Barrage Balloons in Lincolnshire ~ WW2 Air Defence
Barrage Balloons in Lincolnshire ~ A look at this specific form of defence against German air raids during World War II
A very interesting picture also accompanies this article
We’ve already looked at World War II German Air Raids on Grimsby but here we’ll deal with the specifics of how nad why Barrage Balloons were deployed.
Firstly, what were they ? They were quite simply large airships tethered by steel cables.
Their primary purpose was to provide defence against low-level German bombing raids with the steel cables actually causing the plane to crash or at least making for difficult navigation.
Some versions would be fitted with explosive charges that would be dragged into the bomber should it make contact with the cables thereby ensuring the aeroplane was ‘downed’. Due to the practicalities of altitude they were unsuitable for high altitude bombers those were dealt with by sites like Barrow Haven.
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Guns were simply not capable of reacting quickly enough to high speed low altitude dive bombers, they just couldn’t always track the planes successfully, this is why the balloons spread across the country in 1938.
They were used mainly in key defensive areas and here in Lincolnshire that included the River Humber. Already identified by the government as a key area of defence and a prime target for the German Luftwaffe.
The Humber Barrage Command was headquartered in Hull and known as 17 Balloon Centre
It had strategic command over all the balloon sites in the area, including those in North Lincolnshire. The command control reacted to warnings provided by Radar Stations and also the Royal Observer Corps who had numerous ROC Lookout Posts scattered throughout the county.
Some balloons were moored on ships in the Humber and other were mobilized. In total there were 15 land balloon sites located in the top half on Lincolnshire including one at North Killingholme Haven. Some still have surviving features I read so I’ll have to track some down and get myself down there with a camera and record them separately.
Were Barrage Balloons and effective defence, well thanks to something sent to me by Val Mercer we can see what they were capable of:
The Wreckage of a Heinkel 111 Brought Down at Immingham
The above German bomber was brought down by a barrage balloon at Immingham on March 22 1941 and crash-landed in a field near the Bluestone Inn.
Two of the crew lost their lives and the rest were taken prisoner of war. The two men who lost their lives that night were Fritz Danzenberg and Walter Kösling, scroll down through comments for a link to see their gravestones - this information, and pictures, kindly supplied by our own ‘History Hunter’
On the same night the HAA gunners also brought down another plane so a bad night for the Luftwaffe over Lincolnshire !
If you know anything at all about barrage balloons then please do leave a comment. I should especially love to hear related stories and anecdotes from people who remember them or those that remember family stories - once again please do share what you know and preserve it for future generations - thank you
Yours, always full of hot air
Rod
Linda & Peter said,
August 7, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
Hello Rod
I know you don’t like links posted here so I’ve sent you an email with oodles of local barrage balloon information, some links to maps, lists of balllon tethering points, information about the fishing vessels used as tethers and an excellent anecdote about barrage baloons, butterfly bombs, and Grimsby life in WW2.
Rod said,
August 7, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
L&P,
many thanks indeed - I’ll check them all out now
All the best
Rod
History Hunter said,
August 8, 2010 @ 12:49 am
That is the downed Heinkel that Danzenberg and Kosling died in. They are both buried in Scartho Road Cemetery in the CWGC section.
I hope you dont mind just this once Rod, but i shall put a link on here to asection of a little project I am personally undertaking and am getting more and more embroiled in. It shows the graves of the two Germans who died that day due to the barrage balloons doing what they were supposed to do.
It is only a link to my own photos so nothing unnecessary.
http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae71/temptage/Non%20UK/
Peter Mullins said,
August 8, 2010 @ 3:04 am
It isn’t widely apprecitated that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission looks after German graves in England as well as Allied graves across the world. Allied graves all have a standard stone - the size, material and form of inscription are identical whether in churchyards (a few examples exist at both Great Coates and Little Coates, including an uncle and nephew from the First and Second World Wars buried next to each other at the latter) or grouped in formal cemetries (including the Scartho Road group but, of course including the huge First World War cemetries in and near Flanders ). History Hunter’s photos show the standard German stone which is a subtle variation on the standard Allied stone - same material, same size but with a more teutonic cut to the top, a more teutonic cross, and a more simple inscription including the German habit of usuing a star to indicate date of birth and a cross to indicate date of death; they are all over Lincolnshire including a group of, I think, eight in Scampton churchyard.
