WWII Knowledge needed please

[Tugmistress]

Would i be right in assuming during WWII the pillboxes up here would have been manned? the question is by whom though? was there a 'home guard' or was it army boys, if so does anyone know if a particular regiment? It is more to do with the ones in Sinclair Bay area :)

Thank you for any links or history or memories you can give :)

[Beat Bug]

I believe there was a heavy naval presence up here, so maybe they were used by the navy?

[DeHaviLand]

http://www.caithness.org/caithnessfieldclub/bulletins/2001/world_war_two_defences.htm

[Tugmistress]

Thank you DeHaviland, so reading that i can it that the Royal Artillery were the occupants of these pill boxes :)

[pat]

Thanks for that De Haviland - knew about the defences but did not know Wg Cdr David Atcherley was CO of Castletown.

Many years later than the defences stopped being used, I nursed his twin brother Sir Richard Atcherley, he frequently spoke of his twin who disappeared whilst flying an aircraft and their life.

[Rheghead]

As far as I was told, the pillboxes were not manned as such during WW2 as they were built during WW1 and considered out of date. However, the Homeguard did create secret arms caches or hideouts where they could form observation posts and resistance movements after invasion.

[Gronnuck]

Tugs a good place to start lookng is http://www.subbrit.org.uk/ Among the sites listed is the Wick R8 GCI ROTOR Radar Station here (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/w/wick_rotor/index.html); the Dunnet Head Coast Defence Radar Station here (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/d/dunnet_head/index.shtml); the John O’Groats Royal Observer Corp Post here (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/db/987430139.html). The Royal Observer Corps also list Castletown and Watten as having sites.

[Bobinovich]

There's plenty of info. regarding the role of Castletown during WWII, including a downloadable PDF booklet, on the Castletown Heritage Society's website here (http://www.castletownheritage.co.uk) then click the Castletown Recalls link in the header, or the RAF Castletown link in the home page text.