Original subtitles

first in a new series now and on BBC HD

peace is about to be shattered on the

wartime

Farm in September 1939 Britain stood on

the brink of the second world

war to avoid defeat one battle would

become more important than any

other the battle to produce

food 2/3 of Britain's food was

imported and now was under threat from a

Nazi

blockade to feed the nation an

agricultural revolution of Epic

Proportions was needed to at least

double homegrown food

[Music]

production Churchill called The Farms of

Britain the front line of

Freedom now historian Ruth Goodman and

archaeologists Alex langlands and Peter

again are turning the clock

back we're about to embark on the

greatest challenge ever faced by British

agriculture Peter the second world

[Music]

war over the next year they'll work Mana

Farm in Hampshire as it would have been

during the second world

war onward March

come on quick march here the team will

relive the struggle of wartime

Farmers to maximize food production the

plow really had become a weapon of War

cope with shortages wa that is a bit of

Kit experience social revolution in the

[Music]

countryside and protect and defend the

South Coast from the threat of invasion

four men evidence of explosives

this is the untold story of the

countryside at War

[Music]

you can't find it grind it as they say

in 1939 Britain's Farmers prepared for

war now Alex Ruth and Peter are on their

way to their new Farm in

Hampshire a few miles in from the south

coast near the ports of Southampton and

Portsmouth during the war this was the

front line against the

Nazis like troops Farmers too were being

mobilized so important was their job to

the nation's survival the farming would

become a reserved occupation exempt from

military

conscription 60% of our food was being

imported just so easy isn't it for the

Germans to just cut off the supply a

ring of OTS surrounding the British

Isles effectively starving us to

death suddenly all the overseas food on

which Britain so depended was in

jeopardy

[Applause]

OTS and warships threatened to destroy

convoys transporting supplies across the

Atlantic to make things worse farming in

Britain had been in recession since the

end of the first world

war and now they'd have to double

production you know this is probably one

of the greatest challenges that British

agriculture had ever faced absolutely

had to turn it round after 20 years of

neglect and a reinvestment in the

countryside

but the main thing we've got a new team

member isn't that right Henry you the

back there Henry he's going to make all

the difference isn't it I think he

almost certainly

[Music]

will there you go it's really

[Music]

pretty what a

farm beautiful isn't it

this is Mana Farm 8 miles from

Southampton which they will work on for

the coming

year handing over the keys is Farm

Manager David trenchard hello David Alex

Alex fantastic Farm you've got here

that's right yes it is I think it's you

know it's a you know you wouldn't find a

more typical famp Farm than this one you

know where's our first Port of Co going

to be on theard look at the stop great

thank

you Mana Farm was typical of the

1930s cheap cereal crops imported from

the United States and Canada meant

British Farmers could no longer compete

so instead of growing crops they

concentrated on

livestock ah the pigs these are these

are the pigs yes um we keep two breeds

on the farm at the moment we keep saddle

backs this is Middle whites good old you

know Pig for your sausages and

everything else you know in fact they

are rare breed right good girl good

girl there you

[Music]

go now here's your girls here's our

girls you can tell they're milkers yeah

yeah very good milkers we actually got a

gy jersey and an ASA there right I mean

this close to somewhere like Southampton

you know there's definitely going to be

a market for milk isn't it

[Music]

yeah this is our milking

parlor wow

hey that's a modern milking

machine the cups for the tee I mean such

a reduction in labor yes yeah we have

modernized yeah so this really is the

1939 state of the ill par this is it yes

sit on that stool every morning spending

20 minutes talking a

c before the war Mana Farm also had beef

cattle

sheep

[Music]

workshops petrol powered farm

[Music]