Rod said,
August 8, 2010 @ 8:17 am
HH,
absolutely fabulous !
Great information and thanks also for the link to the pictures, I’m just going to edit the article and put the names of those two lost airmen - they should rightly be recorded, and with honour
In appreciation
Rod
Rod said,
August 8, 2010 @ 8:26 am
Peter,
many thanks for the information and important it is too.
Quite spookily I was in Little Coates churchyard yesterday afternoon looking at the two wargraves there - always very moving for me.
I still have to finish a draft write up about Scopwick which I visited last year. It was there I saw just how beautifully kept all the stones were including quite a number of German ones
All the best
Rod
History Hunter said,
August 8, 2010 @ 11:41 am
It is quite a common thing across the country where individuals, or groups, ‘adopt’ the gravestones and keep them looking in tip top condition, as they will obviously be more looked after than those that are tended by the CWGC themselves. Possibly those at Scopwick that you mention are just some of those looked after ‘privately’.
As brilliant a job that the CWGC do, its a shame that there are no mentions of the website of the foreign nationals who are buried amongst our own. After all this time I would have thought that they would have been commemorated too and have the resources for them to be remembered. After all, they were only doing their job, the same as the Commonwealth forces.
History Hunter said,
August 8, 2010 @ 11:53 am
I also remember seeing on here (and for the love of me, can i find it? can i h*ll!!!) a photo of the elegantly coiffured Mr Sissons in a photo holding the remains of a parachute that is believed to have been the very same one that Walter Kosling was wearing when he died.
History Hunter said,
August 8, 2010 @ 12:01 pm
Before anybody points it out i shall apologise profusely, having made Nev into a plural! Realising my mistake and now feeling rather foolish i have decided to not use the letter ‘S’ for the rest of the day. FAfter this post there are only 25 letters in the alphabet for the rest of the day. Having said that, ive just realised if i was to type Nevilles surname now, it would be ‘ion’. Doesnt quite have the right ring to it does it?
Amiguru said,
August 8, 2010 @ 1:18 pm
Hi tory Hunter,
Well that is the first time I’ve been ion-ized
Thanks for the correction as I have had a lifetime of pluralisation - I blame Peter Sissons! You would think three ’s’s would be enough wouldn’t you?
Incidentally, I’ve been ‘out of circuit’ for a week or so as I’ve been lumberjacking so I’ve a bit of catching up to do - take cover everyone! Hoist the barrage balloons, man the guns there are in-coming on radar…..
Oh, and the unfindable thread is:
http://www.rodcollins.com/wordpress/wartime-bombing-in-grimsby-lincolnshire-with-unique-maps#comment-15066
I did have conversation with Rod recently about finding stuff that is ‘more than recent’ but he said the technical problems that a proper search tool would engender are formidable so we continue to rummage. Can only get worse though if you can’t remember the item heading as the site grows!
Regards,
Neville
Rod said,
August 8, 2010 @ 6:14 pm
Guys,
as to search. Using the search box will search all the pages on the site - what it does not do I’m afraid is search the comments as well.
Although everything look like one page here this article is already 11 ‘pages’ now, each comment is an individual dtaabase entry rather than something simply ’stuck on the bottom of the page’
I’ve looked to add an advanced search but it causes a database clash and I’d have to rebuild the entire site
It is worth trying a Google search for this sort of stuff, prefix it with “rod collins”
Note: use the speech marks
Thanks for your patience and I’ll try and come up with something
All the best
Rod
History Hunter said,
August 8, 2010 @ 11:49 pm
My inability to find an individual photo prove* ju*t one thing, con*idering i have now found the po*t, that i am u*ele**. Dont worry your*elf about an advanced *earch………i *houldnt think there are too many people who rai*e a point and then have the inability to follow it up.
Amiguru said,
August 9, 2010 @ 10:28 am
HH,
A* you *eem to de*pi*e your own *kill in *earching thi* *uperb web*ite, I *hould rea**ure you that *ucce** i* *urely ju*t a *ymptom of *ibilant *tuttering* !
