FORGE MILL NEEDLE MUSEUM - REMEMBERING THE #1940s!

There were lots of  re-enactments, displays, exhibitions and #vintage vehicles, with many from the Forever Forties re-enactment group, at Forge Mill Museum's 1940s event, 2016. 

 A  fashion exhibition featured vintage sewing patterns, sewing basket and Second World War clothing.

There was a WWII Tea Wagon,  wartime music was  performed throughout the day,(really enjoyed 'Summertime' and 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square')

a Special Operations Executive (SOE) display featuring French Resistance re-enactors, and also a spy suitcase radio with top secret documents.  With sunny weather, and lots of costumed Home Front and Military re-enactors to transport us back in time this really was an event to remember!   

  #ww2  #homefront  #re-enactors  #1940sevents

TELFORD STEAM RAILWAY 1940's THEMED DAY 2015

The re-enactors stepped into character throughout the day creating a light-hearted wartime theme at #TelfordSteamRailway

and the WVS, Women's Voluntary Service were ready to provide cups of tea for the visitors!

 

There was plenty of excitement and espionage with a search for  german spies on the steam train, pursued by the military police, occupied territory at Lawley Station and French Resistance and Allied troops at Horsehay and Dawley Station!

There were also #vintage stalls, and the sounds of the #Blitz and #wartime music, radio and entertainment from Kevin Mack. This  #1940s Shropshire venue was a great day out, and visitors to this event told me how much they enjoyed the event!    

STEPPING BACK TO THE 1940S AT SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY - THE FIRST WEEKEND - 27th and 28th JUNE 2015

This year's "Stepping Back to the #1940's" event at #Severn Valley Steam Railway offered an action packed wartime experience for visitors! And the displays and costumed re-enactors, pictured here at Kidderminster Station, turned the clocks back to the 1940's.

 

 

There was a battle at Highley Station, which drew the crowds, as American, British troops and the French Resistance fought to regain control of a steam train.

 



 

With exhibitions and activities at all of the six stations that make up the Severn Valley Steam Railway, this was a great weekend !







THE RADIO SPIES AND THE WAR OF THE WIRELESS - WWII

Hidden away in lowly lit rooms, wearing headphones and with heads bowed, the radio spies silently worked. At the same time, the people of the Home Front unaware of this clandestine activity were also tuning in to their wireless sets. Motivated by inspiring and patriotic speeches from their wartime leaders they were busy with war work and defending the Home Front.

The radio interceptors were chosen for their agile minds, ability to work at speed, and also for the stamina required to work exhaustingly long shifts. At home and abroad the radio spies listened to the German transmissions, writing down morse code.

These coded transmissions, sent by the Germans, encrypted by Enigma machines, and received by the listening stations were sent to Bletchley Park. Once decoded they gave valuable information about bombing targets and invasion plans. Some Y stations, or Wireless Intercept stations, using direction finding, identified the position of German U boats. Voluntary Interceptors were also used. Radio hams, often with their own receivers, were secretly working from their own homes, and no one knew, not even their families! The work of the Y stations and Voluntary Interceptors was kept top secret.

In France, British planes dropped secret agents and spy suitcase radios to assist the work of the French Resistance.  Messages or instructions were relayed to the Resistance via news broadcasts.

In 1980, the truth about the work of Bletchley Park was revealed, although the contribution made by the radio interceptors is still to be fully acknowledged. Churchill's network or web of radio spies helped to shorten the war and save thousands of lives.

Source
Manpower - Ministry of Information -  published 1944 Alabaster Passmore and Sons, Ltd.
The Secret Life of Bletchley Park Sinclair McKay
The Secret Listeners Sinclair McKay

STEPPING BACK IN TIME TO WWII AND RAF DESBOROUGH, RAF HARRINGTON AND THE USAAF.

A disused airfield in Desborough, Kettering, Northamptonshire, now silent and empty was once during WWII, the scene of immense activity. We can imagine the roar of the engines, young RAF pilots running to their planes and suddenly the sky filled with the sight of Wellington bombers off on a mission.

Based at RAF Desborough, No 84 Operational Training Unit at RAF Desborough, consisted of night bomber crews flying Vickers Wellington Bombers.  This airfield was also a training base for Miles Martinets and Dc3 Dakotas.

Nearby, Just  5 miles west of Kettering and  planned as a satellite at RAF Desborough was RAF Harrington, an operational training unit for the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force. Known as the Carpetbaggers and using B-24 Liberators, the 801st Bomb Group flew agents and supplies to the resistance groups in Southern France.

Weather reports from Bletchley Park and Photographic Aerial  Intelligence enabled these covert operations to capitalize upon and strengthen the French Resistance. Also, the SOE, Special Operations Executive, helped to co-ordinate the activities of the French Resistance.

Today, Desborough remembers and commemorates WWII with its 1940s events! Desborough village "steps back to the 1940s" as it is transformed with bunting, stalls and costumed re-enactors. The shops sell vintage goodies, there is a wartime café with"rations" and lively demonstrations of 40s dancing - anyone can join in! A wartime vehicle parade winds it's way through the village and there's lots more for visitors to see. Their 2014 event was a sunny, happy and friendly occasion and a lovely tribute to their wartime history and heroes.
      Www.1940spicturepost.blogspot..com
Source
Britains Secret War 1939-1945 Michael Smith
wikipedia.org/wiki/list-of-operational-training-units
Wikipedia.org/wiki/RafHarrington

CHURCHILL's SECRET ARMY - THE BRITISH RESISTANCE WWII

Churchill's hidden army was kept top secret.  The existence of the British Resistance and Auxillary Units and also the Special Duties Section remained covert until the 1990's. Then, a book and a film by Owen Sheers revealed the contingency proposals for Britain's secret army.

 In 1940 following Dunkirk and the occupation of Europe, plans for the British Resistance Organisation to defend the Homefront were put into action. Underground Operational Bases were created and patrols were trained in combat, intelligence and the use of weapons and sabotage. 

 Little is still known about Britain's Resistance and mostly the families were never informed. In occupied Britain the life expectancy of the members of the Resistance would have been only two weeks!

However, more details have emerged about the underground soldiers and spies in Wales. In September 2014 at Bantock House Museum in Wolverhampton, there was an exhibition about the work of the Resistance in Wales displaying the type of weaponry   issued to "The Scallywags" or GHQ Auxillary Units. These were to be used in the event of the invasion of Britain.

This is a fascinating and little known story and if you want to know more about The British Resistance and the Auxillary Units you can visit the www.auxunit.org.uk  Other links include www.coleshillhouse.com and www.abergavennymuseum.co.uk