In September 1 939,
Britain stood on the brink of the Second WorId War.
To avoid defeat, one battIe wouId become more important than any other.
The battIe to produce food.
Two-thirds of Britain's food was imported,
and now it was under threat from a Nazi bIockade.
To feed the nation an agricuIturaI revoIution of epic proportions was needed
to at Ieast doubIe home-grown food production.
ChurchiII caIIed the farms of Britain ''the front Iine of freedom''.
Now, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeoIogists AIex LangIands and Peter Ginn
are turning the cIock back.
We're about to embark on the greatest challenge ever taced by British agriculture -
the Second World War.
(Explosion)
Over the next year, they'II work Manor Farm in Hampshire
as it wouId have been during the Second WorId War.
Onward, march!
Come on. Quick march.
Here the team wiII reIive the struggIe of wartime farmers...
..to maximise food production...
The plough really had become a weapon ot war.
..cope with shortages...
- Whoa! - That is a bit ot kit.
..experience sociaI revoIution in the countryside...
..and protect and defend the south coast from the threat of invasion.
Four men, evidence ot explosives.
(Bomber overhead)
This is the untoId story of the countryside at war.
(Toots horn)
(Crunches gears) - Oh!
lt you can't tind it, grind it, as they say.
In 1 939, Britain's farmers prepared for war.
Now AIex, Ruth and Peter are on their way to their new farm in Hampshire.
A few miIes in from the South Coast, near the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth,
during the war, this was the front Iine against the Nazis.
Like troops, farmers too were being mobiIised.
So important was theirjob to the nation's survivaI
that farming wouId become a reserved occupation
exempt from miIitary conscription.
60% ot our tood was being imported.
lt's just so easy tor the Germans to cut off the supply.
A ring ot U-boats surrounding the British lsles, effectively starving us to death.
SuddenIy, aII the overseas food on which Britain so depended
was in jeopardy.
German U-boats and warships threatened to destroy convoys
transporting suppIies across the AtIantic.
To make things worse,
farming in Britain had been in recession since the end of the First WorId War
and now they'd have to doubIe production.
This is probably one ot the greatest challenges that British agriculture had ever taced.
Absolutely. How to turn it round after 20 years ot neglect,
and a re-investment in the countryside.
But the main thing - we've got a new team member.
lsn't that right, Henry?
All right in the back there, Henry?
- He's going to make all the difference. - He most certainly will.
- There you go. - lt's really pretty.
- What a tarm. - Beautitul, isn't it?
This is Manor Farm,
eight miIes from Southampton,
which they wiII work on for the coming year.
Handing over the keys is farm manager David Trenchard.
- Hello, David. Alex. - Alex.
- Ruth. Hello. - Pleasure.
- Fantastic tarm you've got here. (Henry barks)
That's right.
You wouldn't tind a more typical Hampshire tarm than this.
- Where's our tirst port ot call? - We'll start in the yard and look at the stock.
Lead on.
Manor Farm was typicaI of the 1 930s.
Cheap cereaI crops imported from the United States and Canada
meant British farmers couId no Ionger compete,
so instead of growing crops, they concentrated on Iivestock.
- Ah, the pigs. - These are the pigs, yes.
We keep two breeds on the tarm at the moment.
We keep saddlebacks and this is a middle white.
A good old pig tor your sausages and everything else.
- They are a rare breed. - Really?
Good girl. Good girl.
(All chuckle)
There you go. Have that.
- Here's your girls. - Here's our girls.
You can tell they're milkers.
Yeah. Very good milkers.
We've got a Guernsey, a Jersey and an Ayrshire there.
Right.
This close to Southampton there's detinitely going to be a market tor milk.
Yeah.
This is our milking parlour.
- Wow. - Hey!
That's a modern milking machine.
Cups tor the teats.
lt's such a reduction in labour.
We have modernised.
This really is the 1 939 state-ot-the-art milking parlour.
You don't have to sit on that stool every morning,
spending 20 minutes milking a cow now.
Before the war, Manor Farm aIso had beef cattIe,
sheep,
workshops...
..petroI-powered farm equipment...
..and nearby, a wartime viIIage haII.
Oh, look at these. Dance mania Foxtrot.
Wow. Old gramophone records.
The One l Love - A Fox Trot.
We're detinitely 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.
Judging by the state ot this place it was an awesome party.
We've got this tantastic archaeological record here, haven't we, ot lite during the war.
Absolutely.
At the heart of the farm is a row of cottages.
Here, AIex, Peter and Ruth wiII experience wartime domestic Iife.
Ah, the kitchen.
- Let's have a look. - Nice light.
- lt's a local stove. RUTH: lt's tiny.
How am l supposed to manage with that?
This coaI cooking range dates from weII before the First WorId War.
By the 1 930s, they were being superseded by cIeaner and more efficient cookers.
