149 The Guns of Godley Head, After the Battle, AFTER THE BATTLE
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//-->battleafter theTHE GUNS OF GODLEY HEADHITLER’S HQ AT MARGIVALNumber 149499770306 154097£4.25NUMBER 149© CopyrightAfter the Battle2010Editor: Karel MargryEditor-in-Chief: Winston G. RamseyPublished byBattle of Britain International Ltd.,The Mews, Hobbs Cross House,Hobbs Cross, Old Harlow,Essex CM17 0NN, EnglandTelephone: 01279 41 8833Fax: 01279 41 9386E-mail: hq@afterthebattle.comWebsite:www.afterthebattle.comPrinted in Great Britain byWarners Group Publications PLC,Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH.After the Battleis published on the 15thof February, May, August and November.LONDON STOCKIST for theAfter the Battlerange:Motorbooks, 13/15 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4ANTelephone: 020 7836 5376. Fax: 020 7497 2539United Kingdom Newsagent Distribution:Warners Group Publications PLC,Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PHAustralian Subscriptions and Back Issues:Renniks Publications Pty LimitedUnit 3, 37-39 Green Street, Banksmeadow NSW 2019Telephone: 61 2 9695 7055. 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E-mail: si@sipublicaties.nlDuring the Second World War, Lyttelton Harbour, on the east coast of NewZealand’s South Island, was protected against enemy attacks by a heavy coastalbattery at Godley Head. Located at the northern mainland entrance to the naturalharbour, this headland was an ideal look-out and a perfect battery position. Thedecision to build a battery there was already taken in December 1938 but construc-tion of the gun casemates did not begin until after war had broken out in September1939 and the first 6-inch guns were not operational until July 1941.THE GUNS OF GODLEY HEADLong considered, the fortification of NewZealand’s Godley Head was finally under-taken on the brink of the Second World War.Work on the largest defensive works on theSouth Island since Victorian times began in1939 and continued throughout the war andbeyond.New Zealand is comprised of two primarylandmasses — the North and South Island —plus numerous smaller islands. Situated inthe south-western Pacific Ocean, NewZealand’s closest neighbours are Australia,1,300 miles to the west, and Fiji, 1,300 milesto the north.In the late 19th century, the isolatedBritish colony faced the threat of an externalaggressor — first France, then Russia. Dur-ing the ‘Russian scares’ of 1870-85, Lieu-tenant Colonel Peter Scratchley, Royal Engi-neers, judged that the most likely form ofattack against New Zealand would be fromenemy cruisers.While it was assumed that any approach-ing enemy vessels would be intercepted bythe Royal Navy, Scratchley nevertheless rec-ommended coastal batteries, mines and tor-pedoes to protect the country’s primaryports. In line with Scratchley’s suggestions,by 1885 there were four coastal guns —64-pounder guns at Spur Point Battery andErskine Point and two 7-inch muzzle loadersat Battery Point — guarding Lyttelton Har-bour. A joint Defence Secret Committee ofAugust 1900 advocating the transfer of theFort Jervois guns to Godley Head was notacted upon.Although the Russian menace hadreceded by 1903, Major-General JamesBabington, New Zealand Army, proposed abattery of 6-inch guns for Godley andAdderley Heads, at the entrance to LytteltonHarbour, though he later reversed his deci-sion to concentrate on the defence ofWellington and Auckland (on the NorthIsland): ‘This colony cannot maintain more[sites] in an efficient state: it is a waste ofmoney to continue inefficient defences’.Meanwhile in London, the Colonial DefenceCommittee independently championed thedevelopment of coastal artillery at GodleyHead, an area set aside as a military reservesince 1851.By David Mitchelhill-GreenThis scheme was supported by a RoyalEngineers’ report and later reaffirmed byLord Kitchener, who toured the area in 1910.But instead of ploughing money into addi-tional fixed defences, Major-General SirAlexander Godley, who became GeneralOfficer Commanding New Zealand Forces in1910, turned instead to developing a nationalTerritorial Force (TF). In Godley’s opinion,since it was impossible to install permanentdefences at ‘all the innumerable ports andharbours’, the best way of repelling ‘aninvader’ would be to ‘go meet him while he islanding and/or after he has landed’.Advances in artillery, however, renderedthe original batteries at Lyttelton obsoleteand the harbour was protected by two 6-inchand two 8-inch Armstrong ‘disappearing’guns (‘disappearing’ because, as it fired, therecoil pushed the gun back undergroundwhere it could be reloaded under cover) atFort Jervois, on Ripapa Island, at the out-break of war in July 1914. One of these gunswas later recommissioned in 1941 andserved until 1943. In a situation similar toAustralia’s first shot from Fort Nepean (seeAfter the BattleNo. 