0:00:02 > 0:00:05September 3rd 1939, and families all over the country
0:00:05 > 0:00:10- flock to their radios... - I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received
0:00:10 > 0:00:15and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20In that brief moment life in our country changed forever.
0:00:20 > 0:00:26World War II had begun but victory wouldn't be assured by military might alone.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31The Blitz, evacuation, rationing, the 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 > 0:00:42From the country's women, who took on everything - farming, factory work, even flying spitfires -
0:00:42 > 0:00:46to the nation's auxiliary firemen who 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 > 0:01:04In this series I'm touring the country,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09exploring how different parts of the United Kingdom made unique contributions
0:01:09 > 0:01:11to the war effort here at home.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I will be looking at the lives of ordinary citizens
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and the incredible efforts they went to throughout the war years.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Today I've left Yorkshire behind me
0:01:21 > 0:01:23and I'm heading into the heart of the Midlands
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and the industrial cities of Nottingham and Birmingham.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32On today's programme I will be hearing how thousands of American paratroopers
0:01:32 > 0:01:35affected the pretty girls of Nottingham.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Nearly all the men had gone to war, hadn't they?
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Anything in a uniform would be attractive to any of them.
0:01:43 > 0:01:49Discovering how the factory workers of Birmingham provided just about everything our troops needed.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52You name it we made it.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Fifty per cent of all small arms used by the British forces in the war were made by the BSA.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01And finding out about the war efforts of a group of women
0:02:01 > 0:02:05who kept essential supplies flowing on our waterways.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10We stuck on the mud, we broke ropes, we banged into things.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14We did everything you could conceivably imagine wrong.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23On December 7th 1941
0:02:23 > 0:02:25the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
0:02:25 > 0:02:29left more than 2,000 dead and destroyed over 20 ships.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33The disaster brought America into the war.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37At home the Allies' plans for the invasion of Europe began.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47By 1944, millions of American troops had arrived in Britain.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52More than 2000 men of the 508th parachute regiment were billeted here
0:02:52 > 0:02:54at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Turning the grounds into a sea of tents,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01the troops would have a profound and lasting impact on the community.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Jonathan Keeling is a local historian
0:03:06 > 0:03:09with a passion for bringing the story of the American GIs to life.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Together with a team of re-enactors,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16he's recreating the scene that would have greeted the people of Nottingham.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24- I suppose a sense of circus coming to town for the locals. - Quite literally.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27One of the paratroopers actually referred to it as the Wollaton Zoo
0:03:27 > 0:03:30because people just came from miles around to see these,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32what they saw as being movie stars.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35How many of them would have seen a building like the hall?
0:03:35 > 0:03:41Few to none. When they first saw this, they thought it was actually Nottingham Castle.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Local youngsters were particularly taken with the new arrivals.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47They were like a breath of fresh air,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50because they brought this city to life.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56They just come out of our comics the picture books we used to read which depicted soldiers at war.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59So we thought it had all come to life when the Americans came.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Having endured four years of rationing,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07many people were astonished by the American troops' plentiful supplies.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09The Americans were the richest country in the world
0:04:09 > 0:04:13and they were just basically pumping equipment and food stocks over here.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15So the Americans had a lot of cool stuff.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Everywhere you went you could approach an American soldier
0:04:18 > 0:04:20and you'd say "Have you got any gum, chum?"
0:04:20 > 0:04:22And he'd dole some out for you,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24so you could take pockets of the stuff
0:04:24 > 0:04:26because they had an abundance of everything.
0:04:26 > 0:04:32And my sisters, they were teenagers, about 18,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37and of course they were much in demand to attend their dances at the local church hall.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41And they'd occasionally invite them home for tea
0:04:41 > 0:04:44and they would always bring some nice tinned fruit from America
0:04:44 > 0:04:50or nylons for the girls, of course, which were virtually unobtainable.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54One paratrooper was surprised at the way local children reacted
0:04:54 > 0:04:56to the food he took for granted.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59He was eating an orange and just throwing the peel on the floor.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03He heard a noise and when he turned, he saw the local children actually eating the orange peel
0:05:03 > 0:05:06and realised that these children had never seen oranges before.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10So from that day on he went into town with his pockets bulging with oranges
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and every time he saw a child he used to pass an orange to the child.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Kath Price was 15 and working in a local cafe
0:05:16 > 0:05:20but for the Americans she served, food was a secondary concern.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25What they did, they put the apple pie on top of their dinner
0:05:25 > 0:05:28and ate it like that and I said, "Oh, no! No!"
