North East Scotland At War – by Alan Stewart
Reviewed by Duncan Harley
Five years in the
making, Alan Stewart’s new book ‘North East Scotland At War’ will appeal to
anyone even remotely interested in the history of the North-east of Scotland.
There are plenty of home-defence books out there which record the
difficult years between the Chamberlain peace accord and the Soviet conquest of
Berlin. Osborne’s ‘Defending Britain’
and Gordon Barclay’s 'If Hitler Comes’
are the classics. But this book is slightly different and there is certainly room
for further historical accounts of the dark days when Hitler threatened our shores.
With a decidedly local slant, North East Scotland At War launches the reader into the minutiae of
the defence of the North-east against what was, for a brief few years,
perceived as the Nazi threat. The archaeology of those distant times is laid
bare and many of the official documents which record the difficult days inhabit
the pages.
A ground-based Invasion never came. But preparations were firmly
in in place and Alan’s finely researched history brings the day to day story of
those difficult times sharply into focus.
Fougasse - developed by the Petroleum Warfare Department as an anti-tank weapon, Dragon’s Teeth and Railway Blocks feature in this book along with the stories of the stop-lines, the Home Guard roadblocks and of course that secretive plan to harry the invaders using suicide squads tasked with assassinating both their own commanders – who might betray them under torture – and German officers.
Fougasse - developed by the Petroleum Warfare Department as an anti-tank weapon, Dragon’s Teeth and Railway Blocks feature in this book along with the stories of the stop-lines, the Home Guard roadblocks and of course that secretive plan to harry the invaders using suicide squads tasked with assassinating both their own commanders – who might betray them under torture – and German officers.
Air crashes also inhabit these pages. Alongside the enemy casualties,
and they were in the hundreds, Alan details the stories behind some of the
Commonwealth gravestones which litter the cemeteries of the North-east. Training
accidents accounted for many of the casualties. A Czech fighter pilot killed
when his Spitfire spiralled into the ground, an air-sea rescue crew lost in a
collision with railway wagons on the perimeter of RAF Dyce Airfield and the
gravestone of Flight Lieutenant Wheelock – killed attempting an emergency
landing – again at Dyce – are featured.
This is one of those books which is difficult to set aside. The minutiae of the location of pill-boxes and the stark reality of the bombing maps feature alongside some difficult tales of children killed on the local sands, not by the Germans, but by the very defences intended to keep them safe. Landmines and barbed wire were as much a hazard as air-borne bombs and machine-gun bullets.
This is one of those books which is difficult to set aside. The minutiae of the location of pill-boxes and the stark reality of the bombing maps feature alongside some difficult tales of children killed on the local sands, not by the Germans, but by the very defences intended to keep them safe. Landmines and barbed wire were as much a hazard as air-borne bombs and machine-gun bullets.
Alongside the difficult descriptions of civilian carnage,
Alan has included a number of images of official documents which give a flavour
of the times. In a memo marked TOP
SECRET, a Colonel Geddes, commander of Aberdeen Garrison, expresses his concern
regarding the vulnerability of Tullos Hill.
“I am a little uneasy”
he writes “about the defence of
TULLOS HILL – Area 4624. This is a very commanding feature, on which the
following units are located: A.B. 2 Site, Heavy A.A Bty, Detachment 319
Search-Light Regiment, RAF Wireless Installation and Royal Observer Corps Post.”
There are literally dozens of such so-far hidden
documents sprinkled throughout this account of those dark times when the invasion of
our shores seemed such a certainty.
Profusely illustrated and replete with a plethora of new information
gleaned from both local and national records, this is a local history book
which I am pleased to include on my bookshelf.
North East Scotland
At War – by Alan Stewart is Available from @ Cabroaviation at £21.99 + £3 P&P
ISBN 9781527215689
ISBN 9781527215689
Is part two out? Happy to review. Best, Duncan
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