I was looking at a 1943 issue map of military (army) ranges in the UK (declassified 1981) and spotted the following in and around the area I grew up as a kid.
Mortar ranges are marked "+" and the shaded areas are field firing ranges.
I did a rough Google Earth overlay and as far as I can ascertain the breakdown is:
Field Ranges.
* Cheltenham - Open fields east of Severn Springs where Ian Cole shooting school now is (this range is mentioned in the Stoke Orchard ORB)
* Northleach - Lodge Park?
* Cirencester - Barnsley Park, poss. Wiggold?
* Winchcombe - Cleeve Hill?
I have lists of various Army ranges but only those that existed at the end of the war. I will check to see if the names marry up and post my findings later today or tomorrow. Glad to see they used the term mortar as mortar ranges often were called bombing ranges
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
I have lists of various Army ranges but only those that existed at the end of the war. I will check to see if the names marry up and post my findings later today or tomorrow. Glad to see they used the term mortar as mortar ranges often were called bombing ranges
Isn't the map one of the ones I got for you Peter? (can't think of any other reason why I have a full 40MB copy of it).
Isn't the map one of the ones I got for you Peter?
Yes it is. I did try to overlay the bombing range version over the top but apparently I need more resource!
OEB: A quick look at one list of WD training areas didn't find any obvious matches and I'm not sure if the area would be Western Command or Southern Command, but searched Western anyway. If nothing looks obvious I will post a list as you mnay know the names that might apply. I suspect many will not appear as there was an awful lot of change in late 1943, early 1944. Sadly the training area lists don't include co-ordinates.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
* Cheltenham - Open fields east of Severn Springs where Ian Cole shooting school now is (this range is mentioned in the Stoke Orchard ORB)
Possibly on the large field just to the NE of Severn Springs where the Volunteer and WWI range was.
I'll look to see if any of the others match my notes later...I think I'll probably need a full 250g of coffee beans through the machine before I function this morning.
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