The Buried Blitzkrieg Defences Of WW2 London | Time Team | Timeline 

I do believe that the people of Great Britain have got to be the most prolific documentarians in the world. The island population probably couldn't throw a stone without hitting a presenter, sound man or other part of some crew busy doing what the British are so keen at doing. I firmly believe that the whole world are the beneficiaries of this passion. I know that I am. One of the very best of these assembled casts of professionals is Time Team. Tony Robinson and his colorful cast of archeologists conducted interesting, informative and always satisfying 3 day archeological adventures for 30 years. I can't say enough of not only the passion and enthusiasm of the team and how they draw you into their trenches and finds with all the wonder of them, but also their almost super-human ability to always carry on their high level of work , consistently, for 30 years. 30 years! Not to mention all of the wonderful and meaningful contributions they've made to British Archeology, History and cultural understanding. Time Team. I know that being a fan and having watched the majority of their shows that I have learned much more than I might realize. I am so very grateful to them and all the unseen people who have made them possible. Thank you.

It's saddening that it was all forgotten and buried but also brilliant that now it's being appreciated, history has to be preserved

I am a changed woman!! I have watched just about every episode at least once, some several times. But, I typically look for Time Team episodes about Romans because, well it was so long ago and they usually find lots of relics. At 55 years old in the US, WW2 really hasn't interested me much. But this episode has really changed me!! It made what I learned in school and what my grandparents talked about (usually about rations) come alive!!

Loved it. My mother and father often mentioned the air defences on Shooters hill, but i had little understanding of what it meant. My grandmother lived in one of the streets on the north side of the hill from 1934 to the mid 70s, so she used tell me stories too, but i never dreamed that i would ever see any of it. And now i have. Thank you so much.

Good to see Private Pike and Private Frazer in uniform again. "We're doomed!"

So interesting!! I love watching Time Team/Timeline. I've watched every episode that I could find... so far. ❤ from Canada 🇨🇦

23:38 Those odd pipes are serving 2 roles. It's not just the siding to keep the dirt where it needs to be, but also camouflage netting anchors. I seen similar things found on mainland Europe and even in the pacific.

The wooden plugs in the shelter are not there for a bench, it is there to hold the slip form together at the first pour, as they were poured in sections. The form was slid up and filled to build it up. It's normally done in 12" sections.

during WW2 My Grandma worked on the Lancaster Bombers that was used by the real Dam busters and she was part of the team that worked on the bracket than carried the bouncing bomb

My Canadian parents (doctor and nurse) were in London when the war broke out and stayed on running a first aid centre and Dad was in the Home Guard. Two of my sisters and I were born in the UK and my brother was adopted there. We returned to Canada in 1948.

Love the dad's army Easter Egg. I loved time team as a kid in the 90s. Wonderful

I was born in 1965, twenty years after the war (so it felt like ancient history, although my grandparents lived through it). I also happened to live in the Shooters Hill area in the early 1980s (still, just 40 years after the war). As I get older, I realise just how recent it was. I used to explore this area as a teenager and there was still a sense of the conflict with a few post-war prefabs in places, and back in the 1980s the councils were trying to get rid of them. With regard to that 'resistance bunker', I remember one just like it in Abbey Wood (not too far away) in 1985 on the corner of McLeod Road and Bostall Lane.

the sheer enthusiasm! brilliant episode.

23:50 footing for long poles to suspend camouflage netting overtop!

I lived near this amazing Hill all my life. Shooters Hill has a long history going way back beyond modern times. tons of history we don't even know about I am sure? The name of the hill is even special. It was named this because of all the Highway Men whom loved this hill for robbing the horse drawn couches which went over the hill from the big old pub at the base of the hill near Welling's border with the hill. The pub had big stables for the horses to be fed and watered as the couches would stop at this pub called even now the "Anchor In Hope" the name meaning they stop there and hope to get safely over the hill. So there they would change over the horses and even add another full set to help get over the hill as it is most likely the tallest hill in Kent being a 10 in 1 hill in fact I learned that when the Romans came here they were taken aback how tall the hill was and they never went around hills they always went straight road wise, so they had to dig the top part off the hill changing it from a 12 in 1 hill into a 10 in 1 hill, it took them 10 years using local labor and pick axe and buckets to move tons of earth and rocks and gravel off the hill top. That's why the hill is flattered at the top where the Memorial Hospital is now! The tall water tower there is I was told by my mother not for pumping water over the hill top but to pump water out of the top of the hill because of the hills many springs and under ground streams without the tower the top of the hill would be flooded. In fact there was a very old big water wheel on the top of the hill at one time hundreds of years back due to the big amount of strong streams of water there.