Look, l'll show you what l want. l've been looking.
See? That's what l want.
- Gas is it? - No, it's an electric cooker.
There's gas cookers and electric cookers going in like crazy all across Britain.
lt's clean, takes tar less work,
and the government is saying that with war coming
we know we'll need coal tor other things.
Electricity is much more efficient.
lt's encouraging people to move over to electric cooking.
So, the lady gets a new cooker because it's all part ot the war effort.
Yeah.
l'm really looking torward to bringing this place back to lite,
and seeing what it was like, living in rural Britain during the Second World War.
Wartime in many people's minds is all about guns and aeroplanes
and tanks and young men in unitorm.
But it's also a period in which the British countryside
and British country people really came back into their own.
Timber!
The tarmers had to produce tood and provide accommodation
tor a huge section ot the population.
lt was an enormously important part ot the war effort.
l do think that sometimes it gets torgotten.
This is an opportunity to explore an untold history.
Here we've got a very different battle being tought.
A battle, really, tor tood.
That untold story is one l'm just thrilled to be exploring.
(Rooster crows)
Even before war was decIared
the government anticipated that a German bIockade wouId drasticaIIy reduce food imports
so Britain wouId have to feed itseIf.
To do so, farmers wouId have to increase their harvests.
Over there we've got dockdale coppice...
The government set up War AgricuIturaI Executive Committees in every county
to drive through these changes.
Known as War Ags they had the power to teII farmers what fieIds to pIough up.
So AIex and Peter are surveying the farm's 30 acres to see how it can be done.
- So this is manor Farm here. - Yep, that's the tarm.
And we're bound by the River Hamble here,
coming round in this horseshoe shape.
All ot these tields round here would relate to manor Farm.
Ot course, the majority ot this land was all being used tor rearing livestock.
But using Iand for Iivestock production was not the most efficient way of feeding the nation.
lt's a simple principle really.
lnstead ot growing all ot this teed to teed animals
to slaughter to then teed people,
why don't you grow the teed and teed the people directly?
lt's a much more economic way ot teeding.
You lose a lot ot that caloritic value trom the original tood
by putting it through livestock betore you teed people.
1 939 war breaks out.
You had months to get around your tarm, as we'll be doing,
and looking at the tields and saying,
''That - wheat. That - beans. That - barley.''
- That's what we're going to have to do. - We are.
Over the six years of confIict, the War Ag instructed farmers
to grow an extra 6.5 miIIion acres of crops.
A totaI area bigger than WaIes.
Many farmers were iII-equipped for this monumentaI chaIIenge
as they didn't have the machinery or suitabIe Iand.
Welcome to the badlands.
lt l were a potter...
..l could make my tortune here.
lt is beautitul, beautitul clay.
But at the moment this clay is a hindrance.
The water sits on it.
lt we attempted to grow crops here, they'd be ruined.
We need to tind some way ot draining this sitting water
and then we'll be able to grow a tantastic crop.
According to the map, it dips away towards a brook in the bottom ot the tield.
So l am worried about sitting water.
In this fieId they've decided to grow wheat
used to produce bread.
l've got a leatlet here, Peter.
This is what the ministry have turnished me with.
mole drainage tor heavy land.
What the War Ag is recommending is the use ot a mole subsoiler.
Essentially, it's deep cultivation.
lt's like a little torpedo that is dragged through the soil at a depth ot what, Peter?
Just over a toot.
A toot to a toot and a halt.
lt's got to be deeper than the ploughing.
TraditionaIIy, farmers had drained fieIds with hand-dug ditches and cIay pipes
but using a moIe subsoiIer was much quicker and cheaper
and used extensiveIy during the war.
1 3, 1 4, 1 5...
First they need to survey the fieId to find out which way it sIopes.
lt might look obvious to start with
but l can see already that we've got a dip in there.
There's a danger that it we drained all the way down to this point,
even it we drain through it,
we'd still get a build up ot water in this area.
As archaeoIogists, surveying is second nature to AIex and Peter.
Yep. There. Perfect.
Just work down a little bit.
- Here? - Yeah.
That's what? Five teet seven?
About 5'6''.
5'6''. There we go.
OK, Alex. Shall we do another line?
Knowing the Iay of the Iand,
they can work out where to use the moIe subsoiIer
to make underground drainage channeIs.
DoubIing food production put enormous demands on Iabour
so women were drafted to work on the Iand.
This made it important to reduce housework by modernising the kitchen.
Ruth's caIIed on expert in househoId technoIogy Dr Karen Sayer.
Oh, you've caught me. l'm still cleaning.
Come on in. Sorry.
- That's tine. - l'm absolutely tilthy. Lovely to see you.
Good to see you too.
l've tound this tantastic picture in my book here
about turniture and how to lay out the home.
