HEROINES OF THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE - ODETTE SANSOM HALLOWES GC, MBE

 

She was French born

But served as an agent for the SOE

In April 1943 “Lise”

Was betrayed to the Germans

Along with her future husband

Peter Churchill

And The SD interrogated them at

84 Avenue Foch, their HQ in Paris

Though tortured with red hot pokers

They kept to their cover story

That he was both her husband

And Winston Churchill’s nephew

Which seemed to do the trick

With confirmation from London

But she was condemned to death in June 1943

But was transferred to Germany

To be imprisoned at Ravensbrück

The Churchill’s nephew story stuck

And when the allies got close

The Camp commandant Fritz Suhren

Drove Sansom to the allied lines

To surrender to the Americans

Hoping to save his own neck

Which didn’t work

Odette testified in 1946

At the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials

And he was hanged in 1950

Odette was subsequently awarded

A British George Cross, an MBE and

A French Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur

THE SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE

 

Brainchild of R. J. Mitchell

The Spitfire was designed

As a short-range,

High-performance

Interceptor aircraft

The Supermarine Spitfire

Was the perfect flying machine

With its elliptical wings

And Rolls-Royce Merlin engine

It was fast and manoeuvrable

Which helped it dominate the skies

During the Battle of Britain

AIR COMMODORE FERDINAND MAURICE FELIX WEST VC CBE MC - (19 JANUARY 1896 – 8 JULY 1988)

 

In an Armstrong Whitworth FK 8

West set off at dawn,

Along with his observer,

To search for the enemy

Through a hole in the mist

They spotted their concentration

Avoiding severe ground fire,

Almost immediately

They came under attack

From seven German fighters

West was hit in the leg,

And his radio was destroyed

Skilfully they fought them off

Unable to make home base

West landed behind Allied lines

But despite his injuries

And being in excruciating agony

He insisted on giving his report

Before receiving treatment

And he lost his leg

 

REGINALD JOSEPH MITCHELL C.B.E. - 20th May, 1895 to 11th June, 1937

 

Reginald Joseph Mitchell was born in the village of Talke, Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire England.

After leaving Hanley High School in 1910 at the age of 16 he gained an apprenticeship at a locomotive engineering works, Kerr Stewart & Co of Fenton,

When Mitchell had completed his apprenticeship, he progressed to a job in the drawing office at Kerr Stewart while he attended night classes at technical colleges studying mathematics and engineering.

All his hard work paid off and in 1917 he secured a position at the Supermarine Aviation Works at Southampton and in the following year he was appointed Supermarine’s Chief Designer he remained with the company the rest of his life.

As the company name suggests they were primarily interested in marine design and between 1922 and 1931 he designed seaplanes, used largely for racing particularly for the Schneider Trophy, including Supermarine’s S6B and the Supermarine Walrus.

The S6B won the Schneider Trophy in 1931.
The success of the S6B prompted the Air Ministry to invite Mitchell to tender for the design of a new fighter aircraft for the RAF.

This was designated the F7/30 by the Air Ministry and Mitchell submitted his Type 224 design on the 20th of February 1932.

In 1933 he was authorized to proceed with the design of his all-metal low wing monoplane that was destined to become the Spitfire.

It was later in the same year that he underwent major surgery to treat abdominal cancer and this was to have a profound effect upon his life.

The year after his operation he went to Germany as part of his convalescence.

What he saw during his visit to Nazis Germany convinced him of the importance of his work on the Spitfire in the face of National Socialism and Germany’s re-armament.

On his return to England Mitchell worked feverishly not only on the Spitfire but also the Type 317, a four-engine bomber.
The first prototype of the Spitfire design, the Type 224, which Mitchell referred to it as "The Shrew", flew for the first time on the 19th of February 1934.

However, he felt its performance was unsatisfactory, so he immediately began work on the Type 300

The Type 300 fitted with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, spitting fire, made its first fight on the 5th of March 1936 at Eastleigh in Hampshire.

After returning from a short stay at the American Foundation in Vienna R.J. Mitchell sadly died from abdominal cancer on the 11th of June 1937 at his home in Southampton.

Mitchell who saw his Spitfire prototype fly never got to see it put into service with the Royal Air Force where it was first adorned with the red, white and blue roundels in1938.

R.J Mitchell was a brilliant aeronautical engineer who sacrificed his own life and endured dreadful pain in order to complete his work on what he preferred to call “the Shrew” which we all now as the Spitfire.

Now while the Spitfire did not single handedly win the Second World War or even the Battle of Britain it was however a vital piece of the puzzle that made up the Countries defenses and without it the nation would probably not have held out against the might of the Nazis invaders.

THE CALL OF DUTY – THEY’VE GOT US SURROUNDED

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and their resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

Paratroopers

 

Finding a candidate from the Army was quite difficult as it is such a broad church.

With many suitable examples to choose from but after some little thought I settled on the paratroopers who I once heard described as the “umbrella danglers”.

In army strategy one of the cardinal sins is to allow your forces to become surrounded or cut off from the main body.

I member reading about an American soldier from one of their airborne divisions,

It was after the Germans had broken through the Allied lines in the heavily forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium which is perhaps better known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The soldier was reporting to his officer on the situation and said

“The Germans have us surrounded sir”

The officer looked directly at the young soldier and replied

“We’re paratrooper’s son, we’re supposed to be surrounded”

And that kind of sums them up really.

THE CALL OF DUTY – ABOVE US THE WAVES

 

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and there resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

Submariners

 

Unlike the other branches my candidate for the Navy was a no brainer there can be no braver section of the Senior Service than the Submariners.

Most Navy men devote all their collective effort to keep their vessel afloat, but the submariners deliberately submerge themselves.

Even sailing in a submerged boat during peacetime was a dangerous occupation.

But in wartime it was necessary to spent prolonged periods under water and for that you have to be a special type of person.

At the dangers were many, Enemy Cruisers spewing depth charges, Subamrine hunting aircraft, strong currents, minefields and submerged hazards.

And should any one of those result in damage to the sub no one was going to come and find you.

THE CALL OF DUTY - ON A WING AND A PRAYER

 

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and there resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

Glider Pilots

 

Finding a candidate from the air force was quite difficult as I have always thought that military pilots in wartime were very brave whether in fighters or bombers, on the attack or in defense and I hold them in the highest esteem.

But my greatest admiration has to be reserved for the glider pilots.

As such you need to be every bit as competent at flying powered aircraft and a bit more.

These pilots had to fly into enemy territory normally at night and land a fully laden aircraft of equipment or soldiers, and land on a precise spot in the dark or at best half-light.

And if you manage to avoid being shot down on route by enemy fighters, or blown out of the sky by anti-aircraft fire or crash the glider on impact

You then stop being a pilot and become a soldier and fight with the men you were carrying.

So, if you were carrying a glider full of Royal Marine Commandos you had to join them to their objective and fight as a Commando what a daunting prospect.