Bures is a village that straddles the Essex/Suffolk border.
| Name | Occupation | Posted from | Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergeant Herbert Patrick Baker | Meat purveyor's clerk |
Unknown | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private David James C. Chambers | Unknown | Sept 1941 | |
| Private Rowland Frederick Goldsmith | Cowman |
14 Mar 1942 | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private Walter Smith | Butchers slaughterman |
Unknown | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private William Paul Twitchett | Civil servant |
Unknown | Unknown |
| Private Ernest Henry Gordon Webber | Farm Manager |
15 Dec 1941 | 03 Dec 1944 |
The Operational Base was originally planned to go in the grounds of Dr Woods house, as he was a leading figure in the local Home Guard (though better known for his musical arrangement of “Waltzing Matilda”!), though apparently this was felt to be too exposed to approach unnoticed.
The OB was then built in the wooded grounds of Little Bevills on the edge of the village. It was described as being five feet underground and was built by the Patrol. The entrance was through a trapdoor and along a tunnel. The trapdoor had 12 inches of padding to prevent it sounding hollow if stepped on. The ventilation shaft ran up inside a hollow oak tree. It was equipped with bunks, oil lamps and a Primus stove. It is reported to have contained “a quarter ton of explosives and a couple of hundred hand grenades”.
Bures Patrol
Normally the Patrol met in Gordon Drake’s house. The Patrol went to H.Q at River House at nearby Earls Colne for training. Gordon Drake mentioned going to Wiltshire, so he almost certainly went to Coleshill House.
In around 1957 or 1958, Mr Utting, who then was a teenage friend of Gordon Drake’s son, visited to find them both cutting length of cordite fuse and burning them on a fire. Mr Drake was also taking apart some WD issue single ball shotgun cartridges to dispose of these as well.
He explained that the supplies were accidently left behind when the Army had cleared the OB at the end of the war.
The Patrol appears to have been formed in 1940. By 13 Jan 1941, there were six men, still attached to their local Home Guard platoon. Baker, Morton and Webber with Lamarsh Platoon, Essex and Drake, Chambers and Smith in the Boxted Platoon, Suffolk.
TNA ref WO199/3389
Hancock data held at B.R.A
1939 Register
Correspondence with W R Utting, former resident of Bures