Original subtitles

now here on BBC two and the BBC HD

channel d-day approaches and the wartime

farm is about to get very crowded the

great British countryside setting for

one of the most pivotal battles of the

Second World War

Churchill called it the frontline of

freedom

it was a battle fought by the farmers of

brick

when war broke out two-thirds of all

Britain's food was imported now it fell

under threat from a Nazi blockade

government turned to farmers to double

homegrown food production the plow had

become a weapon of war it was the

farmers principal weapon of war if they

failed Britain could be starved into

surrender

now archeologists Alex Langlands and

Peter Ginn and historian Ruth Goodman a

running man a farm in Hampshire as it

would have been during the Second World

War

by 1944 the tide of war was about to

turn in favor of the Allies on d-day

farmers would be crucial to its success

growing thousands of acres of flax to

make parachutes ropes tents and aircraft

critical to the d-day landings

accommodating prisoners of war to bring

in the harvest and pressing their racing

pigeons into service to work as top

secret military messages who would have

thought the pigeon would have plays such

a crucial role at d-day

this is the untold story of the

countryside at war

by 1944 Britain had been at war for five

long years the Allies now had the upper

hand controlling the skies of Europe and

shipping in the Atlantic

so imports from the United States but

again flow into Britain but instead of

shipping food they were charged with

importing military hardware so for the

farmers of Britain their drive to double

homegrown crop production went on

meanwhile the Allies were assembling the

largest naval task force in history the

aim to land a hundred and sixty thousand

troops on the beaches of Normandy to

liberate France from the Nazis

this was the prelude to a full-scale

invasion three and a half million troops

seven thousand boats and fifty-four

thousand vehicles lay in wait the

southern counties of England Wales Peter

a Yanks they are Yanks they're American

the military took over 11 million acres

of land

1/5 of Britain four camps bases

munitions dumps and training grounds

much of this was valuable farmland

farmers like ourselves would be watching

you know convoys like this and thinking

look guys be careful with you know this

is this we've got hay there we've got

wheat here about a drive into the flax

field

oh man the land must be requisitioned

from farmers to actually house them the

thing is they've got to do that

maneuvers so they've got to do this

somewhere yeah oh yeah yeah and they're

all in single file so any damage to the

crop is going to be absolutely minimum

but damage nonetheless is is a bugbear

for people like us who spend the whole

war doing everything they can to grow

these crops

key to the success of d-day was flags

from which fibers used to make linen and

canvas were extracted before the war

this had been imported from countries

like Russia and Eastern Europe but with

supplies cut off it fell to the wartime

farmer to meet demand

parachute webbing fighter aircraft

fuselages tents ropes and hoses required

vast quantities so the government

instructed farmers to boost production

it was so important to the military that

over the course of the war production

was increased from 1,000 to 60,000 acres

four months ago the team planted a crop

of flax on manna farm it should soon be

ready to harvest but it's not looking

good so we want we want the plants be

all about a meter high I think at least

waist height the problem is is just you

know we have had this year and of course

it didn't happen in the war in the war

actually we were gifted with actually

really quite good summers proving that

God is on our side

but unfortunately God isn't on our side

in the present because we have had more

rain in this last month since then since

records began yeah six inches in a month

and it's not a case that you know the

flats is doing bad and everything else

is doing well because not even the weeds

are coping with the water logging here

well it is heavy clay soils and this is

the worst soil for flax yes and I

suppose the war rag at the time we're

forcing farmers to go against their

intuition and grow crops on land that

they knew was suitable for that crop and

everything's conspired against us

to stand any chance of survival the flax

needs a spell of dry warm weather

another threat to the flax crop are wood

pigeons who eat the seeds before they've

even had a chance to grow the team hopes

their bird scarer will keep them at bay

but there was another type of pigeon the

carrier pigeon often raised by wartime

farmers as a hobby they possessed the

unique skill of always returning to

their home loft when released before

d-day radio blackouts were imposed to

keep invasion plans secret so carrier

pigeons were used to carry messages from

the front line

historian dr. Chris Williams is showing

Ruth how the system worked

I bought you two pigeon containers every

bomber that goes over Germany ready

coastal command aircraft they've got two

pigeons in it to give a distress signal

particularly if it has the land in the

sea they've not got the radio they're in

the dinghy and let the pigeon off the

pigeon flies back to its own home loft

and that can be what the difference in

life and death for a bomber crew when

the radio doesn't work you use an animal

instead

the military had no time to train up

enough birds so civilian racing pigeons

were often used many were parachuted

behind enemy lines in France picked up

by the resistance and then given

messages with intelligence to Korea back

home the box will be dropped on this

parachute good quite a small parachute

but pigeons land well and they're quite

light over enemy-held territory this was

done about 16,000 times between 1941 and

1944 that's that's quite amazing isn't

it in a war that has radar radio so

