Wales Feed

Heritage Minister "disappointed" with National Library for accepting SS man's bequest

2011-12-02T10:40:59+00:00

The National Library of Wales has been criticised by Heritage Minister Huw Lewis AM for accepting a bequest of £300,000 and archive material from a Frenchman, Louis Feutren, who served in the Waffen SS during World War Two.

The SS was a notorious paramilitary wing of Adolf Hitler's army, acting as the Nazi leader's bodyguard, a fighting force and running death camps.

Feutren's archive, which includes a collection of papers and tapes, details his life as a Breton who was a member of the region's nationalist group Gwenn-ha-Du (white and black - the name of the Breton flag) and the Bezen Perrot movements during the war.

After the war Mr Feutren fled France and travelled through Wales, eventually settling in the Republic of Ireland where he married. He died in 2010.

Heritage Minister Huw Lewis said he was disappointed that the National Library of Wales had accepted the bequest, which includes "material of significant historical importance".

"I made our position perfectly clear that we felt the acceptance of this bequest could affect the reputation of the National Library of Wales"

The National Library of Wales took expert legal advice in coming to its decision to accept the bequest. It said some of the money would be used on projects associated with the destructive effects of war and fascism.

Speaking about the decision, the retiring president of the National Library of Wales, Lord Wigley, said: "This is a notable collection that includes material of significant historical importance.

"Though I utterly condemn his political leanings and activities during the war, we had no right, as board members, to allow our feelings to interfere with our decision."

Read the full story on BBC News Wales website.

Welsh POW David Harries shares memories of the horrors of war

2011-11-11T08:19:35+00:00

Eyewitness accounts from those who lived through World War Two can provide valuable historical documents for subsequent generations.

Welsh Airman David Arthur Harries, from Llandybie, Carmarthenshire, tells how he survived a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Indonesia. In spite of witnessing instances of ferocious brutality, and helplessly watching his friends die from diseases that flourished in the squalid and unsanitary conditions in the camp, David says that his life has been full of adventure.

David Arthur Harries says that his life has been full of adventure

David decided that it was time to share his memories of the war, after being reunited with the few surviving POWs during a special function funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

1939, in search of excitement and adventure, David joined the RAF 81 Repair and Salvage Unit as an engineer. His first experience of war was during the Battle of Britain. It was David's job to repair the spitfires and hurricanes damaged during arial combat as that fought to repel the German Air Force (Luftwaffe).

Later David was then posted overseas to Singapore and spent some time in the main RAF camp in the Far East known as Seleter where they built mock aircraft which were then transferred to airfields across Malaya and were used as a form of deception.

David decided to share his memories after being reunited with other POWs

When the Japanese invaded in December 1941, his unit was moved north of Penang.

Unprepared, the Allies were unable to halt the Japanese advance and, over the following month, David's unit retreated down through the various airfields in Malaya.

"The first time you come under attack you're very frightened but you kind of get used to finding cover the best you can.

"The strafing by planes was the most horrific experience. That's when fighter aircraft would machine gun your position and do about two runs at you. The Japanese by this point had complete air control and the Brewster Buffalo planes we used to defend Malaya were very ineffective as fighter aircraft."

In retreat

David's unit finally retreated back to an RAF base called Sembawang in the north of Singapore Island, just a couple of weeks before Singapore fell in February 1942. They were then instructed that all RAF personnel were to be evacuated from Singapore to the Indonesian island of Java. David remembers:

"We got down to the docks in Singapore and we were bothered with heavy air raids from the advancing Japanese," he explains.

"Conditions were chaotic, it was pretty hectic, a lot of the city was burning and there were destroyed vehicles all over the place. I managed to get on to a small boat in the harbour which took us to Java.

Java offers short-term relief

After their frightening experiences in Singapore, Java was initially to be a far more enjoyable experience. David recalls.

"It was like peace time. They had great nightclubs, the young ladies were very friendly and we had a very enjoyable time for two or three weeks until we were ordered to proceed to Bandung to service some aircraft.

"We arrived at an airfield in Garoet but when we got there, there was no aircraft."