My Granddad was a veteren hit by shrapnel in WW1, and took to coal mining in WW2. He told me that each little community in Britain had secret five man units who were to destroy all local road signs and telephone or radio facilities in their area of operation. They mostly had commando daggers and small arms, but they had a silenced point 22 sniper rifle and orders to pop off the local Policeman, Vicar and publican as they would have local knowledge of use to the invading Nazi's. The five chosen men were to remain secret at all times and had to build an underground base in the woods near each community to strike from. They were Churchill's final resistance groups and top secret

Great video ! I could never imagine what our parents went through. My Dad was in the Pacific theater and my uncle was on the D Day invitation. And what they lived through is incredible that they made it. I have been watching videos on the sites through out England and seen a glimpse of what they went through. Thanks for the video and information.

I literally jump and watch anything Time Team when new stuff drops! I only wish you'd post the entire 215 plus episodes that are available.....especially the first 6 seasons......pretty please?????‽

One of Time Team's best: different and funny.

From an American point of view, the three most re-watchable British shows are: Time Team Doctor Who Fawlty Towers (Oh and It Crowd)

One of the most enjoyable I have seen.

Oh Time Team, this program was addicting. Nice to be able to (re)watch some episodes here on YT! Groeten uit Nederland!

"Wriggly tin" The height of British technospeak

That was fascinating. Not what I expected.

We used to live on Shooters Hill in the early fifties just west of Eastcoat Rd,I was six.

when i was about 5 years old, I uncovered some .303 rifle ammunition in the front garden of my home in brixton. i had no idea what it was, and it was only when my mother saw what I had that the bomb disposal teams were called in.along with the ammunition was a partly decomposed .303 lee enfiled rifle. as it was obviously useless and totally rusted, we were allowed to keep it in he house as a keep sake. it remained in the loft until around 1986, when I was the last member of my family to live there. i have no idea if it still remains. it still amazes me I wasn't killed by the bullets I was playing with as I was hammering them off stones to get the soil off them. the address atr the time was 16 winterwell road, brixton. hopefully this information can help the archeaology

Greetings from across the pond. finding the secret, secret history is the real find. Keep up the great digs.

In the great siege of Malta (1565) the Knights Hospitaliers also used fuggasses against the invading Ottomans! Some tactics work in any era!

This is fascinating because not much evidence exists(photos and bunkers) to be seen. And those who were there, are fewer every day. Very few today can understand what true fear is, especially in a modern city. The fear of an army hellbent on routing you out of your home, by any and every means. And you are prepared to fight to the end. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." And I pray we never have to repeat it.

I've always wondered why the Germans never attempted a land invasion in Britain - now I understand the challenges that would present. And being the "Home Guard", their plans, defenses and positions were probably not secret. They served as a very effective deterrent and their installations no doubt saved many lives from air raids.

Thank you.

Yay a new doc

Excellent.

"Auxiliary Units", 6-8 men, highly trained, approximately 4000 men from Jonh 'O' Groats to Lands End, each "cell" isolated. Raised by Churchill 1940, Top Secret, better equipped than regular army. Similar to Gibraltar Rock's secret "walled-in" unit. The Shooters Hill bunker seems too exposed compared to other cells ie, in the crypts of church ruins, trap-doors with tunnels from river banks etc, there was some very sophisticated and innovative technology used to conceal such places, and many remain hidden to this day!

I used to watch Timeteam religiously great program!

Nice goin Tony and crew! Thanks! You probably all sorta working in England but after the Gibraltar discovery, inside the mountain, its been thought for many years theres all these tunnels and stuff under Ballarat. Used in WW2 as storage or hospital or something but nobody knows where..

In my area of California, there are considerable fortifications and bunkers that were built before and during WW2. Most were built to protect San Francisco. Mostly forgotten, some traces can still be located if one knows where to look.

