NHER 32667 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two anti aircraft battery at Gorleston on Sea

World War Two anti aircraft artillery given this grid reference in (S1).
Is this accurate?
D.Gurney (NLA) 28 January 1997.

THE CENTRAL GRID REFERENCE FOR THE SITE HAS BEEN ALTERED FROM TG 5170 0460 TO TG 5164 0451.

February 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two anti-aircraft battery and the Gun Operations Room (GOR) for the Great Yarmouth Gun Defended Area (GDA) is visible on aerial photographs to the south of Beccles Road, Gorleston (S2-S6). This anti-aircraft battery consists of four heavy anti-aircraft (HAA) gun emplacements, a command post and associated radar and searchlights. A group of military huts and buildings are also visible. These would have provided operational rooms, stores and accommodation for the battery. This site, which was referred to as ‘YH3’ in military records, was manned by the 331st battery of the 106th regiment and the earliest reference for the use of the site is 22 June 1942 (S1: p 489). The site is centred on TG 5164 0451.

All HAA gun sites outside of London were organised into Gun Defended Areas (GDAs), these varied in size and depended on the importance of the target, or the Vulnerable Area or VA. Every GDA had it’s own Anti-Aircraft Defence Commander (AADC), who operated from a central Gun Operations Room (GOR, later known as AAOR). All tactical and raid information produced by the Observer Corps and Chain Home Stations was processed by the RAF Air Defence Sector Controller and sent to the GOR in the form of fire-orders, which were sent out to the local batteries (S7: p 64). The GOR for the Great Yarmouth GDA is located within this battery and is centred on TG 5148 0463. The GORR consists of heavily protected range of interconnected buildings, which are entirely surrounded by quite substantial and high earth revetments and blast walls. The main structure consists of a rectangular flat-roofed building, measuring approximately 27m by 8m. This has a series of projecting vents and a tower-like structure on the roof. This is conjoined to a large curved-profile hut, measuring 15m by 6.5m and possible a nissen. A further building is located within the embanked area, to the south of the interlinked group. This has a pitched roof and measures approximately 6m by 3.5m. Located to the immediate south of this is a rectangular newly laid area of concrete surface. This is possibly covering an underground component to the site, possible an air raid shelter. Two smaller concrete structures are located to the immediate south of the site, one of these has a blast wall around it. The function of these buildings is not certain.

The actual guns are centred on TG 5159 0445 and consists of four 3.7 inch static guns arranged in a tight arc, around the Command Post building. The Command Post is of typical layout, measures 21m by 8.5m, and has an earth revetment around the walls. The HAA gun emplacements alter throughout the history of the site. In March 1944 the gun battery is obviously being upgraded and altered. Three curvilinear and irregularly shaped embankments are visible around three of the gun positions and the fourth, the northwestern gun position, is of square design and new concrete build (S2). By April/May 1944 only the rectangular ammunition lockers surrounding the three older emplacements remain and the embankments have been removed, indicating that the gun emplacements are being rebuilt (S3-S4). By August 1944 all four emplacements have been rebuilt into square concrete, 14m across and with four centrally placed magazines. A possible Light Anti-Aircraft gun emplacement is also visible at TG 5163 0450, to the immediate north of this arc of HAA guns. This consists of a rectangular gun pit, 7.5m by 4.5m, with a central holdfast and a covered shelter.

At TG 5153 0454 is an isolated structure which has an aerial component, assumed to be part of the radar equipment for the site, which was GL Mk II fire-controlled radar. A similar, although less isolated structure is located to the south at TG 5154 0439. This is located next to two small rectangular structures, possibly generators. The southern mounted aerial has long arms or wings to either side. This possibly indicates that it is the receiver, rather than the transmitter. No associated GL mat is visible on the aerial photographs around either mounted aerial. At TG 5155 0441 is another structure which appears to have a radio or radar function, as it has a possible dish located on the top of the hut. This structure gets built in-between August 1944 and August 1945 (S5-S6). This structure is located along a surfaced track which runs from the guns, past the possible radar receiver and generators and towards a third structure only visible in 1944, at TG 5150 0435 (S5). This appears to be a mounted searchlight, possibly a radar controlled 150-mm projector mounted on a wheeled trailer, which is surrounded by a circular area of cleared ground, possibly to aid movement of the trailer. At TG 5158 0437 is a rectangular recess, 3.5m by 2.5m, with revetted sides and surrounded by an embanked area of upcast. It seems likely that this is the entrance to an underground structure or shelter, or possibly the remains of a formerly sunken structure.

The eastern part of the site is characterised by a large group of huts, mainly curved-profile huts and probably nissens. These buildings would have served a variety of operational purposes and also provided accommodation and stores for the troops and equipment. The perimeter of the site is dotted with small circular and rectangular concrete structures and huts, such as at TG 5147 0439, TG 5146 0461 and TG5151 0445. These are likely to have been gun emplacements and defences associated with the site, although when compared with other sites of this scale within the area, such as those nearer the coast, it has relatively few visible defences on the aerial photographs. Although this may be reflective of the late date of the available aerial photographs and therefore some features, such as barbed wire, may already have been removed by 1944, as the only traces of barbed wire visible are only present in the earlier 1944 aerial photographs (S2-S4).
S. Massey (NMP), 09 February 2006.