In March 1942 the Japanese army invaded Java. A few days later the Dutch army capitulated. David and his unit had no way of escaping the island and automatically became Prisoners of War (POWs).

Torture and executions

David and his unit were instructed to go to an airfield in Tasikmalaya where thousands of RAF personnel had assembled to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. David remembers:

"Parties were selected to work in different places of the Far East and we were sent to Malang to repair an airfield, which we did in five months.

It was in Malang that David was witnessed the brutality which lay ahead.

"Four POWs accused of trying to escape were bought back to the camp and were horribly beaten for a week by the Japanese.

"They were executed - shot in front of us all. I was only 18 at the time. It gave us an insight into the other side of the Japanese character and how ruthless they could be. The whole exercise was performed as a warning to us."

Surviving Haruku Island

In April 1943, David remained incarcerated at Jaarmarkt prison camp in Sourabaya. It was here that his grim struggle for survival really began.

A parade was formed at the camp and over 2,000 so-called 'fit' men, ie those who were not lame or seriously ill at that stage, were chosen to board ships to what was an unknown destination.

"We were eventually told that we were going to be shipped out to Haruku Island near Ambon and that we would receive light work and very good food - which of course was the exact opposite."

The men were herded on to a small ship, the Amagi Maru, where they had to endure appalling cramped and filthy conditions with limited food and water on the two-week voyage.

The group included dysentery carriers and the severe over-crowding on the ship was causing this to spread fast.

"We were packed like sardines into the hold and it took us 19 days to make a journey of three to four days.

"The guards used their bayonets to prod us forward and we realised that we were going down into the hold of the boat. There were men collapsing from heat exhaustion as the temperatures soared to about one hundred degrees and there was practically nowhere to sleep.

"I sneaked into a compartment on the deck of the ship and slept on top of some old rope. It was far more comfortable than being in the hold. In a way, I supposed I travelled first class on my own on that particular voyage compared to the others.

"I had the job of cleaning out the guard's food containers and they left some food stuck to the side, which was very different to the rice we were given. So I didn't eat so badly compared to the other people and what was surplus I shared."

Hell on Earth

It was the beginning of the raining season when they got to Haruku, where they would remain for over 16 months. David says:

"The camp consisted of a couple of shacks and we put the desperate sick in them.
"We were up to our knees in mud in the vicinity of these shacks and we slept on the earth in the pouring rain until eventually, more huts were built. When you got into these huts, the luxury would have been that you were sleeping a couple of metres from the ground so that you weren't actually sleeping on the sodden earth.

"The first few weeks on Haruku were absolutely desperate and the death rate soared. I lost a lot of good friends.

"Then we were expected to go and work on the airfield. We were given a chisel and a hammer. The airfield consisted of two small hills, the tops of which had to be removed to build the airfield. If you can imagine what you could do with those tools, the whole thing was absolutely impossible and ridiculous. By this time the dysentery and malaria rate had soared to such an extent that 90% of people were infected."

Realising they would never be able to build the airfield without fit men; the work was stopped by the Japanese. To begin with, the prisoners dug trenches to use as toilets but that just spread the disease. They eventually received permission to build a structure over the sea and by the time construction was finished, hundreds of people had died.

"The raining season stopped and out of the shambles we eventually built a very good camp which would have been horrible by anybody else's standards.

"At that time, I must have been down to six or seven stone. If you were lucky or clever, you might get on jobs where you could obtain extra food. You learnt what kind of wild vegetation was edible and you also stole from Japanese stores. You could also trade with the natives illegally. I traded tobacco for food.

"We lost around 500 people building that airfield in Haruku. During the worse periods, you would get as many as a dozen people dying in a day and you would have mass graves. When I went back 40 years later, every person had a headstone."

With good reasons, David would rather forget his 21st birthday on Haruku.

"I had my front teeth knocked out by a cruel guard we nicknamed Rat Face because of his distinctive features. I'll never forgive him for doing that.

Dodging bombs on Ambon

On 1 August 1944 the party was moved to Ambon where David worked unloading ships whilst dodging constant attacks by American bombers and fighter planes.

