Neutrality

I've always had a fascination with military history, particularly the period from 1932-1975, which covers the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria, which many historians feel is the true date for the start of WWII, right up to the end of the Vietnam War.

You can perhaps imagine, then, the interest I have had in this particular piece of history from when I first cycled past it on holiday in the 1970s. This is one of at least two defensive positions I know of in the Drogheda area, built by the Irish government during WWII, or as it was euphemistically known here, The Emergency. In 1940, the Irish state was only eighteen years old, and because of it's strategic importance between GB and the Atlantic, was feeling rather nervous about invasion, not only by the Germans, but also the UK and the US, all three of which are now known to have created invasion plans. President de Valera managed to steer a path through the maelstrom of war and remain neutral despite great pressure from Churchill to allow British warships to use ports around the coast of Ireland.

How long the tiny under-equipped Irish Army might have lasted is not known, but looking at contemporary pictures of their equipment and numbers, I imagine it would not have been more than a week or two before they would have had to resort to a guerilla war.

This pillbox commanded views on four sides and is at the junction of three roads with a good view across the River Boyne. The other pillbox is at a bend on a road about a mile from here. Who knows what else is buried in the undergrowth?

Here are a few more I took today:

Flickr Set