Hinton St Mary Patrol

The OB was discovered by a group of pupils form nearby Clayesmore School during the the spring of 1942. In Twin Coppice Wood near the River Stour, the OB was bulit into a bank on the edge of the wood that was about 6 to10 feet higher than the adjacent land. There were apparently three hatches, and three seperate chambers. Possibly the children didn't appreciate that there was an entrance and escape tunnel to the same structure, though we know some Patrols had a separate storage bunker nearby. The inside was described as Nissen hut-like with a concrete floor. One chamber contained bunks, the second a basic table and benches in unplaned wood and the third an armoury of Sten Guns, rifles, revolvers, grenades, ammunition and tear gas in the form of what looked like a pinkish brown stone easily broken up. Fragments on a tin lid burnt with a smokey yellow flame that caused temporary blindness to the unsuspecting observer.

The boys removed some of the stock and some set off the tear gas on a train, with another going fishing with the case of grenades from his father's boat in the Stour, using them like depth charges, which yielded a healthy harvest of fish rather than U Boats. Naturally the Police were fairly quickly involved following these events and in aid of secrecy they were all let off with a stern talking to and sworn to absolute secrecy. School boy Henry Teed, visiting the site later in the war, found it empty of all such materials. Returning a few years after the war, there was nothing to be found at the site other than a pile of bricks and duckboards, as the site had presumably been destroyed by the Royal Engineers.

It is not known if a new OB was built after this discovery, but this did happen elsewhere in the country.