modern communications to all intents and

purposes they're still using carrier

pitch is one of the interesting things

about this war is the different sorts of

technology you know you've got the

Allies of invented the atom bomb and

they're using hundreds of thousands of

pigeons as well I heard and I'm not

frankly quite sure where that this medal

that's given to animals for bravery has

been won more times by pigeons than any

other traicee during the Second World

War

pigeons got about thirty of them horses

about three dogs about eighteen but

pigeons were way ahead with this we

actually got one here this is the dickin

medal which was awarded to a bird called

mercury of the army pigeon service

special section mercury was a spy pigeon

now if your pigeons work well for the

raf in the routine way or tickly thing a

home across sea well they might get

picked up for special service mercury

carried a vital message four hundred and

eighteen miles from the danish

resistance to britain making her the

most celebrated of all wartime carrier

pigeons but although this homing

instinct came naturally carrier pigeons

had to build up their stamina to fly

such long distances and farmers would

have trained their own

we've also got here is a diary of a

pigeon trainer and what he's got is

records of how he's sending his birds

away yeah Saturday twelve of December

two more young birds all flying well

except blue [ __ ] with bad foot

you know he's recording every day how

his loft is working how he's managing to

train them to know where they are and

come back to his loft if you're going to

be training pigeons you'll need a basket

to make sure you can take them out and

start releasing them to train them and

so this is your basket you'll be needing

to have sooner or later I could be a bit

of a task for you I think well that

looks a bit more challenging doesn't it

this summer is turning out to be one of

the rainiest on record so alex is making

preparations for what looks like being a

damp flax harvest this is my old

raincoat seen better days to be honest

it's developing a few holes here and

there but one of the major problems is

that it's just no longer waterproof and

what's happening is the rain once it

gets in gets across the shoulders and

you get all crampy and rheumatic so it

is in desperate need of a waterproofing

he's making a traditional waterproofing

solution with ingredients found on the

farm and this is our beeswax from Jun we

extracted the honey from this and the

wax has been kept in this little muslin

sheet so that's going to be the first

ingredient still a bit sticky we'll get

that in there

next alex is having linseed oil produced

from flax seed it's highly flammable so

it's taking great care when warming it

it's got perfect waterproofing

properties this stuff so that's going to

go in with the wax this is the most

dangerous part of the enterprise this is

where we add the paraffin the thing with

the paraffin is it just really thins the

mixture and ideally what I'll do is hang

this up to dry and the paraffin will

actually sort of evaporate off now it

will leave a bit of a smell for a while

but I'm not too bothered about that

right we've got the perfect consistency

now so we're all ready to go the only

problem is is incredibly hard trying to

paint onto one of these jackets just on

a table give it an idea Peter oh you're

right yeah can um just give me a hand a

second

sure oh yeah fear that later and I just

could just turn around second you'll see

just run the business I'm just gonna try

this on for size pizza let's try this so

if you don't mind I'm now going to paint

on some boiling hot wax and oil how does

that sound

it feels okay I can't feel the

temperature but I can just feel your

gentle brushstrokes massaging my

shoulders

duh perfect while they wait for a break

in the weather routes making a pigeon

basket 200,000 carrier pigeons were used

by the military so the demand for

baskets was huge like many traditional

crafts basket making saw a massive

resurgence in the war

it's amazing the variety of baskets that

were being made during the war and so

many of them with with a military

purpose I mean there were the

agricultural baskets the potato

harvesting baskets there were the

domestic baskets are carrying people

shopping people still needed that stuff

but then there was a huge range of

hampers for parachutes and baskets for

pigeons so there seems to have been a an

enormous demand and a growing demand for

pigeon baskets general with all these

carrier pigeons being needed to take the

secret messages here and there I mean

how do you move the pigeons you got to

move them somehow

Roots made the base of the basket now

she needs to form the sides oh god is it

work gets odd oh right

somehow these are all going to go up

right it's amazing - oh the strength

comes to it I mean these are really

flimsy looking little bits of stuff

aren't there yet the whole of that is

made of just intertwining and this is

rigid as heck I'm really enjoying this I

really am it's probably a sort of basket

that would make a professional willow

worker wince

so many of these crafts yes it takes a

lifetime to be really good at them but

making some sort of rough stab you know

it's just a matter of having a girl the

revival in basket making mint new

apprenticeships were established the

crafts became a reserved occupation

meaning basket makers were exempt from

military service even the Women's

Institute got in on the act

running classes in the art of basketry

it actually looks like a basket doesn't

it I know it's a bit wobbly I know I

know it's not exactly the most

geometrical of baskets but

Alex and Peter are monitoring the flags

but the constant rain is destroying it

by washing nitrogen which is essential

for plant growth out of the soil

the war agricultural executive committee

known as the war AG issued advice on

using chemical fertilizers

this is ammonia nitrate it's a it's a