"We would unload cargo from a ship onto small boats and take it back to the shore. On one occasion, we were about 200 yards from the shore and I saw this P-38 American twin engine fighter coming in.

"Our boat went flat out and hit the shore. We scrambled off the boat and hid behind a tree. As we got behind the tree, the aircraft opened up and destroyed the boat. That was a close one. Every day when you were in work, there were those kinds of dangers.

"On one occasion, I was looking at an American bomber as it was flying past the boat about 50 feet away from us and one of the crew was looking at me behind a machinegun. I could see all his features for a flash as he passed - and he didn't open fire."

Back to Java

When the Americans invaded one of the neighbouring islands, the Japanese decided to retreat and take all the prisoners back to Java where their nightmare had begun.

The prisoners arrived on an island called Muna between Ambon and Makassar, where they were isolated for six months with very little food. The death rate was 50 per cent death rate due to malnutrition and disease. The only work the prisoners could do was to try and plant food to supplement their diet. If the food grew, the Japanese would take the best part of it.

The men were then taken to Makassar Island where they spent three months from April to July 1945 before heading off in a small boat back to Surabaya in Java. The war was over by this point, and after arriving in Batavia (Jakarta), on 17 August 1945, David walked out of the camp a free man. Recalling his first steps as a free man, David recalls:

"Despite warnings to the contrary, I walked out of the camp.

"It was dangerous outside because the Japanese had given the Indonesians guns and they wanted to reclaim the country back for themselves. I went out to a Dutch women's camp and I then went to get my friend Smithy from the camp and told him there was a better place outside than being stuck in the camp."

Life of Riley

"We went out and we lived the lives of riley. We didn't have much money so I went down to the docks and loaded this big American car I'd obtained with textiles and we made a pile of money.

"Eventually, we were running a night club with two bands and we entertained incoming troops. I remember an RAF officer who was attending one of the evenings we put on. He was so happy he wanted to return a favour. So, when he left for Singapore, he sent a message to my parents to tell them that I was still alive. That's the first time they had heard anything about me in five years."

"We were loaded with money and we had a fantastic time. When it got too dangerous in Java, we spent money on visiting Singapore and then went to Rangoon, Mandalay and then flew to Calcutta where they put us up in a fantastic hotel. In Calcutta, I came down with Malaria again and I decided it was about time we went home. I wanted to see more of India, so we went by train from Calcutta to Bombay travelling in first class."

A life full of adventure

In Bombay, David sent half a dozen food parcels to people that he knew in the UK because they were short of food.

"I got on a troopship and came back to the UK. On the ship, I won a boxing competition which I was surprised about given the condition I was in at the POW camp.

"My life has been full of adventure. When I got back to Liverpool, I'd practically got back to my original weight. I would say that 99% of POW's most probably wanted to go home after the war. I must have been an unnatural kind of guy. I thought to myself, I'll never see this part of the world again - I need to make the most of it."

This year the Java Far East Prisoners of War Club (FEPOW) 1942 received an award of £21,000 from the Big Lottery Fund's Heroes Return 2 programme. This helped survivors make a poignant return to the Moluccas Islands of Ambon and Haruku in Indonesia. A special reunion event was also held back in August this year in Warwickshire which 89-year-old David Harries attended.

The Big Lottery Fund is urging veterans who have not yet been able to travel on a Heroes Return 2 grant to apply now for funding under the extended scheme, which closes in January 2012.

More information and details of how to apply for a Heroes Return 2 grant are available by calling 0845 00 00 121 or visiting www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/heroesreturn.

Welsh War veteran with a James Bond connection

2010-11-12T14:03:40+00:00

As Remembrance Sunday approaches, the Big Lottery Fund continues to share with BBC Wales History the remarkable stories and memories of men and women in Wales who have fought in past wars.

One remarkable man is Dennis Whitcombe from Cwmbran in south Wales.

