Public urged to help locate hidden wartime 'Scallywag' bunkers

[Slime]

A few years ago I worked on a very interesting programme called Secrets of Underground Britain. We filmed at an Auxiliary Bunker and interviewed a former member. One of the tasks that the Auxiliary would have to undertake should an invasion occur, would be the assassination of key local figures that may have been of use to the German forces. The Auxiliary had a list of names and our man told us that after the war he would see some of the targets in the street and smile to himself...

I’m a bit late to this, but I have all three of the underground DVDs, and think they were informative and well made.

Edited to remove a ‘yokel’ predictive text error.

 

[QRK2]

Aberystwyth not such a mystery, MI5 was supposed to go to the areshole of nowhere outside Towyn in the event of the third world war.
Assuming the Russians had an idea it would make sense for them to ave prepared to be keeping an eye on the place

Bloody hell haven't heard of that place (Towyn) for years, not since I spent a few weeks of 'character building' time there, my first ever log race IIRC. How would MI5 have fitted? I'll bet they wouldn't have had to go for a XC run and sea swim every morning.

 

[Diko]

My Grandfather, ex WW1 Royal Engineer, knew of a couple near Hullavington aerodrome wher my Mum to be worked as a teleprinter operator. He had a sawn off .410 shotgun converted into a pistol plus a cavalry officers sabre ready for the Huns. Both these weapons are on display in Lincoln, Sobraon Barracks, as I handed them in.

 

[jagman2]

Bloody hell haven't heard of that place (Towyn) for years, not since I spent a few weeks of 'character building' time there, my first ever log race IIRC. How would MI5 have fitted? I'll bet they wouldn't have had to go for a XC run and sea swim every morning.

Nice place to be fair, far enough out of the way to be a major tourist magnet.

Don't think anybody is quite sure why Tywyn (I misspelt it) other than its as far away from the world as you can get

 

[bigeye]

I’m a bit late to this, but I have all three of the underground DVDs, and think they well informative and well made.

Thanks, although they look a bit dated now possibly. It was actually my company that produced them for Reader's Digest after the original production company went belly up. I wish I'd been able to see more of the locations but I was doing other stuff.

As an aside he presenter had an unusual method of learning his script. He didn't: he had it recorded and played the the lines back via an earpiece. We had a very good director who knew his stuff and made it all happen.

 

[CutLunchCommando]

Thanks, although they look a bit dated now possibly. It was actually my company that produced them for Reader's Digest after the original production company went belly up. I wish I'd been able to see more of the locations but I was doing other stuff.

As an aside he presenter had an unusual method of learning his script. He didn't: he had it recorded and played the the lines back via an earpiece. We had a very good director who knew his stuff and made it all happen.

When I attended Combat Polytechnic we were shown a video in preperation for our presentation which included a bloke who I recognised as a TV bod but was apparently also a TA Officer. He demonstrated precisely that technique.

 

[Slime]

Thanks, although they look a bit dated now possibly. It was actually my company that produced them for Reader's Digest after the original production company went belly up. I wish I'd been able to see more of the locations but I was doing other stuff.

As an aside he presenter had an unusual method of learning his script. He didn't: he had it recorded and played the the lines back via an earpiece. We had a very good director who knew his stuff and made it all happen.

To add perspective.
I fairly regularly watch shows like abandoned engineering etc.
The format of those shows are so idiotic as to get me shouting at the TV. The underground secrets episodes were broadcasting giants in comparison.

Today I started to re watch the episodes of the 1977 BBC series ‘The secret war’ narrated by William Woollard. The contrast with the style of this compared to the latest Beeb Woke shows is staggering.

 

[bigeye]

When I was attended Combat Polytechnic we were shown a video in preperation for our presentation which included a bloke who I recognised as a TV bod but was apparently also a TA Officer. He demonstrated precisely that technique.

Although I know it's usedI actually haven't come across it since - it's actually pretty tricky to listen and talk simultaneously.

 

[bigeye]

To add perspective.
I fairly regularly watch shows like abandoned engineering etc.
The format of those shows are so idiotic as to get me shouting at the TV. The underground secrets episodes were broadcasting giants in comparison.

Today I started to re watch the episodes of the 1977 BBC series ‘The secret war’ narrated by William Woollard. The contrast with the style of this compared to the latest Beeb Woke shows is staggering.

"Broadcast Giants' ? that engineering thing must be bad..

I, like many, many others have always been fascinated but underground London. I'm sure there's a dedicated thread somewhere here but I got tantalisingly close to one of the Whitehall Tunnels. The existence of which is still denied.

 

[Joshua Slocum]

"Broadcast Giants' ? that engineering thing must be bad..

I, like many, many others have always been fascinated but underground London. I'm sure there's a dedicated thread somewhere here but I got tantalisingly close to one of the Whitehall Tunnels. The existence of which is still denied.

There was a big underground tunnel system, that routed phone cables away from the risk of bombing, and had a strowger exchange and terminal fitted, I started my workinglife with GEC and recall them being mentioned by some of the older engineers back in the 70s
they would certainly have been big enough to walk through easily, if the ones I worked in under the Shell mex in the strand were anything to go by

 

[Slime]

"Broadcast Giants' ? that engineering thing must be bad..