equipment and nearby a wartime Village

Hall

Oho look at this Dan Mania Fox Trot wow

old gramophone records the one I love a

Fox Trot right so we're definitely

between the two Wars here aren't we this

must have been ringing this place such a

popular thing to do during the war

dancing well judging by the state of

this place it was an awesome

party got this fantastic archaological

record here haven't we of of life during

the war really absolutely

at the heart of the farm is a row of

cottages here Alex Peter and Ruth will

experience wartime domestic life ah the

kitchen ah no aw look nice light it's a

local stove it's tiny how am I supposed

to manage with

that this coal cooking range dates from

well before the first world war by the

1930s they were being superseded by

cleaner and more efficient cookers look

look I'll show you what I want I've been

looking I've been look see that's what I

want oh yeah what's that gas is it

that's an electric cooker I mean there's

gas cookers and electric cookers going

in like crazy all across Britain it's

clean takes far less work and the

government is actually saying that with

war coming we're going to know we're

going to be short of coal we're going to

need that fuel for other things that

electricity is much more efficient it's

really encouraging people to move over

to electric cooking so the lady gets a

new cooker because it's all part of the

war effort is what you're trying to say

to us

I'm really looking forward to bringing

this place back to life and seeing what

it was like living in rural Britain

during the second world

war war time in many people's minds is

all about guns and airplanes and tanks

and young men in

uniform but it's also a period in which

the British Countryside and British

country people really came back into

their own tber

the farmers had to produce food and

provide accommodation for a huge section

of the population it was an enormously

important part of the war effort and I

do think that sometimes it gets

forgotten this is an opportunity to

explore an untold history here we've got

a very very different battle being

fought a battle really for food and that

untold story is one that I'm I'm I'm

just thrilled to be exploring

[Music]

[Applause]

even before war was declared the

government anticipated that a German

blockade would drastically reduce food

imports so Britain would have to feed

itself to do so farmers would have to

increase their

harvests over there we've got doc

compus the government set up War

agricultural EX committees in every

County to drive through these

changes known as Wars they had the power

to tell Farmers What fields to plow

up so Alex and Peter are surveying the

Farm's 30 acres to see how it can be

done so this is Mana Farm here y That's

the farm and we're Bound By The River

hble here yep coming around in this

horseshoe shape so all of these fields

around here okay would relate to man of

farm

but of course the majority of this land

was all being used for rearing livestock

y but using land for livestock

production was not the most efficient

way of feeding the nation it's a simple

principle really isn't it instead of

growing all of this feed to feed animals

yeah to slaughter to then feed people

why don't you actually just grow the

feed and feed the people directly and

it's a much more economic way of feeding

because you lose a lot of calorific

value from the original food by putting

it through livestock before you feed

people you know 1939 uh War breaks out

you had months to get around your farm

as we'll be doing and looking at the

fields and saying that wheat that beans

that barley and that's exactly what

we're going to have to do aren't we we

are over the 6 years of conflict the war

a instructed Farmers to grow an extra 6

and A2 million Acres of crops a total

area bigger than

[Music]

whales many farmers were ill equipped

for this Monumental challenge as they

didn't have the Machinery or suitable

land welcome to the

Badlands if I were a

Potter I could make my fortune here it

is beautiful beautiful clay but at the

moment this Clay is a hindrance the

water it sits on it if we attempted to

grow crops here they'd be ruined so we

need to find some way of draining this

this sitting water and then we'll be

able to grow a fantastic

crop it actually according to the map

dips away towards a brook in the bottom

of the field so I am worried about

sitting water

[Music]

in this field they've decided to grow

wheat used to produce

bread got a leaflet here Peter this is

what the uh Ministry have furnished me

with mole drainage for heavy land what

the war rag is recommending is the use

of a mole subsoiler essentially it's

kind of deep cultivation if you like

it's like a little torpedo that is

dragged through the soil at a depth of

what

Peter about uh just just over a foot

okay a foot to foot and a half just

refer it's it's got to be deeper than

the plowing it's going to

happen traditionally Farmers had drained

Fields with hand dug ditches and clay

pipes but using a mole subsoiler was

much quicker and cheaper and used

extensively during the

war first they need to survey the field

to find out which way it's

slopes now it might look obvious to

start with but I can see already that

we've got a dip in there there's a

danger that if we just drained all the

way down to this point okay even if we

drained through it we'd still get a

build up of water in this

area as archaeologists surveying is

second nature to Alex and

Peter yeah there perfect uh and just

work down a little bit so sort of here

yeah okay so that's what five 5' s about

56 56 there we go okay Alex should we do

another another

line knowing the lay of the land they

can work out where to use the mle sub

soiler to make underground drainage

channels from here

again doubling food production put

enormous demands on labor so women were

drafted to work on the

land this made it important to educe

housework by modernizing the kitchen

Ruth's called on expert in household

technology Dr Karen SE oh you've caught

me I'm still cleaning hello come on in

come on in sorry fine I'm absolutely

filthy lovely to see good to see you too

I found this fantastic picture in my

book here about um furniture and and you

know how to lay out the home

and that you see that's just exactly

what I had in mind we've got you know

your electric cookers you've got your

kitchenet you know it's a modern new

kitchen ready have to disappoint you a

little

bit the kitchen there is fine but

electric cooker is going to be a big

problem do you have Mains electricity no

not the mains so the fact that we're not

on the grid here was that common for

farms at the outbreak of War absolutely

that was the majority of farms were not

on the

grid in 1939 just one in 10 rural houses

had Main's electricity but there was an

[Music]