Dennis Whitcombe

World-famous secret agent James Bond is not normally associated with a World War Two veteran from the Welsh valleys, but Mr Whitcombe was part of 30 Commando Assault Unit (30AU). Created by James Bond author Ian Fleming, a former World War Two naval intelligence commander, 30AU undertook covert operations into enemy territory.

Working alongside notorious safecracker, "Gentle Johnny" Ramensky, the 90-year-old was involved in reconnaissance missions in Italy, gathering key information from partisan groups which helped change the course of the war.

A former Scottish prisoner, Ramensky joined the commandos, instructing them in the techniques of safe-cracking and later parachuting behind enemy lines to blow safes containing important documents in German and Italian buildings.

"Gentle Johnny" Ramensky can just been seen at the far right of this photograph.

Years later at a reunion of 30AU, Mr Whitcombe even met Patrick Dalzel-Job, the soldier believed to have inspired the James Bond character.

How does a young man from Cwmbran end up in Ian Flemming's Command Unit?

"While I was in Italy in 1944," explains Mr Whitcombe, "I saw a list on the wall asking whether anyone wanted to join the commandos. I put my name down and was interviewed. The interviewee wrote that I was a bright, sparkling little man with plenty of "L" and in November 1944 I became a commando.

"Serving for 30 Commando was exhilarating but as we working behind enemy lines you lived on your nerves.

"But the information gathered helped change the course of the war - I'm very proud of what our unit achieved. And it's incredible when I think about how closely I was connected to both Ian Fleming and his world famous creation James Bond."

Mr Whitcombe, a former coalminer, was called up at the age of 20 in June 1940.

He was sent to Brecon for training before travelling to Cardigan and then County Durham to serve on sea coastal defences. Following further training in Kilmarnock, he left to fight in Algiers on St David's Day 1943.

"Everyone stopped to listen when we started to sing as we left," he says.

"The scenes we were confronted with in Algiers were a world apart from this. It was in a terrible state with men dying around us on the ground. And it was very hot with little water around".

After Mr Whitcombe left North Africa, he landed in Taranto before travelling to Bari, Salerno and then onto Anzio.

Then for five months between January and May 1944 he was caught up in intense fighting with German soldiers. On 17 February 1944 he had a lucky escape.

World War Two soldiers including Dennis Whitcombe

"I was walking away from my Bofor gun to get some more vegetation to cover us when I felt a shell fly past me which then hit our gun position killing four of my friends. Although I escaped uninjured it was a terrifying experience which left me in a bit of a state because of the loss of my friends.

They are buried in a line together in Anzio and I was able to make a special trip to visit their graves a few years ago."

When soldiers were finally able to break out from Anzio, Mr Whitcombe travelled to Rome and then joined the 30 Commando Unit.

"The war took the valleys out of me and I came back with a different attitude," he says.

"The war formed bonds not just with the soldiers I served with but with those at home who served somewhere different to me. They are unshakable bonds that last a lifetime."

To find out more about the Big Lottery Fund's Heroes Return 2 programme, call the helpline on 0845 00 00 121 or visit the website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

Life Stories at St Fagans: National History Museum

2010-11-12T11:24:31+00:00

If you're looking for inspirational, history-based activities to enjoy next weekend, then reserve your place on Life Stories, on Saturday 20 November at St Fagans: National History Museum in Cardiff.

Life Stories is a free one-day community event exploring the value and popularity of stories about people's life experiences and their impact on individuals, communities and society.

Themes for the day include:

Life Stories: biography & characters in historical fiction
My Story: family history, local history & autobiography
Our Story: community stories, oral history
Pet stories: animals and people, pets in our lives
Afterlife Stories: past lives, contact with the dead
Telling Stories: digital story telling, heritage stories and medical histories

People on a history workshop

Led by Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion and in partnership with St Fagans: National History Museum and The Glamorgan Archive, Life Stories offers a mixed programme of fun interactive workshops and talks in which lecturers, heritage professionals and archivists examine the ways in which life stories are researched, presented and received.

Dr David Wyatt, who co-ordinates the school's community engagement initiatives, said: "We very much are looking forward to welcoming anyone who is interested to this free day of activities.