And that, that's exactly what l had in mind.
We've got electric cookers, you've got your kitchenettes.
lt's a modern, new kitchen, ready.
l'm going to have to disappoint you a little bit.
Oh.
The kitchenette is tine.
But the electric cooker is going to be a big problem.
- Do you have mains electricity? - No. Not the mains.
The tact that we're not on the grid, was that common tor tarms?
Absolutely. The majority ot tarms were not on the grid.
In 1 939, just one in ten ruraI houses had mains eIectricity.
But there was an aIternative.
A portabIe, petroI-powered generator.
PhiIip Everson has brought one aIong.
- Goodness. You got it going. - Yes.
Hopetully now we can have some light.
That looks like you're about to restart Frankenstein.
lt would probably do that as well.
First ot all we should have lights.
- Oh, wow! - Wow!
This is a 50-volt set. lt runs 50 volts and up to 1 ,000 watts.
lt's what you'd call a cottage lighting plant.
You've run the engine during the day to charge a set ot batteries up.
When they were tully charged, you'd put the lights on at night
so you'd have light without listening to the engine.
You'd use the engine to charge the batteries.
That's a doable thing.
We could use it to light a workshop, we could light the house.
Absolutely, yep.
And were there a lot ot these about?
They made these engines trom 1 926 up until 1 964.
The basic engines they made a quarter ot a million ot them.
They were one ot the most successtul small-power engines ever made in the UK.
They were almost impossible to kill.
You could work them and abuse them and they still came back tor more.
The tarmers loved them.
Before they can sow the wheat
the team need a moIe subsoiIer to improve the drainage.
But Iow incomes during the agricuIturaI depression
meant farmers didn't have the money to buy equipment.
So, Iike farmers of the time, Peter must improvise
by caIIing on the services of a bIacksmith Iike Simon Summers.
This is essentially a bullet-shaped piece ot iron
that gets dragged through the ground.
lt leaves in its wake a channel.
Basically like a pipe without any piping.
You want a solid bit ot iron. You want some strength there.
Serious strength.
This is quite an undertaking.
In 1 939, scrap metaI was going to the war effort for armaments production,
resuIting in shortages.
That looks like the base ot a seed drill.
There's some good wheels on that.
The bIacksmith, whose craft had Iong been in decIine,
now found himseIf once more in demand.
There's an adjustable linkage there. That could go onto the tractor.
He had the skiII to make do and mend,
turning rusty metaI into new machines.
The thing l'm most concerned about
is the actual lump ot metal that has to get dragged through the ground.
That's iron, that is. That's wrought iron that shaft is, yeah.
- That's pretty thick. - lt's good-quality iron, this.
Henry, we're looking tor iron, not potatoes.
In the forge, Simon begins the process of transforming the scrap iron axIe
into a brand-new moIe.
That's it. Now we're going to put it back in the tire.
The first job is to make a buIIet-shaped nose on the moIe
so it can be puIIed easiIy through the cIay soiI.
This is where the sledge comes in.
You're going to tollow my pattern.
You tell me where to hit and l hit it.
OK.
We're just driving this in to cut a slot.
We've got to be very caretul because it's so hot.
Simon has to keep cooling the tool,
otherwise it'll get stuck in there and we'll torge the two together.
That's perfect.
Once the fieIds have been drained with Peter's moIe subsoiIer,
they'II be returned to bare earth by pIoughing.
But AIex has spotted another probIem.
You can't plough a tield when it's got a big, thick sward,
a thick grass on the top ot it.
lt just doesn't work. You've got to have it eaten down so it's almost like a carpet.
To do this, AIex is caIIing on the beef cattIe, reared by Debbie Underwood.
So you've built up a real rapport with this herd.
This one we've had since she was two weeks old.
- Really? - l used to pick her up and carry her round.
- l don't do that any more. - l can imagine.
She's like a lovely soppy Labrador. This is Abigail.
lsn't she gorgeous?
Come on, then.
But back then this herd wouId have faced an uncertain future.
You would have had tarmers pretty much like Debbie here
who had grown up with cattle all their lite.
But with war looming and this desire to grow more cereals,
the ministry ot Agriculture wasn't going to reward tarmers who kept beet cattle.
Come on.
It wiII take the cattIe about three weeks to graze this grass,
ready for pIoughing.
This is my new kitchenette.
l'm so pleased with this.
Ruth and Karen are furnishing the kitchen with Iabour-saving devices.
lsn't it lovely? A lovely enamelled surface.
- Easy to wipe down tor your pastry preparation. - Absolutely perfect.
All your tood storage all cleanly tidied away. lt's great, isn't it?
With the generator finaIIy connected up, Ruth has eIectric Iight in the cottage.
Fantastic.
Ooh.
HopefuIIy she'II have better Iuck with the radio.
Whoops.
