Videos tagged with ww2

LIVING IN GERMANY AFTER THE WAR

LIVING IN GERMANY AFTER THE WAR

After the defeat of Germany, Raymond was still living with his evacuation family in Liepzig. Raymong heard and retells an interesting anecdote about Hitler. The family was so hungry that they tried to make something edible out of the potato skins. However Raymond's ingenuity and hard work enabled him to find ways to eat well......

Operation Mincemeat (aka The Man Who Never Was)

Operation Mincemeat (aka The Man Who Never Was)

Operation Mincemeat was a top secret WW2 deception operation designed to fool the Germans as to where an Allied invasion in the Mediterranean would take place. Patricia Davies worked as a secretary in the department of Britain's Naval Intelligence which, working with MI5, hatched this outrageously ambitious and complex deception which proved successful. She provides some brief but fascinating anecdotes about the people responsible for the plan. This involved dropping a body with fake military ID into the sea off Spain, to be washed up and found by a known German agent who could then acquire the false invasion plans carried by this 'British officer' who in fact did not exist. This story was depicted in the classic 1956 film "The Man Who Never Was" based on the book of the same name written by Patricia's wartime boss Ewan Montagu; and it has been told far more comprehensively in the very recent book "Operation Mincemeat" by Ben Macintyre.

Army Blood Transfusion Service during WW2

Army Blood Transfusion Service during WW2

During the Second World War Patience Maxwell was a driver in the Women's Transport Service (FANY). In this section of a much longer recording she describes driving for the Army Blood Transfusion Service as part of a team working in the West Country collecting blood from volunteer civilians. Earlier in WW2 Patience had driven a lorry for an army bomb disposal unit in Bristol and, aged 23, received a commendation for bravery after driving three unexploded German bombs out of the city so they could be safely blown up.

WARTIME SCHOOLS - DONATED BY THE CANADIANS

WARTIME SCHOOLS - DONATED BY THE CANADIANS

It's not well known that the Canadians donated entire schools for use by London children whose schools had been bombed out. John's grandfather arranged for two of them to be imported to West Ham, and this is what it was like.

Narrow escapes for a WW2 evacuee and his parents

Narrow escapes for a WW2 evacuee and his parents

While John was having a traffic accident involving the only car for miles around, his father narrowly escaped death on a trolleybus and his parents were bombed out of their houses half a dozen times.