East Anglia at War

A soldier looking out into the parkland — Discover what life was like in East Anglia during the Second World War

During the Second World War, East Anglia and its close proximity to Europe, played a vital role in the war effort.

The region became home to over 350,000 American air force personnel, country houses were requisitioned and our coast was used in the preparations for the D-Day landings. Evacuees arrived from London to the safety of the countryside and land was provided for the 'Dig for Victory' campaign. Here's how the places in our care were involved.

Country houses requisitioned

The army leave their mark

Melford Hall was requisitioned during the Second World War and the army almost destroyed the house when a fire broke out in 1942. Whilst stationed here, the 1st Battalion of the Royal Hampshire Regiment was inspected by King George VI. When the Hyde Parker family finally returned after the war, they discovered the wine cellar had been completely raided!

RAF Officers standing outside Blickling Hall

The Royal Air Force move in

RAF Oulton was a bomber base created on the Blickling Estate in 1939. Aircraft including Blenheim Bombers and the famous Flying Fortress flew from here, whilst the hall was used as an officers' mess. The estate’s owner, Lord Lothian, was Ambassador to the United States and helped win America’s support for the British war effort.

Graffiti on the fireplace in Tranmer House at Sutton Hoo

Land girls make themselves at home

When Edith Pretty died in 1942, Tranmer House at Sutton Hoo passed into the ownership of the War Office. About 100 Land Army girls were billeted here, helping out at local farms, picking potatoes and sugar beet. If you look carefully, you can still see the graffiti they carved into the stone fireplace and the holes in the wood panelling, where their dartboard hung.

Preparations for D-Day

Operation Overlord

Due to its similarity with the proposed landing beaches in Normandy, the sandy beach at Brancaster played a key role in Operation Overlord. There was concern that the sand would be too soft to land the specialised amphibious tanks, so units from 79th Armoured Brigade were sent to Brancaster Beach to carry out practice landings ahead of D-Day.

Coastal gun battery looking over the sea at Dunwich Heath, Suffolk, 1940s

Operation Kruschen

During the Second World War Dunwich Heath was one of the heaviest defended parts of the Suffolk coastline with a radar station, coastal artillery battery and anti-invasion defences. It was here that one of the most significant military exercises to prepare for the D-Day landings took place. Exercise Kruschen, was designed to test ways that German defences could be breached and saw a complete mock German defensive position constructed.

A hospital for 12,000 soldiers

As part of the preparations for D-Day, several locations in England were identified for the treatment of wounded soldiers. One was Wimpole Hall, where a large tented 163rd US Army General Hospital was set up in the grounds in 1944 for the treatment of injured US soldiers. More than 12,000 servicemen were treated here, brought by ambulance trains to nearby Meldreth station.

Defending our skies

A spitfire for the nation

In 1940 Lord Fairhaven of Anglesey Abbey and his brother each gave £5000 towards an aircraft for the nation, helping to purchase a Spitfire for the Royal Air Force, which they named ‘Cambridgeshire’. On 24 February 1941 it was shot down during an attack on the airfield at Maupertas, near Cherbourg.

An aircraft lost

A few years ago, coastal erosion briefly revealed what’s believed to be the wreck of a German aircraft at Blakeney Point, shot down during the Second World War. Fleeing back across the Norfolk Coast, the Heinkel is believed to have dumped its bombs and limped as far as Blakeney, before the second engine failed.

Cows grazing at Hatfield Forest, shrouded in mist

Wartime base to modern airport

Due to Hatfield Forest’s close proximity to London, troops were posted to the forest, as a holding camp for deployment in the event of an invasion. An airfield was created at its boundary, which at 3000 acres became the largest USAF base in East Anglia, you’ll know it today as Stansted Airport.

Duty calls

Preparing the troops

During the Second World War, British, American, Dutch and Polish troops used Ashridge Estate as a training ground. There’s a concrete road known as Monument Drive, which includes an area called ‘Barracks Square’ where troops practised drills and parades. Ashridge House was also used as a secondary site for Charing Cross Hospital.

Defending our coast

North Norfolk has long been considered vulnerable to invasion and during the Second World War extensive fortifications were built along this stretch of coastline. Oak Wood in Sheringham Park was used throughout the war as a defensive position. With the threat of invasion looming, an additional pillbox was constructed using an unusual design, modified for machine gun use.

Bombs away

Picture looking down Drainers Dyke between Sedge & Verral's Fen

An explosive plant

Wicken Fen faced destruction during the Second World War, when plans were drawn up to use it as a bombing range, but thankfully it was spared. It was only following the discovery of the plant Alder Buckthorn that helped save this area of fenland. This plant produces charcoal when its burnt, which was proving useful to make fuses for explosives.

Secret military tests

Orford Ness’s history is shrouded in secrecy and tales of military testing. It was here that the first tests in the development of radar took place and where the flight of bombs were recorded to improve aerodynamics and bomb aiming. The military also wanted to determine the vulnerability of aircraft and the information gathered on the Ness led to improvements that helped many aircrews to make it home.

Sutton Hoo burial mound and tree at sunrise

Treasures hidden during the Blitz

On the eve of the Second World War, an astonishing discovery was made at Sutton Hoo, treasure of a kind never before recovered in Britain. Donated to the British Museum the treasures were buried once more, but this time in a disused London Underground tunnel. They survived the Blitz, but the plans of the Anglo-Saxon ship were not with them and went up in flames.

Life on the Home Front

Evacuation to the country

A work party from London took over Thorington Hall in 1941 to prepare the house for use as an evacuation hostel, for elderly bombed-out Londoners. The local community welcomed the new arrivals, with produce from their autumn harvest and in return the evacuees laid on a party in the big house for local residents.

Group of children evacuees at train station

Life as an evacuee in Suffolk

A group of evacuees from Hackney in London were allotted the basement at Ickworth in Suffolk as living accommodation during the Second World War. We know from our research that the Marchioness held tea parties for them in the East Wing. It would have been quite different to what they were used to.

Supporting the war effort

During the Second World War, Lavenham Guildhall received evacuees and served as a restaurant and nursery. It was also used as a social club for the 487th Bombardment Group of the 8th US Army Air Force, ‘The Mighty Eighth’ whilst they were stationed at Lavenham airfield.

Dig for victory

Now a focal point in the garden, the Victorian Parterre at Oxburgh Hall, was once used for growing potatoes during the height of the Governments 'dig for victory' campaign. The hugely successful propaganda campaign encouraged civilians to grow their own in order to reduce Britain’s reliance on imports.

Remembrance and memorials

A magnificent ancient beech tree at Ashridge Herts

A memorial with a difference

There is a Beech tree on the Ashridge Estate with the states of Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, New York, Illinois and South Dakota carved into the bark by American troops. It also includes the date 4 May 1944, the ‘V’ for victory and three dots and a dash, which is morse code for ‘V’.

The Victory V Plantation

The last owner of Felbrigg Hall was Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer. His brother and heir, Richard, was killed in action whilst serving in Crete with the RAF. You can find a memorial to him in the woods. The Victory ‘V’ plantation comprises two avenues of beech trees, which acts as a reminder for planes flying overhead.