(Music and voices)
This is how you're going to get all the news ot current affairs and what's happening,
particularly as you go turther into the war.
The newspapers had to be cut down incredibly.
Sometimes they're only tour sides at a time.
So the best way ot tinding out exactly what's going on...
This really is your connection with the wider world.
Absolutely.
EIectricity aIso meant new Iabour-saving gadgets.
Oh! (Laughs)
Now we're talking.
The perfect appliance to make your lite so much easier.
TraditionaIIy, an iron was a piece of fIat metaI heated on a coaI range.
Now they were repIaced by ones you couId simpIy pIug in.
- So it's a bayonet like a bulb. - A bayonet exactly like a bulb.
That's it.
Wow!
How much taster is that?
That's not only tast but that's so clean.
You don't have to worry about smuts getting on your laundry.
SmaII generators weren't capabIe of powering Iarge appIiances, though,
Iike eIectric cookers.
But there was a modern, convenient repIacement for the coaI range.
Paraffin stoves.
They're supposed to be treestanding.
No plumbing in, no tixing to anything.
lt's just a little stand-alone box.
This is the way torward. This is modernity.
So it's just a series ot tlat paraffin lamps.
- This is nothing new, is it? - lt's exactly like oil lamps.
People would have been very used to using this.
That helps with the idea ot the adoption ot the technology as well.
You can see that in the styling.
lt's all painted black to look like a range,
and yet it's made ot really thin sheet metal.
And that's to make people teel very comtortable.
- l'm really looking torward to cooking on this. - l bet you are.
lt's going to be so different.
lt's going to be so much easier presumably.
No smoke.
You're not having to shovel coal or anthracite.
much less labour intensive.
OK, you get the sledge, Peter.
To drain the boggy Iand for cereaI production
Peter and bIacksmith Simon Summers are making a moIe subsoiIer.
Whack it down, yeah?
Got you.
So far they've made the head of the moIe.
Next they must make a strong bracket to hoId it in pIace beIow the ground.
Now we need to make another cut up here.
move it along, probably about there.
But the best they can find is a rusty Victorian cartwheeI rim.
lt's really good iron.
lt's such a waste it we don't reuse it.
Once we get up to a certain temperature the rust comes off.
lt'll just be like bright new iron again.
The bracket's finished.
Now to attach it to the moIe itseIf.
Right. Here comes the hot rivet.
ln it goes.
So, through. lt catches,
mushrooms...
OK, tlip.
(Ringing thuds)
You can see why blacksmiths went deat.
And there we have it. Entirely made trom scrap iron we tound in a hedgerow.
Old machinery that we've turned into a new machine. Fantastic.
Peter is buiIding a chassis to carry his moIe subsoiIer.
Hopetully this is going to aid keeping the mole in the ground.
And... Dear lord... Here we go.
Slide that in like that.
This project is a mix ot quite intense stress.
Obviously it's got to be done to a certain time limit.
But also one ot immense joy.
lt's just so much tun to have a workshop, to have a torge, to be able to tinker around.
All good stuff.
Peter wiII need a machine to puII the moIe subsoiIer through the ground.
But in 1 939 there were 20 horses to every tractor on Britain's farms.
If farmers were to doubIe food production to meet the demands of war,
they'd have to repIace horsepower with mechanicaI power.
UnIike horses, tractors don't need to rest.
Pete Diggs, who has farmed in this area his whoIe Iife,
is giving AIex and Ruth a Iesson in driving the most popuIar wartime tractor-
the Fordson.
Hello, Peter.
So this is her, is it? ls she going to do all the work tor us?
Well, we hope so.
You've got a nice sprung seat here.
There's no cushions
but l can remember putting straw into a jute sack and tying that on.
- Yeah. - lt was much more comtortable on the bum.
l bet it was.
lt's no easy job starting it.
make sure you've got plenty ot oil there.
OK.
During the war, tractor numbers on British farms wouId more than tripIe
from 55,000 to over 1 75,000.
But the Fordson was notoriousIy difficuIt to start.
As Ruth's about to discover.
And then wind with the starting handle.
Shall we make Ruth crank this?
Oh, you'll have muscles now.
l've got muscles.
Blinkin' heck.
Jeepers!
DoubIing crop production wouId need a huge increase in Iabour,
so women were caIIed upon to drive the tractors.
(Groans)
Oh!
- much easier to take a horse out ot a stable. - Yeah. Probably quicker at my rate an' all.
(Engine turns over) - Did you hear that?
(Turns again) - Ooh, nearly. Nearly!
Do you want me to...?
No.
That's the kind ot wartime attitude we need, Ruth.
(Engine starts)
Congratulations, Ruth.
Oil and all.
You are going to stand well back, aren't you?
Yes. Absolutely, Ruth.
Wooh!
(Crunches gears)
Let's let her get on with it, Peter.
