World War II and Korean War Activity
At its peak, ROF Glascoed boasted nearly 700 separate buildings, each designated for a particular process and used as required. It still has in excess of 10 miles (16 km) of roads, an 8-mile (13-kilometre) perimeter fence and, until more recent years, its own 17 mile (27 km) standard gauge railway system. This included a dedicated passenger station and freight marshalling yards. It was linked to the Great Western Railway (GWR) branch line that ran between Pontypool Road and Monmouth. This rail link enabled the three-times daily movement of up to 13,000 workers in and out of the site as well as the receipt of raw materials and components and the despatch of finished munitions. A small housing estate was built close-by to accommodate managers and staff who had to respond quickly in emergencies.
Initially it was intended that ROF Glascoed would produce sea-mines for the Royal Navy. However as well as these, heavy bombs and pyrotechnics (such as target indicators and skymarkers) were supplied to the RAF. Among the weapons filled and assembled by ROF Glascoed were the bouncing bomb, designed by Barnes Wallis and delivered to the Ruhr area of Germany by the Dambusters, RAF 617 squadron.
Contemporary ARP planning was largely based on Stanley Baldwin's assertion that "the bomber will always get through". So, near Glascoed, the local Folly Tower on a hill top at nearby Pontypool was seen as an aiming-off point for the Luftwaffe to attack the ROF factory. The Tower was demolished at the start of the war and not rebuilt until 1994 when it became a minor tourist attraction. As it was, ROF Glascoed was bombed only twice during the war. On one occasion, a worker was killed and several injured by a lone bomber which caused minor damage. Post-war debriefing records show that the bomber's crew were convinced they had bombed Filton aerodrome in Bristol, some forty miles (65 km) away.
As demand for weapons and ammunition declined with the end of the war, many Royal Ordnance Factories were closed. ROF Glascoed was retained and supplemented its output by manufacturing concrete building products and by scrapping surplus munitions. The growing hostility of the Cold War as evidenced by the Korean War saw a much wider range of munitions filled, assembled and packed at ROF Glascoed. These included munitions for field guns and howitzers, tanks and other fighting vehicles, mortar and aerial bombs, warheads for missiles and torpedoes, flares, pyrotechnics and smoke bombs.
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