0:00:01 > 0:00:03September 3rd, 1939.
0:00:03 > 0:00:07And families all over the country flock to their radios.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09RADIO: '..No such undertaking has been received.
0:00:09 > 0:00:15'And that consequently, this country is at war with Germany.'
0:00:17 > 0:00:21In that brief moment, life in our country changed for ever.
0:00:21 > 0:00:22World War II had begun.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27But victory wouldn't be assured by military might alone.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30The Blitz, evacuation, rationing,
0:00:30 > 0:00:31the loss of loved ones.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35The war on the home front meant that everyone had to do their bit.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39From the country's women who took on everything - farming,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42factory work, even flying Spitfires -
0:00:42 > 0:00:44to the nation's auxiliary firemen,
0:00:44 > 0:00:46who worked through the terror of countless air raids -
0:00:46 > 0:00:51this is the story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53This is How We Won The War.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05In this series, I'm travelling all over the UK
0:01:05 > 0:01:09exploring how different areas made unique contributions
0:01:09 > 0:01:11to the war effort here at home.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I'll be looking at the lives of ordinary citizens
0:01:14 > 0:01:18and the incredible efforts they went to throughout the war years.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21I've left Scotland behind me
0:01:21 > 0:01:24and I've crossed the border into Northumberland.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Today, we've got a chance to explore
0:01:26 > 0:01:30what the region in general did during the war.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34Coming up, we'll be looking at the biggest air-raid shelter
0:01:34 > 0:01:37outside London - Newcastle's Victoria Tunnel.
0:01:37 > 0:01:38And this is the real thing?
0:01:38 > 0:01:41It is. That's a World War II chemical toilet.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Uncovering the secrets of Churchill's clandestine civilian army.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50The idea that we would be secreting some of our own men deep in our countryside
0:01:50 > 0:01:54and that they would, if necessary, be killing British citizens,
0:01:54 > 0:01:55was fairly revolutionary
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and rather dark stuff altogether.
0:01:58 > 0:01:59And chopping down trees
0:01:59 > 0:02:03with one of the war's forgotten corps, the Lumberjills.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09Some were termed Amazon women that were equally as good as the best men at felling trees.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11- It's going.- Timber!
0:02:27 > 0:02:30The North East has a history as a major centre of industry,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34from the coalmines of County Durham to the shipyards of Tyne and Wear.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39But with the onset of war in 1939, manufacturing massively increased.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Great Britain lost more than four-million tonnes of shipping during the war,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47and half of it was replaced by a North-East workforce.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51But the contribution the people of the region made to the war effort
0:02:51 > 0:02:54goes well beyond its industries.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58With the fall of France in June 1940,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01the United Kingdom was one of the only countries in Europe
0:03:01 > 0:03:04that didn't have German boots on it.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08But in July of that year, Hitler issued his infamous Directive 16,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11his plan for the invasion of Britain.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Now, as you can imagine, Churchill had other ideas.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17He was determined that if German troops did get ashore,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19they wouldn't have an easy time of it.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23# Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler
0:03:23 > 0:03:27# If you think we're on the run... #
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Local historian John Sadler
0:03:32 > 0:03:35has brought me to Druridge Bay on the North-East coast
0:03:35 > 0:03:38to explain Britain's plans for ordinary members of the public
0:03:38 > 0:03:41in a radical defence strategy.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44As invasion beaches, the North East was quite attractive.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46It was a very long, sandy coastline,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49very close to a major coal-producing area,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51South-East Northumberland coalfield.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55Newcastle was still arguably the world's greatest arms manufacturing area and location.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57They'd have taken that straightaway.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00And so the Home Guard would be deployed
0:04:00 > 0:04:02as the first line of defence.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06The idea was that they would hold the Germans up on the beaches.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10We tend to think of the Home Guard, the ubiquitous image of Dad's Army,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13but within that, there was a much darker side to it.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16There were troops who were much more highly trained.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19There was indeed. The Home Guard had, if you like, their own version
0:04:19 > 0:04:23of what we now call special forces, who were called the auxiliaries.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26A rather innocuous name, but these were young men primarily
0:04:26 > 0:04:29who were trained to stay behind,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31to create mayhem behind the German lines,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34to carry out sabotage and assassination
0:04:34 > 0:04:36and who would expect effectively