"Life stories can allow us to experience the trials, tribulations and triumphs of other human beings, to understand and empathise with other perspectives, view points and beliefs.

"They are important routes for personal reflection and development. They also have great significance for community identities and social harmony. As such they clearly provide important avenues for historical research and understanding and presenting the past".

Life Stories is one of a number of events taking place to celebrate the launch of the newly merged School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University. It takes place on Saturday 20 November between 10.30am and 4.30pm at St Fagans: National History Museum, Cardiff, CF5 6XB.

For further details about the event or to reserve a place please contact Laura Henderson on 029 2087 6169 or email share-events@cardiff.ac.uk

Women war veterans

2010-11-10T09:04:42+00:00

During World War Two, women across Britain were encouraged to do 'their bit' as part of the war effort.

Posters and campaigns were seen around the country asking women to "Join the Wrens and free a man for the fleet".

Members of the Women's Royal Navy Service (WRNS) were referred to fondly as 'Wrens' and they played a valuable role in both world wars, as well as in other conflicts throughout the 20th century.

Women were encouraged to join and to do jobs that had previously been done by men. Women joined in their thousands and by the end of World War Two over 74,000 women had been recruited to the service.

Margaret Street and Margaret Read are active members of the North Wales Branch of the Wrens Association.

Margaret Street and Margaret Read responded to the call, and even though the ladies are now in their nineties they have very clear memories of their time spent in the Wrens. You can read some memories of their wartime experiences below.

Margaret Street (left) and Margaret Read (right) in uniform

Both woman are members of the North Wales Branch of the Wrens Association which very recently received a grant from the Big Lottery Fund to help their members attend reunions in Liverpool, Caernarfon and Cambridge, among others.

To find out more about the Big Lottery Fund's Heroes Return 2 programme, call the helpline on 0845 00 00 121 or visit the website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.

Margaret Street

It was the lure of crossing oceans that led Margaret Street who now lives in Prestatyn, north Wales, to join the Wrens.

Margaret Street in in Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka. Margaret is on the far right side of the middle row.

"All I wanted to do was go abroad and I thought joining the Wrens was the perfect answer to my wanderlust," says Margaret who signed up in 1944, aged 19.

She recalls her disappointment at being located just 10 miles from home:

"When I joined I went to a training establishment called Mill Hill in London from where they sent me back to Liverpool,"

Margaret Street

"I volunteered for overseas duties as a signalling watchkeeper, but if you were under 21 you had to have your parents' permission to go abroad. It took me six long months to persuade my parents to agree to that."

A few months later Margaret was drafted to Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, as it is known today.

The first officer described the posting as, "a completely different life - you'll have to work hard because there's a huge harbour there and a lot of signals going on all the time, but you can play hard. There's swimming, picnicing and barbecues."

To a 19-year old girl, this sounded too good to refuse. Margaret, along with six other Wrens, packed their bags and headed for Trincomalee.

"Trincomalee was hectic. By then the European war was over so they sent out ships from both the home fleet and the Mediterranean fleet to join the Far Eastern fleet ready to invade Japan.

"It was a huge harbour, one of the biggest in the world and the ships were absolutely crammed in and sending signals all the time to each other. You could almost walk from one ship to another it was so crowded," recalls Margaret.

Margaret was on duty when the signal came through that the atom bomb had fallen and VJ day (Victory in Japan) was announced.

"You could never believe what it was like; everyone was really excited. The sailors were throwing their hats in the air and we were given free drinks. All the local people as well as the sailors were all around the harbour cheering. When dusk came, all the ships were lit up and there were hundreds and thousands of fireworks going off - it was a wonderful experience," says Margaret.

But of course, VJ day meant that it was time for the Wrens to head back to Britain.

Along with thousands of other Wrens Margaret was demobbed in 1946, but she remains an active member of the Rhyl Wrens Branch.

Margaret Read

Margaret Read was 24 years old when she answered the call of duty. After signing up to the WRNS, the Women's Royal Navy Service, Margaret was sent to Blundellsands in Liverpool where she trained as a signal watchkeeper before being drafted to a new post at Machrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.

