Project Scope

Timescales

Historical timescale

Note: the two paragraphs below were rendered obsolete as of April 2008.

The initial period of study is that of 1940-41, i.e. the period in which most of the defences were constructed and the invasion threat at its height. Of course, the threat still did exist after 1941, defence planning continued and some defences were constructed as late as 1942, but nowhere near as frenetically as during the preceeding years.

If I have time (see the section below) I may conduct a trial to assess the post-1941 documents to see how much detail they give; it may be that later defence schemes have survived and are more detailed for areas for which earlier detailed documents have not survived.

The original (pre April 2008) plan was to limit my study to 1940-41, but this date range was revised in the light of my realising that copies of Canadian documents were actually kept in The National Archives and therefore within my reach; in my ignorance I had assumed such records would only be in Canadian archives.

Then there was my failure to realise the changing nature of the threat as the war progressed. Yes, a full-scale invasion of the UK was becoming less likely during 1941 as the Germans pressed deeper into the Soviet Union, but the potential for commando raids was increasing, particularly in the light of Allied raids in France such as those at Bruneval and the disaster that befell the Canadians at Dieppe in August 1942. The threat of German reprisal raids lead to anti-invasion schemes spawning supplementary anti-raid (or Bugbear) schemes.

I have, therefore, extended the period of study to include 1942 in order to gain from a rich seam of detailed documentation from Canadian sources that has proved just as (if not, more) fruitful than the documents archived by the preceding British units. Canadian files appear to be richer in detail, perhaps because the situation was less hectic in 1941-42 than in the summer of 1940, leading to more carefully compiled resources. Also, the apparent lack of documentation passed to the Canadians by the outgoing British units generated a need for accurate situation reports.

Aside from this there also appears to have been a stronger archival culture/policy amongst Canadian units; they seem to uniformly have archived part 1 and part 2 orders which record strength returns and general notices, orders and instructions. The Canadian war diary entries are often far more detailed than the average British equivalent of 1940-41 but defence schemes within the Canadian documents are seemingly infrequent, although research is still ongoing.

Having said this, the Canadian files from 1941-1942 have delivered some absolutely fantastic reports and documents and I have to admit to being unable to resist the temptation to raid some of the 1943 records too, although the emphasis understandably moves from defence against invasion/raids to intensive training for an Allied invasion of Europe which really does move beyong my initial terms of reference.

Project timescale

A project should have a definite timespan, but at this stage I have absolutely no idea what the finish date should be; it could be five years, it might be ten - it all depends on what material comes to light. As this project is my hobby, I intend to conduct it at my own pace and enjoy it!

Geographical Scope

The area covered by the project does not cover all of East Sussex, either as it was in 1940 or as it is today. This may seem strange, but there are good reasons for this, the main one being the definition of "East Sussex."

The image below shows various definitions of "East Sussex". East Sussex as it is in 2008 is shaded in purple. (Geographically, Brighton and Hove is in East Sussex.) Add to this the yellow shaded area, and you have East Sussex as it was before 1974.

But it is military, not civilian boundaries that make the most sense. The red line shows 45 Division's boundary, the black line that of 55 Division.

When 45 Division moved into Sussex in May 1940, they occupied an enormous area stretching from Bognor Regis in West Sussex all the way out to just west of Rye. In July 1940, the boundary changed to that shown in red, covering from Telscombe Cliffs in East Sussex and crossing over the boundary into Kent, covering the entire Dungeness peninsula as far as Dymchurch. 44 Division relieved 45 Division in October 1940, occupying the same boundary.

55 Division had a smaller (and for me, a more convenient) boundary area, stretching (still) from Telscombe Cliffs, and joining the East Sussex northern boundary about 4 miles north of Crowborough, and following it (with a slight deviation) until it reached Rye and Camber where it again parted company with the municipal boundary.

In terms of the boundaries to use for the project, that of 55 Division seems to be the line of "best fit" as the majority of this area was occupied consistently throughout the timespan of the available documents.

Although this leaves the western end of East Sussex outside the study, to properly study the defences of this extra area in detail would require me to fly along the paper trail of the divisions that occupied this area. 45 Division did occupy this area in the early weeks of its tenure in Sussex, but there is very little mention in war diaries of the work carried out, and no defence schemes for this period have yet been found.

A divisional boundary is therefore easier to work with than a geographical one; to study the missing zone would start to take me out of the area I'm most familiar with, and any data I did gather would be in danger of being examined in terms of it being part of today's East Sussex, rather than as part of the coordinated defence scheme of a particular division. Having said this, a few defensive features from outside of the study area will occasionally creep in.

The image below shows the 55 Division boundary in relation to the current administrative boundaries.