Before May 1940, defences for mainland Britain were scant and mainly located in the south of England. There were though over 400 miles of British coastline suitable for landing enemy troops and tanks. This coast needed more protection from invasion.

On 27 of May 1940, General Ironside took charge of the anti-invasion defence plan for Britain. With so few men at his disposal, the General focused on building a large scheme of coastal and inland defences. The purpose of these defences was to slow down an enemy invasion. This would give time for his stretched army to get in to position and counter-attack.

Another key threat to the defence of Britain was attack from the air. With the use of aeroplanes in World War 2, air defence was to prove vital. Anti-aircraft defences were built, including specialised artillery and radar for tracking enemy planes.

Natural defences

Natural defences could include rivers and streams. Their bridges were marked for destruction if an invasion occurred, to prevent the enemy crossing them.

Sections of coastline, where the enemy could easily land, had a series of defences built along them, known as 'forming a crust'. Coastal defences are present at Tentsmuir, Roseisle, Lossie and Culbin.

Man-made obstacles

Obstacles like lines of concrete anti-tank blocks formed a barrier between regularly placed pillboxes. Pillboxes were small concrete structures where a squad of men could stand protected and fire against the enemy at close range. Ditches, minefields, walls of scaffolding and barbed wire fences supported these defences.

Protecting the ports

Ports were a major enemy target and so coastal gun batteries were placed nearby to protect them. There is one located at Lossie Forest. If the enemy moved past the coastal defences, a second line of defence was the stop-lines.

The main threat to the Lossie area was enemy gliders landing behind the defence lines. Long, wooden poles known as anti-glider defences stood upright along the coast to prevent them from landing. You can see some evidence of these at Culbin Sands.

Anti-aircraft defences

In 1940, the Germans recognised the need to destroy Britain’s air force before an invasion could start. Germany, however, failed to gain the upper hand over the Royal Air Force. As the war went on the German plan changed and night-time bombing became a constant threat. 

On the ground there were various defences in place to support the fighters and protect Britain from air attack.

The Chain Home radar system detected planes as they flew towards Britain’s coast. But the radar could not detect planes once they were over Britain. This needed human lookouts which meant more staff and soldiers. The Royal Observer Corp (ROC) consisted of 40,000 men and women volunteers who tracked planes and reported to Air Command.

Placed on the ground were specially designed anti-aircraft guns, such as those once located at Balmacara. These were to protect important sites. Decoys were used to lead the enemy away from their targets. Other targets were disguised using camouflage to thwart detection from the air.