http://militaryhistorynow.com/2015/...lds-and-their-curious-role-in-modern-wartime/
FROM ITS PERCH HIGH ATOP THE FAMOUS White Cliffs, the sprawling fortress of Dover Castle protected England’s shores from invasion for hundreds of years. Overlooking the 21-mile stretch of sea separating the British Isles from France, the mighty 12th Century citadel was long considered to be the “Key to Englandâ€. No foreign army could hope invade without passing beneath its formidable walls.
Amazingly, when Britain went to war against Germany in 1939, the 800-year-old bastion was once again pressed into service.
British troops being evacuated from Dunkirk. 1940. (Image source: WikiCommons.)
Not only did Dover’s elevated ramparts make ideal observation posts, the miles of historic tunnels cut deep into the chalk beneath the castle were converted into air raid shelters at the outset of hostilities. The fortress also housed a communications hub from which the RAF and Royal Navy coordinated search and rescue operations for pilots lost over the English Channel and North Sea. But most famously, bunkers deep within the cliffs concealed a top secret command post from where Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay planned and directed the evacuation of more than 330,000 British and Allied soldiers from Dunkirk 75 years ago.
And Dover isn’t the only Medieval-era castle that was on the frontlines of the Second World War.
FROM ITS PERCH HIGH ATOP THE FAMOUS White Cliffs, the sprawling fortress of Dover Castle protected England’s shores from invasion for hundreds of years. Overlooking the 21-mile stretch of sea separating the British Isles from France, the mighty 12th Century citadel was long considered to be the “Key to Englandâ€. No foreign army could hope invade without passing beneath its formidable walls.
Amazingly, when Britain went to war against Germany in 1939, the 800-year-old bastion was once again pressed into service.
British troops being evacuated from Dunkirk. 1940. (Image source: WikiCommons.)
Not only did Dover’s elevated ramparts make ideal observation posts, the miles of historic tunnels cut deep into the chalk beneath the castle were converted into air raid shelters at the outset of hostilities. The fortress also housed a communications hub from which the RAF and Royal Navy coordinated search and rescue operations for pilots lost over the English Channel and North Sea. But most famously, bunkers deep within the cliffs concealed a top secret command post from where Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay planned and directed the evacuation of more than 330,000 British and Allied soldiers from Dunkirk 75 years ago.
And Dover isn’t the only Medieval-era castle that was on the frontlines of the Second World War.