Shakespear WWII defences

History

Shakespear WWII Defences

In early 1942 the outcome of World War II was in balance. There was widespread fear that New Zealand would be invaded by the Japanese, and the port of Auckland was considered to be the most likely target.

Machine gun emplacements (pillboxes), barbed wire entanglements, and anti-tank obstacles were frantically constructed to protect potential landing beaches, and ditches were also dug to impede the passage of tracked vehicles in most regions.

At Whangaparaoa a range of anti-invasion defences were constructed to prevent enemy forces from landing at Army Bay and attacking the heavy coast defence gun batteries at the end of the peninsula. These perimeter defences included 11 pillboxes, searchlights, electrified barbed wire entanglements, and an anti-tank ditch.

Fortunately, the Japanese forces were defeated in the Pacific and never reached New Zealand shores, so our anti-invasion defences were never tested in action. Most anti-tank ditches were infilled soon after the threat of invasion subsided, and many pillboxes and other defences in the Auckland region have been destroyed by development or coastal erosion over the last 60 years.

Pillboxes

Nearly 120 pillboxes were built to defend the port and city of Auckland against the threat of Japanese invasion. Most pillboxes were sited so that they overlooked potential landing beaches, which were also protected by barbed wire and anti-tank obstacles. They were positioned so that their fields of fire overlapped, making it very difficult for ground forces to overrun them.

Pillboxes were carefully concealed and protected with sandbags and earth. The roof was covered with turf and the outside painted in camouflage colours or draped with camouflage netting. When not in use the firing ports could be fitted with concrete shutters provided with pistol slots.

Inside the emplacement, the machine gun was mounted on a heavy table. Bunks were fitted along the back wall so that two of the section could rest while the other was on watch for signs of the enemy.

There are four pillboxes in Shakespear Regional Park, but only two are easy to find. One of them, code-named Milo during the war, is on the Heritage Trail. The other, code-named Podges, is beside the Army Bay boat ramp.

Anti-tank ditch

In the Auckland region, anti-tank ditches were constructed to cut off the central isthmus (or narrow strip of land bordered by water), and a number of potential landing beaches to the north. At Whangaparaoa the anti-tank ditch extended between Army and Okoromai bays. It was designed to prevent any tanks or other tracked vehicles that were able to be landed at Army Bay from advancing towards the gun batteries at the end of the peninsula.

Today, it looks like a large water-filled ditch that runs along the edge of the wetland. The ends of the ditch, where it met the beaches at Army and Okoromai bays, were infilled at the end of the war.

The tank trap in Shakespear Regional Park is the only substantially intact example of an anti-tank ditch remaining in the region.

Getting there:

The Heritage Trail is located in Shakespear Regional Park, at the end of Whangaparaoa Road on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. The trail starts from the carpark near the duck pond, close to the entrance to the park. The grade is easy with one steep climb over farmland, and takes 1 hour to 1.75 hours. The Milo pillbox is numbered 7 on the trail.

The last section of the trail, which takes you back from near Okoromai Bay to the carpark, follows the Whangaparaoa anti-tank ditch. You can get a good view of the ditch from where the trail crosses Bruce Harvey Drive.

Did you know that during World War II:

• at least three enemy submarines (one German, two Japanese), visited the Auckland area.
• a floatplane launched from a Japanese submarine flew over Auckland, but saw no shipping worth sinking and returned to the sub
• the crew of a German sub claimed to have come ashore and milked a cow
• a German navy vessel laid floating mines in the Hauraki Gulf which later sank two ships
• Australia was bombed by the Japanese
• New Zealand tried to develop its own weapon of mass destruction, a tsunami bomb, at Whangaparaoa.
  

Please enjoy your visit, but respect private property rights (where applicable) and do not disturb, damage or remove any part of the site.