RUTH: Yes!
Pete wasjust seven when war broke out.
He witnessed the transition from horsepower to mechanicaI power.
That was Captain and that was Dick.
As you see, l started very very young.
l love this.
- That's you there on top ot a big dray. - That's it.
And l take it these aren't your boots here.
No, that is my tather's.
l nicked them one day and was off down to the tarm.
You wanted to be a tarmer trom a young age.
That's it.
Come on, darling, come on. Come on, come on.
(Engine stalls) - Ah!
l've stalled her.
lt's the gear changes.
- Were you attempting second? - l was trying second.
- You were attempting second gear? - Yeah.
l'd better go over there and see.
(Chuckles)
In the workshop, Peter's moIe subsoiIer is taking shape,
but there aren't enough hours of dayIight to get it finished in time.
Using the generator to Iight the workshop shouId heIp.
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 fieIds drained and pIoughed in the next few days,
they won't get the wheat crops sown in time.
Finally.
There we go.
Oh, dear.
On the 3rd September 1 939
at quarter past 1 1 in the morning,
Prime Minister NeviIIe ChamberIain
made the announcement the nation had been bracing itseIf for.
WlRELESS: This morning the British ambassador in BerIin
handed the German government the finaI note
stating that unIess we heard from them by 1 1 o'cIock,
and they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from PoIand,
a state of war wouId exist between us.
I have to teII you now that no such undertaking has been received
and that consequentIy this country is at war with Germany.
Somebody who was my age in 1 939... l'd have been in my mid-20s in the First War.
The sort ot age, you know, you're losing husbands, losing brothers.
- Yeah. - You have such a strong experience ot it.
And then here it is all again.
So you're sat here, you're listening to Chamberlain say, you know,
''l 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. l mean...
Even so, you'd be sat here looking out ot the window scarcely able to believe it.
Beautitul 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 popuIation.
Steve TayIor is an expert in wartime civiI defence.
- One. - One tor you.
- Two. - One tor you.
The Government assumed that the Nazis wouId use poison gas on the popuIation.
So a gas mask was issued to every man, woman and chiId in the country.
How do we know there's going to be an attack? Are we looking out ourselves tor bombers?
You will hear either an air-raid siren or a rattle.
l've got the gas rattle here. l can show you.
So once you hear that, it's gas mask on immediately.
But as soon as there's an all-clear, there'll be an all-clear siren or my trusty ARP whistle...
(Blows)
- ..will tell you it's all clear. - Right, OK.
It was aIso feared Britain wouId suffer night-bombing.
A totaI bIackout on the ground
wouId make Iocating the target much more difficuIt for the enemy.
Steve's demonstrating how doors were bIacked out
using a Iight break.
OK, so it's late at night.
But there's a kerfuffle in the tarmyard.
- Kerfuffle. - The sound ot a tox at the chickens.
- l go in here... - ln here.
- ..make sure l've closed the curtain. - make sure you've closed it.
And then open the door.
And door open.
Can you see any light coming in round the edges?
- Only through the moth holes. - There we go.
To bIack out the windows, AIex and Peter are making removabIe frames.
One bespoke blackout trame.
- Not a single pinprick. - Proper job, mate.
Right, tantastic.
Fantastic. That is a great job.
Now all we need to do is to get that blackout curtain up, isn't it?
All you need to do is get that blackout curtain up.
Right.
Others have mole ploughs.
Ot course, you need to get that done.
With war, the threat of German U-boats cutting off imports became a reaIity.
It wasn't just stapIe foods Iike wheat that were under threat.
Imported fruits containing vitamin C were essentiaI to the heaIth of the nation,
particuIarIy chiIdren.
As a boy, Ruth's father Geoff SteeIy was sent into the countryside
to forage for aIternatives.
l remember you telling me about doing this, picking rosehips.
- How much did they pay you? - Tuppence a pound.
- Tuppence a pound.
Which was quite good tor pocket money days. lt really was.
lt you did it on the wet days, ot course they weighed more.
Which was quite good.
That was your compensation tor being out in bad weather.
And with all the men away,
it was left to the women and largely the boys
to go round the hedges, tind apples,
pick these berries and so torth.
And why rosehips so much? Because there's not much tood value in them.
Ah, but there's vitamin C.
So all the sources ot vitamin C we've got used to, oranges and lemons, no longer come in.
And limes. All that sort ot mediterranean-type stuff couldn't get through.
So we're scratching about trying to tind native British equivalents.
Ruth's preserving the rosehips in syrup, so it can be taken throughout the winter.
The long, slow, gentle cooking...
..has suited them quite well.
So now l just need to strain all that liquid off.
Look at the colour.
So what l'm getting out here, really...
Well, it's the vitamin C is what we're after.
And that tleshy bit around the seed.
lt's just like making jam or jelly, really.