chemical fertilizer okay

I mean obviously these are chemicals

that occur naturally but certainly by

the second world war

they're being used in their chemical

form to fertilize crops right that one's

loaded yep you're gonna be a lot of

pushing this one in Peter yeah I think

so using a tractor in this waterlogged

field would ruin the crop so the boys

are using a hand-operated seed barrow

rotating brushes scatter the fertilizer

through adjustable holes in the sides

you're like walking on a high wire

it's that heavy it's not light well it's

all right

thing is chemical fertilizers weren't

new in the Second World War

they'd already actually been around long

enough to generate a sort of reactionary

group people who believe firmly in

organic fertilizers and that using

organic products was good for the health

of the land but of course in a wartime

situation you couldn't afford to take

those views and in fact in taking those

views you actually seen as being

unpatriotic although chemical

fertilizers had been around since

Victorian times during the war pressure

from the war AG saw their use triple

someone like me who doesn't really want

to use this kind of stuff would be in a

situation with a war axe saying to them

you know you've got to get out there

you've got to use this kind of stuff

you've got to use chemicals so anyway

we're going to win this war to produce

food

they still need a spell of dry warm

weather to encourage growth and to dry

out the field

but instead their bad luck continues and

now the rains are coming wonderful this

could prove catastrophic for the flax

Ruth has spent the last week learning

the art of basketry the carrier pigeon

basket is finished ready for Peter and

Alex to begin training does actually

look like a basket doesn't it

what is this is just with willow it's

really say what you reckon I think

that's perfect to you well it's not

exactly perfect I'll be honest I went

for a first attempt yeah

I'm so pleased with it they know they're

gonna take it away and fill it full of

pigeons then is that the plan yeah we're

gonna take it away and fill it full of

good pigeons carrier pigeon chickie yeah

and then we're hopefully gonna release

them and you should get the messages

coming back you break my basket you die

Alex and Peter don't have birds of their

own so they're calling on pigeon fancier

Leonard painter and pats on Leonard's

rais'd carrier pigeons all his life

birds like his would have been drafted

into military service during the war

the mind your head mind your head right

mind your head

started off small in 1946 like it's

gradually grown bigger asset rather than

get rid of pigeons you had a bit on most

of these older ones are flown from

Poland safe to France which is 540 miles

see that old fella there he's 19 he's 19

year old baby through from Sasa France

six times

that's over 500 miles really could you

pick us out a good-looking bird the type

of bird we'd need today if you got

something in here you can show us good

luck they will call of course my mom

used to tell me the boys are going to

Train Leonard's young pigeons to home by

taking them away from their loft and

releasing them at first a short distance

and then increasing it over time to

transport the birds they're using roots

new basket that's a disgrace Lucas here

first it was a first attempt very good

idea making bold and admirable OOP

that's female that's applied right she'd

not like being handle right he has a

putting lead and quicker than there

being one up there is er yeah corn any

of these you take them 30 miles he's

back in 30 minutes

Leonard was just a boy when troops were

gathering here for d-day but he

remembers local homing pigeons being

recruited to carry secret messages back

from France so we're all pigeon keepers

during the war responsible for producing

birds for the war effort if you didn't

join you didn't get food that's all so

you everybody in the club joined right

because otherwise you didn't get an

America allocation of feet and those

feed for the birds birds oh yeah not not

your way particularly around the period

of d-day I mean this was such a crucial

operation that everyone had to observe

this sort of radio silence so that's

essentially where these pigeons would

have come into their own

right yeah oh yeah yeah we should wait

and see if we could see him come back

and only once I see a pigeon got back in

1944 with two messages it came from

somewhere in France and the pigeons

would fly back here would then be your

job to get that message take it to their

local priests station which was as soon

as possible there was the end of

briefing once a week my handle so

carrier pigeons were crucial to the war

effort and the government issued strict

instructions for farmers not to shoot

them

wood-pigeons however destroyed crops so

the Royal observer Corps tracked flocks

down to be shot with meat ration it was

a welcome addition to the menu as pests

of course anyone could take pigeon just

like the could rabbit and therefore if

you're in the countryside it was an

extra source of meat war time you

suddenly find that many people who had

been sort of rather sniffy about one

before or suddenly only too keen to eat

rabbit and pigeon and many people from

the towns who'd never ever had them

before in any way shape or form

discovered the delights you can see what

a small bird they are many people hardly

bother with the rest of the bird they

just used the breasts the two pieces

here and sort of barely bothered with

the rest but it makes such a good rich

brothy stock I'm going to make the most

of that I'm going to used every last

little bit of him so these are being

boiled in broth stock whatever you want

to call it with no additional fat can

they go

Alex and Peter are heading out into the

English Channel with skipper Nick gates

to train the carrier pigeons releasing

them from a boat got them used to flying

of a water essential for birds bringing

