During World War II, The British Built Decoy Sites To Mislead German Bombers
Three Allied aerial bombing decoy sites from World War II were recently investigated, uncovering significant variations in construction and preservation. The sites are located in North Staffordshire in the United Kingdom.
In the 1940s, the British government built a network of decoy sites designed to look like bombed urban and industrial areas.
They were called “Starfish sites” and were meant to divert German bombers away from strategic targets like airfields and manufacturing centers.
By the end of World War II, there were a total of 237 Starfish sites across Britain, protecting 81 towns and cities.
Decoy efforts employed fire simulations and lighting arrangements to mislead German bombers into finishing off what appeared to be previous targets that were still in operation. These decoy sites displaced up to five percent of German attacks.
In the study, the research team focused on three of four known sites in Stoke-on-Trent: Keele, Beech, and Caverswall.
They were built between August 1941 and April 1943. The remains of the fourth decoy site, Swynnerton, could not be located.
The sites were constructed along German radio beam paths used for navigation to protect high-priority industries, such as Shelton Iron and Steel Works, Michelin Tire factory, and the Radway Green munitions plant.
The main purpose of these decoy sites was to simulate residential areas and working factories to draw German bombers away from the more important locations.
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The researchers used drones, ground-based LiDAR scanning, geophysical surveys, and 360-degree camera imagery to study and digitally preserve the sites.
Keele’s decoy site was found to be well-preserved, featuring a control shelter with concrete blast roofing, expansion chambers, and evidence of blackout curtains. Beech’s site was located in dense woods. It contained a control shelter with blast walls and ceramic pipework.
Caverwall’s site was situated on what used to be marl pit land. It featured partial foundations of a control shelter and blast walls, but the minimal vegetation made it easier to digitally model it.
Across the sites, there were blast expansion systems for protection. Control shelters were usually made with brick and reinforced concrete roofs. They housed generators for lighting decoys to resemble active industrial facilities.
Crews had to be stationed in the control shelters to activate and monitor decoy systems during bombing raids. It was essential for the decoys to be timed exactly right, as they had to be seen by German bombers in the air. Once the decoys were activated, crews would take cover to protect themselves from incoming bombs.
Overall, the non-invasive digital surveying techniques were able to effectively document these historic sites, offering valuable information about this period in Britain during World War II.
Hopefully, further investigation of other decoy sites in the U.K. will reveal broader preservation patterns.
The study was published in the Journal of Conflict Archaeology.
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