alternative a portable petrol power

generator Philip everon has brought one

along goodness you got it going yes

hopefully now we can have some lights so

that looks frankly like you're about to

restart Frankenstein well it would

probably do that as well but first of

all we should have lights oh wow

wow this is a 50 volt set it runs 50

volts and up to 1,000 Watts it's a sort

of what you'd call a cottage lighting

plant so you've run the engineering

during the day to charge a set of

batteries up and then when they were

fully charg you'd put the lights on at

night so you'd have the lights without

listening to the engine running and you

use the engine to keep the batteries

charged that's quite a sort of doable

thing we could use it to light a

workshop we could use it to light the

house absolutely yeah and where there a

lot of these about they made these

engines from 1926 up until 1964 and the

actual basic engines they made a quarter

of a million of them they were one of

the most successful small power engines

ever made in the UK they were almost

impossible to kill you could work them

and abuse them they still came back for

more so the farmers love

them before they can sew the wheat the

team need a mole subsoiler to improve

the

drainage but low incomes during the

agricultural depression meant Farmers

didn't have the money to buy

equipment so like farmers of the time

Peter must improvise by calling on the

services of a blacksmith like Simon

Summers it's this essentially bullet

shaped piece of iron okay that gets

dragged through the ground and it leaves

in its wake a channel basically like I

suppose a pipe without any yeah yeah you

want a solid bit of iron you want some

strength for it don't you for that

serious strength yeah all right cuz this

is quite an

undertaking in 1939 scrap metal was

going to the war effort for armaments

production resulting in shortages well

that that looks like the base of a a

seed drill yeah there's some good wheels

on that the blacksmith whose craft had

long been in Decline now found himself

once more in demand is an adjustable

linkage there so I could go onto the

tractor he had the skill to make do and

mend to turning rusty metal into new

machines the thing I'm most concerned

about is the actual physical lump of

metal that has to get dragged through

the ground that's iron that is that's

iron is it that's R iron that shaft is

yeah well that's pretty we could use

that yeah it's good quality Iron this

Henry we're looking for iron not

[Music]

potatoes in the Forge Simon begins the

process of transforming the scrap an

axle into a brand new mole

around

okay that's it now we're going to put it

back in fire so it don't take long to

heat up the first job is to make a

bullet-shaped nose on the mole so it can

be pulled easily through the clay soil

um this is where the Sledge comes in and

you're going to follow my pattern you

tell me where to hit and I hit it y okay

[Music]

right we just driving this into cut a

slot we got to be very careful cuz it's

so

hot Simon has to keep cooling the tool

otherwise it get stuck in there and

we'll essentially Forge the two together

[Music]

that's

[Music]

perfect once the fields have been

drained with Peter's mle subsoiler

they'll be returned to Bare Earth by

plowing but Alex has spotted another

problem you can't plow a field okay when

it's got big thick sword you know a

thick grass on the top of it it just

doesn't work you've got to have it eaten

down so it's almost like a carpet

to do this Alex is calling on the beef

cattle reared by Debbie

Underwood so you've built up a real

Rapport then with this this her this one

we've had since she was 2 weeks old

really I used to pick her up and carry

around I don't do that anymore no I can

imagine and she's like a lovely soy

Labrador this is Abigail Abigail yeah

and she

gorgeous come on him but back then this

herd would have faced an uncertain

future

you know you would have had Farmers very

much like Debbie here who uh you had

grown up with cattle all their life but

with war looming and this desire to grow

more cereals the ministry for

agriculture wasn't going to reward

farmers who kept beef

cattle come

on it will take the cattle about 3 weeks

to graze This Grass ready for

plowing this is my new kitchenette

I'm so pleased with this you going Ruth

and Karen are Furnishing the kitchen

with labor saving devices it's a lovely

enamel surface easy to wipe down all for

your pastry preparation absolutely

perfect all your food storage all

cleanly tided weight is great isn't

it with the generator finally connected

up Ruth has electric light in the

cottage fantastic

[Music]

