The day that the Wheezers and Dodgers bombed Birnbeck Pier (1943)

In 1942, the German Luftwaffe began investigating the possibility of using a rocket brake in aerial sea mining. The aim was to reduce the velocity of a parachute-dropped mine so that, when it entered the water, the fuse would not be damaged. In practice, however, the idea was put to one side after a more robust fuse had been developed—one capable of withstanding the impact of entering the sea after a rapid descent by parachute.

In June of the same year, the Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD), known colloquially as the ‘Wheezers and Dodgers’, had, coincidentally, begun experimenting with a similar concept, but with considerably greater ambition.

According to the Old Testament, the Prophet Elijah used twelve large stones to build an altar on Mount Carmel. In reference to this biblical story, the DMWD adopted the name ‘Hajile’ for Project No. 81, The Deceleration of Parachuted Stores. The project’s scope extended well beyond the original idea of the dropping mines. It envisaged the airborne delivery of heavy equipment—including armoured fighting vehicles, bulldozers and substantial quantities of supplies—by using rockets to arrest their descent just before landing.

Birnbeck Pier, 1935

Elijah's heavy lifting on Mount Carmel

The approach adopted by the DMWD was to arrest the fall of the parachuted load using a ‘nest’ of rockets suspended beneath the canopy. The object to be dropped would be secured in a harness and surrounded by a huge ‘candelabra’ of rockets. Fired at precisely the right moment, these would counter the descent of the load, reducing its velocity sufficiently to allow it to touch down relatively gently.

Dr E. I. Guggenheim of the DMWD carried out the initial calculations. The first of these occupies four full pages in DMWD Technical History, Vol. XVII, held at The National Archives at Kew. This is perhaps unsurprising, given the number of variables involved: the combined weight of the load and rocket unit; the weight of the parachute; the thrust produced by the rocket unit; the terminal velocity of the system; the velocity at any given point during deceleration; and the drag produced by the parachute.

It was, in other words, a deceptively simple idea that required some decidedly complicated mathematics.

How the Hajile concept works

After considering a number of possible sites where Hajile could be tested—including the lift shaft at Hampstead Tube Station—the first trials were conducted from the roof of the giant balloon hangars at RAF Cardington in Bedfordshire. These initial experiments were encouraging, but it was time for a more ambitious test.

The team therefore headed west, to the North Somerset coast, where Hajile’s capabilities would be put to a much more spectacular test. Extraordinarily heavy objects were to be dropped into the sea off Birnbeck Island, near Weston-super-Mare, from a Lancaster provided by the Air Torpedo Development Unit of HMS Vernon, based at Weston-super-Mare Airport.

It is here that the famous motor-racing photographer Louis Klemantaski enters the story. Known to his colleagues simply as ‘Klem’, Klemantaski had joined the DMWD because of his expertise in high-speed photography. Many readers will have seen his remarkable films of Barnes Wallis's Upkeep trials at Reculver in Kent.

Klemantaski had begun the war in the Army, serving as an instructor in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, but was subsequently summoned by the Admiralty because of his unique photographic skills. His ability to capture events that took place in fractions of a second made him an invaluable member of the Hajile team—and, as events would prove, he was about to have a ringside seat for one of the DMWD’s more spectacular experiments - and could be blamed for demolishing part of Birnbeck Pier!

Louis Klemantaski (right) - post WW2

ATDU Lancaster fitted for Hajile

In an unpublished memoir, buried deep in the Churchill Archives in Cambridge, an eyewitness describes what happened next.

I was on the pier when the pilot of an aeroplane, who was dropping 10 ft cylinders attached to parachutes into the sea for DMWD, had been asked to drop one nearer the pier so that DMWD photographer Klemantaski could get a better cine film of the drop. There were a number of visitors and I watched them in between watching the cylinder floating down from the sky. It was most interesting to note their gradual awakening to the fact that the pilot had achieved a “direct hit” on the pier. Some people were more or less paralysed and “rooted to the spot”, some fled along the pier towards dry land, some flung themselves on their faces. I squatted by the pier wall and hoped for the best, which happened since no one was hurt and the damage was confined to the pier buildings. I cannot remember how good a film Klem took but it should have been excellent, except for not showing what happened when the cylinder hit the water, because it didn’t.

Gerald Pawle, in his 1956 book The Secret War, wrote that the concrete ‘bomb’ landed squarely on the roof of the DMWD’s engineering hut on the pier. It sheared through a massive steel joist and demolished the covered way leading to the steamer jetty. Fortunately, there were no casualties, although the WREN cooks preparing lunch just a few feet from the wrecked shelter must have thought that the end of the world had arrived.

The covered walkway can be seen in the photograph of Birnbeck Pier at the top of this post. It is on the right-hand side of the North Jetty, immediately to the left of the berthed steamer.

The Hajile project brought its share of frustrations and disappointments, but it did serve to advance the scientific study of deceleration, even though the system was never to become fully operational.

Jack Wide's photo album (see below)

As an aside, when I interviewed Cathy Keep, whose father, Jack Wide, was the piermaster at Birnbeck Pier she showed me a photo album containg images of herself as a baby, embossed with the name 'Louis Klemantaski’. This speaks to the close relationship the local Birnbeck team had with the DMWD 'interlopers'! 

The 10th Irish Division on the Kosturino Ridge and Rocky Peak, Salonika Front (1915)

Until recently I had thought of the 1915-18 Salonika Front as little more than an uninteresting footnote to the story of the First World War. Yes, it was a global war, but in my mind the conflict was dominated by the the epic struggles taking place on the Western Front. The tragedy of Gallipoli had always pricked my interest, but for some reason the Anglo-French intervention in the Balkans had simply not resonated with me. 

