Has Anyone Heard Of A German Invasion Of The East Coast Of England During Wwii?? Possibly In 1940 Or 1941?

[Jennykenny]

Was on a day course the other day about tracing your military ancestors, and, almost in passing, the lecturer mentioned this invasion. Apparently hundreds of Germans were killed, the sea was 'set on fire' and they were buried in mass graves. Anybody heard of this??

[Baldric]

http://www.shford.fslife.co.uk/ShingleSt‎

1940: The Secret War at Shingle Street. ... foiled invasion attempt by German forces took place off the East Anglian coast at Shingle Street, near Bawdsey in Suffolk. ... place on the East coast of England in late August/ early September of 1940.

[Sqad]

No.....never heard of that, BUT Scarborough was bombarded in 1914 by the Germans.

[kettledrum]

I'm not sure if it true or not, but Jack Higgins wrote about it in The Eagle has Landed.

[Baldric]

Oops!

http://www.shford.fslife.co.uk/ShingleSt/index.html?detail=overview

[Sqad]

Ah ! Baldric has your answer.

[Baldric]

Bit more here,
http://www.shford.fslife.co.uk/ShingleSt/about/index.html

[Canary42]

Wow, what an interesting tale.

Unless it's a hoax (like the Hitler Diaries for example) then this is a very interesting story. There are some unanswered questions however, like how were the Brits able to identify the exact place well in advance - presumably something similar to the Enigma secret.

I am also a bit surprised at it being suppressed for morale reasons - I would have thought the successful destruction of the invasion would have been a tremendous boost.

[Jomlett]

According to wiki...After World War II many strange happenings were reported to have taken place at Shingle Street, including a failed German invasion.
Since the civilian population had been evacuated in May 1940 there were no eyewitness reports, although official documents remained classified until questions in the House of Commons led to their early release in 1993.
These papers disclosed no German landing, but did reveal that the Lifeboat Inn has been used to test an uncharged chemical bomb devised by Porton Down. In fact rumours of a failed invasion on the South and East Coasts were commonplace in September 1940 and helped to boost morale. Author James Hayward has proposed that these rumours, which were widely reported in the American press, were a successful example of black propaganda with an aim of ensuring American co-operation and securing lend lease resources by showing that the United Kingdom was capable of successfully resisting the German Army.

[vulcan42]

Why would the Germans pick this particular spot to invade? it's nearly 100 miles to the nearest coastline on the European mainland. According to the article it was a prime target because of the Radar, so obviously they knew about it and that it was capable of detecting their voyage. To travel 90 odd miles with the knowledge of being tracked most of the way seems suicidal to say the least.

[Jennykenny]

Lots of really interesting answers, thanks to all.

[plowter]

I think this sounds like a classic wartime myth.

Shingle Street would have been militarily insignificant so there would have been no benefit in an 'invasion'. However, it would make sense to have areas of the coast off limits to allow military training or testing. The every reliable Wikipedia suggests the relevant government papers were released in 1993 and mention testing by the chaps at Porton Down.

There's a book available that might be of interest:

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[clivebeca]

I'd go with 'The Eagle has Landed'. VG Jack Higgins yarn, but that's all it was.
Also, go back to before the 1st World War and have you seen the excellent film 'The Riddle of the Sands'? I think a lot of these theories are very similar to Science Fiction today. When will we make First Contact with Aliens, or have we already done so??