NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 1997
11
Campaign to open underground base to public gains momentum
Picture: Tom Bonn
• ABOVE: HMS Forward's champion Geoffrey Ellis inspects the access tunnel walls below Heighten Hill. • RIGHT: Scene in Forward's underground plotting room, crowded with Naval and Air Force personnel on D-Day, June 6, 1944. • FAR RIGHT: The plotting room as it is today, showing the passage leading to the western entrance.
FORWARD MOVE TO UNLOCK SECRET
O
N HEIGHTON Hill, a m i l e north of Newhaven, a partially demolished building stands over the site of one of the most intriguing undergound headquarters of World War II. Within the low structure of Denton House, once a Guinness Trust Holiday Home, is a concealed entrance to galleries and tunnels 6()ft below. They once housed 10,000 personnel operating a mass of the most sophisticated intelligence gathering and communications equipment available at the time. Local historian and retired telecommunications engineer Geoffrey Ellis believes that the old Naval base. HMS Forward, was such an important link in the maritime defence of the South Coast, that it should be preserved and opened to the public. "Both Newhaven Town Couneil and Lewes District Council have been made aware of the tourist potential of this site and have declared their interest in my proposal," Mr Ellis told Navy News. He seems to have fired local enthusiasm for his scheme through a series of very well-attended talks and a book he has written - TinSecret Tunnels oj South Heighten. "The site has a lot of potential." said Newhaven Town Clerk, Mr Paul Archer. "Eventually static displays could be set up just like Churchill's underground war room in London." But before any definite plan can be undertaken, the council has to establish the ownership of the tun-
Picture: Tom Bonner.
DEEP BENEATH a hill near Newhaven lie hundreds of metres of tunnels, once the secret location of a Naval control centre that played a vital role in the D-Day operation. Neglected for decades, the headquarters - commissioned as HMS Forward has fallen into decay and was forgotten until local author Geoffrey Ellis decided something must be done to save the historic labyrinth . . . nels. "Although the Guinness Trust own Denton House and are currently refurbishing and redeveloping the above-ground site, they do not own the underground HQ," said Mr Archer. "We are writing to the Ministry of Defence and we hope to have solved the problem by the summer." The western entrance to HMS Forward is on the A2f> road and only 2()()m from Newhaven's new Maritime Museum. Mr Ellis says that 500m of tunnels and galleries remain suitable for guided tours for the public.
Radar chain In June 1940, HMS Forward moved to the Guinness Trust Home and was responsible for providing minefields or blockships to protect the Sussex coast. In the following March the base was ordered to establish naval plots in conjunction with a coastal radar chain covering the Dover area. To protect the Newhaven nerve centre it was decided to locate it deep under Heighton Hill with the principal operational (east) entrance in Room 16 of the Trust Home.
• Denton House - Room 16, which contains the eastern entrance to the underground HQ, is at the extreme left. Picture: Tom Bonnor.
Over 120 steps lead down to a complex which once included two telephone exchanges, ten teleprinters. 11 W/T radios, and a VF line telegraph terminal for 36 channels. The air-conditioned t u n n e l s contained a standby generator, a galley, toilets, cabins and recently invented fluorescent lighting. HMS Forward was heavily involved in the attempt to prevent the Channel dash of the German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen in 1942. and later that year had a part to play in the Dieppe landings. As D-Day approached, the base controlled MTB raids and Commando "snoops" on the French coast, and for D-Day itself WRNS and RN personnel were supplemented by members of the RAF, WAAF and ATS. Forward was abandoned after the war but in 1992 the Guinness Trust agreed to open up the east entrance so that the tunnels could be inspected by Mr Ellis and other members of Newhaven Historical Society. They measured every passage and room and photographed and made a video recording of the entire complex. The data was used to build a model which is now exhibited at Newhaven Maritime Museum. J The Secret Tunnels of South Heiifliton is available at £5.99, plus £1.50 p&p. from Mr Ellis. 11 Fairholmc Road. Newhaven, BN9 ONY. He has also produced a video (£9.99 plus £1.50 p&p) giving i n f o r m a t i o n and showing interviews with ten former members of HMS Forward.
CREATING A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, MATCHING SKILLS TO EMPLOYERS' NEEDS
F
or 137 years, The Corps of Commissionaires has been placing former Armed Services personnel in meaningful civilian roles, This valued lobbying and placement network has recently been extended. via Service Connections, to match highly trained and qualified recent Service personnel with today's enlightened employers' specialist discipline needs, in the UK and overseas.
If you are considering leaving or have recently left the Armed Forces or represent an organisation requiring specialist Services experience in Security and Facilities Management, Electronics, Engineering, Information Technology, Logistics, Communications and Project Development - we are well aware of the value of the Forces transferable skills and employers'needs to create a perfect match.
SERVICE CONNECTIONS B u r l ' o r d H o u s e . I . e p p i n g l o n . B i r c h H i l l . B r a c k n e l l . B e r k s KG I 2 7 W W Tel: 01344 858005 F a x : 01344 4X5666 E . M a i I : Service.Connections@Dial.Pipex.Corn
-
.