And once this has all drained out,
l'll just have to make it into a syrup with sugar.
The sugar's there to preserve the truit.
Then when l bottle it, it'll keep.
Just like dancing.
FinaIIy, Peter's moIe subsoiIer is finished.
Let me get round there.
One more.
Da-da!
And the team can drain the fieId in preparation for sowing the wheat.
Finally. All those hours out in the shed.
Yep.
lt's quite a contraption, isn't it?
l have got the plan that Peter and l... We surveyed the tield.
We put in all the levels. But l think the tirst thing to do is to just concentrate.
We're up here. l'm just getting in these main drains.
Yeah.
Before Peter's contraption can prove itseIf,
there's the perenniaI probIem of getting the tractor to start.
- Damn the Fordson. - (Ruth laughs)
Damn it.
(Tractor starts)
Stand back!
(Crunch ot gears)
It's not going according to pIan.
IdeaIIy, the moIe shouId be cutting a channeI about a foot beneath the surface.
Right, shall l try standing on this?
On there.
Yeah.
This is bizarre.
Why don't we dig a hole and put the mole in and start with it already in the ground
rather than trying to let it go down?
When war broke out,
there were aImost four miIIion acres of Iand Iike this that needed draining.
OK, let's go.
The problem is, it's just pulled it... the path ot least resistance,
which is up out ot the ground.
It's cIear the chassis buiIt by Peter is too Iight to keep the moIe in the ground.
In a corner of the farmyard,
AIex has found a much heavier chassis to fit Peter's moIe subsoiIer to.
That sun's nearly down.
That's it. Lovely. That's wonderful.
But things are about to go from bad to worse.
The improvised bracket hoIding the moIe has bent, because it isn't strong enough.
That's that, then, isn't it?
Time is running out to get the crops sown.
So they'II have to abandon draining the fieId.
As Peter has discovered, improvising farm machinery is no easy task.
But for the wartime farmer, this couId have been disastrous,
and incurred the wrath of the War Ag.
lt our tields tlood, you know, the War Ag would look at us and they'd say,
''We need to move them on.''
So we'd just better hope, against hopes, that we have an extremely dry summer.
A farmer's duties to the nation didn't end with attempting to doubIe crop production.
Their knowIedge of the Iandscape made them invaIuabIe recruits
to one of the war's most secret organisations.
The AuxiIiary Units.
You names have been put torward
as men who would like to do something more tor the war effort.
- ls this something...? - Absolutely. Absolutely.
l mean, everything we can.
The AuxiIiary Unit was a resistance force in waiting.
A Iast Iine of defence against Nazi invasion.
Steve Mason is an expert on the AuxiIiary Units stationed here on the South Coast.
Do you think you could kill another man in cold blood?
Tough.
This is the sort ot question that was being put to people at the time? Farmers?
Absolutely.
But it really comes down to your personal mettle.
So this is something beyond the Home Guard.
This is a sort ot secret service, isn't it?
Absolutely. Just like the cells they're setting up in Europe at the same time,
a resistance movement.
We've heard ot Home Guard but why don't we hear ot these guys?
Because the people who joined this resistance movement had to sign the Official Secrets Act.
So l suppose it, during the war,
it we were held back in a reserved occupation and we were ot a certain age,
then we'd be seen as kind ot people who both knew the land, being tarmers,
- and also quite able-bodied. - Absolutely.
So these are photographs ot the men who actually were the Auxiliaries tor this locality.
You were never to discuss this thing ever.
l've spoken to one surviving auxiliary who was 1 8 at the time.
- Right. - So he's young enough still now
to talk about it.
He only wants to discuss the people in that photograph who are dead.
With the Nazis poised to invade,
the AuxiIiary Unit were ready to go to ground
and form a guerriIIa network to destroy enemy infrastructure.
Their instruction manuaIs were cunningIy disguised.
lt's got a cover
so it a German invading just picked it up,
they would hopetully think that it was an out-ot-date calendar
and not look inside.
And this tells you how to handle explosives.
And again, more tricks ot the trade.
How to blow up a petrol tank.
How to blow up railway lines.
Do you think, putting yourselves back there, would you really have signed up tor this?
- What do you think? - l think so.
lt you're a reserved occupation like a tarmer, tor example,
is there going to be a sense that you want to be out there on the tront line?
Although you're tarming, there's a sense that you're going to want a bit ot action.
- ltching to get involved? - Yeah.
l wonder whether that might have played a part in some people signing up.
A number ot them do say that.
They actually just wanted to get their hands on some action, as corny as it sounds.
Unbeknown to the boys, Iike many farmers' wives,
Ruth too has been conscripted into secret service.
Gardening has taken on a whole new signiticance tor me.
Particularly this potting shed.
Because, whilst the boys think l'm working in the garden,
and they're well out ot the way in the tields,
what l'm really doing in here...
