Blitz and Peaces

	Public Information Films of the British Home Front 1939-1945 Strike Force Entertainment 2009 This is the compilation of films that I have been personally waiting for, for years! It shows what the British public were really up against during the war years and how the Government implemented rationing, recycling drives, utility and austerity measures and a host of hastily assembled, “Common Sense” initiatives to make sure that the population all got an equal share of what was available. Raw materials for the manufacturing industries, which were imported from overseas, were constantly being consigned to Davy Jones’ locker because of the increasing efficiency of the U- Boat menace and therefore anything that could be used, or re-used, was used, in the most effective and economical way. The sense of urgency which was transmitted through the, sometimes serious, sometimes humorous approach to the film making gets the messages across very succinctly, without causing too much alarm to the public. The section on the Fire Guard and their training procedures is excellent! On top of the standard 40 hour working week, a lot of people joined the Supplementary Fire Parties for a further 12 hours a week on a voluntary basis, a lot of these volunteer Fire Guards were young women and they saved incalculable damage to property in the blitzes of the big cities and also saved many lives, due to their selfless actions in dangerous conditions.
The amount of training and simple counter measures in dealing with the new types of German “Anti-Personnel” incendiary bombs is shown very clearly here and has been an area sadly lacking in books published about the British Home Front over the years. At last, here it is in moving images! My only criticism of the complete package is that on two occasions American information films appear in the middle of footage dedicated to the British Home Front and I would have preferred to have seen these as “Additional Features” at the end of the D.V.D. These films are once again very informative but are out of context with the rest of the footage, this coupled with poor quality sound and the change in accent does tend to spoil the flow of the British films, but this is only a small irritation and does not detract form the excellence of the whole product. As a document for the study of British social history this presentation is excellent, a must for any school, person studying WW II or for the enthusiast who loves his viewing in black and white, with a received pronunciation commentary. This D.V.D. set is available at all good D.V.D. outlets.
	Churchill's Underground Army By John Warwicker Published by Frontline Books London ISBN 978-1-84832-515-9 This excellent book has at last, brought it home to me what was expected of the Men and Women of the G.H.Q. Auxiliary Units and Special Duties Sections during WW II. The clandestine operations of these units, working on British soil during WW II, have been held under for far too long. It has been a joy to read John Warwicker’s account of the preparations that were made to develop an underground resistance movement, which could attack and harass the enemy in the event of a full invasion of Britain, which was expected as imminent around the dark days of September 1940.
From the in-depth look at the characters that were charged with initially setting up the Scout Units, to the designs and ingenuity, of the secrecy and camouflage utilised to conceal underground Operational Bases and their entrances. The problems with supply and with dealing with the regular Army have been well researched and presented in a way which is easily accessible to the reader and is not without humour. For any individual interested in the development of early radio equipment, or Radio “Ham”, this book is a must, as it shows what was achieved with minimal resources, time, budget and equipment by radio amateurs who designed radio equipment which was way ahead of it’s time and later help shape the way that military radio-systems and communications would be manufactured and employed in later conflicts. This book is testament to the Secret Underground Army of both Men and Women of Britain, who would have and did, willingly give their lives for their country, under the most severe of circumstances, to then, not be recognised until now.
	Laughter - Silvered Wings By John Pascoe Watson ISBN 978-1-907235-01-0 Taking its title from the 1941 poem “High Flight” written by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Jnr., of the Royal Canadian Air Force John’s book explores the switch from childhood dream to fully fledged, fighter pilot, in this fascinating account of his life in the R.A.F. Exmouth at war is the starting point for John’s Journey. He had previously been bitten by the flying bug in 1930, at the age of 5 on an air experience flight with his father, in a De- Havilland Rapide.
At the age of 12, John was presented with a school prize for being top of the form. The prize was a book about making a career in the R.A.F. as a pilot. John made up his mind there and then. It was going to be a pilot’s life from now on! From joining the R.A.F. on the 4^th June, 1944, John takes you through an incredible journey explaining how he made a career from flying and sometimes crashing, (occasionally through no fault of his own), 26.5 (all explained in the book) different types of Aircraft. These aircraft ranged from the Tiger Moth and Harvard trainers. Also post-war combat missions in Spitfires and Tempests, through the early years of Jet fighter design (Gloster Meteors and Vampires) to the Blackburn Buccaneer. John eventually emerged from his flying career as a highly skilled pilot, with an Air Force Cross for his troubles. My own understanding of the dangers that fighter pilots faced on a day to day basis, plagued with constant mechanical problems and unexpected changes in weather, has completely changed my mind about any of my own boyhood dreams. The author has managed to, in his own quiet way, given the reader a real white knuckle ride in some of the accounts. The unexpected happens on a regular basis invariably for the worst. John and his fellow pilot’s ability to deal with these problems, with nerves of steel and a cool head, comes across well. Along with the sadness of his personal accounts on the loss of fellow officers. Although this book has been written with a complete technical knowledge of the way aircraft, fighter and training units function, it is not over-laden with meaningless jargon. In short, it is a very enjoyable read, sometime s funny, sometimes sad and always difficult to put down.
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