Part 5: The Lancing Squad – Precision on the Front Line

 Special Acknowledgement: Once again we are greatly indebted to John Maple for his kindness in sharing these rare images from his family archive. Without his generosity and his keen eye for detail, this vital chapter of the Lancing Carriage Works story might have remained hidden in a desk drawer. Thank you, John, for helping us bring these men back into the light.
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Part 5: The Lancing Squad – Precision on the Front Line

The "Watch on the Cliffs" was not kept by strangers, but by the very men who built the Southern Railway.

As the war reached its height in 1941, the Lancing Carriage Works became more than just a factory; it became a fortress. Among the hundreds of workmen who traded their tools for Lee-Enfield rifles and Bofors guns was Frederick James Maple, a Driller from the Frame Shop.

In this fifth part of our series, we look at rare, newly discovered images from the Maple family archive. These photographs capture the "Lancing Squad" of the 18th Sussex (Home Guard) Battalion—men who spent their days amid the heat and noise of the Blacksmiths and Machine Shops, only to spend their nights standing guard on the bleak, wind-swept heights of  Ovingdean Gap
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For those who know the coast road today, the Lancing Squad's position was likely near the junction where Roedean Road splits off from the A259. It’s a stunning viewpoint now, but for Fred Maple and his crew, it was a tactical necessity—offering a wide, unobstructed 'killing zone' for any German raiders attempting to slip past the Shoreham and Brighton defences."

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From the gothic towers of Roedean School shrouded in sea mist to the complex machinery of the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun, these images show the "Railway Pioneers" in their dual role: craftsmen by day, and the primary shield of the Sussex coast by night.

 The faces of Lancing. Taken at the Carriage Works, this image shows the 'Lancing Squad' of the 18th Battalion. Frederick James Maple stands on the far left of the back row—a man who spent his days on high-precision drilling machines and his nights guarding the South Coast.

Our guide through these images is Fred Maple (marked with the yellow arrow). Having started at the Works as a 17-year-old Hammer Boy, Fred represents the lifetime of service that defined the Lancing community.

The 'Watch on the Cliffs.' Looking through the sea fret, you can see the towers of Roedean School. This was No. 3 Block, where the Lancing men operated the Bofors 40mm. Notice the Loader standing high on the platform, ready to feed the four-shell clips into the breech.

The faces in these photographs are the faces of a community under arms. From the Wenceling cottages to the Ovingdean gun-pits, the bond between these men was forged in the Carriage Works and hardened on the front line. They weren't just soldiers; they were neighbours defending their own backyard. Nowhere is this connection clearer than in the story of Fred Maple. Thanks to his son John, we can finally look through the lens at the reality of that watch—a story of Lancing men who traded the precision of the 'Sheds' for the thunder of the Bofors gun."

Engineering on the front line. The Bofors was a complex piece of machinery, and who better to operate it than the men from the Frame Shop and the Finishing Road? Here we see the 'Layers' in their seats, controlling the elevation and traverse with the same steady hands they used back at the 'Sheds'.

While they trained in the daylight for these photos, the real 'Watch' was often kept in total darkness. 

The Lancing men had to operate these complex machines by touch and sound, ensuring that not a single flicker of light gave away the location of the Carriage Works to the bombers above.
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In John Maples' own words, here is his account of his father, Fred and Dixy Dean, his chargehand

1/ My Fathers name was Frederick James Maple, (Fred)he had several jobs in the Works from the age of 17 until Lancing closed, at 17 he was a hammer boy in Blacksmiths shop by the time war broke out he was working in the Frame Shop on Drilling Machines 23-25 years old, after the War worked in Pipe Shop on thread cutting machine until he had an accident and was put on light duties, for the remaining years he worked in the Carriage Shop in the Trimmers stripping seat backs and cushions and working sowing machines making blinds.
2/
Dixy Dean was my charge hand in the Carriage Shop on the Finishing Road. Because of this trade, I would think he was doing this through the war years, but like my father could have had other jobs within the carriage works. My opinion is that he would have had only had the one trade.