back messages from the French Resistance

before d-day and stuff like carrier

pigeons and farm and the wartime

government also took control of fishing

boats including this one the ocean pearl

we're actually on a wartime boat are we

not well that's why she was built before

the war built right back in 1933 as a

fishing boat like she was requisitioned

by the Navy this vehicle would be

running things like food supplies to run

the bases yeah I suppose the maintenance

stuff and fuel fuel oil that sort of

stuff rum rum yes probably was I mean

being farmers our land would have been

encroached upon by the military

I suppose fishermen you don't think the

fact that their boats would have been

also taken so that's their livelihoods

guns that's right this I think it was

used by the Navy for I think about four

years just amazing isn't it about how

the ministry was getting its tentacles

into every aspect of British society and

industry not only were farmers being put

under pressure but fishermen to having

their boats requisitioned and even

pigeon fanciers having their pigeons

taken before the war effort you know all

with one thing in mind to defeat the

enemy

these are our carrier pigeons they are

currently in a basket the roots mate

and they're all set to go we've got the

messages we just need to time on for

their legs and then we'll release them

but we're not gonna release them all

together because if we do the other

birds will follow the first bird release

so they won't do any work the idea here

is to train them keep them exercised so

they can find their way home

gradually the distance is increased

until they're capable of returning home

from hundreds of miles away

what messes and greaseproof paper

alright keep it with proof our first

picking Peter even today no one quite

knows how they find their way back home

but scientists believe they may have an

inbuilt compass and use the Earth's

magnetic field to navigate just let him

go yeah you ready here we go

she's fast isn't he

here we go what I hate said Peter but

Stalin turns that way

roots cook the wood pigeons for an hour

and a half now they've cooled she's

preparing a wartime salad

I'm just going to take the breasts off

first hole just the full reverse as

they'll look nice in the salad one of

the great things about pigeon or rabbit

is that they're full of flavor you get

way more taste for a small amount of

meat really and that really helps in

what I'm cooking do you think how much

of wartime food is about potatoes and

bread you know it's sort of bland bland

bland bland bland bland bland stodg

dodge dodge and anything with it brings

a bit of flavor in is a huge relief and

then I'm supposed to arrange the meat in

the bowl

according to the recipe I'm supposed to

make it look attractive not quite sure

how to do during the war the government

encouraged the nation to eat a salad a

day raw vegetables were recognized as

being good for health especially when

living on a ration diet roots rather

unusual salad is set in gelatine seems a

bit odd calling it a salad really it's

more of a terrine isn't it but that was

the wartime way almost anything that got

served cold was called a salad and then

that can just sit and set

despite Alex's misgivings within

half-an-hour all the carrier pigeons

have returned to Leonard's loft

completing the 30-mile journey with

their messages with the message oh my

goodness that's not I was already there

Wow

so in wartime I wouldn't have been

allowed to open that I would have had to

take it straight up to the local

regional ooh yes yes and then they would

have forwarded them at all

you don't know we're watching other than

the fact it's a carrier right it says

Ruth weather's good winds southeast

night basket still uncooked what time's

dinner yes well and what time's dinner I

haven't finished it yet but I'm amazed

the joy I lost during the war 98% of

pigeons returned with their messages but

often with mortal injuries I'll see you

again hopefully I was dead excited take

care okay thank you a good hour after

the pigeons return the boys are back in

time for roots revitalizing wood mijin

salad this looks absolutely fantastic

with salad tastic today wartime salads

so I mean this is a salad and jelly yeah

I know it's really interesting isn't it

the salad really just takes off in the

wartime everybody's eating all sorts of

different types of salad things I never

had before like grated carrot grated

beetroot you know you just don't find

them pre-war start to say that um pigeon

does look fantastic we're calling this a

bad pigeon because obviously it's

feasting off the land it's not it's the

enemy of the farmer where our good

pigeons is amazing to think how many

pigeons were pressed into service during

the world and you know everybody's so

excited about all these new

communications you know on the radio

being around but all this radar this

high-tech stuff went back to pigeons

as well as pigeons farmers also had land

requisitioned by the military by 1944

there were 623 airfields in Britain many

were like small towns and built almost

entirely on good agricultural land

farmers were living cheek-by-jowl with

the military and many witnessed fighting

firsthand not on the land but in the air

the Ministry of Information recognized

that this war touched so many people

that it should be interpreted by

painters as well as photographers

artists Leo Stevenson is following in

the footsteps of the war artists

accompanied by one morning hello as you

might guess I'm an artist yes we can see

we can say right well um I wonder if you

can help me

because I'm going to try and imagine I'm

back in that period we are doing an

officially commissioned work of art as

if I'm an official war artist so these

aren't paintings that artists are doing

just for the love of it these are things

that are actually commissioned can you

imagine data bits all the confusion and

the anxiety of warfare the British