0:04:36 > 0:04:39to be undertaking suicide missions.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Selected from those prevented from going to war
0:04:41 > 0:04:43because their occupations were reserved,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47these ordinary people would be organised into small, covert units.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53They'd be completely on their own, they'd be isolated within their deep dugouts, bunkers.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58It's believed this secret army of citizens were issued with kill lists
0:04:58 > 0:05:00identifying known German sympathisers
0:05:00 > 0:05:04and anyone with knowledge the Nazis might try to exploit.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07They'd be reliant on a network of many young women couriers
0:05:07 > 0:05:11who'd be their eyes and ears to assess German movements, identify targets
0:05:11 > 0:05:15and possibly they'd be responsible for a series of assassinations
0:05:15 > 0:05:16of collaborators in the area.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21This was all new thinking. The idea that we would be
0:05:21 > 0:05:23secreting our own men deep in our own countryside
0:05:23 > 0:05:26in specially prepared dugouts and bunkers
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and that they would, if necessary, be killing British citizens,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32was fairly revolutionary
0:05:32 > 0:05:34and rather dark stuff altogether.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38It was essential the auxiliary units remained undetected,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40even in their own communities.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Their family were not ever to know. Not their mother, not their father,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48not their wives or girlfriends, that they were to be activated
0:05:48 > 0:05:51because that person could be interrogated or tortured.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53They were made aware that their life expectancy,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55once the Germans had invaded, once they were activated,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57was no more than 14 days.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00They were assuming an enormous responsibility.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03And if the Germans had invaded,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05these men would have risen to the test, I think.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12This whole area is dotted with remnants of our World War II coastal-defence system.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Some less obvious than others.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Along the outside, it looks like a shepherd's hut, doesn't it?
0:06:18 > 0:06:21It certainly does. It looks totally innocuous.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24This pillbox disguised as a cottage is a perfect location
0:06:24 > 0:06:26to hear more about the auxiliaries.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Now, then, yeah, this is interesting, isn't it?
0:06:29 > 0:06:32- Not a lot of space in here. - Not a lot of room, no.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35And what have you got tucked away in here?
0:06:35 > 0:06:40"Highworth's fertilisers. Do their stuff unseen until you see the results."
0:06:40 > 0:06:42"The Countryman's Diary 1939."
0:06:42 > 0:06:45This doesn't look very dangerous to me.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47There's an irony in the title.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50The results would have been very surprising for any gardener.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53That is a DIY manual to sabotage assassination
0:06:53 > 0:06:56and generally creating mayhem behind enemy lines.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Page one - burning fuses, detonators.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Detonating fuses, high explosives.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04- I don't know about your garden, but there's none of that in mine.- No.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05That's extraordinary.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The auxiliaries may have been made up of ordinary members of the public,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13but they had help from some less-than-ordinary sources.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24- Anthony Quayle, I gather, had a role to play up here.- He did.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27We mainly know Quayle as a famous, renowned British actor
0:07:27 > 0:07:29but he was actually a British army officer.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31He was a special operations executive.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33And he was responsible...he was the co-ordinator,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37the training officer for all of the auxiliary units in Northumberland.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40- Gladiators to fight as soldiers? - Why not?
0:07:40 > 0:07:43We'll teach your legionaries how to kill!
0:07:43 > 0:07:46When we see him on the screen handling these sorts of things,
0:07:46 > 0:07:47he was a man who knew what he was doing.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49In a way, yes. He's an actor, a great actor,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53but as you say, he was immediately familiar with any wartime role
0:07:53 > 0:07:54because he had done it for real.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57We did a lot of training, which was very interesting,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and all this stuff you see here on the table.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02we had these Thompson machine guns and Winchesters here.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Let's have a look at this because it's secretly disguised as a gas pipe,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09- but inside, there's a dagger. - Very alarming. It frightens me.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13The method Quayle used to train his men in the art of ambush
0:08:13 > 0:08:15has passed into local legend.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18So Quayle got to where the ambush was, nobody there,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20stopped the car. "What the hell's going on?"