Communications team for the HMS Landrail in Machrihanish, Scotland. Margaret Read is in the second row, third from right. Photograph taken in 1943.

"I worked underground in a PCB - a protective communications building. I was a signal distributing watchkeeper or 'bunting tossers' as they were known. When we received messages we had to know whether it was confidential. It was then up to us to pass it on to the right people," says Margaret who, at 93 years old, is the oldest member of the Rhyl Wrens Branch.

Margaret Read

"I was on duty when VE Day was declared - it was night time and the armistice with Germany would be signed the next day. To celebrate, the battleships company, including the Wrens, were given permission to 'splice the mainbrace'," which meant they had permission to have a little drink.

"We all had a tot of rum. All the men had it regularly, but us Wrens had never had it before. We went across and all we had was our mugs. There was this big barrel which had big brass bands that shone and the officer of the day had a ladle and he gave us all a little.

"One of the Wren officers was there with some water - she didn't want a lot of tiddly Wrens!" laughs Margaret.

'The Big Experiment'

2010-11-04T09:15:58+00:00

They say that if you want to feel better about yourself, attend a reunion. There you'll see how rough the others of your age look. I'll have the chance this week when I attend my old college rugby club's 60th anniversary.

Not that I was ever a gifted rugby player. I was, and still am, your definitive 'Second Team' man... or maybe the third team, if the blood flow wasn't reaching the Commonwealth regions of the body in any given week.

Mind you, my old college, Cardiff Training College, or UWIC as it is now, was a strong PE college with a great tradition in rugby football. Players such as Clive Rowlands, Dewi Bebb and David Nash, all Welsh internationals, had preceded us and, years later, the likes of Gareth Edwards, JJ Williams and Ryan Jones were to grace the college teams.

I was not a PE student, and the vice principal, Mr Eric Thomas, an upstanding gentleman in every way, did have problems with two sub-species of the student body: girls and non-PE types. In fact, he took us lesser mortals of the male wing aside and pleaded with us not to make the place untidy and unkempt. Considering Thomas Gilmour Nimrod and myself, he had a point.

In fact, I was only to be chosen for the college rugby teams three times in the three years that I was there, on all occasions for the Third team may I add, and that was because there was a nasty bout of gastro-enteritis in the college and they were choosing anyone who could stay away from a toilet for at least four hours.

Oddly enough, they were so short one week, I was made captain, and I scored a try. I've still got the blades of grass in a box at home now, just to prove it. It was in the winter of 1963, a winter so cold we could walk across, and play rugby, on a frozen solid Roath Lake for well over a month.

For all my failings on the fields of battle, the students, God bless them, did elect me student president in our third year and I rewarded them at a conference of college student delegates at Manchester in 1963. It was the year of 'The Big Experiment'.

It had been decided to allow girls to visit the boys' rooms, and vice versa, twice a week, for an hour and a half on a Wednesday evening and for two hours on a Sunday afternoon, on both occasions after a heavy meal.

At the conference in Manchester, the delegate for Trinity College, Carmarthen, of all places, had spoken from the platform on the subject of the experimental visiting. He pleaded: "We in Carmarthen think it's all too much, all this visiting. We can't take it, so I move a resolution that we reduce the hours or stop it altogether."

I was a galvanised coiled spring and I was on my feet in a flash with a counter resolution: "I move that the experiment is continued, Mr Chairman, with a a view to future assessment and a possible expansion." It was carried in a wild wave of enthusiasm, with whoops and cries of delight all around the conference hall. I was a hero, in Manchester... and back in Cardiff Training College.

Roy

Roy Noble is bringing his famous storytelling skills to a computer near you as part of the BBC First Click campaign - aimed at encouraging people to take their first steps to getting online. If you know somebody who needs help to get online, call the free BBC First Click advice line on 08000 150950.

Past Master on BBC Radio Wales

2010-08-13T11:51:43+00:00

There's another chance to listen to Past Master on BBC Radio Wales over the coming weeks.