hopefully she'll have better Lu with the

radio

[Music]

whoops course this is how you're going

to get all the news of current affairs

and what's happening um particular as

you go further into the wall um the

newspapers themselves have to be cut

down incredibly sometimes they're only

sort of four sides at a time right so

the best way of of finding out exactly

what's going on so this really is your

connection with the wi it's your

connection with the wider World

absolutely electricity also meant new

labor saving

gadgets now we're okay perfect Appliance

to make your life so much easier

traditionally an iron was a piece of

flat metal heated on a coal range now

they were replaced by ones you could

simply plug in so it's a baret all like

a bulb it's a b exactly like a bulb

that's

it w wow now how much faster is that

that's not only fast but that's so clean

it's so clean you don't have to worry

about smuts getting on your laundry

small generators weren't capable of

powering large appliances though like

electric

cookers but there was a modern

convenient replacement for the coal

range stove they're supposed to just

stand free stand no Plumbing in there's

no fixing to anything it's just a little

Standalone box well again this is the

way forward this is

modernity so it's just a series of flat

paraffin lamps y it's is nothing new is

it no it's exactly like oil lamps people

would have been very used to using this

and that helps with the idea of the

adoption of the technology as well and

you can see that in the styling it's all

sort of like painted black to look like

a range and yet it's made of really thin

sheet

absolutely and that's to make people

feel very comfortable I really looking

forward to cooking on this I bet you are

it's going to be so different it's going

to be so much easier

presumably no smoke and you're not

having to shovel coal or anthos or

anything much less labor

[Music]

intensive okay you get Sledge Peter yeah

to drain the buggy land for cereal

production Peter and blacksmith Simon

Summers are making a mole

subsoiler like it down

yeah right got you so far they've made

the head of the mole next they must make

a strong bracket to hold it in place

below the ground now we need to cut make

another cut up here right okay move it

long probably about there okay but the

best they can find is a rusty Victorian

cartwheel

[Music]

Rim it's really good iron it's such a

waste if we don't reuse it once we get

up to a certain temperature the rust

just comes off so it just be like bright

new iron

again the bracket's finished now to

attach it to the mole

itself right here comes the hot rivet in

it goes so

through it catches mushroom okay Flip

[Music]

Flip you can see why blacksmith went

death and there we have it entirely made

from scrap iron that we found in the

Hedge R old machineries that we've

turned into a new machine

fantastic Peter is building a chassis to

carry his mole subsoiler

so hopefully this is going to Aid

keeping the mole in the ground and dear

Lord there we

go slide that in like that this project

is a a mix of quite intense stress

because obviously it's got to be done

it's got to be done to a certain time

limit but also one of immense Joy

because it's just so much fun to have a

work shop to have a forge to be able to

Tinker around all good all good stuff

all PE will need a machine to pull the

mole subsoiler through the

ground but in 1939 there were 20 horses

to every tractor on Britain's

Farms if farmers were to double food

production to meet the demands of war

they'd have to replace horsepower with

mechanical Power unlike horses tractors

don't need to

rest Pete Diggs who has farmed in this

area his whole life is giving Alex and

Ruth a lesson in driving the most

popular wartime tractor the

Fordson hello Peter so this is her is it

she going to do all the work for us well

we hope

so you got a nice sprung seat here

there's no cushions but uh I can

remember putting straw into a cute sack

right yeah and toying that on yeah it

was much more comfortable on the bum I

bet it was but it's no easy job starting

it

make sure you've got plenty of oil there

okay during the war tractor numbers on

British Farms would more than triple

from 55,000 to over

[Music]

175,000 but the forson was notoriously

difficult to start as Ruth's about to

discover and then wind with the starting

handle should we make Ruth prank this do

you think oh you'll have muscles now

I've got muscles

Shapers doubling Crop Production would

need a huge increase in labor so women

were called upon to drive the

tractors much easier to take a horse out

of a stable yeah probably quicker at my

rate and

all o you hear

that oh nearly

really how you do

J

no kind have war time attitude we need

Ruth conratulations

R boil it

all are going to stand well back on you

yes

absolutely woo

[Music]