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Got out, walked around the car and got back in.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23There were two guys behind him,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26one guy under the car and another in the passenger seat.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28And they all had guns on him as soon as he got back in.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30He never saw them coming.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34For film star and ordinary citizen alike,
0:08:34 > 0:08:39the idea of fighting a guerrilla war against an occupying Nazi force
0:08:39 > 0:08:41was a formidable prospect.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43When you think about what they were going to give up,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45it would have been so easy to lie low,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49just stick your head down below the parapet and hope it all went away.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Think of the terrible sacrifice the French Resistance suffered,
0:08:52 > 0:08:53and the Norwegians and the Poles.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56That gives us an idea of what would have happened here.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59I am filled with admiration for these men and women and those who helped them.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07By 1941, there were some 5,000 auxiliaries
0:09:07 > 0:09:10poised to tackle any German invasion.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Now, of course, thankfully, that never happened
0:09:12 > 0:09:14and they were never put to the test.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18But we do know that the skill and bravery of ordinary young men
0:09:18 > 0:09:23demonstrated just how determined we all were to win the war at any cost.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32I'm now heading further down the coast to Newcastle,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34where the shipyards and other vital industries
0:09:34 > 0:09:37meant the city had to find imaginative ways
0:09:37 > 0:09:39of protecting its people from Hitler's bombs.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Providing enough air-raid shelters for the local population
0:09:45 > 0:09:48presented an almost impossible challenge.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51But luckily, the very thing the German air force were aiming for -
0:09:51 > 0:09:56Newcastle's industry - provided an intriguing solution from its past.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01In 1842, a two-and-a-half mile tunnel
0:10:01 > 0:10:04from Newcastle's Town Moor to the quayside
0:10:04 > 0:10:07was opened to transport coal beneath the city.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11- This is extraordinary, isn't it? - This is the first entrance...
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Ian Holloway is one of the tunnel's curators.
0:10:15 > 0:10:20By 1935, every city in the country had been given a government document
0:10:20 > 0:10:22saying that in the event of another war,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25because people in the know realised there was going to be one,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28they wanted air-raid protection
0:10:28 > 0:10:30for the population in the cities.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34The Victoria Tunnel was an obvious solution
0:10:34 > 0:10:39and was refitted as an air-raid shelter at a cost of £37,000.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43The doors were open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47So people just came in here. And they sometimes came in for other purposes
0:10:47 > 0:10:50- than using it as an air-raid shelter. - Such as?
0:10:50 > 0:10:53A good umbrella if it was raining and you wanted to walk
0:10:53 > 0:10:55from this part of Newcastle into the centre of the city.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Extensive work was carried out to ensure
0:10:58 > 0:11:01the tunnel functioned effectively and safely.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05They had to make sure that if the tunnel had been penetrated,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09the blast wouldn't have travelled along a two-and-a-quarter mile tube,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11taking everybody and everything with it.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14So they built in a series of these blast walls.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- So it's a fair wiggle, I imagine. - It is indeed. Wind around it.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Yeah.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Yeah, that's amazing. The acoustics are extraordinary, aren't they?
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Yeah. And then we get the very echoey bit here.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30And it wasn't just safety the planners had to think about.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34The toilet facilities had to be provided for men and women separately
0:11:34 > 0:11:38in well-ventilated areas away from the main thoroughfare.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- There's no ventilation whatsoever. - Nor a lot of privacy either.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Very little. There would be posts and sack clothing wrapping around.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46And this is the real thing?
0:11:46 > 0:11:50That's a World War II chemical toilet.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53I have heard of a great sense of community spirit that thrived here.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Yes. This shelter was well known for that.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59The humour and the good atmosphere, the friendliness
0:11:59 > 0:12:02is something that came up time and time again
0:12:02 > 0:12:05when we interviewed people who were down in the tunnel.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16We have evidence that people did stake out a territory
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and that families preferred to meet from different parts of the city,
0:12:19 > 0:12:23they would come together always in the same part of the tunnel
0:12:23 > 0:12:25each time there was an air raid.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Basil McLeod was 12 years old
0:12:30 > 0:12:33when the bombs started to fall on Newcastle.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37What do you remember about the atmosphere down here
0:12:37 > 0:12:41in terms of people getting on with one another? It's a tight spot.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Actually, they got on quite well.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47There was a lot of neighbourliness and a lot of jovial backchat.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52And one or two women would grumble about rationing
0:12:52 > 0:12:54or shortages, that sort of thing.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58But as a youngster, we just did our own thing.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02We walked off with our friends, school friends
0:13:02 > 0:13:04from one entrance to another.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Occasionally, there was a singsong going on.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11- Really?- Yeah. Someone came down
0:13:11 > 0:13:14after spending a few hours in the pub, you know,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16he'd come down singing.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21Complaining that the Germans had interrupted his drinking habits.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24They came before time was called.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29What would it have been like during the war? Very similar?
