Copdock Patrol

A.K.A. (nickname)
Belstead
County Group
Locality

Copdock and Belstead villages lie a few miles south-west on the edge of Ipswich.

Patrol members
Name Occupation Posted from Until
Sergeant Horace Bernard Clements

Market gardener

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Corporal Reginald Airey

Tractor driver

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Robin Cousins

Farm manager

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Walter Goodchild Unknown Unknown
Private William Walter Hammond

Farm worker

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Frank Jarrold

Horseman

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Ivan V. L. Potter

Ransome and Rapier Factory, Ipswich

1941 1943
Private Cyril Arthur Rudland

Machine operator

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Ralph Eric Vince Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Derek Peter Youngs

Farmworker

1940 03 Dec 1944
Operational Base (OB)

The OB was situated in mature woodland, roughly in the middle between two tracks (about 65m distant from each track), and approx 250m distant from the northern edge of a wood that at the time was known as Baldrough’s Wood. The woodland is marked on current maps as Old Hall Wood.

The woodland has since been felled and replanted with new trees. According to information lodged at the B.R.O Museum in Parham, the hole was filled with tree stumps. Small sections of tin sheets could still be seen at the time of recording in 1996.

According to an account given by Patrol member Derek Young (in: Evening Star, 17 Dec 1996, page 6) the OB was built by the Patrol members themselves. No description is given as to how it would have looked or concerning the building materials used.

Horace Clements annotated his copy of The Last Ditch with various comments about the OB. This book is now in the collection of the British Resistance Organisation Museum at Parham in Suffolk.
"To open it one had to find an iron ring hidden in leaves and undergrowth. A wire led from the ring some fifty yards through a steel. Sliding up and down on steel tubes it was filled with earth and planted with bracken and bluebells. The weight was counterbalanced with a large concrete weight with special cables and pulleys. The entrance was by a shaft some 20ft deep. 3' x 3' the trapdoor was a perfect fit. We used a mixture of skimmed milk and cement, but later on lined it all with half-inch thick fibre board. We made a new path to pass close to the OB to join with a very old path in the wood."

In 2017 Michael Potter, the younger brother of Ivan, showed the few visible remains to Hugh Frostick. There is no public access and nothing more to see than the photos show.

Patrol & OB pictures
OB Image
Caption & credit
Copdock Patrol
OB Image
Caption & credit
Site locality (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Site locality 2 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Surrounding woods (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Site locality 3 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Location under holly tree (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Depression in ground 1 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Corregated iron sheet in ground showing filled in OB (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Depression in ground 2 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Vent exit and more tin (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Exposed tin (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Filled in OB site (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Vent pipe 1 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Vent pipe 2 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Vent pipe 3 (Hugh Frostick & Michael Potter)
360 tour of collapsed OB

A visit to Bentley woods, November 2022.

Click the hotspots inside the image to start the interactive virtual tour. For a more accessible version, open the accessible virtual tour. View licence.

OB Status
Collapsed with some visible remains
OB accessibility
This OB is on private land. Please do not be tempted to trespass to see it
Location

Copdock Patrol

Patrol Targets

Likely targets would have included Raydon Aerodrome (a USAAF base during the war) along with railway line and bridges in the vicinity. A railway siding leading from Hadleigh station directly onto Raydon Airfield, delivering parts of and whole disassembled planes.

Training

A practice raid was carried out on RAF Martlesham.

Weapons and Equipment

The Patrol members had Commando knives, revolvers (either a .38 or a .45 calibre), sten gun, ammunition and lots of explosives. Each unit had a Tommy gun.

Sten or Thompson submachine guns, Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knives and .38 revolvers plus a variety of explosives, detonators and fuses would have been standard issue.

Other information

In the Patrol Group image Sergeant Horace Clements can be seen at centre front row, with Corporal Reg Airey to his right.

The Suffolk group photos.

References

TNA ref WO199/3389

Hancock data held at B.R.A

1939 Register

Evelyn Simak and Adrian Pye.

Gareath Evans

B.R.O.M at Parham, 

Patrol member Derek Young, published in: Evening Star 17 Dec 1996 p 6;

Ian Pearce, Holton St Mary

Suffolk Heritage

Hugh Frostick interviews with Ivan and Michael Potter. OB Photos copyright CART and Hugh Frostick

Page Sponsor