ROMNEY MARSH AUXILIARY UNITS
By
DAVID BURRIDGE
Adapted from `LOOPHOLES No 18`
In 1941 Mr Dick Body of Snargate on Romney Marsh was approached by a Captain Allnatt who, like him, had been released from the 468 Searchlight Company, T.A. to resume his civilian occupation. Captain Allnatt said that he could offer Mr Body a job: he couldn't tell him anything about it, but could Mr Body find six more men who had good local knowledge. Mr Body could, and did, and was asked to take his men to The Garth at Silting, near Wye. After reading and signing;the Official Secrets Act they were told what they had "let themselves in for".
Romney Marsh had three Auxiliary Unit patrols, with a fourth near Court at
Street on the chalk escarpment above and to the north of the Marsh. Because
of the very high water table on the Marsh, their operational bases (OBs) were
built of reinforced concrete, fined with bitumen, by a civil contractor, Corben's
of Maidstone, for £300 each.
Each had two entry/exit shafts, in
one of which an Elsan closet could be placed; two three-tier bunk beds; bench
seats with shelves above and lockers below; a 50-gallon water tank; and a
table. Each patrol member had a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver (Mr Body still
has a record of the serial numbers of his Patrol's guns) and a knife as his
personal weapons, and each patrol had a Thompson sub-machine gun; two .300
Springfield rifles; and a Winchester .22 magazine rifle with silencer and
telescopic sight. The 'Tommy' guns were withdrawn in 1944 and sent to Denmark,
and every man was then issued with a Sten gun.
Patrols and OB locations were as follows:
Patrol
Name |
OB`s
NGR |
Location |
MUSHROOM |
TQ
983 283 |
Just off
footpath leading West from Snargate, 1 mile NW of Brenzett |
TRUFFLE |
TR
049 250 |
Approx 1/2
mile S of ruins of Hope church, nr New Romney |
TOADSTOOL |
TR
074 313 |
Is mile
S of Chapel Farm, Eastbridge (2 milesNW of Dymchurch) |
FUNGAS |
Not
known |
On
hills north of Court at Street (on B2067) just W of Port Lympne wildlife park) |
Toadstool Patrol was forced to disband and its members went back into the
'regular' Home Guard after the Army stumbled onto its OB and saw things that
they were certainly not meant to see!
Truffle Patrol's OB has been destroyed: the others are still extant.
Mr Body has also heard of OBs at:
| a. Evington Place, Bodsham, Elmsted (Evington is shown at TR 110 452, 5.5 miles ENE of Ashford) |
| b. Nash Court in Thanet (probably TR 358 688 just S of Margate) |
| c. A small wooded gully running down the Woodchurch side of the hill at ' Gibbet Oak Farm, Tenterden (TQ 91 32 roughly), |
| d. A wood just north of Rolvenden |
| He also believes there was a radio OB just off the Dymchurch to Aldington road near New Barn and Chapel Farms (i.e. close to the Toadstool OB). |
Many thanks to Mr Body for information.