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Yes. We have a story from somebody who was in in WWII
0:13:32 > 0:13:35who said it smelt like a damp tent
0:13:35 > 0:13:38after you've been holidaying in the rain for a week
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and you'd been sharing your tent with a dog.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44But they had a humorous phrase - it was better to be damp than dead.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48- And that probably is a truism. - I should think it is, yeah.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Throughout the war, the North East endured repeated bombings,
0:13:52 > 0:13:57killing more than 700 people in the Tyneside area alone.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00But the children who emerged from the safety of the tunnel
0:14:00 > 0:14:04viewed the bomb-ravaged city very differently to their parents.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07It was an adventure playground.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11In fact, we looked upon it as a time...
0:14:11 > 0:14:14an adventurous time of our lives, you know.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16We weren't frightened.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Although we were taught to be sensible, to take cover.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22You didn't stand outside watching the fireworks going on,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25otherwise you could get killed.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28It never occurred to any of my friends or myself
0:14:28 > 0:14:30that we would lose the war.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35Things were bad, but we had always thought for some reason
0:14:35 > 0:14:38that, um...we would get through it.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48The Victoria Tunnel saved countless lives.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01But up the coast in North Shields,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03another shelter would become the site
0:15:03 > 0:15:07of one of the worst disasters to hit the North East.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09One single bomb, one aircraft,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11direct hit on a public air-raid shelter.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13107 people died.
0:15:13 > 0:15:1641 of those were children under the age of 16.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22The Wilkinson building was a well-known landmark in North Shields.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25The lemonade factory itself was a Victorian three-storey building
0:15:25 > 0:15:28with a substantial basement area.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30And it was decided in 1940
0:15:30 > 0:15:34that it would make a useful air-raid shelter for the public.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39On the floors above it, the heavy equipment, the bottling machinery,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42thousands of glass bottles, vats of chemicals,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44all of which would have nasty repercussions
0:15:44 > 0:15:46should the building suffer a direct hit.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51The Saturday evening of May 3rd 1941,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54began like any other for the people of North Shields.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57The pubs were busy, the cinemas were busy.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Lots of people out and about. It was a warm night.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04And the public air-raid siren sounds at about 11:12.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07SIREN WAILS
0:16:07 > 0:16:10There's Mrs Ellen Lee, the shelter warden, at the doorway,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13and she's guiding people down into the shelter.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18And by 11:45pm, there are 192 people in that shelter.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Little do they know that within a few minutes' time,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26virtually everybody in that shelter would be dead
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and entire families would be wiped out.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32A single German aircraft released four bombs
0:16:32 > 0:16:34in the skies over North Shields.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38One scored a direct hit on the lemonade factory.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Inside the shelter, the walls and ceilings collapsing,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47the dust, the smoke, the debris.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50The shouts, the screams and then silence.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57As dawn broke the next day,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00the full extent of the destruction was revealed.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Incredibly, 85 people made it out alive.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Although difficult, for some of the survivors of that dreadful night,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22rare footage like this offers an opportunity
0:17:22 > 0:17:25to share their common experiences.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30All the time, there was screams.
0:17:30 > 0:17:31Everybody shouting.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35It was horrible.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38My Auntie Kathy says,
0:17:38 > 0:17:42"I'm going to go through into the middle to talk to our Edith.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44"I won't be five minutes."
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Just as she walked through the door, the bomb dropped.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50She was killed instantly.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55I was in shock for two years.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Bad time, I had.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11I was knocked off the bunk and felt a terrible blast on the side.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14And, um...everything was dark.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17It was...streamed with dust.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20There was debris all over the place.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24It was, you know, just absolutely black.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Robert William Suthurst was just 11 years old
0:18:28 > 0:18:30when the bomb brought the building crashing down
0:18:30 > 0:18:33around him and his family.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I heard me brother Tommy crying in a funny sort of way.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41And I says, "Come on, we've got to get out of here, like, you know."
0:18:41 > 0:18:43He says, "I can't walk."