90), the small coasterWhakatuentered Lyttelton Harbour amonth after the declaration of war onAugust 4 in brazen non-compliance ofwartime regulations. The ship’s captain,‘such a belligerent type that he ignored com-pletely the examination vessel at the Heads’,continued to sail ‘on up the Harbour’ until a‘6-inch shell across his bows brought him tovery smartly’. Such was the only shot fired inanger at Lyttelton during the course of theFirst World War. New Zealand’s coastal bat-teries were stood down from 24-hour readi-ness in April 1915 and perhaps the mainhighlight at Lyttelton for the remainder ofthe war was the incarceration of the auda-cious Count Felix von Luckner, captain ofthe three-masted German raider SMSSeeadler,on Ripapa Island following his cap-ture at Fiji and subsequent escape from aPOW camp on Motuihe Island, near Auck-land and recapture near the KermadeeIslands north of New Zealand.CONTENTSTHE GUNS OF GODLEY HEADWAR FILMThe True GloryFRANCEFührerhauptquartier‘Wolfsschlucht 2’IT HAPPENED HEREThe Potters Bar Incident —April 26, 1941WRECK DISCOVERYNo Longer Missing —The Search for LW337213204048Front Cover:The two emplacements for the6-inch guns of the Godley Head Battery whichprotected Lyttelton Harbour on the east coastof New Zealand’s South Island. (David Green)Centre Pages:This aerial photo was taken inApril 1949 when Führerhauptquartier ‘Wolfs-schlucht 2’ was still more or less in the conditionit was left when the Germans vacated it inSeptember 1944. The annotations accord with theFrench numbering of the 1950s. (IGN)Back Cover:This rustic cross marks the spotwhere Halifax LW337 crashed in Berlin on thenight of January 20/21, 1944. (Ralf Drescher)Acknowledgements:For his invaluable helpwith the Godley Head story, the Editor wouldlike to thank Peter Wilkins. He also extends hisappreciation to Peter Cooke. For their help withthe ‘Wolfsschlucht 2’ story, he thanks DidierLedé of the ASW 2 Association; Dieter Zeigert,author in conjunction with Franz Seidler ofDieFührerhauptquartiere 1939-1945;Pierre Rhodeand Werner Sünkel, authors ofWolfsschlucht2, Autopsie eines Führerhauptquartiers,andBruno Renoult.Photo Credits:ATL — Alexander TurnbullLibrary; BA — Bundesarchiv; IGN — InstitutGéographique National; MOD — Ministry ofDefence; USNA — US National Archives.2DOC CHRISTCHURCHCHRISTCHURCHGODLEY HEADGODLEY HEADLYTTELTONLyttelton Harbour is a natural feature serving the port town ofthat name and lies south of Christchurch, the second largest cityBudgetary cutbacks in the immediate post-war period scuttled a proposal by Admiral ofthe Fleet Sir John Jellicoe (New Zealand’sGovernor-General from 1920 to 1924) toreinforce the country’s harbour defences;indeed New Zealand’s fiscal deficit forcedthe closure of coastal defences including themothballing of Lyttelton’s coastal artillery.At the same time the Washington NavalTreaty of 1922, which pre-empted the threelargest naval powers — Great Britain, theUnited States and Japan — from enteringinto a new arms race, alarmed the NewZealand government because of the size lim-itations placed on the Royal Navy. Offsettingthis concern, however, was Britain’s 1921decision to construct a large naval base atSingapore. Added economic woes in subse-quent years amid the Great Depressionforced New Zealand’s Labour governmentto suspend compulsory military training, thefight against poverty a more pressing need.But as anti-militaristic sentiment swelled andthe ranks in the Army’s Permanent Forcecontinued to ebb, events abroad prompted arethink. With the ending of Britain’s ‘TenYear Rule’ — namely that no major conflictwould arise in the next decade — as a conse-quence of Japanese intervention in Chinaand Germany’s re-armament programme, areview