government actually found in its heart

and also found the money for official

war artists now they did this for three

key reasons firstly to protect the best

artists to preserve their lives to also

protect their livelihoods because

nobody's going to buy art in time of war

but most importantly to decide the the

real experience of warfare that the

press couldn't basically the idea is

this you're working in the fields

minding your own business as people did

yep meanwhile ten 20 thousand feet up

there people are trying to kill each

other and the sky is full of contrails

from the aircraft but life carries on

you have to produce the food you have to

keep the country going

Leo's taking photographs from which

he'll bases painting Peter if your hand

is like that that sort of things it's

kind of think that's it go for it right

ankles right thank you just to hold that

for about two hours and I'll be done so

hundreds of German aircraft were shot

down over Britain and if the crew

survived they'd be captured as prisoners

of war by 1944 women were being drafted

to work in factories rather than on the

land so POWs were put to work in

agriculture to help double crop

production farmers found themselves

face-to-face with Germans who told them

rationing back home was far more severe

than in Britain oh one two there yeah

but something like even the humble loaf

was hard to come by as bakers Emanuel

Hodge Andrew and David Carter have

discovered I'd be looking at a recipe

for a black type of bread it really has

very very meager ingredients we have

here yeah looking at some of these and I

mean they'll it's more like this color

stuff I'd feed an animal

yeah well indeed this is something you

would feed an animal because this this

black pile here is silage nearly and

we're using silage here because

commercial yeast wasn't available it's

fermented grass when anything that

ferments as a byproduct one of which is

the gases that enable bread to rise we

have just chopped up grass that mean

that's desperate isn't it that is

desperate but but don't forget that that

wheat is a grass and this is what was

known as tree flower and tree flower was

in fact wood shavings so it's all the

sawdust yes so those are these

ingredients

to the silage and sawdust David is

adding chopped fermented rye to help the

bread rise but this wasn't without its

dangers rye is highly susceptible to a

go fungus which when eaten can cause

convulsions and gangrene even death it

might also be good to put something a

little sweet in it now sugar I very hard

to come by very hard to come by I think

I have got I've got bees and we're

producing honey marvellous so this so

that will certainly assist the flavour

as Germany's position weakened as the

conflict war on this is just a kind of

loaf ordinary Germans were forced to eat

Pat that down yet in wartime Britain

bread was never rationed I think that

would have been regarded as a very

retrograde step on the part of the

Ministry of Health

the minute you start rationing bread

you're really telling your public that

we are desperately losing yeah yeah

and you think this is going to rise then

yes I'm confident it will excellent and

how long are we looking at baking this

for then do you think we'll try it for

about 35 minutes and they say what it

looks like

sign games put it in the oven yep

we'll wait and see what happens good I'm

looking forward to that

artist Leo is beginning to sketch out

his painting of war in the countryside

you're from around there honey I've been

for 81 years

in 1944 pigeon fancier Leonard painter

remembers clearly the countdown to d-day

when tens of thousands of troops ships

and vehicles amassed in the fields

around Manor Farm so tell me about d-day

I mean what was it like rounding was

just like I'm closed an army camp really

you couldn't go anywhere we were a

permit it was barbed wire across the

roads and you had a permit to go there

if you want to just it's a total

lockdown what was yeah and every every

space field grass verge was army

equipment and tents and soldiers camp

cave hundred up we had a field day when

we were boys would he get up there with

us Wow then the pub that the American

soldiers used to learn four of us five a

snippers that and the one it could drink

a point of beer the quickest we'd get a

pack of Chesterfields or camels or a wad

of chewing gum Britain yeah untouched

since more well if they're the big

nippers you slap it up tipsy drinking

bloody beer

the German silage bread has been cooking

for half an hour and now it's the moment

of truth if he nervous David absolutely

nervous but excited I guess it's like

giving birth the new baby hey wow look

at that it's black it looks like a

German black bread doesn't it you know

uh none amazed

it really does does look like a loaf

because it looks like a bread yeah

question-is feels like a brood feels

like is it going to taste like all right

all right so you're going to be the

first guinea I am indeed good man there

you go

the first person since Germany 1944 to

eat soil is bread it's not an edible at

all this is not a college in terms of

about I mean I'm chewing away on

something that's not going anywhere but

the flavors surprisingly nice I think

the flavors aren't sweet mmm both whoo

yeah and that's not just the honey is

that that is the stylet no but again I

mean if you only had this seat and

didn't have anything else to eat yeah

would you choose eating grass or with

you to seed silage bridge no I mean you

would wouldn't you yeah you can see you

can almost see how they've arrived at

that as a replacement for black bread

I'm having to swallow the wood a cup of

tea help sit down Noah or rather a

steiner of german evening absolutely hmm

from rough sketches and photos war

artist leo is beginning his painting the

idea of this stage is just to rough out

the approximate forms of fur where

things are and gradually develop a sense

of toner now here we want some trees the

