Moving Targets

In  some of the photographs in earlier posts on this blog, there have been distant, incidental,  views of some of the structures built during the Second World War on Castlemartin range. For any gunnery range to work efficiently, whether it be for small arms firing from pistols and rifles or for much heavier weapons, fired by tanks, there needs to be an adequate supply of suitable "targetry". To give adequate practice for the trainee tank crew, there were several distinct types of target:

• Fixed, static targets;
• Pop-up targets, that could be exposed for a few seconds;
• Moving targets to simulate a range of vehicles on the move!

In this post I'll explain a little about the moving targets and their method of working.

Improvised Moving Target Setup

Over the course of the Second World War, many improvised ranges were opened all over the UK to allow tank (and anti-tank) gunners to practice their trade. Initially, the provision of moving targets was accomplished as shown in the diagram (from a contemporary training manual). The target would move back and fore behind an existing hedgerow or hastily thrown up bank. A further refinement was the attachment of the one end of the pulling wire to the front of the vehicle behind the firing point and the other end to the rear, so to move the target back and fore it was just a case of changing between forward and reverse in the towing vehicle.  Sometimes, at locations that might be used in the longer term, rails were laid, but often the target was built upon a sledge (as shown  below) and this dragged along the ground. On ranges intended to be permanent, like Castlemartin Pembrokeshire, the facilities for moving targets were more developed.

Sledge for Moving Target

The range targetry at Castlemartin achieved a quite high degree of sophistication by the end Second World War. Today only two of the areas used for moving targets are still accessible to the public. These are South of Bosherston, on St Govan's Head. They were built in their present form in 1941, and represent just one variation on the theme of "Movers". The picture below shows one of  the two moving target layouts as mentioned above.The target rail described here is at OS Grid Ref:

SR 9735 9296

East end of moving target trench at St. Govan's Head, Pembrokeshire. Note how it was been cut through the limestone bedrock, and the turntable outside the observation dugout.

The picture above shows the western end of a moving target rail, cut through the limestone bedrock of St Govans Head. The photograph was taken from the path to the headland.

The winch dugout at the eastern end of the same target rail.

At the other end of the mover rail track is this dugout, which is of a very different design and was used to house the winches which pulled the moving target back and fore. Again, you can see a turntable in front of the door, which would have allowed the trolleys carrying the targets to be drawn into the dugout or onto the "siding" shown in the next photograph.

Looking west along the target trench from atop the protective mound covering the winch dugout at St. Govan's. Note the "siding" for the storage of other trolleys at photo left and the pit for a pop-up target at top[-centre.

What did the targets look like?

As mentioned earlier, the targets used on St Govan's Head, were mounted on trolleys that were pulled backwards and forwards along the narrow gauge track by a winch housed, in this case, in the larger dugout at the eastern end of the rail track.

It is said that the target hauling winches were similar to barrage balloon winches, with the cable on a continuous loop around the drum. The direction of the target was altered by reversing the gears on the winch when the trolley reached the end of the track. When working on a similar moving target arrangement in the late 1970s, the means of identifying where the target was on the track was by means of pieces of red cloth tied to the correct distance on the winch cable!

Observation Dugout detail.

Observation Dugout

At the opposite end of the track to the winch dugout, there was a much smaller observation dugout. The first picture in this post shows this blocked up to act as a bat roost. The picture to the left shows the same dugout before it was sealed, and that on the right a closer view of the doorway into the shelter, showing the hinges for the steel door and window shutters.The men who manned the observation dugouts had the task of marking and repairing the targets on the trolley after each tank had fired. Sometimes the trolley might be thrown off the track after hitting stones that dropped onto the rails when mis-directed shells hit the bank between the track and the firing point.

Broadside mover target - known as a "Hornet" to all tank gunners.

The target mounted on the trolley were locally produced and made of dark hessian stretched over a wooden frame. The illustration comes from a 1940 military training pamphlet. The target was meant to represent a tank moving broadside to the firing point, and would be pulled along by the winch at about 5 mph. The ranges at St Govan's Head were used to train new recruits, so the targets were not intended to be too difficult to hit!



In later posts I will look at other types of moving targets used at tank/anti-tank gunnery ranges across the UK in the Second World War.