0:05:28 > 0:05:33"Oh, yeah." And all of them did the same.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34That was how they ate their meal
0:05:34 > 0:05:42because they couldn't wait to get out of the cafe to get to the Palais to see the pretty girls.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47All the girls loved the Americans.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49They were immaculately dressed.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52It was natural the girls would make a beeline for them.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56They were all healthy young men and they loved to go out and dance.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05The Palais and the Victoria Ballroom were always full of all these girls.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Nearly all the men had gone to war, hadn't they?
0:06:08 > 0:06:14Anything in a uniform would be attractive to any of them.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18But their very popularity led to occasional tensions.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21There was a lot of people who had a hate for them
0:06:21 > 0:06:25because they did loving and kissing on the streets
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and things that they'd never seen before.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Sure, there were incidents in the town, there were fights. LAUGHTER
0:06:32 > 0:06:37But they had their own military police, the Snowdrops with their white helmets,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and they hit first and asked questions afterwards.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45The American troops' apparent wealth and looks may have caused resentment among a few
0:06:45 > 0:06:48but when they asked the people of Nottingham for their help,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50they gave it willingly.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53The only thing they didn't have was a laundry,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56so what they started doing was drifting out into town
0:06:56 > 0:07:03and asking people - banging on doors - and asking people to wash their clothes in exchange for food.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06People accepted them into their homes.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10They had them for Christmas and birthdays and things like that.
0:07:10 > 0:07:11The people loved them.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Some of the paratroopers realised when they came here and they were adopted by the families
0:07:15 > 0:07:17that this was something they were missing.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Two years they'd been away from their own families
0:07:19 > 0:07:22and now they were getting the family back
0:07:22 > 0:07:24and this is what Nottingham gave them.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30But overnight things changed when the camp at Wollaton Park was put on lock-down.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Unable to get out, the troops turned to the Nottingham youngsters
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and tasked them with night-time missions into town.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39They loved fish and chips - our national dish.
0:07:39 > 0:07:46So we'd bring them back and they'd give us a call sign to shout out when we got near their area
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and it was "Sing, baby, sing." JULES LAUGHS
0:07:49 > 0:07:51And we thought it was great fun.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56And sure enough, hands came out through the fence, took the chips.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00But history was in the wind for the GIs of Wollaton Park.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Few of them could be sure they would make it through what was to come.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07My dad came and woke us up in bed.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10He got us out of bed and he said. "Come on
0:08:10 > 0:08:15"because this is a sight you will never, ever see again in your life."
0:08:15 > 0:08:19And we saw all the Dakotas pulling the gliders.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22And then we knew that this was D-Day.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25That's something that I will never forget.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28RADIO: D-Day has come.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Early this morning the Allies began the assault
0:08:30 > 0:08:33on the north-western face of Hitler's European fortress.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Under the command of General Eisenhower,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42began landing Allied armies this morning
0:08:42 > 0:08:44on the northern coast of France.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49The 508th endured 40 days of ferocious fighting,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53providing vital support to the D-Day landings.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59But they suffered over a thousand casualties, including 307 killed in action.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03It broke my heart when I heard how many were killed.
0:09:07 > 0:09:08We took them into our hearts
0:09:08 > 0:09:12and the people of Nottingham will never forget them.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14They're a part of the city.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25The legacy left behind by the American soldiers went beyond broken hearts.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30All over the country, children were born to GI fathers they would never know.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Birmingham lass Shirley McGlade was one.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39My mum, her name's Lily, she was single.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43She wanted to be a Land Girl but she had to do factory work.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46The only pleasure she had was when she used to go out dancing.
0:09:46 > 0:09:47She absolutely loved dancing.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51And then the one day, she saw this GI come over.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54But she'd been warned by my nan,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57"They stay away from them, they're bad. You'll get yourself into trouble."
