Site of Second World War searchlight battery at Debden Cross, Debden (EHER 81390)

Now destroyed. The possible site of a Second World War searchlight battery in the general area of Debden Cross. It was manned by 33 Searchlight Regiment. The battery was operational from October 1941. It formed part of a network of searchlights named Area DN02, which along with another such area (DN01) formed a defensive belt in the Essex-Cambridgeshire-Suffolk borders area, which also extended into Hertfordshire. Searchlight sites typically comprised a small ring-ditch to provide the crew with shelter during an air raid, a predictor emplacement for calculating the height and range of targets, a light anti-aircraft machine gun pit, a generator and hutted accommodation for the crew.

NRHE data transfer: The site of a Second World War searchlight battery , allegedly at "Debden Cross", said to have been situated at NGR TL 575 318/ MGR (military grid reference M 024506). It was manned by 33 Searchlight Regiment. The battery was operational from October 1941. It formed part of a network of searchlights named Area DN02, which along with another such area (DN01) formed a defensive belt in the Essex-Cambridgeshire-Suffolk borders area. <1> The position noted in source 1 is some distance (over 600 metres) to the west-south-west of the actual Debden Cross cross roads, which is located at TL 58066 32076, marked on historical mapping of 1921. <2> <3> Searchlight sites typically comprised a small ring-ditch to provide the crew with shelter during an air raid, a predictor emplacement for calculating the height and range of targets, a light anti-aircraft machine gun pit, a generator and hutted accommodation for the crew. <4>