A Lancing Gunner’s Glossary

To understand the world of the 18th Battalion, it helps to know the "language of the line." Here are the terms used by the men on the cliffs:

• The Bofors 40mm: The "Ferrari" of anti-aircraft guns. Designed in Sweden, it could fire 120 explosive shells a minute. It was the primary defence against low-flying German "Tip and Run" raiders.

• The Layer: The two men seated on the gun. One "Layer" controlled the Elevation (up and down), and the other controlled the Traverse (side to side) using hand-wheels.

• The Loader: The man standing on the platform who physically dropped the 4-shell "clips" into the top of the gun. It was a heavy, exhausting job during a long engagement.

• Stiffkey Sight: That complex, circular metal "spiderweb" you see above the barrel. It helped the Gunners "lead" a target—aiming where the plane would be by the time the shell arrived.

• The Frame Shop: The part of the Lancing Carriage Works where the heavy chassis and frames of the railway carriages were built. Men from this shop, like Fred Maple, were highly skilled with heavy machinery and drilling.

• NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer): The leaders within the squad, like the Corporals and Sergeants. In a "Railway Squad," these were often the same men who were Chargehands or Foremen back at the Works.
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  Part 5b
  
  Did you know the Lancing Carriage Works had its own 'Steel Ring' of turrets on the roofs? In Part 5b, we look at how the 'Sheds' became a fortress, and how the deafening factory noise actually gave our local gunners a hidden advantage...
  
  For the men inside the 'Sheds,' the war wasn't a distant threat. It was the shadow of a Focke-Wulf 190 crossing the skylights or the roar of an engine competing with the rhythmic thump of the drop-hammers. This 'Steel Ring' wasn't just about military strategy; it was about the resilience of the railwaymen who stood their ground, turning their place of work into a fortress to protect the town they called home."

  The Layout of the "Steel Ring"

  Where did they place the guns?

  To help you place these guns on a map of the Works, here are the three most likely locations based on Southern Railway defense strategy:

  1. The North Perimeter (The Main Line): A Bofors was almost certainly placed near the Washing Plant or the Cripple Sidings. Raiders used the straight line of the tracks like a "highway" to the target. A gun here would be looking straight down the line toward Worthing.

  2. The High Point (The Power House): The tall chimney of the Power House was the tallest landmark in Lancing. Placing Bren or Lewis guns on the roofs of the adjacent Boiler House or Engine Room provided a "bird's eye view" of any plane trying to strafe the workshops.

  3. The South East Corner (The Entrance): Near the main gates and the Time Office. This position protected the Frame Shop (Fred's shop) and the Finishing Road. It was the "gatekeeper" position for anything coming up from the coast.

  The "Frame Shop" Connection

  Since Fred worked in the Frame Shop, his shop was centrally located but closer to the southern side of the site. If the alarm sounded:

  • Distance to Cover: He would have had to drop his tools and likely head to a sandbagged "pit" or a rooftop ladder within 30 to 60 seconds.

• The "Sawtooth" Advantage: The iconic sawtooth roofs of the Works weren't just for light; they provided excellent "nooks" for machine gun teams to hide from a pilot's view until the last possible second.
  
  These are the tactical spots where armaments would be situated:
  

  Location in Works	Likely Armament	Protecting...
  Power House Roof	Lewis Guns / Bren	The factory's "Heart" (Power).
  North Sidings	Bofors 40mm	The Railway approach from Worthing.
  South Gate/Frame Shop	LAA / Light AA	The main workforce entrance.
  The Traverser	Bofors 40mm	The long corridor between the Sheds.

  How were guns fixed in place?
  
  1. The "Allan-Williams" Turret

  This was a very common sight on factory roofs and near airfields. It looked like a small, circular steel dome.

  • The Design: It was a 360-degree rotating steel turret that could be bolted down to a concrete base or even directly to the reinforced roof of a workshop.

  • The Weapon: Usually armed with a Lewis Gun or a Bren.

  • The Benefit: It provided the gunner with total protection from shell splinters and strafing while allowing them to track a plane across the entire sky.

  2. The "Fortress" Mount (Pedestal Mount)

  For the heavier Bofors 40mm, they used a Pedestal Mount.