0:09:57 > 0:10:01And he came over and he asked her to dance. He walked her home.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Asked if he could see her again and she said yes.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07But she said, "He was so nice-looking, I didn't think I'd see him again," you know.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11They did meet again and the relationship blossomed
0:10:11 > 0:10:15but war forced them apart and Shirley never met her father.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19I'd always been told that he was an American
0:10:19 > 0:10:21but he was a brave American that died on D-Day.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23And that satisfied me for a while
0:10:23 > 0:10:27but then as I got older, little things kept coming out.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Shirley's date of birth - September 1945 -
0:10:31 > 0:10:34meant her father couldn't have been killed on D-Day.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38When she realised, she confronted her mother.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43I said to her, "Can you tell me the truth now, please?"
0:10:43 > 0:10:46And she gave me his name. She told me he came from Idaho.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49My dad's mum was French
0:10:49 > 0:10:53and I excelled at French at school because I wanted to...
0:10:53 > 0:10:55In my little childish head I was going to go to America,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58knock on the door and speak to her in French.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00And I thought, "I can't let this lie,"
0:11:00 > 0:11:03so that's how I got involved in my search for him.
0:11:03 > 0:11:09Some estimates claim up to 100,000 babies were born to GIs in the UK
0:11:09 > 0:11:12but Shirley's efforts were to help others before they helped her.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14In my search for my own dad,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17I had publicity in newspapers, television, radio
0:11:17 > 0:11:22and I think I found 13 fathers before I found my own
0:11:22 > 0:11:25and I thought, "Maybe this is what I'm on the earth for, you know,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27"just to find other people's dads."
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Shirley spent years trying to find her father.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32But it was an interview with a radio station in the States
0:11:33 > 0:11:35that eventually produced a breakthrough.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39I spoke to this radio guy and he had actually been talking to my dad.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41You know, I just couldn't believe it.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Shirley finally met her father at the age of 41
0:11:46 > 0:11:50and a documentary team recorded one of their meetings.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52I feel very strongly about it
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and there's no way - you just don't deny family.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Regardless of how it came about, you just don't deny family.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04When I first saw him I just couldn't believe...
0:12:04 > 0:12:08It was really weird, because like you know a film star or someone, you've got...
0:12:08 > 0:12:10They're set up but they're not real.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And like when I first saw my dad he was like flesh
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and he hugged me and I hugged him back
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and I thought, "My God, he's real, he's solid."
0:12:18 > 0:12:22I was fascinated because suddenly he was there, he was real.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Shirley saw her father only a handful of times before he died
0:12:26 > 0:12:30and her mother passed away before a reunion was possible.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33But she'd never forgotten her wartime lover.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35When Dad sent me a load of photographs,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40my mum looked through them and she said, "That's not your dad, that's an old man."
0:12:40 > 0:12:46In her mind he was always that black and white picture that was on the bedside table.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48She really loved him.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58The GIs were essential to our eventual success in World War II
0:12:58 > 0:13:00but they were only one aspect of the war effort.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09By 1945 half of Birmingham's population were engaged in war production,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11more than any other city in the country.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13The determination of the people here
0:13:13 > 0:13:17to carry on regardless of the hardships and the dangers they faced
0:13:17 > 0:13:20to me really embodies the spirit of the Midlands.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24As a region it has been rightly regarded as the engine room of British industry.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27ARCHIVE: The constant drone of machinery in our aircraft factories
0:13:27 > 0:13:29is the music of victory.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33With the confidence of experts, they set about the job of shaping the raw metals from the foundries
0:13:33 > 0:13:37into the components of more than 1,000 horse powered demons of the air.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41We used to boast that you could buy anything you wanted in Birmingham
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and it was made here, from a pin to a brass bedstead,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47from a button to a car.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52And in the Second World War, that diversity of trades was crucial for the war effort.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55People associate Birmingham particularly with Spitfires.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57But it wasn't just the Spitfire factory.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Hudson's whistles, making the whistles for the army.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Jewellers getting involved in making intricate and small parts.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05Turner Brothers of Summer Lane,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08making the jigs and tools for aircraft production.
0:14:08 > 0:14:09You name it, we made it.
0:14:10 > 0:14:16At the heart of that incredible output was BSA Birmingham Small Arms factory.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20With plants all over the country, its Small Heath branch produced
0:14:20 > 0:14:23many of the weapons used by front-line troops.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Well, here we've got just a selection of some of the classics
0:14:26 > 0:14:28that this factory would have produced during the war.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Can we pick some of these up?
