# @rspb on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CHU1z23ozEG
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/34271136-rspb-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/f08aa41514.jpg
- **Posted:** 2020-11-08T10:00:14.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** RSPB (@rspb) — https://gondola.cc/rspb

## Caption

RSPB Minsmere is home to an incredible array of wildlife, but before it was a nature reserve it had quite the history. This #RemembranceSunday, we're taking a look back at the wartime archaeology of one of our favourite places on the Suffolk coast...

Before we acquired Minsmere in 1947, the low-lying Suffolk coast was seen as a likely target for invasion. Various measures were put in place to defend the vulnerable coastline - some of these are still visible & represent important archaeological features, while some helped to shape Minsmere's subsequent 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!

Minsmere was prominent in preparations during the 1940/41 invasion scare, too. Exercise Kruschen - one of the first exercises undertaken to devise a drill to overcome concrete defences on Hitler’s Atlantic Wall - took place in early 1943 on the heaths.  Remains of mock defences constructed during this can still be seen.

Close to the shore, to be seen at low tide, are the remains of the "Dragon'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." Swipe to see more of these!

By the 20th Century, the Minsmere levels had been drained for agriculture, but were re-flooded during WWII as yet another defence. This historical flooding was the first step in restoring biodiversity to the reserve, and that ultimately led to the RSPB starting to manage the site - in the same year avocets first bred at Minsmere. #LoveMinsmere

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## Tags

remembrancesunday, loveminsmere

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