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Turn back the clock across the county this week with Lucy Keen.
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00:17Hello and welcome to Kent Chronicles live here on KMTV where we turn back time and all of Kent's
00:23history from the medieval era to the industrial revolution and everything in between. I'm Lucy
00:29Keane and join me as we turn back time and discuss all things history. This week we'll be looking at
00:35the history of the world wars in Kent from genius inventors to legendary castles but first for this
00:42week's periodic profile I spoke to our reporter Nathan Hardy about Guy Anson-Montsell who designed
00:48naval and army forts here in Kent which defended the Thames estuary during World War II. Here is
00:54this week's periodic profile. Thank you so much for joining us today Nathan. I suppose my first
01:09question is can you tell us about Guy Anson-Montsell's background? Of course so Guy Anson was born into a
01:14military family during the British Raj in India and Kashmir and he was educated in England and he
01:21began his civil engineering career in the early 20th century and from that he became very interested
01:27in concrete and when it came to the introduction of reinforced concrete he became very innovative.
01:33Oh I see well can you tell us a bit about his work in World War II? In the wake
01:37of Dunkirk and the Blitz
01:40Britain were very concerned about their like shipping district and their ships being damaged by the
01:46Germans so they called upon the help of Montsell to help them defend their land. What he proposed was
01:52to take the Martello towers which were land-based structures and convert them into sea-based structures
01:57and these eventually became the Montsell navy and sea forts. Well can you tell me how this is linked to
02:03Whitstable? Of course so three of these army forts were constructed just north of Whitstable to protect
02:08the Thames estuary. These were Red Sands, Shivering Sands and Noray Fort and they were specifically designed
02:14for Whitstable shallow waters and they were very effective as well as they managed to take down
02:19collectively 22 aircraft and 30 v1 bombers. Wow thank you so much for that Nathan. You're welcome.
02:32Now onto the memorials that are found in Gravesend which remember the lives lost during the world wars.
02:38We spoke with Francis Morton from the War Memorial Trust. This is A Town Free Time.
02:47Gravesend is the site of a large collection of memorials for World War I and II. A town that
02:53saw its vital part to play in both wars with Gravesend being a strong defensive force for London
02:58as well as the RAF Gravesend being a major force in the Second World War.
03:02Those records suggest there are about 77 war memorials around the Gravesend area. Most of
03:09those like those across the country are in good condition. War memorials were created because people
03:15wanted to remember the fallen. It was so important those people have made the sacrifices for people
03:20and also the graves are overseas so particularly after World War I and and even after World War II there
03:27was no
03:28expectation of being able to go visit those graves. So our war memorials are really the
03:32the graves for those um in our communities who lost their love. Memorials such as the new Tavern Fort as
03:41this
03:41historical site on the riverside was utilized during the world wars as an air defense facility and gun
03:49battery and the Gravesend War memorial was unveiled in 1922 in Windmill Hill Gardens. It commemorates the
03:58548 local men who died in World War I with statues added later to honor one or two casualties.
04:07It's vital that we retain them today. Our war memorials are a reminder of the impact of conflict of
04:13what actually happens when we go to war and and they were designed in many occasion occasions by
04:20communities who didn't want people to go through that again. So maintaining our war memorials and
04:25caring for them today not only commemorates the loss of those who died for our country but it should
04:32also try and act as a reminder for us of the consequences of war and what happens when people go
04:37down that path.
04:43Now it's time to get your thinking caps on for this week's Tea Time Trivia.
04:50For this week's Tea Time Trivia I've come down to Deal to see what the residents know about the town's
04:55plans of defense during World War II. We posed the question what extreme measure did the town of Deal
05:01take during World War II to defend itself against the threat of German invasion?
05:06A. Funnelling petrol into the sea to set on fire. B. Evacuating residents who lived around the seafront or C.
05:15Rigging the pier to explode on contact.
05:19I'm going to go for A. I'm going to say they funneled petrol into the sea and set us on
05:23fire.
05:24Well funny you asked that. It was literally like having a conversation with somebody the other day about that.
05:31I think there was a plan to put petrol in the sea and set fire to it and also I
05:38think they were going
05:38to put barbed wire. Apparently they were going to put petrol in the sea and set fire to it.
05:44Well it looks like Deal residents know their trivia. It was A. They planned to set the sea on fire.
05:50In 1935, Kentish towns were advised to prepare a passive defense scheme by the Home Office.
05:56Deal brought back a defense tactic that had been successful in the past. They barricaded the beach
06:01with large scaffolding, wrapped in barbed wire and placed mines off of the shore. But the town went
06:05one step further, deciding to lay pipes across the seafront which were pumped with oil.
06:12Earlier, I spoke to our reporter Crystal McPherson about how Sir Barnes-Wallace's trusty binoculars
06:18went down in history when testing his famous bouncing bomb in World War II. Here is this week's Alluring Artifact.
