I've just unearthed this image, published in the Evening Standard on 23rd April 1942. As far as I know it's the first time it's been seen for 70 years. It shows 'B' and 'C' troops of No.4 Commando lined up on the Drop Redoubt parade ground. (The Drop Redoubt is a Napoleonic fort on the Western Heights at Dover). This would have been taken on the afternoon of the 21st April as the troops awaited the briefing by Lord Lovat prior to the Hardelot raid.

The image in the No.4 Gallery on this website of Lovat giving the briefing would have been taken very shortly after this photo and is the same group of soldiers down on the parade ground taken from the opposite angle.

I expect the soldiers in the foreground in the helmets are probably Royal Engineers, but please do shout if I'm wrong.

Full size shows an interesting collection of equipment - life preservers, rifles and half a dozen Bren guns. There are a couple more images, mostly portraits, that show some of the commandos on their return the next day. I'll try and post them over the next couple of days.

(P.S. Spot the commando picking his nose. :D)

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 03/03/2012 21:01:34

Thanks Nick,

Here are the others. Again, I believe these are (mostly) unseen since they were originally published in 42. Apologies for the poor quality, but I did what I could...

1) Lord Lovat briefing the No.4 officers on the parade ground of the Drop Redoubt (see above). This image is known and has been duplicated in publications before although exactly where the briefing took place has not.




2) No.4 marching with equipment in the area of the fort. I suspect this is Military Hill. I wish I had a clearer copy of this to pin it down.




3) Returning from the raid on the morning of the 22nd April. The walkway is the now-demolished submarine jetty in Dover Eastern Docks.




4) Returning from the raid and handing in unspent ammunition (?)




5) Return from the raid image.




6) Naval ratings somewhere in Dover Eastern Docks.




7) Naval officers following the raid.

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This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 05/03/2012 00:34:39

Oh my goodness - thank you Guy (and Pete). This is really exciting for me because this image shows the state of some of the parade ground buildings at the Drop Redoubt by WW2. Photos of the inside of the Drop Redoubt in use are like hen's teeth, this literally is only the fourth image I've seen even though the place was occupied for 150 years.

Even though we work monthly at the fort, our small gang of volunteers have next to no images of the fort in use, and precisely none of the buildings opposite the barracks. This provides our first hint of what they looked like. It seems that the 1860 Staff Sergeants quarters had a bricked up doorway and the kitchen front had been smashed through to make a storage shed.

The commando one can see hot footing it behind a wall and up a passage is heading off to use the urinals!

Really fascinating, and thank you so much.

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