I enjoy ww2 stuff as much as any of the other ages and, for what it's worth, I think the entire time team would have fought to the end. My relatives are from NE England, and I still know some are there to this day. We had moved a lot of us to the New World early and fought in every conflict since the war of 1812. I wasn't able to serve, regretfully but my half brother did. He misses kis visits to london and germany and served along side UK troops in desert storm/shield

I used to watch time team,it's a pity it's not on anymore

Not the greatest fans of these more “modern” digs, they often seem contrived, but this one I really liked.

The Home Guard trousers Buttons and webbelts we're still being issues in 1971 until teh Lighter trousers replace them. Far later than WWII. Shooters Hill was just a small point in the defense. Its a pity that the whole area from Falcon Wood up to Shooters Hill, Woolwich Common had bunkers of sorts, as well as the Academy. Plus teh Greens areas Hönig to Plumstead Common, Wings Common, Bostal Woods down to teh Marsharea Now Thamesmead, important to defend due to according Shooters Hill. I Hope thats Time Team on its return can look more into this Area of interest.

There used to be balloon anchor blocks near Kidbrooke Station Just over the road where the balloons were constructed in fact

There is an amazing invention called a sod cutter these people really should invest in one it’s much faster at removing the top layer of sod and won’t disturb the soil underneath they could just roll up the sod and lay it back down after the excavation is completed.

Very interesting documentary. No doubt that countries still invest in security forces comprising ordinary citizens.

I'm torn on all of this, always have been. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I saw the bigger picture. At first I was kind of jealous that I didn't live so close to history but as I got older I was glad. After WW2 the Americans packed up & went home to a country that wasn't bombed like Britain was. The Brits had to rebuild their country whereas America had a post war boom. I can't imagine having a young family in Europe or Asia during WW1 & WW2, it must have been horror. I guess it's a minute consultation having history like this do close to home.

Very interesting. But the spigot is not the metal fitting protruding from the concrete block (which is the mounting lug on the pedestal). Rather, the spigot is the part of the mortar (Blacker Bombard) inside the tubular casing that Phil slides the projectile onto. TFP

Could the pipe work/ revetments items have been used for the bases of camouflage netting supports.

I bloody miss this program

Great episode! Nice to see it in HD, but someone went a bit overboard with the image smoothing. Looks almost fake at some points.

I really don't think that there were no military architects to tell them what was everything for. Not to mention construction plans ;-)

I really enjoyed this episode and must say that it was something that I had never imagined.. I am wondering if the underground room may have been some sort of communication or operational bunker. It is just a thought as there seems to be too much electrical work for a mere bunker.

I enjoyed this episode years ago, but very stimulating to view again in light of what goes on in Ukraine today...

Hi guys the shelter in the garden was ARP of AFS THE. bulbs were the warning of a aproaching raid and how many services were in use when i was posted to Croydon we uncoverd one of the same design If you like to see a GHQ pillboxes then i surgest you go check on 2 one west of Sheffield Lock (the only one photograpghed underconstruction and one on a hill overlooking the Crofton Beam Engines which took a cromell tank

an installation like that would have a generator, to run search lights and equipment, the generator may well have been installed in an underground bunker . One trouble with using the design of a bunker to decide who built it... the person who builds an air raid shelter may have got the design from , or made the design for, the army ... . The bunker under the rockery, that may be a prototype, a demonstrator, of such a bunker , for example. Basically it was where the boss guy lived, and justified the expense as being the prototype rather than extravagance.

bloody interesting, when is the follow up dig for that Bronze Age stuff on the same site?

Two members of the WW2 Home Guard were professors & authors J.R.R. Tolkien, and his friend C.S. Lewis. Both were combat veterans of WW1. After Dunkirk, the British Army was severely under-equipped. Fighting alongside what regular forces the UK did have on the ground (plus the Home Guard & resistance) would have been the one full-strength army division which was in Britain in 1940.. the Canadian 1st. 🦫 🇨🇦💪🏻

You might like to research the Royal Observer Corp whose prime function was passive recording and reporting. They were usually linked into a network of others by line of sight or with radio communication to share information on troop movements and also Nuclear fall out. Some larger ones are now open to the public. BREDE valley water pumping station in E SUSSEX for example.

Why no Royal Engineer consultant?

it actually surprised me. - every - castel, bronze age barrow or hill is being investigated and a - protected - area. but things that do really matter are just left to rot away.

The garden rockery bunker would not have been a stay-behind position. There is too much electrical and communications gear which make me think it's more of a command post for local defence during the invasion.

