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Possible Second World War slipway found at Deal beach, which may have been D-Day decoy

09:34, 26 October 2018

updated: 09:36, 26 October 2018

What is thought to be a Second World War slipway has been uncovered on Deal beach.

Trish Barwell was walking along the front to Walmer Castle when she was approached by Vic Denham who said he thought he had uncovered a piece of history.

He led her down to his discovery which consisted of various concrete blocks and a timber post which has emerged in the pebbles.

This slipway has been uncovered on Deal beach
This slipway has been uncovered on Deal beach

Having informed Deal Maritime Local History Museum, Harold Chapman who was a teenager in Deal throughout the war, has given his verdict.

He knows of a slipway opposite the Regent Cinema but believes this could be part of the grand deception, devised in 1944 to persuade the German High Command that what became the D-Day invasion would come across the Straits of Dover to the Pas de Calais.

The slipway is thought to date back to the Second World War
The slipway is thought to date back to the Second World War

The deception included wooden dummy aircraft lined up in fields and inflatable dummy tanks, together with troop movements, all of which would look authentic when viewed from the air.

The purpose of dummy slipways would have been to persuade the German High Command that boats were to be launched from this part of the coast.

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