idea for this little dramatic scenario

is that these aircraft have suddenly

appeared and you can almost not hear

them until the last minute the war does

seem a very strange time to start

officially commissioning artists and

paying with public money for works of

art but it was actually a very important

thing to do but they weren't just making

it for their generation and to sort of

entertain themselves if you like they

were going to say something for future

generations post victory for us and the

point is that an artist could say

something about the real experience of

warfare the horror of it especially here

in the countryside

the one thing this art isn't is

propaganda this was about real

experience it's not about what the

government wanted to portray as such in

fact some of the images produced by some

of the best artists were sort of

contrary to the government message if

you like but they didn't mind that

within reason

after a week in the studio Leo's

painting is finished capturing the

moment a German Messerschmitt 110 was

shot down by an RAF hurricane

goodness that's amazing thank you wow

you work hard on you

one of the things are so hard for us to

get to grips with I think down here is

the concept of the war encroaching on

people's lives yes you get an impression

but you you'll never get that sense yes

but it's brought into sharp relief here

isn't it I mean this is a reality for

farmers in in wartime Britain wasn't it

this was yes I mean about that's the

thing is it's the thing about history

it's connecting with real experience

well I think it's brilliant and really

thank you I really do

it is a shame we can't hang it in the

forum this would go off now to the

Ministry of Information is that right

well yeah I mean if I'm a wartime artist

this or this this has been paid for by

the government so this would be sort of

taken to sub to some government source

be showing around an exhibition going

around the country possibly and then

after the war these paintings were

shared out amongst government buildings

and little local museums if it was

relevant to a particular place this is

here you'd probably find a local museum

for it something

for the past month the team have been

battling to save the flags but one of

the wettest summers on record has

finally got the better of it Alex and

Peter have no choice but to write off

the entire crop as in wartime this is

partly the consequence of having to sow

crops on unsuitable lund

I don't blame you ice you know I don't

blame you is the weather it's the heavy

clay soils and the weather I mean this

must have happened during the war the

ministry must have asked people to put

crops into ground that just wasn't

suitable for in fact we do know that but

with flax we have learned a really hard

lesson here and we we have I mean the

one thing I do know about flags is it

hates heavy clay soils but that's any

good thing Peter this was famously one

of the hardest things to harvest and in

getting this all wrong means we don't

have the back-breaking job the

harvesting it really shouldn't count

your chickens fully hatch Eric why is

that Peter because a neighboring farmer

does have a crop and he does need

harvest it and I said well ours has

failed we did scheduling the harvest we

can come help you

who's we you and me here and a few

prisoners of war anyway as much as your

coach waterproof the rains coming down

hard let's just get in before it really

get out of his

Alex and Peter are heading to Simon

Cooper's farm to help harvest his flax

unlike the boys crop Simon's was grown

on well-drained light soils so it's fed

the wet weather much better it's now

turned from green to brown indicating

it's ready for harvest hi Simon

hello hi hi just admiring your flax crop

though thank you well we've got a crop

not as good as we'd have hoped we'd have

hoped it to be a bit taller or a bit

thicker but you know a year like this

you know we've got to be grateful for

what we've got

by 1944 there were 60,000 acres of flax

in Britain

all the plans had to be pulled up by

hand to maintain the long fibers in the

stem

during the war extra labor had been

provided by land girls children and

conscientious objectors but with the

allies in the ascendancy prisoners of

war became an ever-growing source of

labour

Yohann custodies his grandfather was a

german pows

johann studied the impact they had on

wartime agriculture so how many POWs

were there working on the land so

they're about 150,000 Italians and about

at peak about 300,000 Germans

almost every fifth work in agriculture

would be a german pows that's a man to

think

yeah and I've noticed we've got some

prisoners of war over here that have got

these red diamonds on the back what does

that signify these colored patches were

yes so that you can actually see these

prisons have one spot them so that would

be more difficult for them to escape

yeah Vidia primarily so you could

identify them when you sort of see them

working in the field that when you see

them somewhere else I guess it makes

sense Peter doesn't it I mean they've

been designed for camouflage don't they

yeah so you good - I'm averse that by

putting a [ __ ] great big red mark on

their back so d-day Operation Overlord

what sort of effect that that have on

the sort of attitude of German prisoners

well d-day had a massive effect on

several phones I mean on the the effect

on the Germans was in in cams in Britain

then realized that there was pretty much

over d-day was that was the point when

most of the Germans actually came to but

because they obviously masses of German

prisoners of war captured in France so

they were many of them were shipped to

Britain on the one hand a kind of a

logistical nightmare on the other hand

increasing overall the amount of labour

that you can use

another important source of wartime

labor were gypsy travelers they're

nomadic lifestyle lent itself to the

intense but short-lived harvest work dr.

