The Needles old battery

The Battery was one of Palmertson's famous follies. The coastal fort was constructed in 1862 as a defence against French invasion. When the Battery did get to engage the enemy, it was not the French, but the Germans in the Second World War. Installed in 1873, two reproduction carriage mount guns, that had been recovered after being rolled over the cliff when they were no longer required, replaced the

Battery's original 7 inch RBLs that suffered problems with breach sealing. . The guns overlook the Needles tunnels and towards Hurst Castle. On firing, the guns would recoil up the slide into the loading position. Once loaded, they would be allowed to slide down to the firing position. A view of a 9 inch RML mounted in a Barbette also remains. This is the semi-circular wall that partially protects the gun loaders. The gun is bridged around the Barbette on the forward wheels, and around a rear pivot formed by an old cannon mounted vertically in the ground. This is a Class 'D' mounting, an arrangement where the pivot is to the rear of the carriage, not in the centre. The parade ground is looking down from the Terrepleine towards Needles Point.

The First World War
During the First World War (1914-1918), the Batteries were occupied using old railway carriages for accommodation, and the Command post was given an armoured roof. Three blockhouses were constructed for an Infantry Garrison, who defended the landward approach with barbed-wire entanglements and machine guns.

All of the combat took place offshore, after the German High Command adopted unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917. In the January, the German submarine UB35 sank two ships off the Needles. The first, on January 20th, was the huge 9,044 ton armed escort ship SS Mechanician. Two torpedoes ripped open the 500 ft hull, killing 13 of her crew. The survivors beached the ship on the Shingles and abandoned her. Salvaging the wreck was discussed, but she sank into the pebbles and was never seen again. Two days later, UB35 torpedoed the 3,677 ton SS Serrana, west of the Needles. The armed merchant ship broke into two and sank in the Needles Channel. Only two crew members survived. At the end of the war in 1918, the military left the Needles, and the island's own Territorial Infantry Regiment was changed to 530 Coastal Artillery Regiment. They periodically came to the Needles for practice.

The Second World War
Before the Second World War began in Europe, on 23rd August 1939, eight days before the German invasion of Poland, R. J. Davies reported to the local drill hall of the Island's Territorial Regiment. He was thrust into a truck with many others, and taken to the Needles Battery at 4.30 pm. The two 9.2 inch guns and two machine guns were manned by about 50 men from Cowes to Freshwater. Conditions were basic and leave restricted, and as the comrads succombed to the disasters of the war, so the garrison was weakened. By 1940, only 15 men were left to guard the Battery, completing 48 hour shifts and putting up false guns and dummy soldiers to give the impression of greater strength. If the Germans invaded, plans were made to fight on the Island. Initial attacks would be made on the beaches, with Newport the target, so a final defence was to be made in West Wight.

The Battle of the Air
The German Luftwaffe unleased an unexpected attack on the 8th August 1940, taking the Garrison by utter surprise by attacking the coastal convoy CW9. This battle had been started the previous night, but reached its peak in the air battles from midday. With the chief ships practically destroyed, and on reaching the Needles, the Germans launched a great attach with 160 fighter planes, fighter bombers and Stuka Dive bomber planes. Three RAF squadrons came to the convoys defence, and the sky was lit up by 200 vapour trails, while the ships firing balloons were shot down in flames, whileStuka dive bombers swooped down to drop their bombs. Casualties of two Germans and one British fighter crashed into the sea off the Needles. The heavy price of war came with the loss of seven ships, with only four of the 29 ships undamaged. Nineteen German and ten British planes had also been lost. It was three days later that another air battle commenced, with 176 German planes attacking the Dorset ports with the loss of a Messerschmitt and a Hurricane, both crashing into the sea. On 25th August 150 German planes attacked Weymouth, prompting the RAF to defend, destroying one German plane. Over the nest few weeks, (the rest of August and September) tow German bombers and two Spitfires were shot down over the Needles. The Needles encountered their final air battle on 28th November 1940. A group of Messerschmitt 109s under Major Helmut Wick, Germany's youngest Major who had already claimed 50 enemy aircraft, and a group of spitfires, led by Flight Lieutenant John Dundas, went on the attack. Both were killed in the battle, along with the loss of five Spitfires. After losing one of their best Officers, the Germans became a weakened force, In 1941, after the Battle of Britain of 1940, the Luftwaffe began a campaign of night bombing On 8th May, a Heinkel bomber crashed at Farrington, killing three members of its crew. On 7th July, on returning from a raid on Bristol, a further three Heinkels were shot down off the Needles. In 1942, a Bristol Beaufighter, a British plabe, crashed off the Needles. The crew were thankfully rescued.

The Needles at War
During the war, the Needles were always being transformed to reinforce their defences against attack. In 1941, the 9.2 inch gins were covered with steel, and deep trenches were dug ti prevent enemy glider landings. In 1942, 700 land mines were laid, which were defended by machine guns and a 60 pound field gun. The Batteries now had the defence of forty Infantry soldiers in place, with the RAF and the Old Navy at Port War Signal Station, in the Battery and the radar. Technology replaced the oil lamps and candles in 1941 with electricity. In 1943 a Focke Wolf 190 fighter was attacked and damaged. The troops of 17,000 on the island were then obliged to turn their attention towards the Allied Invasion of Europe. The Needles cliffs were then used for training, and nearby houses became targets of practice in preparation for the invasion. In 1944 the Allied Armarda sailed from the island to the Normandy beaches, with 4,000 ships and a fleet of warplanes. The Batteries witnessed part of the D-Day invasion force on its way to France.

Needles Old Battery After the War
After the war in 1945, the Batteries were deactivated, and put up for disposal in 1952, the guns being scrapped in 1954. Between 1956 - 1971, the now New Battery was used for testing the Black Knight and Black Arrow space engines by Saunders Roe. In 1975, the Batteries were acquired by the National Trust, who restored and opened them to the public in 1982.

The Ghosts of the Needles Old Battery
As the Old Battery was used as a defence against the enemy during the First and Second World Wars, it is inevitable that the ghosts of soldiers have been seen. Most reported apparitions are of ghostly soldiers in First World War uniforms, running along a 200 foot tunnel to the observation and search light post above. Reports have also stated a wartime camouflage car driving through the narrow lane in complete darkness, with no visible head-lights on. The car is presumed as from the Second World War.