Minefield Database

The Minefield List

The inspiration for the database is a 1941 list of the minefields in the three coastal sectors of the East Sussex Divisional Area.

The information given for each minefield is as follows:

• Sector (A, B or C)
• Minefield serial number
• Number of Naval beach mines
• Number of anti-tank mines
• Number of explosions/mines lost (where known)

Unfortunately, placenames are not given; only the Sector and minefield number. The latter is often marked on trace maps or referred to in war diaries and part of this project is to relate the minefields to their locations by cross-referencing them between these sources and adding detailed information on incidents.

Analysing the data

A basic query to the database provides the data below:

Sector	Minefields	Beach Mines	A/Tk Mines	Total mines
A	14	286	5483	5769
B	52	6080	2306	8386
C	40	2936	0	2936
Total	106	9302	7789	17091

Even this simple analysis can tell us a lot:

• 'A' Sector has the largest number of anti-tank mines and the smallest number of beach mines
• 'B' Sector has a good mix of both types
• 'C' sector has no anti-tank mines

These points raise questions that a study of both the topography and layout of other defences may throw some light on. What type of mines are used in a particular type of terrain? Do minefields just fill gaps in the local defence scheme?

To answer these questions, I first need to locate the minefields; the three tables below are from the database and show the fields in each sector. I will begin to fill in more of the gaps as my research uncovers more information.

C Sector (St. Leonards - Camber)
Minefield No.	Location	Naval Beach Mines	Anti-Tank Mines
MB 3	Cliff End	103	0
MB 4	Rye	119	0
MB 5	Rye	19	0
MB 6	Rye	19	0
MB 7	Rye	197	0
MB 9	Rye	42	0
MB 13	Rye	52	0
MB 14	Rye	185	0
MB 15	Rye	80	0
MB 22	Rye	56	0
MB 23	Rye	50	0
MB 23A	Rye	17	0
MB 23B	Rye	18	0
MB 23C	Rye	7	0
MB 24	Rye	18	0
MB 25	Rye	17	0
MB 37	Rye	22	0
MB 38	Rye	43	0
MB 41	Rye	58	0
MB 47		35	0
MB 48	Rye	17	0
MB 49	Rye	59	0
MB 50	Fairlight	297	0
MB 51	Fairlight	47	0
MB 52	Fairlight	27	0
MB 53	Fairlight	83	0
MB 54	Fairlight	30	0
MB 61A	Rye	135	0
MB 61B	Rye	109	0
MB 61C	Rye	49	0
MB 62	Rye	228	0
MB 62A	Rye	97	0
MB 63		27	0
MB 64	Rye	184	0
MB 71	Bulverhythe	49	0
MB 72	Pett Level	58	0
MB 73	Fairlight	34	0
MB 74	Fairlight	108	0
MB 75	Fairlight	129	0
MB 77	Pett Level	12	0
		2936	0

B Sector (Cuckmere River - St. Leonards)
Minefield No.	Location	Naval Beach Mines	Anti-Tank Mines
MB 1	Norman's Bay	657	0
MB 2	Bexhill	270	0
MB 58	Norman's Bay	76	0
MB 60	Norman's Bay	117	0
MB 201		0	10
MB 204		25	12
MB 205		122	0
MB 209		14	0
MB 212		44	0
MB 223		234	0
MC 52	Cuckmere Haven	16	55
MC 53	Cuckmere Haven	332	423
MC 54	Cuckmere Haven	80	0
MC 55	Cuckmere Haven	114	31
MC 101A		190	0
MC 101B		350	0
MC 101C		26	0
MC 101D		151	0
MC 101E		31	0
MC 101F		149	0
MC 101G		0	866
MC 101H		0	909
MC 101I		263	0
MC 101J		27	0
MC 101K		65	0
MC 150A		135	0
MC 150B		41	0
MC 150C		126	0
MC 151		113	0
MC 152		170	0
MC 153		216	0
MC 154		94	0
MC 200		81	0
MC 203		9	0
MC 206A		6	0
MC 206B		3	0
MC 207		207	0
MC 208		147	0
MC 210		51	0
MC 211A		177	0
MC 211B		52	0
MC 213		126	0
MC 214		89	0
MC 215		32	0
MC 217		100	0
MC 218		99	0
MC 219		67	0
MC 220		224	0
MC 222		182	0
MC 224		173	0
MC 225		0	0
MC 226		7	0
		6080	2306

A Sector (Telscombe Cliffs - Cuckmere River)
Minefield No.	Location	Naval Beach Mines	Anti-Tank Mines
MC 1	Newhaven	62	0
MC 2	Newhaven	42	0
MC 3	Tide Mills	0	840
MC 4	Tide Mills	50	0
MC 5	Tide Mills	0	715
MC 6	Tide Mills	82	0
MC 7	Tide Mills	29	0
MC 8	Peacehaven	7	0
MC 11	Newhaven	0	1539
MC 50	Cuckmere Haven	0	277
MC 51	Cuckmere Haven	14	190
MC 202	Tide Mills	0	304
MC 221		0	175
		286	5483

The table below gives a list of minefield numbers extracted from various documents but that were not included in the 1941 list. It would appear that the proposed minefields were never actually laid.

Unidentified minefields
Serial	Location
MB 8	Rye (proposed, 1940)
MB 10	Rye (proposed, 1940)
MB 11	Rye (proposed, 1940)
MB 12	Rye (proposed, 1940)
MB 26	Rye (proposed, 1940)
MB 62B	Rye (proposed, 1941)
MC 12	Tide Mills
MC 56	Cuckmere Haven
MC 228	Tide Mills

If my theory about the numbering sequence is correct, then the following numbers existed, but have yet to be accounted for. No mention of them has yet been found.

• MB 16-17
• MB 19-21
• MB 27-36
• MB 39-40
• MB 42-46
• MB 55-57
• MB 59
• MB 65-70
• MB 76
• MC 9