Becky Taylor is an expert on how war

affected their lives like everybody else

they were massively affected by the

changes of the Second World War so the

men went off to fight and this left

women children and older people in the

community in quite a difficult position

because life on the road is hard so a

lot of families where they could they

would scroll up on farms and then be

there for a much longer period of time

than they perhaps would and of course

farmers were desperate for the extra

labor so they might be there throughout

the harvesting season and pick up from

of the pea harvest right through to the

different sort of fruit harvests through

to potatoes and sugar beet and things

like that and then if they'd worked then

they could often then stay over the

winter and have developed quite close

relations with farmers who they were

working with and those others who are

saying actually they're camping on lands

that I need for my crops and so you get

a lot of tension locally but some of the

farmers are very happy to have them

there and saying they're essential

because they need them working on the

land

after a day of back-breaking work the

flax crop is almost harvested

as we're pulling that this is quite

green some of this isn't it

yeah so it just needs to dry out a

little bit more doesn't there yep and

then this is going to be turned into

well pretty much everything just about

anything from canvas to ropes parachute

harnesses hose pipes

okay that's been a remarkable thing it's

just finding out just how many things

this stuff useful yeah good stuff

hi early June 1944 everything was in

place

for the d-day landings

160,000 troops were ready to go on the

first day millions more would follow

carrier pigeons brought back messages

from France with information on the

enemy's movements now everything

depended on the weather

local historian Bob Nemo is showing Alex

and Peter the remains of a Royal Navy

camp called HMS cricket just a stone's

throw from their farm it once covered

125 acres of woods and farmland

essentially people stationed here were

here to practice for Dido yes right nice

it and part of d-day there would be

about 4,000 of people living living in

the camp

right then when d-day came it was

leaving any empty apart from the

basestar

see everybody had gone see what what

part of the camp are we going - we're

going to the extremity of the camp right

which you can see one of the yeah

possibly one of the central ablution

blocks and clustered round there would

be 20 or so missing huts

this was HMS cricket during the war

listen Hut's built in the woods was

standard accommodation for troops and

here there were 110 there's a set of

steps here at the end of the innocent

heart there would be a step I think this

is a base for innocent house would be a

base for this enough so how many people

would you have had in an ascent out of

this size Oh sand or about 20 or 24

cities would be sort of pals that you

were all taking up the leaders they

would ultimately be together as flotilla

going across to d-day or being taken

across on board a ship to d-day yeah

this is a map of a camp and we are up

here okay there was a cinema and a naffy

building there so a lot more oh yes

cinema and people came down their

entertainment um George Formby Rd

everything down George Formby George

Formby I believe and my heroes is he

yeah we could probably tell you on the

same spot that's using George for me my

team is listen how things ukulele or

whatever did it but also the Americans

played baseball in the square of their

botany really

so all of this happening right on the

doorstep of our farm Manor Farm indeed

yes

the flags is harvested next it was

processed to extract the fibers from the

stem used to make linen and canvas and

Cooper is showing Ruth how it was done

the first stage was to soak the crop in

water known as wetting so this is our

netted flax that's right in the water

first we need to get these seed heads

off because we don't need those feeler

fiber and we're just deseeding here

which is also known as rippling and that

was another thing it's very dusty very

dusty even in the factories you'd have a

tremendous amount of dust around that's

it and right with ripple job done now

it's time to break am i right indeed so

the purpose of breaking then is to crack

away the outer and core so quite a quick

hard action but you can see it breaking

away yeah all those little bits of store

like stuff flopping up and down and

softening up already

processing flax by hand was

labor-intensive but as demand grew

during the war the process became

mechanized

so although this is a little mini hand

one this is more the sort of thing that

was found in the wartime flax Factory

yes but in a lot larger scale obviously

now we need in from this side anybody

send and it does feel like you're