Yes

I know where that is, shooters hill, I used to live near there, way back 50-odd years ago. It leads down to welling where I once went to school.

I live right by Shooter’s Hill, so mad

There are still a few bunkers along the River Lea (which was the LCC boundary at the time.

Dan Snow love you’re documentarys, but did anything happened at poland meaning tunnels under obersalzbergen.. or lost train tunnel, really was amazing and interesting..

At one time in my radio engineer career I looked after the radio site on Shooter's Hill.

I am sure that the term fight to the death would have been applicable as the royal artillery barracks is very very nearby

Dad's Army was funny, but it was about a dead serious reality.

OMG - I know the guy who did the bomb talk at the start - we used to be mates then just lost track. worked together at Alchester a couple of seasons. Weirdly he's not wearing his glasses...wonder if he got contacts.

That Blacker Bombard anti tank spigot mortar was designed for the Regular Army and was used in the Western Desert. Although the Home Guard were the major users. If it hit a tank it would destroy it.

What we have forgotten that the home guard where veterans of the First World War and in many respects had more experience the regalia’s

I've never seen such compacted soils as I see on this program. Are earthworms something that never made it to the Isles?

The pipes in the ground supported camouflage frames.

Lived a few miles south, then just north in Beckton, since 2013, had house on Shooters Hill. Houses opposite and just downhill from us destroyed by bomb just 3 years after built. Our house had front blown in. Close neighbour was a child here at the time. My grandparents' house destroyed by bomb... in deepest, rural, house on its own Sussex

Weird seeing your local area in a RU-vid thumbnail about ww2😂

What structure is Tony’s observation point at 1:05?

I liked the Owen machine carbine

When I saw that thumbnail I was so confused I was thinking "he's been dead for about 10 years"

Those flanged steakes were not for an abutment, they were footings for a vertical structure. Such as a tower for communication lines for example.

Dan Snow's "own" series, but done by others. Notice he spent almost exactly 30 seconds plugging. And a lot of these are years old.

I found a large stone age crystal spear head/astronomy marker near the top of shooters hill

It's strange that is easier to find 2000 years roman things than 80 years military things.

See, Time Team doesn't always do ancient history. Just almost only.

24:0 it’s the base plate for some sort of antennae, mast, whatever.

My Grandfathers Nickname Was Bomber Because Of Our Last Name (Lancaster)

Thank God 4 the Home Guard

The explosive flame weapon was not for tanks but for infantry that moved up behind the tanks

It was obvious that the metal spikes were some sort of retainment, even without the dig.

More and more is disappearing related to ww2. I hope you will be able to preserve. Ww2 history is in a a lot of countries hot.

Definitely a command bunker 👍

The big bunker is likely a Local Command Centre. The spikes are probably camouflage net support poles.

Phil is always a riot

Luckily Matt and Phil will have NLAWS instead of sticky bombs :)

Helen!

12:40. 38 pattern belt slide.

The interesting part of this video is that it shows the possibility of an invasion was taken seriously . But after the BEF was rescued from Dunkirk, and a weeks later Brittany, why wasn't the regular army holding these positions ? In the summer of 1940 , there was little chance of getting German Army divisions across the English channel in converted river barges with a 2 foot draft . The Royal Navy's destroyers would have just sailed over them . Here is great analysis concerning the possibility of operation Sea Lion succeeding . As Bernard points out , to be successful , the Wehrmarch would have had to have captured an intact port , to keep the army supplied with tons of food , equipment and munitions required each day . ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YnPo7V03nbY.html A panzer Mkii weighed 8 tons , didn't the Kreigsmarine have ships capable of getting these across the English Channel ? . The actual serious issue was that the Wehrmarch was laying siege to Britain to cut it off of the food , materials and munitions required each day . This is why the Luftwaffe bombed the ports of Portsmouth , Bristol , the London Docks , Cardiff , Liverpool , Glasgow and Belfast . .

It wouldn't just have been Dad's Army protecting Britain, the British Army would have ferociously fought to the last man, fighting to the last bullet. I know because my Grand Dad would have been one of them and he would have given everything he had.

Wonder where Tony was during WWII? Surprised he wasn't familiar with what was going on in his home country. I remember my father telling me later in life what he had seen in England as he was preparing to deploy on D-Day.

Funny episode as a whole

I don't get it, why is it always "we only got 3 days" to do dig and search the area...