We Will Fight Them on the Beaches. It is not generally known that during World War Two just how close to being invaded by German forces Brighton was. The bathing beaches were all mined with barbed wire barriers all along the seafront, the central span of the Palace Pier was demolished to prevent it being used to aid any possible landing of the Nazi forces. Roadblocks were erected along the seafront and surrounding roads, while in the parks and wide avenues of Hove there were many tanks and armoured vehicles parked. Large naval guns were sited in strategic positions and anti-aircraft batteries were to be seen in great numbers right along to Shoreham and beyond as well as throughout Brighton and Hove. Anyone who was around at that time will well remember all these things because particularly for the children it was just an accepted situation that had been thrust upon the people by war.

Canadian soldiers were stationed in the town and they were a familiar sight during those years. Locally in the Kemp Town area they were billeted in Sussex Square, Lewes Crescent and St. Mary’s Hall School in Eastern Road. Those soldiers would be well remembered during the war by the kids as a source for chewing gum, which they seemed to have a lot of and would often give us packs of. Sweet Caporal cigarette packets were something we liked to collect because they had pictures of war planes of all the countries involved in the war on the back. I remember the Canadians as being a friendly lot and many of them married local girls.

It is a fact that during the summer months of 1940 Britain was very much under the threat of invasion and Brighton was very much in the plans of the German High Command as one of the places on the south coast to make landings. At one stage it was planned that a landing would be made by five thousand troops at Brighton. They were to be brought ashore by motor boats in an operation code named Sealion which was decided by the German Supreme Command on August 14th 1940.

At the same time another five thousand troops would be dropped between Deal and Ramsgate. It was finally decided in mid August 1940 that four divisions would be landed at Brighton as a part of an operation involving landings at Selsey Bill to Brighton, Beachy Head to Bexhill, Cliffs End to Dungeness and Dungeness to Folkstone. However because Hitler was preparing plans to invade Russia the operation for invading Britain was put aside. It is a good job they were, for even if any attack had been repulsed Brighton would have been left in a very sorry state indeed.

Written by Fred Netley.