I spoke today with a man who, as a boy, can remember soldiers stationed on Penn Common. Here is his story.

The Searchlight
This device consisted of a powerful arc-lamp on top of a swivel mechanism, which was in the centre of a concrete ring upon which was fixed a rail. A wheel connected to the light ran on this rail so making it possible for the crew to direct the light towards enemy aircraft. The impression left by the ring and central pillar is discernable to this day (Winter 2004). The power for this light was supplied via thick rubber cables by a generator lorry which was parked in Penn Common Road some 50 metres from the light.

Detection
The information required by the soldiers at the light came from a little further away, by a method called “click-a-bine”. Exactly what click-a-bine was and how it worked is not clear, but seemingly a series of “clicks” were generated – presumably by the enemy – at a distant point and a series of “dissimilar clicks” from another; when these clicks combined (hence the name) the pilot of the enemy aircraft would know when to release his bombs. The equipment which listened for these signals looked like a number of tea chests pointing towards the sky in all directions. When the solders heard the clicks they could determine their direction and would inform the searchlight and gun crews and action could be taken.
Radar
Some 500 metres away was an early form of RADAR. This consisted of a large matrix of wire-netting, at the centre of which was a small wooden shed which revolved on a central concrete pillar. This pillar – about 50 cm high – was in situ until about 2000 when it was removed by members of Penn Golf Club to improve the course. There is the suggestion that the wires were to prevent the landing of enemy aircraft, but this seems unlikely as such thin wire would not have been visible from the air and so, although damaging the plane, would not have prevented landing.

Guns
Naturally, these detection systems would be of little use without the means to destroy the approaching aircraft and the guns used for this purpose were positioned on the other side of Sedgley Road. There were never more than 7 guns at any time and they were fired together only once. As a practice, the officer in charge gave the following order, “Fifteen – five hundred – FIRE!” After the order had been carried out, hardly a window escaped without a broken pane. This incident caused so much ill feeling among the residents that thereafter the guns were only fired singly and were removed soon after to Coventry which was suffering heavy bombardment. No traces of the gun positions remain now because that area was landscaped soon after the war.

N.B. No one connected with today’s army can understand the order "Fifteen-500-Fire". Presumably, it referrers to x y coordinates.

Living Quarters
The living quarters for the soldiers were at the north end of the common, on the south side of the path from Sedgley Road to Grange Farm gate. They were solid and comfortable and manned by the territorial unit of the Staffords. The concrete foundations of the cookhouse could be seen up until 2007 but are now completely destroyed.

Defences
The threat of invasion at that time was a real one and Penn Common, being flat and, at that time, treeless, offered good landing conditions. To guard against this a barrage balloon was anchored on the south-east side of Sedgley Road. One day this balloon broke its restraining cables and drifted away causing great amusement of the local children. As another precaution, a series of trenches were dug on this side of the road to make the ground uneven. All traces are now lost as landscaping took place at the same time as the gun positions.

US Soldiers
By 1943 the Staffords and the guns were gone only to be replaced by American soldiers. Guard posts were set in place at the top and bottom of the common and their camp was protected with wire. As D Day approached, they were required elsewhere and the camp disappeared, apparently "overnight".

POWs
At some point during the War Italian POWs were held close to Penn Common (probably Sedgley at a large house known as The Belgians - situated in Turls Hill) and were put to work clearing trees from Gosple End Farm. Although they managed to cut them to ground level, the roots were not removed until recent times when explosives were used for the task.