Presenter and BBC Wales History blogger, Phil Carradice delves into the famous and not-so-famous happenings and events in the history of Wales.

Listen again online as Phil explores the remarkable life of Welsh based cinematic pioneer William Haggar. A showman, singer, actor and filmmaker, he ran both a travelling cinema (bioscope) and travelling theatre before opening his permanent cinemas.

You can read Phil's earlier blog on the William Haggar as well as some of the great memories of Haggars cinema in Pembroke that people have commented on the blog. Feel free to add your own memories.

Phil Carradice and former employees of Haggar's Cinema in Pembroke

If you'd like to find out more about Welsh film history visit the BBC Wales Arts website.

Past Master is next broadcast on Monday 16 August at 6.30pm on BBC Radio Wales when Phil tells the story of Ralph Hancock, a Cardiff insurance clerk who created fabulous roof gardens in 1930s New York and London. Early birds can also catch the programme on Wednesday 18 August at 5.30am.

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other BBC blog, you will need to sign in to your BBC iD account. If you don't have a BBC iD account, you can register here - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of BBC sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

The Battle of Britain: 70 years on

2010-07-23T09:17:29+00:00

Radio Wales presenter Dewi Griffiths was just eight years old when World War Two began.

Growing up in Ton Pentre in the Rhondda Valley, Dewi remembers how family life centred around war reports on the wireless and how, as a young lad he knew the distinctive sounds of the enemy aircraft. Here he recounts some of his memories of the time.

I suppose my intense interest in World War Two began on day one - 3 September 1939, when, at the age of eight, I sat with my brother Bill, 12, and my mother in the living room of our home in Wyndham Street, Ton Pentre. My father insisted we all listen to the wireless as he tuned in for a special bulletin from London.

The announcer introduced the prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, who spoke to us directly from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street, and he ended with these chilling words: "Consequently this country is at war with Germany".

That battery-powered wireless was never switched off after that. Every day, from September 1939 to August 1945, I heard all about the progress of the war - a conflict accurately described as "a world war".

Initially, the reports were all about the British Expeditionary Force arriving in France to help them in their fight against the advancing German army, but Hitler's Panzer Divisions were strong and well-prepared.

The combined British and French forces were no real match, and so, by the spring of 1940, I was listening to reports about "the miracle of Dunkirk" when a third of a million allied soldiers were taken off the beaches in thousands of little boats to be taken to the safety of the south of England.

That's when the dreaded word "invasion" became part of every-day conversation.

It was at another family gathering when we all gathered around the wireless as my father switched it on to listen to the new prime minister, Winston Churchill, and it was then we heard his historic pronouncement: "The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin."

The speech ended with a typical "Winnie" rallying statement: "if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour!"

And of course, there were the newspapers, with the London dailies issuing maps of the south coast, pinpointing the places which were being bombed by the Luftwaffe providing the first reports that citizens had been killed.

The newspapers also began issuing leaflets with "aircraft recognition silhouette charts", and by my ninth birthday, in the middle of August, I was able to identify a Junkers, a Dornier, a Fokke-Wolfe, and a Messerschmidt.

We were also aware of the different sound made the engines of a German bomber - an oscillating drone produced by the different engine rotation speeds resulting in a distinctive "beat" frequency.

But we were far away from the actual danger at that time. The coal and steel industries just stepped up production, and buses took hundreds of women from the valley every day to work in the munitions factories in the Vale of Glamorgan.

And then we began listening to what the BBC reporters referred to as "dog fights" - which was when I first heard about the icon of my wartime years - the Spitfire.

I wondered what it looked like, because we youngsters were kept busy with gas mask drill, air raid precautions, and getting to know the strangers amongst us: the evacuees who had arrived from London, the Midlands, and later the docklands of Cardiff.

Of course there was the Saturday morning "rush" - the local cinema putting on entertainment films for children - and it was at the Workmen's Hall in Ton Pentre that I first saw a Spitfire in flight, in the newsreel that came up between Hopalong Cassidy and Donald Duck.

From the moment I saw it on that big screen I was fired with an ambition to be a pilot in the RAF. The newsreel coverage of the dog fights caused more excitement in the youngsters than anything Hollywood could conjure up.