of New Zealand’s defence require-ments was tabled in October 1933. It encour-aged Cabinet to upgrade the nation’s coastaldefences with a priority second only to thedevelopment of a capable air force. Sites forseveral new coastal forts were identified,though for the moment, all were located onthe North Island.As part of a 1937 reorganisation of theNew Zealand Army, a Territorial Force Spe-cial Reserve was formed that would providethe ‘necessary personnel for the heavy[coastal batteries] and . . . the specialistsrequired’ for the fortress infantry battalions.These reservists, unlike regular territorials,would train for an initial three months andafterwards attend a yearly ten-day camp dur-ing the term of their three-year enlistment.In the event of war breaking out, thesefortress troops would be mobilised immedi-ately. A fresh examination of the coastaldefences by the Chiefs-of-Staff Committeeregarded an attack on home soil by theJapanese as ‘highly improbable’. Moreover,Fortress Singapore was deemed ‘secure’.Reiterating earlier assessments, the commit-The guns have gone but their emplace-ments remain following restoration bythe Godley Head Heritage Trust in 2009.in New Zealand and the largest urban area on South Island. TheGodley Head battery formed part of the Lyttelton Fortress area.When war broke out in September 1939, construction of the main gun position wasstill waiting to get started. As an emergency stop-gap, two carriage-mounted Mark III60-pounder First World War field guns were quickly moved to the site on September9 and set up on simple concrete pads several hundred yards north of the intendedmain battery position. The 30 gunners manning them initially cooked and ate intrenches, the wind at times being so strong that it literally blew the food from theirplates! As the area was then still devoid of buildings except for the lighthouse andkeeper’s cottage, they lived in tents until proper barracks became available in mid-1940. Godley Battery, the main gun site built later, was in front of the trees visible onthe ridge line in the distance.3ATBDES SMITH COLLECTIONGOOGLE EARTHtee found that the main danger to NewZealand was either an attack by enemy cruis-ers, submarines and motor torpedo boats;limited strikes by carrier-based aircraft, or anamphibious raid by small landing parties. Asubsequent warning by Wing Commanderthe Hon. Ralph Cochrane, RAF, that anyenemy attack would most likely be seabornewas followed by Cabinet consensus inDecember 1938 to establish a 6-inch counter-bombardment battery at Godley Head.With Europe edging toward hostilities, anew assessment of the strategic importanceof the Pacific was held in Wellington in April1939. In recognising the possibility of a localconflict in concert with war in Europe, whichwould naturally obstruct any assistance fromBritain, the review recommended the bol-stering of New Zealand’s home defences. Inthe meantime a public tender for the con-struction of defensive works on GodleyHead — two 6-inch gun emplacements, twobattery observation posts, a plotting roomand ancillary facilities — had closed. Con-struction of the gun pits, originally intendedto begin in July 1939, was delayed, however,by a combination of bad weather and the pri-ority given to other military projects follow-ing New Zealand’s declaration of war againstGermany on September 3, 1939.FORTIFYING GODLEY HEADThe outbreak of war added importance tothe fortification of Godley Head, thoughwork on the gun pits was further interruptedby the unavailability of the two 6-inch MarkXXIV guns originally assigned to the cliff-top fortress. For a short time the ‘defendedport’ of Lyttelton was protected by the single4-inch examination battery inside the har-bour at Battery Point. A dummy batterycomprising two telegraph poles under a tar-paulin was briefly ‘operational’ until blusteryweather exposed the deception. To compen-sate for the lack of available artillery, twoMark III 60-pounder field guns, accompa-nied by 30 gunners of the Territorial ForceSpecial Reserve, 23rd Heavy Battery, NewZealand Artillery (NZA), were rushed fromTrentham Camp near Wellington on NorthIsland on September 9. The First World Warvintage guns were immediately set up onconcrete pads as an interim measure ‘for useseawards by day to prevent hostile vesselsbombarding from