history of

rasper

anyone have any insight of the origins of the old military pillar guard box on the hill to the left on the tramore road, has it a British connection or civil war roots, asked a few people and got a variety of explanations

mike65

http://forum.irishmilitaryonline.com/archive/index.php/t-8232.html

Mike.

rasper

The link to Hpt Murphys reply relates to a structure overlooking what is now the Waterford - Tramore road some 8-10miles inland from the original query. This would have originally overlooked the waterford -tramore rail-line which was insitu until about 1962(ish) AFIK, so that might explain the reson for its "unusual" orientation

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cheers for link,
tried to register for militaryonline but couldn't, will try later will i get the answer to my quest there, aint from waterford so not at all familiar with the areas

BBM77

Believe it or not, that was a gun post during World War II. There is another one on the coast road near Boatstrand. They were part of Ireland’s “defence” against the German Army.

merlante

Ballybrickenman wrote:

Believe it or not, that was a gun post during World War II. There is another one on the coast road near Boatstrand. They were part of Ireland’s “defence” against the German Army.

The British army were more likely to invade Ireland during WW2 than the Germans! Churchhill made a famous speech after the war hinting at this, to which DeValera gave an equally famous response...

rasper

Imagine if it wasn't for that post we'd be speaking german, can just see the LDF holding off a blitzkrieg:D

mike65

Actually we'd all be speaking Russian. I'll let you think about that one.

Mike.

merlante

Actually we'd be speaking English. The only way a Nazi conquered European empire could have been maintained would have been to give back most of the countries most of their freedoms. It's one thing to take Europe by blitzkrieg, quite another to occupy it and force everyone to change their language. That kind of a regime wouldn't have lasted 5 years. What you would have had was a very large Germany, ala the Holy Roman Empire, and a number of partially subdued, nominally obedient countries within a sort of Nazi commonwealth, loosely controlled by the Fatherland. That is about as much as the Germans could have expected. (Similar to, but not as tightly controlled as, the Eastern Bloc countries under Russia.)

rasper

any link to churchill's speech,hard to imagine he'd be prepared to invade a "friendly" neutral state in order to secure his western flank , considering the extra manpower and bad press, not to mention the thousands of irish volunteers fighting on the continent.

mike65

Bad Press? That sort of thing never bothered Churchill!

Anyway we're not speaking German or Russian and all thanks to the pillbox on the Tramore road. I give it a wave next time I'm passing.

Mike.

merlante

rasper wrote:

any link to churchill's speech,hard to imagine he'd be prepared to invade a "friendly" neutral state in order to secure his western flank , considering the extra manpower and bad press, not to mention the thousands of irish volunteers fighting on the continent.

Wikipedia: Eamon_de_Valera (De_Valera_and_Churchill_clash_on_radio)

Start googling from here. The dispute centred on Ireland's stubbornly neutral position, which hindered Churchill's defence of Britain. Those FF politicians that were suggesting we were never really neutral should have a good look at their former leader's position during WW2.

Plumberz

Ballybrickenman wrote:

Believe it or not, that was a gun post during World War II. There is another one on the coast road near Boatstrand. They were part of Ireland’s “defence” against the German Army.

There was also a pill box above the railway station overlooking the bridge, we used to play there as children, it was on the Ardree Hotel property, anybody know if its still there? I remember seeing another one somewhere on the Dunmore road at a crossroads, it was on the left as you travelled to Dunmore not sure of the exact location though. Also in Dunmore there is or was a gun emplacement overlooking the harbour.

Roen

The one in Dunmore is still there.