I, like many, many others have always been fascinated but underground London. I'm sure there's a dedicated thread somewhere here but I got tantalisingly close to one of the Whitehall Tunnels. The existence of which is still denied.

The format is very annoying.
Let‘s say the subject was something like the wrecks of the WW2 Mulberry harbour.

The filming would all very obviously have been done in advance. As the shots of the wrecks was initially shown three or four ‘experts’ would talk over the footage saying:
What could this be.
What was it for.
Why it it here.
It’s a mystery etc, are there any clues to what it is.

As the shots continued the same experts would then detail exactly what the object is, and comment on what it was used for.

As the filming was done in advance, and the experts already knew what the item was it bugs the hell out of me to see them pretend they didn’t.

The subjects are often quite interesting which makes the show worth watching.

 

[Joshua Slocum]

The format is very annoying.
Let‘s say the subject was something like the wrecks of the WW2 Mulberry harbour.

The filming would all very obviously have been done in advance. As the shots of the wrecks was initially shown three or four ‘experts’ would talk over the footage saying:
What could this be.
What was it for.
Why it it here.
It’s a mystery etc, are there any clues to what it is.

As the shots continued the same experts would then detail exactly what the object is, and comment on what it was used for.

As the filming was done in advance, and the experts already knew what the item was it bugs the hell out of me to see them pretend they didn’t.

The subjects are often quite interesting which makes the show worth watching.

and then after the bloody adverts, it all gets repeated in cse you have have forgotten
an American format that I detest

 

[Slime]

There was a big underground tunnel system, that routed phone cables away from the risk of bombing, and had a strowger exchange and terminal fitted, I started my workinglife with GEC and recall them being mentioned by some of the older engineers back in the 70s
they would certainly have been big enough to walk through easily, if the ones I worked in under the Shell mex in the strand were anything to go by

One of the former hardened repeater stations used to be very close to where I lived. A bit disconcerting as it was on a WW3 Spetznaz target list, from a group that would have operated from the Forest of Dean.

Anyahoo, digression aside, the repeater station was demolished to make way for a block of flats. When the main part of the building was gone the builders came across the reserve battery under the ground, it seems they had no idea a battery was even there, and this added many weeks in the process of removing it.

 

[Teeblerone]

To add perspective.
I fairly regularly watch shows like abandoned engineering etc.
The format of those shows are so idiotic as to get me shouting at the TV. The underground secrets episodes were broadcasting giants in comparison.

Today I started to re watch the episodes of the 1977 BBC series ‘The secret war’ narrated by William Woollard. The contrast with the style of this compared to the latest Beeb Woke shows is staggering.

Too right. the jokey raised eyebrow, raised inflection fckwittery means I generally watch them muted. A shame.

 

[HE117]

The stay behind groups seem to have been the source of many of the UK EOD finds in the post war period. They were issued with large quantities of 76 WP grenades which they hid in stream beds and water tanks in Attics. The Home guard had them as well, but apparently not in such large quantities. The numbers were quite significant and they were being found almost every month in 60s building boom as they demolished old houses..

I also remember an incident in the 70s when a stash of NG based explosive was found in the roof space of a chicken coop. The NG had been dripping down on the chickens for years, but presumably had been soaked up in the bedding. The coop had to be very carefully dismantled as the timbers were saturated with NG.. I would think the farmer and his family would have ingested significant amounts of NG over the years and probably all dropped dead as soon as the source was removed...!

UK Coast watchers did exist. My Uncle and his Father were both recruited as they had a farm on the Berwickshire coast on the top of a cliff looking out to the sea. They were issued with a set of bridge binoculars and recognition books. A phone line was run out to the farmhouse so they could make reports. Latterly a Chain Home Low radar station was built on the farm to spot low level raiders coming up the Forth and they were relieved of their coast watching duties.

 

[QRK2]

UK Coast watchers did exist. My Uncle and his Father were both recruited as they had a farm on the Berwickshire coast on the top of a cliff looking out to the sea. They were issued with a set of bridge binoculars and recognition books. A phone line was run out to the farmhouse so they could make reports. Latterly a Chain Home Low radar station was built on the farm to spot low level raiders coming up the Forth and they were relieved of their coast watching duties.

One of the more obscure combinations of SBOPs and coast watchers were the Gib parties whose hides were IIRC equipped for 2-3 years occupancy.

 

[Yokel]

One of the more obscure combinations of SBOPs and coast watchers were the Gib parties whose hides were IIRC equipped for 2-3 years occupancy.

I am sure I once read the obituary of some RN doctor from World War Two who had been involved in using some sort of hide in Gibraltar to keep an eye on shipping movements in the strait.

Coast watchers played a significant role in the Far East which is why I wondered about them being used here.

 

[ExREME.TECH]

I look at it quite often.

@pc supa are you ok fella? Bit free with the dumbs

 

[pc supa]

@pc supa are you ok fella? Bit free with the dumbs

Big fingers mate.

 

[Escape-from-PPRuNe]

Bloody hell haven't heard of that place (Towyn) for years, not since I spent a few weeks of 'character building' time there, my first ever log race IIRC. How would MI5 have fitted? I'll bet they wouldn't have had to go for a XC run and sea swim every morning.

Aberystwyth University campus was also one of the planned central government hide sites under the PYTHON concept, IIRC the P-Group coming from Whitehall was meant to head to the Tywyn camp first and then move into the halls.