Let's uh let a get on with it

Peter Pete was just seven when war broke

out and he witnessed the transition from

horse power to mechanical

Power that was Captain and that was Dick

and as you see I started very very young

I love this look that's you there on top

of that's a big Dr isn't it that's it

and I take it these aren't your boots

here no that is my father's and I necked

on one day and was off end of the farm

but you wanted to be a farmer from a

very young age that's it come on darling

come on come on come on come on come on

come

on I sto her the gear changes was that

were you attempting second I was trying

second you attempting second gear

[Music]

yeah I better go over

[Music]

say in the workshop Peter's mole

subsoiler is taking shape but there

aren't enough hours of daylight to get

it finished in time using the generator

to light F the workshop should help this

is going

to make such a

difference because it's going to enable

me to work throughout the

evening if they don't get the fields

drained and plowed in the next few days

they won't get the wheat crops sewn in

time finally there we

go oh dear

on the 3rd of September

1939 at qu 11 in the morning prime

minister Neville Chamberlain made the

announcement the nation had been bracing

itself

for this morning the British Ambassador

in Berlin handed the German government a

final note stating that unless we heard

from them by 11 o00 that they were

prepared at once to withdraw their

troops from Poland the state of War

would exist between

us I have to tell you now that no such

undertaking has been

receed and that consequently this

country is at war with Germany

[Applause]

[Music]

somebody was my age in

1939 I'd have been in my mid-20s in the

first war the sort of age you know

you're losing husbands you're losing

Brothers you have such a strong

experience of it and then you know here

it is all again so you're sat here

you're listening to Chamberlain say you

know I regret to tell you we're now at

War again against the same people you

could lose your husband in the first war

and your son in the second I mean even

so You' we sat here looking out the

window yeah scarcely able to believe it

beautiful summer's day like

this Britain was now expecting to be

bombed by the Nazis at any

time air raid precaution wardens were

tasked with protecting the

population Steve Taylor is an expert in

Wartime civil defense

one one for you two one for you the

government assumed that the Nazis would

use poison gas on the population so a

gas mask was issued to every man woman

and child in the country how do we know

there's going to be a gas attack are we

just looking out ourselves for for

bombers you will hear either an air raid

sing or a rattle I've got the gas rattle

here I can show

you so once you hear that it's gas mask

on immediately but as soon as it's are

all clear there'll be an all clear siren

or my trusty ARP

whistle we'll tell you it's all clear

right okay it was also feared Britain

would suffer night bombing a total

blackout on the ground would make

locating the target much more difficult

for the

enemy Steve's demonstrating how doors

were blacked out using a light break

okay so uh it's sort of late at night um

but there's some sort of kafuffle in the

farm yard sound of a fox at the chickens

I go in here in here make sure I've

closed the curtain make sure you got the

curtain closed and then open the door

and door open now can you see any light

coming in around the edges only through

the Moses there we

[Music]

go to black out the windows Alex and

Peter are making removable

[Music]

frames Wonder spoke blackout

FR not a single himick proper job mate

right fantastic fantastic that is a

great job now all we need to do is to

get that blackout cutting up isn't it

all you need to do is get that blackout

cut up right others have mle plows of

course you need to get that done don't

you with war the threat of German ubot

cutting off Imports became a

reality it wasn't just staple foods like

wheat that were under threat imported

fruits containing vitamin C were

essential to the health of the nation

particularly

children as a boy Ruth's father Jeff

Steely was sent into the countryside to

forage for

Alternatives I remember you're telling

me all about doing this picking rose

hips yes how much did they pay you t a

pound T pound t a pound which was quite

good for pocket money days it really was

and if you did it on the wet days of

course they they weighed

more which was quite good that was your

compensation for being out in bad

weather um and with all the men away it

was left to the women and largely the

boys to go around the hedges find Apples

pick these berries and so why rose hips

so much because there's not much food

value in them is no but there there's

vitamin C so all the sources of vitamin

C we've got used to all the oranges and

lemons no longer coming in and limes all

that sort of Mediterranean type stuff

couldn't get through so we're scratching

about trying to find native British

equivalent Ruth's preserving the rose

hips in syrup so it can be taken

throughout the winter the long slow

gentle

cooking has suited them quite

well so now I just need to strain all

that liquid

off look at the color

so what I'm getting out of here really

is the well it's the vitamin C is what

we're after and that fleshy bit around

the seed it's just like making Jam or

jelly

really and once this is all drained

out I'll just have to make it into a

syrup with

sugar the Sugar's there to preserve the

fruit then when I bottle it it'll keep

just like dancing Alex finally Peter's

mole subsoiler is

finished and the team can drain the

field in preparation for sewing the

wheat finally all those hours out the

shed

y it's quite a Contraption isn't it I

have got a plan that pet and I we

surveyed the field we put in all the

levels but I think the first thing to do

is to just concentrate we're up here on

just getting in these main drains yeah

before Peter's Contraption can prove

itself there's The Perennial problem of

getting the tractor to start damn the

forson damn it

[Music]