anchor in the vicinity ofthe harbour’. The 60-pounder battery wasknown as the 17th Heavy Battery (GodleyHead), 11th Heavy (Coast) Regiment, untilJune 1941 when the first 6-inch guns werebrought into service.Godley Head’s two battery observationsposts (BOPs) — No. 1 at 784 feet above sealevel, No. 2 adjacent to the guns on top of the300-foot cliff –, a miniature range, plottingroom and engine room were completed bythe end of 1940. A decision by the RoyalNew Zealand Navy not to reconfigure a sec-ond armed merchant cruiser released two 6-inch Mark VII naval guns for use as coastalIn January 1941, work was begun on a temporary 6-inch gun battery on the headlandssouth-east of Taylor’s Mistake, directly behind and to the sides of the existing 60-poundersites, as an interim measure till the main 6-inch battery was completed on the lighthousesite. Named Taylor Battery, it comprised two ex-naval breach-loading 6-inch Mark VIIguns on PIII pivot mountings in reinforced-concrete barbette (literally, over the edge)positions. To transport the heavy gun barrels from Lyttelton Port to the battery site, theArmy had to call in the help of nearby RNZAF Station Wigram which provided theirspecialised aircraft-moving vehicle to do the job. Being only a temporary facility, the bat-tery had neither engine room nor magazine. Ready-use lockers were built into the rear ofeach gun platform, reserve ammunition and cartridges being stored under canvasnearby. A basic battery observation post was set up between and to the rear of the twoguns. The guns were later provided with three-quarter (i.e. open to the rear) steel-plateturrets. The battery was operational for only six months — from July until December1941 — being closed down when the first of the Mark XXIV guns came into service.Today only the emplacements remain. When the site was closed down, the Mark VIIguns were dismounted (they reportedly went to the Bay of Islands). Some time laterthe Army made an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the northernmost gun platform.The last of the site’s buildings were removed in 1984.artillery in late 1940. Authorisation wasgranted the following January for theirinstallation in a temporary battery, known asTaylor Battery due to its proximity to neigh-bouring Taylor’s Mistake. In the interim,construction had begun on two moreemplacements several hundred yards to thesouth-east for the long-anticipated MarkXXIV guns. The two long-serving 60-pounders were finally relieved in July 1941when Taylor Battery’s 6-inch guns becameoperational. A month earlier battery regi-mental headquarters had moved to GodleyHead, the battery redesignated as the 87thHeavy Battery. Later, in August 1941, itbecame the 80th Heavy Battery.Left:The army also built a number of pill-boxes on the slope overlooking Taylor’sMistake. Each one mounted a Lewismachine gun.ATB4ATBDOC CHRISTCHURCHDOC CHRISTCHURCHLeft:The camp, which could accommodate 400 persons, com-prised 91 buildings, including barracks, quartermaster’s store,kitchen, laundry, ablution block, messes and medical post. This isthe view looking towards the hill.Right:The Godley HeadHeritage Trust is working to turn the former regimental head-quarters/quartermaster’s store (left) into a museum.5PETER WILKINSATBAbove:A camp to house the personnelwas established 450 yards behind theheadland. Construction began in July1939. Three permanent buildings — theOfficers’ Mess, Sergeants/Other RanksMess and the regimental office/quarter-master’s store — were completed in per-manent materials but war shortagesforced the construction of the remainingbarracks and facilities in wood. Later on,the influx of WAAC personnel and fortresstroops required many additional build-ings. The water supply for the campposed a major problem for in spite ofsinking several bore holes, no naturalsource could be found on the Head. Asupply was eventually obtained from thereservoir at Taylor’s Mistake, an addi-tional 455,000-litre reservoir being estab-lished at Black Rock and one of 136,500litres at Lyons Main. This is the view ofthe camp looking out towards the sea.Right:The three permanent buildings andthe Medical Inspection Room (the onlywartime wooden building to survive) andthe parking lot are all that remain.DOC CHRISTCHURCH
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