laid in Crown Meadows and to the east of the railway embankment. The anti-tank island was designed to channel invading forces away from the town itself, to an area of open ground in the north-west which would have been ranged by the Royal Artillery as a 'tank killing ground'. The defences around the town were completed by 24 August 1940. However, the associated stop-line remained unfinished and plans to erect 160 pillboxes and 10 miles of anti-tank ditch were still being considered. By early 1941 it was recognised that the concept of inland linear defence lines demonstrated a total lack of understanding for the modern methods of mechanised warfare and subsequently Southern Command abandoned the system with nodal points becoming the primary defensive positions. The operational life of the defences was short-lived. As early as December 1942, with the threat of invasion receding, defensive positions throughout the country were abandoned either wholly or in part and, as early as 1944, elements of some defences were being cleared.

The anti-tank defences in Crown Meadow were created in 1940-1 as a component of the Blandford Anti-Tank Island, by adapting and re-enforcing a late-C18 / early-C19 ha-ha built for Park House (n