breaking something it does doesn't it

yeah next the flax is sketched to remove

the broken bit of outer stem from the

valuable fibers within now we've already

got waste haven't we that's no longer

part of the main bundle that's what you

would call toe toe would be used for

cordage for twine very very important

although it seems like a cast-off not

like it's gonna be saved and it's gonna

be turned into ratty hair heckling then

separates the fibers into individual

strands this is just combing it's like

combing your hair and you're not

worrying about pulling the knots out

exactly so this is that change

isn't it that really is starting to look

like hair flaxen hair so turning it into

thread is just a matter of twisting the

fibers together as this fiber could now

be woven into canvas or linen ready for

military use I'm trying to break it I

can't break it

Lila's cutting my fingers I really can't

from such a delicate little blue flower

in a field to the strongest of fiber

fantastic strange though it seems you

can't I can't imagine how we would have

won the war without flags if we hadn't

had the fiber for the parachutes in the

webbing and camouflage nets and the hose

pipes and and the tire covers and

everything we will never have done it

how would we have done those d-day

landings we couldn't we couldn't

as d-day grew ever closer three and a

half million troops packed into southern

England and its villages had never been

so vibrant foreign troops formed close

bonds with the locals drinking together

and playing games today

baseball is thought of as an

all-american sport but it was very

popular in Britain before the war and in

1938 Britain had won the first baseball

world come

so the team are recreating a game that

took place here in 1944 with the

American troops must have come a source

sweet relief you know if you're thinking

gearing up Operation Overlord you don't

know where you're going to live or die

no no no no it's good isn't you need

something to let the tension just just

to be able to control yourself flow and

anything else must be such a melting pot

of cultures yeah you know why hey we've

got the Americans

we've got British from other counties

German POWs Italian POWs and even just

within Britain you've got people of all

sort of classes and all different areas

of Britain all sort of mixed up and

dumped into the countryside game anyway

oh my god play cricket holy peace again

Ruth rule again I've gone it must be

such a hive activity bania just prior to

Operation Overlord prior to d-day and

then the weather's right the time comes

everyone leaves all over one night I

mean that's the thing is it's not moving

out by degrees it is one night what it

must have been really eerie after musta

got so used to this life this vibrancy

and then also nothing stillness and just

reports coming back on the news it's

like my lord I knew these guys and

they're there and they're they died in

that the thousands who severe a Viacom

name

we got your man kids change in Iraq

productions were often put on for the

troops through organizations such as as

entertainments National Service

Association en si which the populist

vote thought stood for every night

something awful so on that thought I

give you

Alex language yeah okay this is a song

it's called when the boys come back from

war and the boys come back from war was

the bravest thing

Thoreau riders mobile white patrol

soldiers were unable to travel to the

theater so Enza brought the

entertainment to them as well as George

Formby Tommy Cooper Spike Milligan and

Laurence Olivier all worked for ends

around new pony Gozo set aside until his

George Franz got a melody that until

your heart cheer when parasols will fall

in city our next stop will sing the

songs we do

a place for me

when I do

6th of June 1944 in the early hours of

the morning 7000 vessels the largest

Armada ever assembled sailed to the

Normandy coast and began the liberation

of France d-day was the turning point of

the war in Europe

but for the farmers of Britain victory

was still another harvest and another

year away

next time the team faced a conditions of

1945

they harvest their wheat using the

latest machinery incredibly tense for

Peter and myself you know this is a

whole year building up to this Harvick

attempt to restore fertility to their

fields but it with some heart back in

the land and this is the machines can

enable us to do it

and experience how the nation's

celebrated victory

so sale

to find out how britain fed itself

during the Second World War

order the open University's free wartime

farm brochure call Oh 8 4 5 3 double 602

5 7 or go to BBC co uk

to the Open University coming next

laughter hard work and determination as

the competitive spirit winds up for the

choir here on BBC 2 a BBC fours taking

risks with a mind-boggling look at the

science of chance

you