..is this.
Ruth's been recruited into the SpeciaI Duties Section.
Their mission, to handIe communications between AuxiIiary Units in the fieId and HQ.
This is my aerial.
About three and a halt thousand people were involved.
Vicars, bar maids, tarmers,
tarmers' wives and housewives.
And yet, almost nobody knows about it.
They really just kept that quiet.
There are instances in which a wite was doing this with the radio
whilst the husband was out doing other auxiliary work
and neither ot them told each other until they were in their 80s or 90s.
Years and years and years later.
ln some ways, it's comical.
But it's also really serious.
People were expecting to be invaded.
They were expecting that this sort ot work put their lives in serious danger.
lt you'd been caught with a radio when the Germans came,
you were looking not just at execution but probably torture too.
lntormant contirms successtul patrol manoeuvre.
Four men, evidence ot explosives.
Northwest ot Arbo Wood.
Approximate time, 001 5.
Location, Hamble. G.
Despite their important top-secret miIitary duties,
the priority for farmers was doubIing crop production to feed the nation.
AIthough the team were unabIe to moIe-drain the boggy fieId,
the task now is to pIough as quickIy as possibIe
in preparation for sowing the wheat.
With the days drawing shorter,
the War AgricuIturaI Committee encouraged farmers to pIough on into the night.
We've got to plough through the night. This was something that was expected during the war.
Not something l think people did willingly, really,
but untortunately we've just got to do this because we're so behind.
PIoughing at night creates unique probIems.
Right, so this is our lantern.
And it's just in the hedge.
And it's going to give something tor Ruth to tix on on the horizon.
So that she can drive theoretically in a straight line.
l'm a bit worried, though, about using these lights with the blackout.
l reckon the lamps in the hedge probably could be hidden trom the air, anyway.
And this one's already got a hood on it.
And this lamp will be moving.
- So l just aim at the light in the hedge? - Yep, that's the idea.
When you think about ploughing, you invariably think ot the horseman out there with his horses
gently ploughing away in the quiet,
perhaps on a nice sunny spring morning.
But during the Second World War ploughing was a very different monster.
And the plough, really, had become a weapon ot war.
lt was the tarmers' principal weapon ot war.
Now, l'm not entirely sure we're getting this right.
But we're putting our all into it.
And Ruth's doing a tantastic job.
Hopetully by the end ot the month we'll have the tield done.
Next morning, Ruth is caIIed into action by the SpeciaI Duties Section.
Her mission, to pass a message on to the AuxiIiary Unit.
Hampshire, with its strategic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth,
was a key target for invasion.
So more AuxiIiary Units were stationed here than any county in Britain.
MiIitary expert GeraId SutcIiffe is Ieading AIex and Peter's patroI.
What we're going to now is an OB, an Operational Base.
So we've got basically a little bunker.
We've already got some equipment, munitions and rations in.
Let's go and have a look at it now, shall we?
All over the country, around the coast in particular,
are groups like us.
We're going to be providing a nasty surprise to Herr Hitler.
Unlike the other countries
which have had the untortunate experience ot his jackboots going over them, we're ready.
We're going to come up behind him
and going to blow up his petrol dumps.
We're going to blow up his ammunition dumps.
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 miIitary experience
into guerriIIa saboteurs.
AIex has picked up the message dropped by the SpeciaI Duties Section
with detaiIs of a training exercise.
We've been left a note advising us that a German patrol ot 1 0 men is expected.
At the moment my thoughts are,
we'll ambush their patrol.
This is a typicaI exercise passed on by the mysterious Agent R.
Agent R... l wonder who that could be.
That's the point.
You will never know.
And neither will l.
You'll never know the members ot the intelligence section and they don't know you.
They just leave little messages tor us.
And we pick them up and we never see them or they us.
Training by night, then working in the fieId by day,
meant a wartime farmer couId find himseIf working 1 7-hour days.
l want two members ot the team to go up on the ridgeline
while l go down and l arrange... rig a couple ot surprises.
Right? And one ot you can cover me while that's going on.
Why do l have to go in tront all the time, Peter?
AIex and Peter keep watch from the ridgeIine.
FoIIowing instructions set out in the AuxiIiary Unit manuaI,
GeraId sets a booby trap.
What l'm going to rig up is a grenade with a pin removed
but sufficient pressure on top ot it,
so that when somebody kicks it
it's going to release the lever...
..and go bang.
OK.
And rejoin the others.
This being an exercise, there are no Germans.
And Jerry's grenade is simpIy a thunderfIash.
Bang, bang, bang.
Stop!
Well, good tor a tirst attempt.
- You think so? - l think so.
They would have used all sorts ot methods to simulate combat.
- OK. - l did it that way
because you weren't expecting it
- to add that bit ot tension and realism. - Yeah.