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Yeah, this is an Enfield, a Lee-Enfield MkIII.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36One and a quarter million of them made by the BSA in the war.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37One and a quarter million!
0:14:37 > 0:14:4350% of all small arms used by the British forces in the war were made by the BSA.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46- That's extraordinary, isn't it? - There's another one.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Now, that looks very interesting. What have we got there?
0:14:49 > 0:14:52- This is a Sten gun. - How many of these were produced?
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Over half a million of these were produced.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57And one of the major reasons that they brought them out
0:14:57 > 0:15:01was to be able to use captured German ammunition, nine millimetre bullets.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07Such ingenious designs made the industry of the Midlands essential to the war effort
0:15:07 > 0:15:11but it also made the area an obvious target for the Luftwaffe.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Not only are these workers going to work during the most difficult conditions,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19they're having to cope with bombs dropping all over them,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23because the factories were cheek by jowl with housing
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and what the Nazis in the end realised and wanted to do
0:15:26 > 0:15:31was not only bomb the factories but try to bomb the spirit out of the British people.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32They failed.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36All over the country, people wrote about their Blitz experiences
0:15:36 > 0:15:39as part of the Mass-Observation project.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Held at the University of Sussex,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45it offers an insight into the everyday lives of ordinary people
0:15:45 > 0:15:47throughout the war years and beyond.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53On November 14th 1940, 500 German bombers pulverised Coventry,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57leaving hundreds dead and more than a thousand injured.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Tom Harrison, Mass-Observation director, reached the city the next day
0:16:01 > 0:16:03and described the aftermath.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06"Most of Friday I was moving in a city of the dark.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10"I have spent a good deal of my life listening to other people talk,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14"but I have never heard people talk less than in Coventry yesterday.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17"Many walked through the city rather blankly looking at the mess,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21"and the commonest remark was simply, 'Poor old Coventry.'
0:16:22 > 0:16:26"The commonest sound was the scraping of shovels and the shifting of rubble.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30"The centre of the town reminded me more of photographs of Ypres in the last war.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34"As soon as darkness fell, the streets went silent.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37"The people of Coventry had gone to shelter.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41"I needn't say that the ARP and AFS people were wonderful, too.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44"I was particularly impressed by the number of boys
0:16:44 > 0:16:47"some of them can't have been more than fourteen
0:16:47 > 0:16:51"who'd been working as messengers and rescue-work helpers all the way through.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57"Everyone seemed to be helping, even a very old, excessively dirty navvy,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00"who, on the day of the bombing, when everybody was feeling pretty low,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03"walked round and round the streets singing at the top of his voice.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06"Everybody he passed, however depressed they were,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08"couldn't help smiling and laughing at him,
0:17:08 > 0:17:14"even if they only said, 'I'm glad he feels like that. I wish I did.'"
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Back in Birmingham, the BSA Factory at Small Heath was hit by two bombs
0:17:20 > 0:17:23on the night of November 19th 1940.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25EXPLOSIONS
0:17:25 > 0:17:30Can you imagine the devastation that those two bombs would have?
0:17:30 > 0:17:32It was terrifying.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35The building, an eye-witness said, just seemed to disintegrate.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39There was a mass of rubble and masonry and girders just collapsing.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42And there was some unbelievable acts of heroism.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46There's one story of the men who tried to get through
0:17:46 > 0:17:48to three men and women who were trapped.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51And the Home Guard men were using the butts of their rifles
0:17:51 > 0:17:52to dig into and through the rubble.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54But there was a girder in the way,
0:17:54 > 0:17:59so they brought him oxyacetylene and he burned a gap through the girder.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04Now, the three men were on the floor hunched up nearest the girder.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Do you know what they did? Do you know what them men did, them working men did?
