Site of Second World War heavy anti aircraft gun/'Diver' site, 'TN21 Crouchmans', Great Wakering (EHER 14863)

Now destroyed. A Second World War anti aircraft battery.

World War Two anti aircraft battery. <1> <2> <3> July 1998. World War Two heavy anti aircraft gun sites survey: desktop research. NGRs: gun emplacements, TQ 9405 8691; accommodation site, TQ 9407 8706. Documented in contemporary records as 'TN21 Crouchmans', a World War Two heavy anti-aircraft gun site south of Great Wakering. Equipment and manning at the site is documented at various dates (6th AA Div, 1940; Dobinson, 1996): Date Guns Radar Regt Bty 30 Apr 1940 unmanned 20 May 1942 unarmed none vacant 22 Jun 1942 unarmed none 15 Jan 1946 - - An aerial photograph taken in May 1946 shows four octagonal gun emplacements in a semi-circle facing east. Each has six internal ammunition recesses and conforms to the 'March 1938 pattern' diagram shown in <4>. Between the two northernmost gun emplacements what appears to be an on-site magazine bunker can be seen. In the centre of the semi-circle is the concrete command post. Approximately 100 yards to the north, at the end of Alexandra Road, is the accommodation site comprising approximately 13 huts. <5> - <9> October 1998. World War Two heavy anti aircraft gun sites survey: site visit. A housing development has now been built on the site and nothing of the emplacements or accommodation area remains. <9> November 2003. World War Two Defences in Rochford survey: site visit and desktop research. The site is now confirmed to have been incorporated into the anti-flying bomb ‘Diver’ defences with equipment and manning as follows (<10>): Date Guns Radar Regt Bty 26 July 1944 4 x 3.7" Mk IIc - 167 (M) 464 NRHE summary description: Site of Second World War heavy anti aircraft battery at Crouchmans Farm. It was listed as unarmed in 1942, but was armed with four 3.7-inch guns, as a Diver Battery in the Diver Box, on 26th July 1944, when it was manned by 464 Battery of 167 (Mixed) Anti Aircraft regiment. On 28th February 1945 it was employed as a Diver battery, armed with four 3.7-inch guns, equipped with Predictor AA No.10 Mark I, and Radar AA No.3 Mark V, and it was manned by 410 Battery of 124 Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment. It was retained as an Off-Site Nucleus Force Battery in 1946.