06:33Thank you so much for joining us today, Crystal. Can you tell us a bit of backstory about Sir
06:37Barnes-Wallace's invention and the role his binoculars played in the testing of it?
06:41Of course. Sir Barnes-Wallace's bouncing bomb, Upkeep, was deployed by the RAF during Operation
06:48Chastise, more commonly known as the Dan Buster's Raid. Partial testing of Upkeep took place at
06:53Recolver, here in Kent, and due to the aquatic nature of the bomb, it obviously had to be tested over
06:57water. So he relied on his trusty binoculars to help him get a good view of the bomb as it
07:02was being
07:02released by the pilot.
07:04I didn't know that. And Operation Chastise was quite legendary. It even inspired a war film in the 1950s.
07:10Could you tell me a bit more about that?
07:12Yes, that's correct. The Dan Busters came out in 1955 and the filmmakers worked closely with the RAF
07:17and Sir Barnes-Wallace himself to ensure the events of the film were as close to accurate as possible.
07:22More pertinent to today's artefact, Sir Barnes-Wallace gifted his binoculars to the actor who played him,
07:27Sir Michael Redgrave, with an engraved plaque that read,
07:29Michael Redgrave CBE from Barnes-Wallace CBE. I used these at Recolver in 1943.
07:35And are there any other interesting facts regarding Wallace and the testing of Upkeep?
07:39Certainly. Barnes developed the idea for his bouncing bomb by experimenting with his
07:43children's marbles and a tub of water in his back garden. His plan was to create a bomb that
07:47could skip across the surface of water, avoiding torpedo nets. Then it would sink directly next to
07:52its target, where the water surrounding it would concentrate the force of the explosion. While the
07:56Air Force was originally sceptical of his invention, they eventually accepted it and approved it for
08:01attacks on the Myrna, Eder and Zorpa dams in the Ruhr in 1943. Thank you so much for this, Crystal.
08:14Now, for this week's longstanding landmark, we headed over to Dover Castle to speak to Len Howell
08:20to find out more about the medieval castle and its importance during both the World Wars.
08:25But just a warning, this piece contains mentions of weaponry. Eleanor Gonsalves has more.
08:38For this week's longstanding landmark, I've come to Dover Castle to learn about its involvement,
08:42not only in the First World War, but also in the Second. And right now I'm stood in the Far
08:46Command Post, which was built in the 1880s and was then added to in the First World War. This room
08:51behind me was built and the platform above. The platform above was used by the Navy and this floor
08:57was used by the Army, but we're going to explore how this and the rest of the castle contributed to
09:01both wars. During World War One, the famous keep at Dover Castle was used as an armory,
09:06and that was filled with arms and ammunition for the garrison to defend the southeast of England.
09:11To find out more, I spoke with Len Howell, a volunteer from English Heritage.
09:16In the 1870s, they set up four gun batteries,
09:21either within the castle walls or close to the castle walls. The hospital battery
09:26was deemed inappropriate and they closed that down as a battery. And in there they put in a
09:31fire command post, a place where they could observe where the guns were aiming at, but also receive
09:39communication. They also then moved the port war station, so a naval installation, from the Western
09:46Heights and built a bit on top of the fire command post. The Navy basically controlling shipping movements
09:53in and out of the harbour, and the army downstairs controlling the guns that could be used in case
10:00there was a potential invasion. Glenn then went on to explain how the site was used in World War Two
10:07and the involvement of Vice Admiral Ramsey at Dover. Part of the argument is that without Ramsey's
10:12involvement, far fewer soldiers would have been rescued. In the end, 338,000 were rescued.
10:20Basically, main aim, keep the channel open for Allied shipping, prevent enemy activity. And he selected
10:27the tunnels that had been dug during the Napoleonic War period as his base. And he moved into there.
10:35The army soon followed. Both army and navy used that set of tunnels quite extensively,
10:41especially in the planning of Operation Dynamo, the rescue of the troops from Dunkirk in 1940,
10:47but also continuing on afterwards. And then two other levels were also then added. One above
10:54those Napoleonic tunnels, which was primarily to be an underground hospital, later turned into some
11:01dormitory space as well. And one down below, which we now know as Dumpy Level, that was primarily dug
11:09in case the Dover-Calais route was selected for what was to become D-Day. And just on a side
11:14note,
11:14my mother actually worked on that level during the Second World War. The tunnels were the prime use,
11:18but there were anti-aircraft guns on the site, there were searchlights on this site,
11:22as there had been in World War One. Elena Gonzalez for KMTV.
11:34Well, it looks like that was one for the history books.
11:37Have a very good evening from me, and see you soon. Goodbye.
11:40Bye-bye.
11:42Bye-bye.
11:43Bye-bye.
11:43Bye-bye.
11:45Bye-bye.
11:46Bye-bye.
11:52Bye-bye.
11:53Bye-bye.
11:55Bye-bye.
11:58Bye-bye.
11:59Bye-bye.
12:00You
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