If I did think about the Salonika campaign, I pictured sun blasted rocky terrain, low intensity fighting, swarms of mosquitos and, frankly, not a great deal else of interest.

Earlier this year, I decided to visit these so called 'forgotten' battlefields. Even if the military history proved to be rather dull, it would still be an interesting part of the world to explore. The area of interest straddled the Greek - North Macedonian border, and the contrast between these two countries alone promised to make the journey worthwhile. 

A distant view of the Dojran Front from Doiran Military Cemetery

I soon discovered, however, that visiting the battlefields would not be straightforward. Without local knowledge and access to suitable transportation, a solo trip would be problematic. The various organised group tours that ventured into the area were expensive and didn't cover some of the more important - and  less accessible - sites. 

The solution came in the form of Glenn Stennes, a former Canadian Army Master Warrant officer who lives and works in the North Macedonian town of Dojran. In the passenger seat of a Hilux all-terrain 4x4, I was about to discover that the Salonika Front has a huge amount to offer.

The circumstances behind the Allied intervention at Salonika were somewhat complicated, but, in essence, it came about as a result of Bulgaria entering the war on the side of the Central Powers in October 1915. Serbia was in no position to resist a combined German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian offensive, which would have opened a land route linking the Central Powers with Turkey.

The situation was further complicated by the deep divisions within Greece. King Constantine was sympathetic to the German cause—his wife, Queen Sophia, was the sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II—while his Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, strongly favoured the Allies. This bitter political division would play a significant role in the events that followed.

First view of the Kosturino Ridge

My exploration of the Salonika Campaign began at Kosturino, where Glenn and I walked some of the ground covered by the 10th (Irish) Division as it advanced into Serbia (now North Macedonia). The division eventually consolidated a forward defensive line along Kosturino Ridge, with an advanced post at Rocky Peak. 

The photograph above shows the range of hills around Kosturino from roughly the perspective of the advancing 10th (Irish) Division. Having been deployed from Gallipoli, the division would anchor the Allied right, having taken over the line from the French who had pushed forward earlier.

Rocky Peak (right) from the Kosturino Ridge

Between the lines - Kosturino battlefield

Today, the mountainsides are covered in scrub and vegetation, but at the time of the battle the landscape would have been much more open, largely as a result of grazing by goats. This would have left the hillsides considerably more exposed, offering little in the way of natural cover to troops advancing across the ground.

By late November, having established themselves in the trench lines on the Ridge, the men of the division were facing increasingly severe weather. A three-day blizzard resulted in more than 900 men being evacuated with severe frostbite, and over the following weeks perhaps twice that number were withdrawn as a result of the effects of the weather. The blizzard conditions also made the task of supplying the forward positions increasingly difficult.

The expected Bulgarian attack finally came in early December. On 4 December, Bulgarian artillery began pounding the Irish positions, as well as the routes by which supplies were being brought up to the front line. The sangars built by the French, and the shallow trenches constructed by the 10th Division soldiers, provided little protection. When struck by shellfire, the stone shattered into small fragments, adding to the danger posed by flying shrapnel

The Kosturino Ridge from Rocky Peak

Rocky Peak, a position slightly forward of the Ridge itself, was an important high point. Glenn and I walked to the summit and, standing there, it became immediately apparent just how important the hill was: it dominated the surrounding battlefield.

On 6 December 1915, Rocky Peak was held by the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers, supported by a platoon of the 6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers under the command of 2nd Lieutenant McBryde-Broun. The Bulgarians attacked and succeeded in capturing the position, but were subsequently forced to relinquish it following a counter-attack which may have been led by McBryde-Broun. He was killed during the action.

A day later, the Bulgarians attacked in force, taking advantage of a thick mountain mist that shrouded the battlefield. After fierce hand-to-hand fighting, Rocky Peak was captured, allowing the Bulgarians to bring machine guns into action against other parts of the Irish defensive system. Eventually, the remaining defenders of this section of the line, including the 5th Connaught Rangers and the 10th Hampshire Regiment, with eighteen Bulgarian battalions attacking, were forced to withdraw. The Connaught Rangers lost 97 men killed, while the Hampshire Regiment lost 74 — a significant proportion of the approximately 300 men of the division who died during the fighting.

10th Irish Division Memorial, Kosturino

The struggle continued on 8 December. As the Bulgarian attacks continued with renewed vigour, the Allied line began to buckle. The French divisions on the left were withdrawing, and in any event the attempt to rescue Serbia had failed and the Serbian Army was retreating through Montenegro and Albania. The 10th (Irish) Division withdrew in good order towards the port city of Salonika, effectively acting as a rearguard for the retreating French.

The Division would end 1915 occupying part of a large defensive belt around Salonika, established to protect the port and the Allied forces gathered there. This vast network of defensive works would become known as ‘the Birdcage’.

In 1916 the Allies would return to the hills around what is now the North Macedonian town of Dojran, where they were to engage in hard fought battles in 1917 and 1918. It was during the final 1918 battle in the Dojran hills that the only Victoria Cross winner from my home town of Clevedon won his award beneath the all-seeing ‘Devil’s Eye’ — a dramatically situated Bulgarian bunker complex on the summit of a hill known to the French as the Grand Couronné.

That, however, is a story for another post. I’ll return to the drama of the 1918 battle soon.