big guns In Kent
In 1941, the big guns came to Kent. These massive beasts were rail mounted and hidden in tunnels away from marauding Luftwaffe bombers.
My picture shows two 12-in guns operated by the 13th Super Heavy Battery of the Royal Artillery. They were based at Sellinge, between Ashford and Hythe. One of the guns was later sent to Ruckinge.
Others were sited at various East Kent locations, including Ashford Railway Works, Bishopsbourne, Martin Mill near Dover, Tenterden and St Margaret’s Bay.
I understand the purpose of the guns was to direct devastating fire on Kent beaches, in the event of an invasion by Nazi forces, and to engage enemy shipping in the English Channel.
Many of the men in this picture would have already seen action in Belgium and France with the British Expeditionary Forces. Some will have escaped through Dunkirk during the celebrated evacuation. My father, Harry Cook, who served as a quartermaster sergeant with the 13th Super Heavies, came out through St Nazaire, Brittany, after a hair-raising dash across France.