Life in Bures during WW1 and
WW11
For the past two decades, I have
been documenting life in Bures during the Second World War.
Although a rural village the war had a profound impact on daily
life, from our brave men who left to fight the enemy to the arrival
of the Americans.
The Americans first task
was to build the infrastructure such as airfields and roadways
for their large vehicles. West Suffolk was a rural area and Bures
only a remote village. Suffolk County Councils response to local
Air Raid Precautions were summarised as:-
The Government takes the view that there are no worthwhile
targets in West Suffolk and least of all in rural areas. Any damage
from air action will therefore be sporadic and accidental.
The Home Office has recommended that warnings should only be sounded
in Boroughs and Urban Districts.
Considering Bures Hamlet was the site of the largest USAAF Bomb
Dump in East Anglia and we suffered the loss of five lives in
Nayland Road due to enemy action, this is an understatement to
say the least.
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Bures Home Guard, Local
Defence
Bures was well equipped to fight the enemy as we had our
own Home Guard together with a unit of the Secret Army.
These were hand picked men who were highly trained to fight
the enemy covertly and try and reap havoc with their lines
of communication and transport.
The ladies also played a vital part keeping their village
supplied with food and plenty of moral boosting events.
LINK
This
was been published on January 1st 2020 as "Bures at
War"
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BOMBS Forward Ammunition Dump (FAD)
Bures Hamlet, Pebmarsh, and the Colnes was the site of
a large Ammunition Dump which stored bombs along the roadside
ready for transportation to the local airfields. None
of this information has ever been documented before. After
1% years of research it`s taken me as far afield as the
Military archives in the USA.
This has now been removed from the web site as it was
published as a book in 2020
LINK
TO TRIAL PAGE
More details
on the right >>>>
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Womens
Land Army (WLA)
Many Land Army girls worked on the local
farms in and around Bures.
They were
transported daily by lorry from their Hostel over at Leavenheath
to the local farms.
Link
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Katherine
Carr
Katherine lived at OverHall
Farm in Bures,
joined the ATS aged 20
Sadly, only a year later she lost her life during an air-raid
at the Officer Cadet Training Unit in Cheshire
The Memorial in our Cemetery
is listed
by the Commonwealth War Grave Commission,
who also maintains its upkeep
LINK
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WW11, PILL BOXES
The "Forward
Ammunition Depot" information was published on January 1st
2020
The
3rd and latest edition of this book can be viewed on this page
LINK
Available
via Ebay
Search for "Bures at War"
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