come

back it's not going according to plan

ideally the mole should be cutting a

Channel about a foot beneath the

surface try try try standing on this

there yeah this is

bizarre why don't we take a hole and put

the mole in and then we start with

already in the ground rather than trying

to to go

down when war broke out there were

almost 4 million acres of land like this

that needed

[Music]

draining okay let's let's

go the problem is it's just pulled it

the path of least resistance which is up

out of the

ground it's clear the chassis built by

Peter is too light to keep the mole in

the

ground in a corner of the farmyard Alex

has found a much heavier chassis to fit

Peter's mole subsoiler to Sun's nearly

down that's it lovely that's wonderful

but things are about to go from bad to

worse the improvised bracket holding the

mole has bent because it isn't strong

enough oh that's that then isn't it time

is running out to get the crops own so

they'll have to abandon draining the

field as Peter has discovered

improvising farm machinery is no easy

task but for the wartime farmer this

could have been disastrous and incurred

the Wrath of the war a if our Fields

flood you know the war a would look at

us and they would say we need to move

them on so we just better hope against

hopes that we have an extreme dry

summer a farmer's duties to the nation

didn't end with attempting to double

Crop

Production their knowledge of the

landscape made them invaluable recruits

to one of the war's most secret

organizations the auxiliary units your

names have been put forward as uh men

who would um like to do something more

for the war effort is is this uh

something absolutely absolutely I mean

everything we can the auxiliary unit was

a resistance force in waiting a last

line of defense against Nazi

invasion Steve Mason is an expert on the

auxiliary units stationed here on the

south coast do you think you could kill

another man in Cold

Blood tough this is the sort of

questions were that were being put to

people at the time farmers absolutely

absolutely but it really comes down to

your personal metal so this is something

Beyond The Home Guard this is actually a

sort of Secret Service isn't it

absolutely just like the cells are

setting up in Europe at the same time a

resistance movement obviously You' heard

of Home Guard but why don't we hear of

these guys because the people who joined

this particular resistance movement had

to sign the official secret act so I

suppose if during the war if we were

held back in a reserved occupation we

were of a certain age then we'd be seen

as kind of people who both knew the land

farmers and also quite

able-bodied absolutely so these are

photographs of the men who actually were

the auxiliar for this locality y um you

were never to discuss this thing ever

I've spoken to to one surviving oilla

who was 18 at the time so he's young

enough still now to to talk about it he

only wants to discuss the people in that

photograph who are dead

with the Nazis poised to invade the

auxiliary Unit were ready to go to

ground and form a gorilla Network to

destroy the enemy's

infrastructure their instruction manuals

were cunningly disguised it's got a

cover so if a German invading just

picked it up they would hopefully think

that it was an out day calendar and not

look

inside and this tells you how to handle

explosives and again more tricks of the

train how to blow up a petrol

tank um how to blow up railway lines oh

do you think putting yourselves back

there would you really actually have

signed up for this what do you think I

it's I think I think so if you're a

reserved occupation like a farmer for

example is there going to be a sense

that you want to be out there on the on

the front line although you're you're

farming there's a sense that you're

going to want a bit of action itching to

get involved yeah and I I wonder whether

that might have played a part in in PE

some some people signing up a number of

them do say that they they actually just

wanted to get their their hands on on

some action as corny as it

[Music]

sounds unbeknown to the boys like many

farmers wives Ruth too has been

conscripted into Secret

[Music]

