Holes

All over the forest you'll spot holes like these, differing sizes, though displaying similar features, notably the irregular bank like lip which surrounds them. These are Second World War bomb craters. They reckon over 2700 bombs were dropped in the New Forest through the war years. There were plenty of targets for the Luftwaffe too. Throughout the war the area saw intense military activity, the nature of which changed as the war progressed; initial defence soon turned to training, then to preparation for invasion, and constantly seeing action, were the forest airfields.  For some of the craters the target's clear, others though were ephemeral targets, maybe mobile targets, whilst I reckon a few (at least) were never targeted, rather jettisoned before turning for home.  These craters are in woodland at Pignal Hill, and there are several potential targets locally including, the Balmer Lawn Hotel which was a divisional headquarters, the main rail line and Beaulieu Airfield.  I wonder how long it'll take for these monuments to World War 2 to disappear, well not disappear, as they'll remain in the archaeological record, but not to be visible any more.  It's over 70 years, and still these craters are pronounced features.