Starfish Decoys – Denny Lodge Starfish Decoy SF17B
In addition to the construction of anti-aircraft and searchlight batteries in an attempt to further protect the civilian population against enemy air raids, an elaborate network of deception sites were installed across the New Forest, including the construction of Starfish decoy sites. These sites were designed to simulate a city at night, using strategically placed lights and fires. Six such sites were built around Southampton in order to try and mislead German bombers and cause them to drop their bombs on unoccupied countryside instead of the city. Two such sites, SF17A at Longdown and SF17B at Denny Lodge, were built in January 1941.
Starfish Bombing Decoy SF17B was built at Hilltop Beaulieu in 1941.
In 1942, a QL site (simulating camp lighting) was also established at the decoy location, which remained in use between 1942 and 1943.
The National Monuments Record records 245 Starfish sites in England. There are no examples of complete sites, although occasionally the control bunker may be extant remains. The bunker at SF17B was probably removed at the end of the war. However six large rectangular firebreaks and a large curving bank potentially survive at the site.
The lack of bomb craters or depressions on the ground or visible in the Lidar data does create questions on how succesful this decoy was.
A period film about visual deception talks about decoy sites and the differant types of decoys. You can see the film on the IWM website: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020970