Service gardening has taken on a whole

new significant for me particularly this

potting shed

because whilst the boys think I'm

working in the garden and they're well

out of the way in the fields what I'm

really doing in

here is

this Ruth's been recruited into the

special duties section their mission to

handle Communications between the

auxiliary units in the field and HQ this

is my aerial

about 3 and a/2 thousand people were

involved Vicor bids Farmers Farmers

wives and Housewives and yet almost

nobody knows about it they really just

kept that quiet there are instances in

which uh a wife was doing this with the

radio whilst the husband was out doing

um other auxiliary work and neither of

them told each other until they were in

the 80s or 90s years and years and years

later in some ways I say it's comical

but it's also really serious people were

expecting to be invaded they were

expecting that this sort of work put

their lives in serious danger if you'd

been caught with a radio when the

Germans came you were looking not just

at execution but probably at torture

[Music]

too informant confirms successful Patrol

maneuver four men evidence of explosives

Northwest of arbow wood approximate

time5 location hble

G despite their important top secret

military duties the priority for Farmers

was doubling Crop Production to feed the

[Music]

nation although the team were unable to

mold drain the boggy field the task now

is to plow as quickly as possible in

preparation for sewing the

[Music]

wheat with the days drawing shorter the

war agricultural committee encouraged

Farmers to plow on into the

[Music]

night got a we got a plan for you the

night and this was of course something

that was expected uh during the war um

not something I think people did

willingly really but um unfortunately

we've just we've just got to do this

because we're so behind plowing at night

creates unique problems right so this is

our Mann and it's just in the Hedge and

it's going to give something for Ruth to

fix on on the horizon so she can drive

theoretically in a straight

line I'm a bit worried though about

using these lights with the blackout I

reckon that the lamps in the Hedge

probably could be hidden from the air

anyway yeah and this one's already got

hood on it yeah and this lamp will be

moving so I just aim at the light in the

Hedge yep that's the idea

[Music]

when you think about plowing you

invariably think about the horsemen out

there with his horses gently playing

away in the quiet perhaps on a nice

sunny spring morning but during the

second world war plowing was a very very

different monster and the plow really

had become a weapon of War it was the

farmers's principle weapon of

War now I'm not entirely sure we're

getting this right but we're putting our

wall into it and and Ruth's doing a

fantastic job hopefully by the end of

the month we'll have the field done

[Music]

next morning Ruth is called into action

by the special duties

section her mission to pass a message on

to the auxiliary

unit Hampshire with its strategic ports

of Southampton and Portsmouth was a key

Target for

Invasion so more auxiliary units were

stationed here than any County in

Britain military expert Gerald Su Cliffe

is is leading Alex and Peter's Patrol

what we're going to now is an allb an

operational base so we've got basically

a little bunker where we've already got

some equipment Munitions and rations in

let's go and have a look at it now shall

[Music]

we it's all over the country around the

coast in particular groups like us we're

going to be in a nasty surprise to her

Hitler unlike the other countries which

have had the unfortunate experience of

his Jack Boots going over them we are

ready we're going to come up behind him

and going to blow up his petrol DS we're

going to blow up his ammunition jumps

we're going to sabotage his tanks we're

going to shoot his officers anybody that

helps

him the aim was to transform ordinary

Farmers with no military experience into

Guerilla sabur

Alex has picked up the message dropped

by the special duties section with

details of a training exercise we've

been left a note advising us that a

German

Patrol uh 10 men is expected at the

moment my thoughts are um will Ambush

their patrol we've got another this is a

typical exercise passed on by the

mysterious agent

R agent R I wonder who that that could

be that's the point you will never know

and neither will I never know the

members of the intelligent section they

don't know you they just leave little

messages for us and we pick them up and

we never see them or they

[Music]

