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Issue 1 > History Mysteries > The German Invasion of Shingle Street
This issue, Nick Barratt investigates stories of a German invasion on the Suffolk coastline in 1940.
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I was very interested in the article about the German invasion of Suffolk as my Grandfather spoke to my dad about burnt German bodies on the beaches, but this was in Kent. My Grandfather was in a reserved occupation as a builder and worked on the Mulberry Harbours among other things. He worked on the coast of Kent and referred to the bodies and the pipeline for fuel. We had never seen anything like this in print before, although we assumed it to be true because he had said so. Possibly there was an attempted invasion in Kent or the bodies were washed there by the tide?
My father told a similar storey and how it took 3 days to gather up bodies. Family members believe he was based at Littlehampton at the time. He was 29 when war broke out and I think he was not called up until September 1940. Allowing for 6 weeks basic training he joined a Royal Artillery Anti Aircraft unit probably towards the end of October 1940, which is possibly a little late for the invasion scares.
can you get backdated copies of this story
Hello Mavis - you're able to purchase backdated issues (though not individual articles unfortunately) via the website - this article appeared in issue 1, so if you click on the 'Back Issues' link above you can follow the links to buy issue 1 online.
Regarding your article in Issue 1 (June 2010, 'The German Invasion of Shingle Street, 1940') about the sea being set alight and German bodies being washed up, my father told a similar story and how it took them three days to gather up all the bodies. He was based at Walton on Naze in Essex towards the end of the Second World War.