0:18:49 > 0:18:52And, um... I says, er...
0:18:53 > 0:18:57"What's the matter? Why can you not walk?"
0:18:57 > 0:19:00He says, "Me leg, me leg hurts."
0:19:05 > 0:19:08So, um...I felt his leg
0:19:08 > 0:19:12and there was a large lump of...flesh
0:19:12 > 0:19:13had been taken out of his leg.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Well, um... It just shocked me.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21I-I, you know, I-I, I just... My God.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24You know, I-I just couldn't understand,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28you know...what, what had happened.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Although seriously injured, Tommy was to survive.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34But the brothers lost their mother that night.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39As the Air Raid Protection or ARP teams arrived,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42ordinary people were becoming heroes.
0:19:43 > 0:19:48Norman Darling Black was a first-aider with an ARP rescue party.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52He managed to squeeze into one of the basement spaces
0:19:52 > 0:19:55and he spent four hours, inch by inch
0:19:55 > 0:19:57trying to rescue a trapped girl
0:19:57 > 0:20:00who was just pinned down by tonnes of masonry.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03And finally, he managed to extricate that girl
0:20:03 > 0:20:06and then went back in to try and rescue a similarly trapped man.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11George Newstead was a sergeant with the ARP rescue squad.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15And he spent hours trying to rescue a man
0:20:15 > 0:20:18who was trapped by metal and fallen debris.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22The decision was made to actually amputate the man's foot.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25And whilst the doctor went away for his surgical implements,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Mr Newstead gave it one more go
0:20:27 > 0:20:31and he managed to jack up that iron girder by a few more inches.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34And using a penknife, he cut away the man's boot
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and he was able to drag that man to safety.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Clarence Burdis, again with the ARP,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43he spent four hours unaided,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45passing survivors through the hole
0:20:45 > 0:20:48that he had made into relative safety.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53All three men received medals for their outstanding bravery.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58But a fourth hero that night has gone largely unrecognised.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Ellen Lee was a considerable local character, and six foot tall.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07It was her shelter and she ran it properly.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09She wouldn't allow courting couples
0:21:09 > 0:21:11or any kind of misbehaviour in the shelter at all.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16Now, Ellen Lee, despite being very badly burned in the explosion,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21shoulder-charges one of the walls repeatedly until the wall collapses.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24And then she stands at that exit
0:21:24 > 0:21:27until 32 people have clambered to safety.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Positions of utter peril for hours on end,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41never knowing whether the building is going to collapse on you.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44They were the right people there at the right time.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46They had the skills. And more than that,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49they were rescuing their own neighbours,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52their own friends, their own community.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54For the children who survived,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57the trauma of that night has never left them.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I would never go in a shelter again after that.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01When the air raids came,
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Dad used to shove us in a cupboard under the stairs.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Even today, I'm frightened. I couldn't go in a lift by meself.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18When I look back, I wonder how there was as many saved, to be honest.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23An entire community struck by unimaginable loss
0:22:23 > 0:22:25came together in the face of catastrophe.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29It's that sense of shared resolve,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33of determination to get on with life regardless of its hardships,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36which really goes to the heart of how we won the war.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Outside the cities, the North East's countryside
0:22:40 > 0:22:44became home for more than 40,000 child evacuees
0:22:44 > 0:22:46in September 1939.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49In Bishop Auckland, County Durham,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53teacher Matthew Walton was part of the Mass Observation Project.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57An archive of more than 300,000 pages of personal writings
0:22:57 > 0:22:59held at the University of Sussex.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04His diaries offer an insight into the lives of citizens
0:23:04 > 0:23:06struggling with the reality of war.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Friday, September 1st, 1939.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12School at usual time, 9:00am,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16to find out arrangements for receiving evacuees.
0:23:16 > 0:23:17Find everyone on edge.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20More, I think, from inevitability than anything else.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24On the way to the station, handwritten newspaper placard put out.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26"Germans Bomb Polish Town."
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Immediate reaction, "Well, lads, it's on."