are training by night then working in

the fields by day meant a wartime farmer

could find himself working 17-hour days

I want two members of the team to go up

on the ridge line while I go down and I

ra rig a couple of surprises yeah right

and one of you can cover me while that's

going

on why do I have to go in front all the

time

Peter Alex and Peter keep watch from the

ridg

line following instructions set out in

the auxiliary unit manual Gerald sets a

booby trap I'm going to rig up is a

grenade with a pin removed but

sufficient pressure on top of it so when

somebody kicks it it's going to release

the

lever and go

bang

okay and rejoin the others this being an

exercise there are no Germans and

Jerry's grenade is simply a Thunder

flash back back back

stop well good for a first attempt you

think so I think so they would have used

all sorts of methods to simulate combat

okay I did it that way because you

weren't expecting it to add that bit of

tension and realism yeah so you were

both conditioning us and testing us at

the same time yes

Alex Ruth and Peter have now been

wartime Farmers for 2

months for Ruth the work in the fields

has left little time for domestic

duties so she's taken another step

towards modernizing the kitchen by

fitting

Lino

fantastic you often hear you know about

labor saving things in the kitchen and

you sort of imagine it's all about

gadgets nah it's about things like this

the things that make the big

difference instead of

spending you know 45 minutes twice a day

on the floor like you might have to with

a stone flag

floor I can run over with a mop and

bucket in 10 minutes

the paraffin stove is also helping to

save time unlike an old-fashioned coal

range it's up and running in seconds

Ruth's using it to cook a quick meal

from her 1930s cookbook fried bacon with

bananas it's such an odd recipe to find

in a late 30s book it took me so by

surprise this Bacon's going to become a

thing of

scarcity by 1939 we were already

bringing in quite a significant

proportion of our bacon from

Denmark and then the bananas go in the

butter bananas would soon Disappear

Completely from the shops as the

government requisitioned banana boats to

import materials essential to the war

effort from the declaration of war in

September 1939 until May

1940 no bombers appeared overhead and

the gas attacks didn't materialize

it became known as the phony

War but by June 1940 after the British

had been driven into the sea at Dunkirk

the mood was

darkening France fell to the Nazis and

as the new prime minister Winston

Churchill warned Britain was next in

line S growing strength in the

air we shall defend our Island whatever

the C may be we shall fight on the

beaches we shall fight on the landing

grounds we shall fight in the fields and

in the streets we shall fight in the

Hills we shall Never

Surrender I think it's interesting isn't

it you know those that speech is so

iconic it must have been terrifying for

people as well to think that you know

there could possibly have been fighting

on the beaches and in the fields and

somewhere like Hampshire where we are a

gather would be sort of on the front

line well it's the whole problem isn't

it of looking back at the war we know

that we

won people at the time did not know that

so I suppose the farmers at the time

they' have really been hopefully I

suppose boyed up to get a success in

that

Harvest it would have loaded a lot of

pressure on their shoulders you know it

would have really I think hammered home

just how important it would have been to

have brought that crop in and to have

brought a brilliant crop in as well and

that's all about the connectedness too

isn't it you know everybody's hearing

that all together you feel like you've

absolutely got to do it right to do

justice to the effort that was put in

you know from 39 feel I really feel a

big responsibility to those people who

went through this and who are still

alive you know it's sort of not

something to be taken likely is it no

we're messing with people's memories as

well as with Britain's history well

indeed

indeed hello you know be don't worry oh

hello Steve good evening pet

hello us take good to see you you're in

luck have a cake good grief have a a

clear I'm on my rounds I have to say

what a marous job you've done with all

your windows there absolutely pet I told

you there

but you're going to be in for a fine cuz

you're showing the light under your door

really really you haven't put the

curtain up so what is What is the

consequences County Court will summon

you anything from 3 shs to 7 and six I

would think of course the other thing to

mention is the excessive lights that

you're burning for a small room you've

got three lights so that would incur

another fine oh good gra Lord was just

enjoying having

electricity it's it's that classic thing

when you're not physically doing the

thing like filling your oil lamp if

you've just got you don't think about

the power source and how much you're

using well I think we should enjoy these

desserts while we can because I think

from now on in things are only going to

get tougher aren't they much like this

guy put that light out I'll put this one

out and the radio let's get this curtain

up

[Music]

then keep it running roof

[Music]

[Applause]

the team's back on track with the task

of increasing the Farm's food

production the wheat field is

plowed next it's harrowed to break up

the

[Music]

Earth then sewed with the wheat

seed if all goes well in 9 months time

they should have a good crop to

harvest we have cracked on haven't we we

really have cracked on million Acres was

it they plowed up extra in 39 by the

spring of 1940 1.7 million Acres extra

extra on top of what they were already

doing on top of what they already doing

and a lot of farmers said it couldn't be

done you know they shook their heads and

said no you can't do that you can't do

that but and then they turned around and

did

it wartime Farmers didn't know it yet

but this was just a

start they still had 5 years of war to

endure and conditions were only going to

get tougher as they struggled to feed

the

[Music]

nation next on wartime Farm the team

faced the conditions of

1940 and the

blitz they confront rationing that's

particularly hard to make last the we

make use of every last resource

and there's Temptation round every

corner you're well on your way to

becoming a black

marketeer to find out how Britain fed

itself during the second world war and

how rationing affected the wartime diet

order the open University's free wartime

Farm booklet call 0845

36257 or go to

bbc.co.uk timef farm and follow the

links to the open University

[Music]

and we're back on the wartime Farm next

Thursday at 8 next tonight on BBC 2 does

a lack of ambition meane women are

missing out on the top jobs Hillary D

questions her own views in a new series

[Music]