  • Engineering: Because the Bofors had a powerful recoil, it couldn't just sit on a standard floor. At the Works, they would have likely built reinforced timber or steel "towers" or used existing concrete loading bays.

• The "Platform": These were often surrounded by "Mushroom" Pillboxes—small, circular concrete shelters where the crew could dive for cover if the plane started firing back.
  
  Imagine Fred Maple at his drilling machine. Above his head, the roof wasn't just glass and corrugated iron. Bolted to the steel girders above the Frame Shop were Allan-Williams turrets, where his colleagues sat in steel domes, scanning the horizon for the 'Tip and Run' raiders. The 'Sheds' were literally a multi-layered fortress, from the shop floor to the sky.
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  Does anyone remember seeing circular concrete 'rings' on the ground near the old entrances, or strange steel 'cupolas' on the roofs before the Works were demolished? These would have been the mounting points for our local air defence.

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Does anyone remember seeing the concrete 'bases' or the sandbag scars near the old Traverser? We believe the Bofors were positioned to cover the long runways between the shops. If your relative mentioned 'climbing the ladders' when the sirens went off, we’d love to know which shop they were defending.
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How did the factory noise help the gunners?

"While the world knows the 'Sheds' for the sound of steam and hammers, for the Lancing Squad, the factory's roar was a shield. The constant industrial din allowed them to operate their Bofors and Lewis guns with a silent, hand-signalled precision that would have baffled a regular infantryman."

It sounds counter-intuitive, but the relentless industrial roar of the Carriage Works actually provided a strange kind of tactical advantage for the men on the roofs.

The "Acoustic Camouflage"

In a quiet field at Ovingdean, the sound of a Bofors gun firing is a massive "signature" that tells a pilot exactly where the danger is. However, inside the perimeter of the Lancing Carriage Works:

• Masking the "Thump": The rhythmic pounding of the heavy drop-hammers and the high-pitched scream of the metal-drills in shops like Fred Maple’s Frame Shop created a wall of white noise. To a German pilot flying at high speed, the initial "thump-thump-thump" of an anti-aircraft gun could be momentarily lost against the backdrop of a factory at full tilt.

• The "Hand-Signal" Discipline: Because it was impossible to hear orders over the factory noise and the wind, the gun crews became masters of non-verbal communication. They used a series of precise hand signals to communicate bearing, elevation, and "cease fire." This meant that even if a phone line was cut or a sergeant’s voice failed, the gun stayed in the fight.

The "Home Guard" Hand Signals

On a Bofors crew, the NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) would stand slightly back, acting as the "Spotter." Since shouting was useless, he used his arms like a railway signalman:

• Arms extended out: "Traverse" (Follow the plane left or right).

• One arm raised high: "Increase Elevation" (The plane is climbing).

• A sharp "cutting" motion across the throat: "Cease Fire."

The "Worker-Gunner" Instinct

For men like Fred Maple, who spent ten hours a day in the deafening environment of the Drilling Shop, the noise of battle wasn't a distraction—it was their "natural habitat." While a regular soldier might be disoriented by the chaos of a raid, the Lancing men were already "tuned in" to high-decibel environments. They had the "Sheds Muscle-Memory" that allowed them to stay calm and focused while the world was literally shaking around them.

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Help Us Complete the Roll of Honour

History is a jigsaw puzzle, and we are still missing a few pieces. While we know these men were the heart and soul of the Lancing Carriage Works, many of their names have been lost to time.

• Do you recognise a face in the 'Lancing Squad' photo?

• Did your relatives work in the Frame Shop, the Finishing Road, or the Trimmers?

• Do you have stories passed down about the 'Watch' on the Ovingdean cliffs?

Please leave a comment below or join the conversation on our Facebook group. Every name we find is a tribute to the men who kept the 'Sheds' running and our coastline safe.
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• Part 1: The Guardians of the Works: Firemen & Veterans

• Part 2: The Silent Partners: Women & Youth (1941–1945)

• Part 3: The Guardians of the Works: Mr Warr and the Lancing Railway Fire Brigade
• Part 4: The Bofors Crew: From Shop Floor to Front Line      

•  Part 5: The Lancing Squad – Precision on the Front Line (You are here)

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