FOTers
I've been asked many questions on WW2 since the first one on car/war
production. I've put some of the answers together in this anecdote which, I
hope, will answer most of them.
DUNKIRK was a disaster for us in military terms because having got
ourselves surrounded we were up ***t creek on Dunkirk beech. The hun had
blasted into France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland almost without warning
from 10th May 1940. The British army high command thought the enemy would
break out and drive east through Belgium and Holland. Instead they drove
east through the Ardennes Forest region of France and Luxembourg and then
swung North to the French coast. They had over a million well equipped
troops and we had to fight a rear guard action in the knowledge that we
were being driven to the French coast centering on Dunkirk.
Our entire Army ended up surrounded on the beach at Dunkirk. A naval
barrage of 15 inch British naval guns and fighter attacks blasted at the
oncoming German army to give us time to get our men off who were being
strafed and bombed on the beaches. Every ship we could muster sailed to the
Dunkirk beaches to collect our men. As well as large naval vessels and
hospital ships etc. these included some 700 small river craft manned by
ordinary British people, who volunteered to sail the 20 miles or so to help
get our soldiers back. Many lost their lives being strafed or bombed.
Excluding 'little ships' we lost 243 ships including 6 destroyers, 5
minesweepers and 188 lesser Naval vessels. BUT between 27th of May and 4th
June 1940 we rescued 350.000 soldiers loosing 68.000 killed, wounded or
taken prisoner.
The Mosquito fighter bomber air frame and wings were made of wood. This was
for lightness, plus the fact that the De Havilland company were used to
making wooden airframes. Ted Grinham the Engineering Director of The
Standard Motor Company was seconded to De Havilland at Hatfield, North
London to set up a 'production line' for the Mosquito. Plane manufacturers
knew very little of mass production - plane making being what it was (and
is). It is to the great credit of the Standard Motor company and Ted
Grinham that the government decided on his appointment. Needless to say
many De Havilland Directors (and government departments) ordered Vanguard
cars after the war.
Many people were 'seconded' to war work depending on the British
government's opinion on where best their skills could be used. These were
broadly described as 'reserved occupations' ie we needed arms and food to
support both our fighting forces and the nation as a whole.
Paul
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