So you were both conditioning us and testing us at the same time.
Yes.
AIex, Ruth and Peter have now been wartime farmers for two months.
For Ruth, the work in the fieIds has Ieft IittIe time for domestic duties.
So she's taken another step towards modernising the kitchen,
by fitting Iino.
Fantastic!
You often hear about labour-saving things in the kitchen,
and you sort ot imagine it's all about gadgets.
Nah.
lt's about things like this.
The things that make the big difference.
lnstead ot spending, you know, 45 minutes twice a day on the tloor,
like you might have to with a stone tlag tloor,
l can run over with a mop and bucket in 1 0 minutes.
The paraffin stove is aIso heIping to save time.
UnIike an oId-fashioned coaI range, it's up and running in seconds.
Ruth's using it to cook a quick meaI
from her 1 930s cookbook.
Fried bacon with bananas.
lt's such an odd recipe to tind in a late '30s book.
lt took me so by surprise.
Bacon's going to become a thing ot scarcity.
By 1 939 we were already bringing in
quite a signiticant proportion ot our bacon trom Denmark.
And then the bananas go in the butter.
Bananas wouId soon disappear compIeteIy from the shops
as the Government requisitioned banana boats to import materiaIs essentiaI to the war effort.
From the decIaration of war in September 1 939
untiI May 1 940,
no bombers appeared overhead
and the gas attacks didn't materiaIise.
It became known as the Phony War.
But by June 1 940, after the British had been driven into the sea at Dunkirk,
the mood was darkening.
France feII to the Nazis.
And as the new Prime Minister Winston ChurchiII warned,
Britain was next in Iine.
WlRELESS: ..confidence and growing strength in the air.
We shaII defend our isIand
whatever the cost may be,'
we shaII fight on the beaches,
we shaII fight on the Ianding grounds,
we shaII fight in the fieIds,
and in the streets.
We shaII fight in the hiIIs.
We shaII never surrender...
l think it's interesting, isn't it? That speech is so iconic.
lt must have been territying tor people to think, you know,
there could possibly have been tighting on the beaches and in the tields.
And somewhere like Hampshire, where we are, l gather would be sort ot on the tront line.
Well, it is the whole problem ot looking back at the war.
We know that we won.
People at the time did not know that.
So l suppose the tarmers at the time,
they'd have really been, hopetully, buoyed up to get a success in that harvest.
lt would have loaded a lot ot pressure on their shoulders.
You know, it would have really 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, isn't it?
Everybody's hearing that all together.
You teel like you've absolutely got to do it right.
To do justice to the effort that was put in trom '39.
l certainly teel that. l really teel a big responsibility
to those people who went through this. And who are still alive, you know.
- lt's not something to be taken lightly, is it? - No.
We're messing with memories as well as history.
Well, indeed. lndeed.
(Knock at door)
- Hello. - You'd better put that curtain up, you know.
Be all right.
- Hello, Steve. - Good evening.
- Hello. - Hello, Ruth.
- A pleasant surprise. - Come and join us.
How are you? Good to see you.
You're in luck. Have a cake.
- Good griet. - Have an eclair.
l'm on my rounds. l have to say, what a marvellous job you've done with your windows.
- Absolutely. - l told you.
- But... - Oh.
You're going to be in tor a tine because you're showing a light under your door.
- Really? - You haven't put the curtain up.
So what are the consequences?
The County Court will summons you.
Anything trom three shillings to seven and six, l would think.
Ot course, the other thing to mention is the excessive lights you're burning.
For a small room you've got three lights.
So that will incur another tine.
- Oh, good griet. - Good Lord.
l was just enjoying having electricity.
lt's that classic thing, where you're not physically doing the thing like tilling your oil lamp.
With electricity, you don't think about the power source and how much you're using.
Well, l think we should enjoy these deserts while we can
because l think trom now on in things are only going to get tougher, aren't they?
- much like this guy. - (Laughter)
Do you want to put that light out? l'll put this one out.
And the radio.
Let's get this curtain up, then.
Keep it running, Ruth!
The team's back on track
with the task of increasing the farm's food production.
The wheat fieId is pIoughed.
Next, it's harrowed to break up the earth.
Then sowed with the wheat seed.
If aII goes weII, in nine months'time they shouId have a good crop to harvest.
RUTH: We have cracked on. We really have cracked on.
A million acres, was it, they ploughed up extra? ln '39.
By the spring ot 1 940, one point seven million acres.
- Extra. - Extra.
On top ot what they were already doing.
And a lot ot tarmers said it couldn't be done.
They shook their heads and said, ''No, you can't do that.''
And then they turned around and did it.
Wartime farmers didn't know it yet but this wasjust the start.
They stiII had five years of war to endure.
And conditions were onIy going to get tougher as they struggIed to feed the nation.