0:18:08 > 0:18:13They lay on the floor, in the most ultimate act of gentlemanliness,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17so that the woman who was at the back could crawl over them and get out first.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19That's what they did.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21And it's that spirit that really defines Birmingham
0:18:21 > 0:18:24as a centre of raw production through the worst of times.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27It defines Birmingham but I think it defines Britain and the United Kingdom.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32To manufacture the weapons of war,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36BSA and other factories all over the country relied on a constant supply
0:18:36 > 0:18:39of huge quantities of raw materials.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44But with the railway system already running at full stretch,
0:18:44 > 0:18:49the Government sought to make use of every other available means of transportation
0:18:49 > 0:18:52and that included Britain's aged canal network.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59I'm going to catch a ride on the Yeoford,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01a restored 1930s narrow boat,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04just like those that carried cargo during the war years.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08And accompanying me on my trip is canal expert Tom Chaplin.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14The Grand Union Canal is a 300-mile waterway system
0:19:14 > 0:19:18made up of several smaller canals connected together in January 1929.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23During the war this route was essential to help get materials and goods
0:19:23 > 0:19:26between the industries of the Midlands and the docks of London.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Tom, what kind of state were Britain's canals in before the outbreak of war?
0:19:31 > 0:19:34That's rather a mixed question, because in those days,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37a lot of the railway-owned canals were in poor condition
0:19:37 > 0:19:40but some of the private ones were in very good condition
0:19:40 > 0:19:44and in particular, what is now the Grand Union Canal was in very good condition.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49And this is a typical example of a Grand Union boat, built in 1937.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52So just at the outbreak of war, the canal had been improved
0:19:52 > 0:19:55and there was a new fleet of boats there ready to work.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00But how do we go about coping with the increased traffic on the canal system?
0:20:00 > 0:20:02There was always a shortage of boatmen
0:20:02 > 0:20:06because being a boatman was actually very much a skill.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And the boatmen were taken off to fight.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12So a lot of women came off the land
0:20:12 > 0:20:14and went on the boats for the first time
0:20:14 > 0:20:17and were trained to handle the boats.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19And that really was quite a thing,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22to come from a typical village or a town
0:20:22 > 0:20:24and then suddenly go into a boat,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26into a completely different way of life.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Adapting to the living conditions was one thing
0:20:29 > 0:20:31but the women also had to learn new skills,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35including how to operate hundreds of locks.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39If you were going through a flight of locks, like Hatton, 21 locks,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and a boat comes up behind, he wants to overtake.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45So if you were a minute slow up the lock,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47you held them up by 20 minutes behind.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Delivering goods on time was essential
0:20:50 > 0:20:53but to make a living, the women also had to learn the tricks of the trade.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57They got paid so much per ton for a given journey.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00But if you put too many tons on, it would slow you down
0:21:00 > 0:21:03because you were too close to the bottom.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06So the working boatmen, the people who'd done it all their life,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10they knew just how many tons to put on for the maximum speed for the maximum tonnage.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12So they could lose out on that.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14And also balancing the boat so it steers well.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Those are the arts that take a generation - you learn from your parents.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21But as the war progresses the girls get better
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and I would hope they got some at least begrudging respect.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Oh, yes, they did.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28What was typical of boatmen at that time -
0:21:28 > 0:21:32they respected you if you could handle the boat well.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36They then became a member of the club, if you like. JULES LAUGHS
0:21:37 > 0:21:39One such woman was Jean Peters,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43who was just 20 when she signed up in 1944.
0:21:43 > 0:21:44Now, that's a wonderful picture.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Poking your head out of the side of the boat.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49- How long had you been on the boat by that time?- A week.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57- And how much training did you get? - We had two trips.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01We did one of three weeks and then a second one of three weeks.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03This was actually our training boat
0:22:03 > 0:22:07and I was learning how to clean the engine.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10You look very happy in your work.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Somebody called me and I put my head out to see who it was.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18And do you remember, Jean, that first trip that you undertook after training?
0:22:18 > 0:22:20I do indeed.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Because we'd done very well on our training
0:22:23 > 0:22:27and we hadn't got into any particular trouble.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31But when we went on my first trip on our own,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35we stuck on the mud, we broke ropes, we banged into things.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40We did everything you could conceivably imagine wrong.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43But we did get our load up to Birmingham eventually.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47The typical route for the canal girls
0:22:47 > 0:22:50was to transport steel, aluminium or copper from the London docks
0:22:50 > 0:22:52to the factories of Birmingham.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55From there they would travel to Coventry to collect coal,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57which they delivered back to London.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01The canals were carrying ten to 12 million tons a year at that time.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03But what was bothering the government was
0:23:03 > 0:23:06if a bomb dropped on a strategic railway,
0:23:06 > 0:23:07that would block all the way into London.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09So a lot of this was alternatives,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12making sure there were always two forms of transport.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Here we are coming into the centre of modern Birmingham, Tom,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18a very different view to what we would have had 70 years ago.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Oh, definitely and even 50 years ago.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23This block of flats here used to be stables
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and this used to be a builder's merchant wharf here
0:23:26 > 0:23:27and they used to collect refuse
0:23:27 > 0:23:29that went down to the tips out at Smethwick.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32So, yes, this was always humming with boats,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35bringing coal in, building materials.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38The landscape may have changed
0:23:38 > 0:23:42but Jean's training as an artist helped her create a unique record
0:23:42 > 0:23:44of life on the canals during the war.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12Now this is a very dramatic image
0:24:12 > 0:24:14and it says "re-stacking cargo - aluminium."