Yan Tan Kipperbang - Huhhhh
Regard*
Neville (*i**on)
marcus said,
August 10, 2010 @ 10:21 am
there are 3 woods in tetney that all have b balloon anchors in them, me and the boy found them whilst camping there . 3 sqaure woods running parralel to the rd
History Hunter said,
August 10, 2010 @ 3:30 pm
these are the co-ords for the middle of the 3 woods that Marcus mentions. To tell you the truth, i had forgotten about them, but since it has been brought up, i now recall my dad telling me about the barrage balloons that used to be tethered up there. I may go and ask him if he can recall anymore local sites where they were tethered.
History Hunter said,
August 20, 2010 @ 11:43 am
Update on the last post, the answer is NO he cant remember any more Barrage balloons other than the one at the Docks, which incidentally he physically saw being shot out the sky on the day that Cleethorpe Road was strafed. He saw the German plane as it flew past the end of the street he was playing on en route to doing the well publicised damage.
Ron Ridley said,
October 4, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
I have a (small) part of this actual aircraft.Fashioned as a shoe horn it has Heinkel 111 shot down 22/3/41 at Immingham stamped on it.Thought this may be of interest ,cheers,Ron.
Mad mum said,
November 1, 2010 @ 2:37 am
would like to say big thankyou to you and your many history trekkers Friends in helping me BIG time on my son homework …History of Immingham. Fabulous piccies, data and stories/comments from all……….
Rod said,
November 1, 2010 @ 9:17 am
Mad Mum,
many thanks for taking the time to leave a note - it’s very encouraging to hear that it is all of some use.
Hope your son gets good marks for his home work
All the best
Rod
History Hunter said,
June 13, 2011 @ 9:46 pm
One of my ‘aged’ colleagues at work was talking about Tetney a few days back and mentioned about the 3 rectangular wooded areas along Tetney Road, and I said i knew of them. I told him that they all had tethers for barrage balloons in them and he said he didnt know about that, but then added that in one of them, he cant remember which, there is the remains of a HAA Battery! He said that he used to play in them when he visited family in Tetney. Now, having not found any info on a HAA, or even a lesser emplacement, I’m guessing it may have been a searchlight battery.
Stewart said,
April 18, 2012 @ 4:34 pm
Of the 2 aircrew that survived this crash 1 been fw E.Stephan gave my father his dagger which have now.
Rod said,
April 18, 2012 @ 6:52 pm
Stewart,
that’s fabulous! Many thanks for sharing and a warm welcome to the site
Regards
Rod
The Saxman said,
April 19, 2012 @ 10:48 am
Re the 3 retangular wooded areas with concrete anchor blocks at their corners to the left of the road aproaching Tetney from Humberston.
These blocks were the anchor points for the guide cables that held up the masts of FOUR aerials of Tetney Beam Station. I believe the missing 4 blocks were removed along with some of the buildings just leaving the brick ops house now used by a double glazing company and others.(cant spot them on google earth)
If you Google “Tetney Beam Station” there’s a fasinating article there with great pictures.
The Saxman said,
April 20, 2012 @ 9:34 am
Very strange,
my previous post above i mention 4 masts, a lot of other reports only mention3,
But on Google the larger photo showing the sheep on the road and the still remaining house on the oposite side of the road seems to show SIX masts????? what do you think?
Ken Garner said,
May 9, 2012 @ 4:38 pm
I was 9 when the war started and when dad went in the Army in 1942, I made sure that mum who could get a bit weepy, was in the Morrison Table Shelter whan there was an air raid. There was a nasty episode when Grimsby and Cleethorpes were subject to a butterfly bomb deluge, thousands were droppe and to this day, there some still no accounted for.
Ken
Rod said,
May 9, 2012 @ 6:00 pm
Ken,
thank you for sharing that really appreciated and a warm welcome to the site
All the best
Rod
Pete said,
March 30, 2013 @ 7:10 pm
I have seen a photo of this same aircraft and transporter being driven through Scunthorpe. Anyone any idea which Maintenance Unit recovered this aircraft (Maybe 209 MU at RAF Broughton) and where it was being taken to? Was it usual for downed enemy aircraft to be “paraded”? I ask because I have a particular interest in 209 MU.
Cheers
Pete.
Rod said,
March 30, 2013 @ 7:11 pm
Hi Pete,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - if anybody knows anything hopefully they’ll leave a comment.All the best
Rod