h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

piccies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2765739
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2951903
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2901700
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2450332
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2819108
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2773028
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2815562
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2301418


No.2 G Hospital had 1,200 beds and was housed in tents that each held 20 beds. The heating in each tent consisted of a small Beatrice oil stove. There was one blanket per bed. Initially, we nursed pneumonias and many common ailments, such as ‘pains in legs’.
Nursing in France
Kaolin poultices and inhalants
Many of the reserves had been sent to France without careful selection in the first rush of troops. As the weather turned colder the troops succumbed to bronchitis and pneumonia. There were no antibiotics available in those days: we had to rely on M and B 693 together with kaolin poultices and inhalants. Not easy in tented wards during a very cold, severe winter.

Then there was the mud. And the snow. Coal-burning stoves replaced the little Beatrice oil stoves, but these were of little use in cold, draughty tents.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2062559


Being a child during wartime
There were coupons for all clothes. Shoes took coupons. I was big for my age. And those boys with big feet got more coupons. At school we had out feet measured and mine were just under the required size, so I was not awarded any additional coupons. My mother was normally a very easy-going person, but I remember she was outraged at this. Didn’t I know how hard it was to get coupons? Couldn’t I have stretched out my toes, for God's sakes? It was definitely my fault. I pondered on the logic of women.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A1950716

Christmas Day on board SS Ocita
At 1.0 am on Christmas morning I went to bed (hammock) only to be woken five hours later by the ship's loudspeakers.
The OC Troops had promised us special food and we duly had a hard-boiled egg and a small piece of fat bacon for breakfast.

D day
diary
Saturday, 3 June 1944
Time 7.30pm: Just had orders re action securing of messes etc. Action stations tomorrow night 8.30pm till - well - we'd all like to know! Maybe we never will. By now the northern coast of France is favourite for the speculators. Looks that way. I judge zero hour to be about 4.45am Monday 5 June. Place - Dieppe. Submarine stand-to short while ago. Nothing doing though. Everything is quiet and in perfect working order. Nothing to do except watch and wait.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A1125000

a brave waaf
In the force of the impact and as the tail had flipped backwards, Hector and his turret had been thrown some distance away from the plane. Frank found Hector, still in his turret amongst flames where petrol had spilt. He pulled Hector out of his turret and as he did so, a WAAF returning on her pushbike with friends from a night out stopped to assist. Together they supported him by his shoulders and dragged him away from the plane and flames into long grass before the plane blew up, as there was 2000 gallons of high-octane petrol on board. The WAAF then laid on top of Hector in the long grass to protect him from the exploding ammunition and petrol tanks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A1302823

El Alamein
Early one morning there was a shout, "Get out of bed and move back to the El Alamein line!" The enemy had got through Marsa Matruh defences and were coming this way. We set off very slowly as the road was almost at a standstill. (I often wondered why the Luftwaffe never turned up on these occasions!)
and much more
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2776610

Diary extract
interned in Poland
'19-9-1939: Hungary - Sajoszentkiraly near Putnik. We have to leave everything to the customs officer and the army (except for my pocketwatch from my R Station - still with me and still going) and we were told that we are interned soldiers from now on. Hungarian army took us to Sajoszentkiraly - it was a building belonging to the customs office between Hungary and Czechoslovakia but in 1938 Hitler offered part of Slovenia to Hungary and that building was Hungarian.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2249192

a telephonist during wartime
We sat there for hours like a lot of battery hens. When the enemy bombers crossed the coast they were tracked and when they were reaching a specific area a 'Red Alert' was notified. The telephone exchange notified all the relevant authorities and the air raid sirens sounded, telling the population to take cover in the air raid shelters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2785908


sinking of prince of wales in south china sea; off thailand
Our Walrus amphibious spotter plane had been sent up but had found nothing, but as history tells, the planes of the Japanese air force spotted us, and without any prior warning, a great number of Japanese planes suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and attacked the ships in our flotilla.
“I was below decks when one torpedo hit on the port side and it seemed as though it flooded the engine room on that side. I was below the armoured decking and of course, eventually all the communications got knocked out
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2670987

primary school teacher
In the summer of 1940, we began to have the siren go at intervals, though the planes mostly passed on towards London.
We had gas mask drill every day, so the youngest could put them on quickly. They thought it quite fun on the whole and were keen to be first to be ready. The few times we spent in the shelters taxed one’s ingenuity somewhat. There were benches either side of a sort of tunnel, so your class was rather spread out. We used to sing all the songs and nursery rhymes we knew, recite tables and play ‘I spy’ and ‘Mrs. Brown went to town’ and I sometimes read stories, if I had managed to grab a book on the way down, or retold the few I knew like the Three Bears or Red Riding Hood. Then, if it went on a long time, children would take turns to recite something, or we would have simple maths problems done orally.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A3070324

marriage in 48 hrs
The only thing allowed on ration for a wedding was two pounds of cooked ham, and nothing more. Again, family and friends came to the rescue with precious rations of butter, tea and sugar. An uncle, with some know-how, managed to get his hands on a leg of lamb. No questions were asked, but it was hastily cooked in the bride's mother's coal-fired oven and with some of her chicken eggs, hard boiled, it was beginning to look as if a wedding feast was imminent at Vine Cottage. His only choice was to walk the eight miles through the empty roads and lanes in the dark. A policemen stopped him on the way and asked what he was doing on his own at night. Ron told him he was on leave and about to get married the next day
There must have been a glut of teapots that year because the bride and groom were given ten as wedding presents.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2301418

chance meeting
My father was ready to go back to his regiment in Southampton after being on leave at home in Burnley. The year was 1942. My mother, who lived in London, was working in a factory in Coventry. A month before, she had been taken ill with diphtheria. When she was on the mend she went to stay with her younger sister, who was working in Bolton at the time of this story. My father was heading for Manchester to get the train. Arriving late, the train had gone, so he caught the next one.

My mother - now recovered - also caught the same train back to Coventry. The train was packed with soldiers - not a seat anywhere. My parents stood in the corridor a few yards apart. According to my mum, my dad kept looking at her, but never said a word until she was ready to get off the train. Then he went over and asked her to write to him. She said that she would, but did not intend to.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A1943327

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