0:24:15 > 0:24:16What's going on in here?
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Our boat had hit a bridge and the cargo slipped
0:24:20 > 0:24:24and we had too much weight at one end of the boat,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27so it was going too low in the water.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30So the boaters said you've got to get under the covers
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and restack that otherwise you'll sink.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35And so that's what we did.
0:24:35 > 0:24:40We put a hurricane lamp up and then we just had to restack it all
0:24:40 > 0:24:43so that it wasn't unbalanced.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45As well as difficult cargo,
0:24:45 > 0:24:50Jean remembers the harsh winter of 1944 to '45.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53The locks and the canal began to freeze
0:24:53 > 0:24:59and we were a bit scared of being caught by the ice...
0:24:59 > 0:25:02where there wasn't a pub that we could go to get a drink!
0:25:02 > 0:25:04- JULES LAUGHS - Yeah.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09Or there wasn't somewhere where we could get a bath or a wash or something.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11And I nearly met my Waterloo then,
0:25:11 > 0:25:17because the canal locks had steps running up to the top of the lock
0:25:17 > 0:25:21where you had to run up to shut or open the gates.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26I jumped off the boat and ran up the steps, slipped
0:25:26 > 0:25:29and went all the way down the steps and into the canal.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35And fortunately the girls who were, you know, on the boats,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38noticed that I'd disappeared and came and fished me out.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42In serving on the canals, were there moments where you felt detached from the war?
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Well, I don't think we thought about it a great deal,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49because you had to get on and get on with what you were doing.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53You didn't have time to think about war efforts or anything else.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Occasionally the war would intrude upon us
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and one of those sort of occasions
0:26:00 > 0:26:03would be when we went down to the London docks.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07There was a buzz bomb dropped at the back of some sheds
0:26:07 > 0:26:09just near where we were tied up
0:26:09 > 0:26:15and it made the lock shake, you know, and the boats rock
0:26:15 > 0:26:17and fell us out of bed, really.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Kay said, "Well," she said,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24"I shall put on a cup of cocoa if this nonsense goes on any longer."
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- So all very matter of fact. - Very matter of fact, yes.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30As she travelled the waterways
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Jean realised the youngsters among the boat people who worked the canals
0:26:34 > 0:26:37had limited opportunities for an education.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41She was asked to produce an alphabet book for the children.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And I made all the different letters
0:26:44 > 0:26:47mean something that would mean something to them.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52For instance, like R for rope and B for boat.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13The thing that strikes me about Jean and her contemporaries is
0:27:13 > 0:27:16the modesty with which they account for their efforts during the war.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21The truth is without them the country may literally have ground to a halt.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23As part of Britain's vast citizen army,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26there is no doubt that they certainly played their role
0:27:26 > 0:27:28in helping to break Hitler's grip on Europe.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Next time on How We Won The War,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38I'll be trying my hand at using a weapon
0:27:38 > 0:27:40dreamt up by armchair scientists
0:27:40 > 0:27:43under the direction of Churchill himself.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46- How's your throwing arm?- Well, cricket was never my strong point
0:27:46 > 0:27:49- but you never know! - We'll see.
0:27:49 > 0:27:54- Uncovering a dark side to Britain's propaganda unit. - MAN SPEAKING GERMAN ON RADIO
0:27:54 > 0:27:57By being all for Hitler, and really pro him,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59they're managing to insert stories
0:27:59 > 0:28:02which will undermine the German morale.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05And recreating valuable work carried out
0:28:05 > 0:28:08by some of the youngest troopers on the home front.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Everybody ready to get their hands dirty?
0:28:10 > 0:28:12Yes!!
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd