War in Bures

Like most other locations on the East Coast, Bures constructed defences in the event of an invasion by Germany.

The majority of defence works were built to resist invasion chiefly by an army equipped with armour and artillery. In 1940 it was considered the most effective method, was through using defences that made use of the natural contours of the land. At the height of construction, a pill box was erected every 20 minutes in the UK.

Bures Bridge Pill Box 2004.

The roadbridge in the centre of the village was mined with explosives on its cast iron supports, these would to be detonated and the bridge destroyed in the event of an approaching German Army. Two concrete tank traps were placed either side of the bridge in its centre making the roadway single lane.

In order to defend the bridge across the river at Bures, a concrete pillbox was built inside a saddlers shop, now the entrance to Chambers bus yard.

	left photo:- clearly shows the Queens Head to the right. right photo:- Gun emplacement exposed during demolition
As the Enemy stormed over the river it was planned that "regular troops" would be in position inside the shop. This housed a large artillery gun ready to fire directly at the bridge. Acquiring such armament was not unusual, throughout the country many guns from World War one were pressed into service, usually firing 13 or 18lb shells.

Supposedly, the front wooden facia of the shop would drop down on hinges and the enemy blasted off the bridge. ?
What happened if the enemy unfairly came around the corner from Nayland Road, is unclear !!!

This was manned by a unit of about 10 - 12 regular soldiers who were billeted behind todays Post Office in Nayland Rd.
The pillbox was so well constructed, it made the shop useless.
The shop/pillbox were demolished in 1973. However, when the structure was demolished no evidence was found of any hinge mechanism, so how did it fire then

Further snippets of information from local residents.........................

Charlie Martin the local Blacksmith from Hamlet was killed in a road traffic accident on July 9th 1944 with a UK Army lorry. He was looking in the window of Arthur Beamonts radio shop in the High Street, when he stepped back into the road just as a lorry came around the corner. He was fatally wounded by the impact. The lorry driver was only about 20 years old, completely innocent but badly shaken up by the incident.

Large convoys of soldiers were a common sight passing through the village. They included Canadians, Australians and Americans.

The air raid hooter (not siren) was located on top of the Dye Works in Nayland Rd.

At the end of the Croft near to the Scout Hut there is an expanse of Poplar trees, These were owned by Mr Deaves (purchased 1930) who installed a saw mill to deal with the timbers. During the early part of the 1939 war, the sawmill was commandeered by the armed forces to supply them with timber. The Garrison engineer increased the width of the Croft to accommodate the larger vehicles

Although Bures was a rural village it did not escape the attention of the enemy. Sadly the War Memorial lists the names of 10 local servicemen who lost their lives in the second world war.
During the night of 6th November 1940, a large number of bombs were dropped from German aircraft, landing in the fields between Colchester Rd and Nayland Rd leaving large craters. One fell on Nayland Rd causing a hole the full width and some 9 - 12 ft deep. The resulting carnage killed four members of the Willingham family and injuring many others.
It was thought the intended target may have been the factory in Nayland Rd, as the enemy aircraft turned over Assington and made a definite run towards the village.
Today these houses have been re-built as No`s 29/30 Nayland Rd.

Incendiary bombs fell on the Cemetery , St Edmunds Hill and land at Lt. Bevills. V1 rockets were not only confined the major cities, one fell on farmland between Bakers Hall and the railway line, breaking numerous windows.
Another rocket fell on Catleys Farm near Daws Cross causing a substantial crater in a field.

There was also a search light position on the hilltop looking up towards the Lt Cornard TV masts, along the Sudbury Rd.

Regrettably, we also suffered losses not by the Germans but inflicted by our own side. One day, a rogue antiaircraft shell fired from Colchester landed on the abattoir in Cuckoo Hill, injuring several and killing Mr Drury, the slaughterman.

To keep morale high in the population, men arrived in the village to cut up iron railings and gates from every property without even asking for the owners consent. The intended destination for all this scrap was to be melted down and turned into munitions. Like a lot of other villages found after the war, it was just dumped and made no use of whatsoever. Another source of raw material was aluminum which was required to manufacture aircraft, Aluminum saucepans were the ideal candidate and were readily handed over by housewives.

The bridge spanning the river brought back memories as I remember soldiers coming to pack dynamite under the bridge in case it needed to be blown up if the Germans came. For light relief the soldiers used small bits of explosive to blow up the fish swimming beneath the bridge - Richard Cooper

All roadside signposts were removed to hinder the enemy, if they were ever to invade. This was not common to Bures but all over the south & east coast.

However I have seen photographic evidence that the Germans photographed every square inch of the British Isles to such high definition that houses, roads, bungalows can easily be defined.-
I doubt very much whether the enemy would have relied too much on our signposting.

It is thought that the collection obtained by the Germans is now held in an American Library.

The recreation ground was deemed to be an ideal landing platform for German paratroopers. Consequently, during 1941 it was covered in barbed wire by the War Office. In 1945 the Parish Council were left to arrange removal. The cheapest quote by a local contractor was agreed at £8, with the contractor retaining the posts and wire
The Parish Council subsequently made a claim from the War Dept for the reimbursement of this expense. No parish records indicate that this money was forthcoming !

November 9th 1945 - the USAAF are pulling out of Butlers Farm and Bakers Hall the following Monday.

World War One:- June 25th 1919 (Essex and Suffolk Free Press)
On Tuesday evening a fatality occurred in the Stour at Bures. In the village there is a prisoner of war camp and the men were taking part in bathing at a place called " The Jump", one of the prisoners got into difficulties and was brought to the bank and given artificial respiration by his escorts and comrades, then another man was discovered missing, his body was recovered some time later. He was a Hanoverian named Karl Volker.
Note:- POW`s were housed in the Tannery, the "Jump" was the bridge in the centre of the village.

Credits:-
Mark Curteis - Heritage Services, Essex County Council
`E.A.D.T & Bury Records Office
Arthur Beaumont.
Gordon Pilgrim.
Saw Mill - L Mills(dec)