When father came up from the night shift at the local colliery, the first thing they asked about was "are we winning the battle?" Then before jumping into the tin bath in front of the fire it was across to the allotments to tend to the home grown vegetables, or check the eggs in the chicken coop.

And that's how it was. Day after day, hour after hour, we listened to the radio for reports, such as: "early this morning eight German planes were shot down over Kent - six of our aircraft failed to return to base!" Then it was to the chart on the wall where we put a cross on emblems of a Union Jack or a swastika.

We were fascinated too that the pilots defending our homeland were not just British, but came from all over the Commonwealth, and from the occupied countries in Europe. As September came, we heard that Churchill had supplied the RAF with more aircraft, and more importantly, replacement pilots.

As a nine-year-old I didn't know what the word "propaganda" meant, but I was aware that the news bulletins were telling us that more and more German aircraft were being shot down - and that the end was in sight. The end?

In September 1940 the war had hardly touched us in the valley, but we were fully aware that the people living in the south of England had been living through hell.

Then came the radio announcement - the strangest report for months:

"For the last 24 hours there have been no reports of any German aircraft in the skies over England."

So, they were right! The end was in sight.

And now, 70 years on, I still find it difficult to hold back the tears of gratitude and admiration whenever I hear the words of Winston Churchill:

"Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."

And those tears were running down my cheeks as I saw the Spitfire and the Lancaster fly over Cardiff Bay when I was a member of the BBC Radio Wales broadcasting team covering the Armed Forces Day Commemoration Ceremony.

It was all quite thrilling - and I can't wait to celebrate the magnificent victory of the Desert Rats, driving Rommel out of North Africa after the famous turning point, El Alamein.

Watch highlights from the BBC Wales Armed Forces Season.

View a slideshow of Armed Forces Day in Cardiff.

Dewi Griffiths is the presenter of the BBC Radio Wales music programme A String Of Pearls. Listen to the latest programme.

A String Of Pearls can next be heard on BBC Radio Wales on Sunday 22 July at 9.05am

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.

Memories of the Six Bells mining disaster

2010-06-25T13:23:48+00:00

Neil Donovan was 12 years old when the explosion at the Arael Griffin pit at the Six Bells Colliery occurred on 28 June 1960, killing 45 men. Here he remembers the days immediately following the disaster:

"I became aware of 'an accident' at Arael Griffin at lunchtime when I was outside Bryn Gwyn school eating lunch. At that time we didn't know that the accident was so serious. That awareness came later.

"At lunchtime we could hear the hooter at the pit going continuously. This signifies a serious accident but, personally, I didn't know that, having just moved down from the Midlands.

"In an area where heavy industry is the main employer accidents and injury are commonplace and part of life, but obviously not on the scale of this disaster.

"The day after the accident I was doing my early morning paper round which covered Richmond Road, Marlborough Road and the bottom end of Six Bells on the Warm Turn side of the valley. I went under the railway bridge to deliver some papers and went past the Colliery entrance.

"I remember it was about 7.30am and there were a few people and police quietly waiting at the gates and blue NCB ambulances waiting inside the gates. There were some miners around the ambulances and some stretchers being unfolded ready for use.

"I'm guessing that at that time rescue efforts were still under way and families were still hoping for the best outcome. I think the words 'optimistic stoicism' probably explains the prevailing mood.

"I don't remember the days following as such, just the funeral cortège going up the hill to the cemetery at Brynithel. I lived on Somerset Street and from the opposite side of the road could see the cars and hearses in the distance.

"I remember that, like today, it was very sunny and the funeral procession seemed to be endless, although I suppose it took about two hours. I think only then did the enormity of the disaster and the realities of the coal industry sink in for me.

"I remember the media interest though news reports from the scene on black and white telly provided by Rediffusion, but being so close to the scene we didn't need to see the screen image - the reality was almost under our noses".

View a slideshow of images relating to the Six Bells mining disaster.

Need some assistance? Read about BBC iD, or get some help with registering.