The Blacker Bombard was a weapon the Home Guard would’ve used in the event of invasion.

 

The Blacker Bombard was an anti-tank weapon that would probably have been used by the Diss Home Guard in case of attack by invading German forces during the Second World War.

 

Thousands of them were built and installed across Britain from 1941, and the remains of one lie in woodland near Denmark Lane on the Diss border with Roydon.

 

Simple to use and relatively cheap to build, the weapon was designed by pilot, inventor and army officer Lt-Col Stewart Blacker and consisted of a 29mm Spigot Mortar which, in the case of the Diss example, was mounted on a concrete pedestal that survives amid the woodland to this day. In the event of invasion, a crew of between three and five men from the Home Guard - known as Dad’s Army – would have used it to fire at the German army, perhaps coming down the road from Thetford.

 

Two types of ammunition were provided – a 20lb anti-tank bomb and a 14lb anti-personnel device. Testing showed that while the anti-tank missile could damage a vehicle, it was unlikely to penetrate armour and wasn’t reliable much beyond 150 yards, meaning that it required a lot of courage among the men to remain in post to operate it effectively. The lack of firepower was one reason why the weapon wasn’t always popular with Home Guard units.

 

A road on the new housing development off Denmark Lane was named Bombard Way at a ceremony on VE Day in 2025 as a reminder of the nearby weapon’s role in the defence of Diss. 

A replica of the spigot mortar was mounted on the original concrete pedestal for the event.