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Train arrived on time.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34This contained about 300 elementary schoolchildren and teachers
0:23:34 > 0:23:37who had to march about half a mile to the nearest elementary school,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41there to be sorted and sent off in buses to surrounding villages.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44After counting them, we let them go.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48The teachers, without exception, felt impelled, without a word being said,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51to load themselves with children's suitcases
0:23:51 > 0:23:52and haversacks and accompany them.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56It brought home to the majority for the first time, I think,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59that this was not a nuisance, but the beginning of something terrible.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01The day was unbearably hot.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05The little ones, six and seven, staggering along with bundles as big as themselves.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08To me, it revived my feelings of the Spanish War,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Those endless trails of refugees
0:24:10 > 0:24:14only brought home to OUR doorsteps.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16Elsewhere in the North East,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20even the forests were contributing to the war effort.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24In 1942, the government set up the Women's Timber Corps,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26affectionately known as Lumberjills,
0:24:26 > 0:24:31to help keep up with the war industry's massive demand for wood.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33# We're the girls who fell for victory
0:24:33 > 0:24:38# We're the girls who chop the trees... #
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Jo Spouncer became fascinated with the Lumberjills
0:24:43 > 0:24:45when she started working for the Forestry Commission.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47They were quite novel.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50I've heard stories about Chopwell Wood, where we are today,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53where some of the local people would come up to the forest
0:24:53 > 0:24:55to see the girls at work in the forest.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58- Because nobody could believe it. - No. I think it was quite surprising
0:24:58 > 0:25:00to see women at work.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02And I've seen photographs with the girls
0:25:02 > 0:25:05with dungarees rolled up to their thighs with their leg showing,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08which was...you didn't do that in that day.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14More than 8,000 Lumberjills felled trees all over the country
0:25:14 > 0:25:17to produce everything from essential pit props
0:25:17 > 0:25:20to parts for fighter planes and even the packaging for bombs.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24But getting all that timber out in all weathers was far from easy.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Most often than not, they'd walk two, three, four, five miles
0:25:29 > 0:25:32to the forest where they were working.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35It was snowing in the winter and I've read stories about girls
0:25:35 > 0:25:38standing up eating their packed lunches
0:25:38 > 0:25:41with the snow up to their knees because there's nowhere to sit down.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43And that's basically how they grabbed their lunch.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Before the war, few women had entered this male-dominated world.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54You think, how on earth could women do that all day long every day?
0:25:54 > 0:25:57There were some women that were termed Amazon women
0:25:57 > 0:26:01that were equally as good as the men, as the best men, at felling trees.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04The corps was disbanded in August 1946,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08but they had forged a path for future generations of women.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Two of today's Lumberjills have agreed to show me
0:26:11 > 0:26:14the way it was done during the war.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16So, are we finished on this side, or a bit more?
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Yeah. The process is to go gently at first.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20- Obviously, the teeth are very big. - Yeah.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24So...both people just pull.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27So just gently pull it back towards you.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30It is harder than it looks, actually,
0:26:30 > 0:26:35just to keep the saw working efficiently.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38It does get snagged quite a lot, doesn't it?
0:26:38 > 0:26:40It's because it bends, as well.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42It's quite tricky to keep it straight.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44How many trees do you suppose
0:26:44 > 0:26:49they were expected to cut down as a team every day?
0:26:49 > 0:26:52We think each pair of ladies
0:26:52 > 0:26:54would have cut down about 30 trees.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59Exhausted, I stepped aside to let the experts take over.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03- It's going!- Absolutely.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06OK. Just push on it very gently.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Timber!
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Well done, guys. That's absolutely brilliant!
0:27:14 > 0:27:19The women who left their comfortable homes to take up hard, manual labour
0:27:19 > 0:27:21miles from friends and family
0:27:21 > 0:27:24embodies the story of the North East in World War II.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Like so many people up and down the country,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29they put their lives on hold
0:27:29 > 0:27:32to help the country achieve ultimate victory.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37It's the sort of self-sacrifice we should never lose sight of.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42On the next How We Won The War, I'm in God's own county, Yorkshire.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47I'll hear how railways were key in keeping our war effort on track.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Ammunitions were moved by rail.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52The raw materials to build all the aerodromes were moved by rail.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55How Sheffield's Women of Steel endured horrendous conditions
0:27:55 > 0:27:57to keep our troops supplied.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02We knew the boys were wanting what we were doing,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04so we just got on with it.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09And how a four-legged mascot kept a squadron's spirits high.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13They went off on a mission and they shot down six enemy aircraft.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17And they all thought, "Wow, this is really making a difference here."
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd