Communication During War - military communication during World War II

The Australian soldiers who left home in 1940 initially travelled to Egypt where they initially set up camp before being sent to other regions in the Middle East. As well as becoming used to army life the soldiers also had to become used to a new environment and lifestyle.

The British Army published a magazine, Parade, describing the life in Egypt that the soldiers would encounter, including some of the history of the area.The magazine was published weekly from August 1940 until March 1947. Parade contained information and entertainment for all Allied forces stationed in the Middle East, providing an alternative to the pressures of preparing for war.

During the Second World War, Australian soldiers primarily served in the Middle East before returning to Australia to serve in Papua New Guinea and other parts of South-East Asia. Some Australians were involved in action in other parts of Europe, particularly France.

During the Second World War military forces had signals units whose role was to operate wireless radios, lay and repair heavy telephone cables, and transmit messages using visual signals like flags (semaphore) and signal lamps

As the war developed in north west Europe, signals units laid hundreds of miles of telephone and telegraph cables. They also made use of civilian networks wherever possible. Communications to the United Kingdom were made via a cable laid under the Channel connected to signal stations at Bayeaux and Cherbourg in France.

 Many developments were made for radio communication during the Second World War.

Wireless set no. 108 developed for Australian Army 1941

In 1942 the Wireless Set no. 10 - a mobile radio station containing eight duplex telephone channels over a radio (microwave) line of sight link was developed (below).

During the North African signal units had to lay and retrieve telephone cables and establish wireless links at great speed. Valuable lessons learned in the desert helped in the mobile warfare after the Normandy landing in June 1944.

Wireless radio set

When we were in London in 2015 near our hotel there was a memorial to the SOE (Special Operations Executive). The plaque on the memorial read - The SOE 'was secretly formed for the purpose of recruiting agents, men and women of many nationalities who would volunteer to continue the fight for freedom by performing acts of sabotage in countries occupied by the enemy during the Second World War.' 

Those chosen for such missions were taken to France, for example, in a small plane and left in an isolated location to be collected by partisans with whom they would be working. Communication with headquarters in London was made sending coded messages via radio at a specified time.

SOE mobile radio

Many books, including historical fiction have been written based on the experiences of women in the SOE. 

Morse code and other systems of coding continued to be used during the Second World War.  Florence Violet McKenzie (Mrs Mac) funded and established the volunteer Women’s Emergency Signals Corps in Sydney in 1939 to train women in wireless telegraphy, signals and international codes. 

Mrs Mac

An important role during the war was to decipher enemy messages sent in code. In England Bletchley Park was the primary location used for code breaking. Teams of staff worked day and night to intercept messages, decode them and then pass the message on to military personnel. The biggest challenge occurred when the Germans sent their messages using an Enigma machine using codes that kept changing each day. Eventually Alan Turing and his team managed to break the codes.

Decoding machine - Turing Bombe

There were also code breakers in Australia working for the Central Bureau. The headquarters were in Melbourne but much of the work was carried out in a garage in Brisbane by a group of women. The Garage Girls used 12 British-made TypeX coding machines to both decode and encrypt highly classified material.

A number of non-fiction and novels have been written about the important work of the  codebreakers in Australia and at Bletchley Park.

Another area where scientists played an important part in assisting the military was in the study of radar. During the Second World War the Telecommunications Research Establishment occupied a school in Malvern, England. Many important advances in developing radar systems to assist the military effort were made.

Radar to monitor aircraft

There were many developments in motor transport, aircraft and shipping during the Second World War.

Communication During War - recieving news about the war

On Sunday 3 September 1939 at 9:15 pm, Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced on radio that Australia was at war with Germany. 

Radio was an important means of communication allowing people in Australia to keep up to date with news about the war.

A radio made in Australia 1940-1946 (Powerhouse Museum)

Members of the public also relied on newspapers for information about the war. War correspondents were allowed to send information about the way back to Australia provided that the information was not classified.

In Melbourne there were three daily morning newspapers - The Argus, The Age and The Sun News Pictorial. In the evening The Herald provided updates on the news. These newspapers were published six days a week. As well as stories about the war a casualty list was published in the newspapers.

Country newspapers also published news about the war, especially when it concerned members of the local community. 

War photographers also took photographs of people and events during the war. A well known Australian  war photographer was Damien Parer. He was the first Australian official photographer during the Second World War. Damien Parer initially worked as a war photographer in the Middle East before covering the war in the pacific. He was killed by Japanese machine gun fire in 1944.

Damien Parer with his camera [AWM]

Some of the soldiers also had small film cameras allowing them to photograph their new environment, especially when they were off duty visiting the sights in Egypt or Palestine.

Many of the soldiers also kept diaries. When battalion histories were later written the information that the soldiers had collected formed an important part of the published work.

Charles Bean was a well known war correspondent during World War I. He later wrote the Official History of Australia in the War 1914-1918 (12 volumes).

Magazines such as The Australian Women's Weekly also often included articles and pictures about the war. They also had special correspondents who went overseas to collect stories of interest to wives and mothers of soldiers at home. One article in the 24 February 1940 issue described the scene as the ships filled with Australian soldiers left for overseas.  A story in the issue dated October 26 1940 was based on interviews with Australian soldiers on leave in Cairo, visiting the zoo, going to the races, and general sights.

Sometimes the military needed to communicate directly with next of kin of those serving overseas. Telegrams were the quickest way for the military to do this. When a telegram boy or a postman approached a house with a telegram there was an immediate natural fear that it might contain bad news informing them that a close family member was a casualty of war - that the family member had died, was injured or was a prisoner of war. Neighbours in the street would anxiously watch hoping that the postman did not stop at their door. The military officer who sent the telegram would ensure that a follow up letter with more detailed information was sent.

But telegrams could also convey good news such as the one above where a soldier is informing his mother that he is on his way home. The ship has arrived in Perth and he will soon be in Sydney.

Gwyn William George Court

Gwyn William George Court was born on 17 December 1917 in Penarth, Wales. His parents were John Court and Jane Goddard. In 1939 Gwyn was studying science and engineering at Cardiff University.

In 1935 the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was established to develop a radar based defence system for the RAF. Over the years the organisation had had a number of names and locations. Gwyn joined TRE at Swanage in Dorset in January 1941. When it became obvious that TRE was located too close to the coast, the organisation was once again on the move to Malvern in May 1942. TRE was then located at Malvern College.

On 6 September 1941 Gwyn married Beryl Audrey Grace Gale in Cardiff. In Swanage they lived in a furnished room in a nearby house until TRE transferred to Malvern College in Malvern in May. Initially Gwyn was billeted at a house in Malvern but in August 1942 he was able to rent a furnished house in West Malvern where his wife joined him.

View of part of Malvern College in 2011

In 2011 we visited Malvern College where the (TRE) had relocated in May 1942. Gwyn Court was one of 2,000 staff who worked at TRE.

We had a photograph of some of the staff lined up in front of a college building and, as it was school holidays, we were given permission to explore the school grounds and locate where the photo had been taken. Gwyn is second from the right in the top row.

The work of TRE was to create and improve radar systems to assist Allied pilots when flying planes and provide early warning systems when the German bombardment of England began. This included systems for radio navigation and for jamming enemy radio navigation. Radar could also locate enemy aircraft at night. It was recognised that the understanding and use of radar was essential to gaining victory in the war. 

From 1941-1944 Gwyn worked in the Radio Counter-Measure Division of TRE where staff were involved with the interpretation and analysis of enemy signals, development of VHF receivers, aerials and recording equipment for ground and airborne use. 

H2S ground scanner

A major part of their work was H2S (previously called Blind Navigation) which was the first airborne ground scanning radar system developed. The radar helped identify targets on the ground during night-time and all weather bombing. It became the first ground mapping radar system used in combat. 

A magnetron

The development of cavity magnetrons reduced the radar wave length to 10 centimetres and eventually to 1.5 centimetres. The targeting radar was designed to fit in an aerodynamic blister on the undercarriage of a bomber. The antenna rotated to scan the terrain and eventually produced a map of the land below the bomber.

A Spitfire

H2S ground scanners greatly assisted plane crews during bombing raids.

H2S and other developments in radar were essential to pilots during the Second World War. The protection of the British coastline was also enhanced with improvements to radar warning systems alerting cities and towns of the approach of enemy aircraft.

At the end of the European War, Gwyn joined the Ground Radar Division at TRE who were concerned with the development of radar aids for civil aviation.

On 14 February 1945 Gwyn William George Court was among twenty-three people who were listed in the UK London Gazettes World War Military Notices as Flight Lieutenant (honorary), an award from the RAF for their contribution to engineering research during the war.

After the war Gwyn Court continued to work at TRE's new offices in Malvern until 1950. He and his family then moved to Wellington, New Zealand, where Gwyn worked initially for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research then as as Superintending Engineer for Radar, Civil Aviation Administration.  

In 1960 the family moved to Melbourne, Australia,  where Gwyn initially worked at Pye Pty Ltd and later as Chief Radar Engineer at the Department of Civil Aviation.

H2S - Wikipedia

H2S Radar - Military Wiki 

 The Story of Pye - Pye Museum

Telecommunications Research Establishment

The Telecommunications Research Establishment, better known as TRE, was established in 1935 to develop a radar based defence system for the RAF. It was originally located at Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk before moving to Dundee and then relocating to Swanage in Dorset in 1940. There had been various names for the unit but it was at Swanage that the research organisation became known as TRE. As it became obvious that TRE was located too close to the coast, the organisation was once again on the move in May 1942 to Malvern.

TRE relocated to Malvern College, a boys boarding school. The students were moved to another school for the rest of the war. The major centre for TRE research was the school buildings plus huts constructed in the grounds.

Malvern Radar and Technology History Society

The poster above shows the temporary buildings added to the grounds at Malvern College. Local builders built the accommodation that included laboratories, a restaurant, a Motor Transport Section and an Engineering Unit.

 

In 2011 we visited the school in Malvern as Robin's father had been one of the engineers stationed there. We had a photograph of some of the staff lined up in front of the main school building and, as it was school holidays, we were given permission to explore the school grounds and locate where the photo had been taken. Gwyn Court is second from the right in the top row.

 

Another property, Pale Manor, located near the school, was used for research by members of the Air Defence Research and Development Establishment.

With so many additional people arriving in Malvern, accommodation was required. Many of the TRE staff boarded in rooms in local houses or rented accommodation. St Ann's Orchard, another large building located near the school, accommodated some of the staff.

Historic England

Hotels in Malvern were also used to house the TRE staff including the County Hotel in Abbey Road.

Historic England

The local newspaper, Worcester News 19 June 2019, included a photograph of TRE staff moving into the school at Malvern. Items unloaded included 20 pianos and 400 beds.

 

American engineers and scientists, plus some military, also moved to Malvern to carry out research.

Huts in grounds of Malvern College in winter

The work at TRE was top secret and it was not until many years after the war that the locals discovered why these extra people had arrived in town and how their research had been essential to the war effort. The newcomers did not wear uniforms and as many of the local residents had family serving in military forces overseas they could be suspicious and unwelcoming to the TRE staff. However some of the locals worked in factories to create equipment that would eventually be assembled into radar apparatus.

Radar was a new development. The term RADAR - Radio Detection and Ranging - had been used since 1940. The work of TRE was to create and improve radar systems to assist Allied pilots and provide early warning systems when the German bombardment of England began.

Initially radar towers had been erected to locate enemy planes approaching the southern and eastern coastline. Part of the work at TRE was to improve this radar system. The system of 100 metre transmitter towers was improved when cavity magnetrons were added to the system. Improvements continued to be made to provide warning systems for English cities and towns when enemy planes were approaching.

Warfare History Network

In 1942 British SAS forces raided Bruneval on the French coast and captured part of a radar system installed there. The radar was directed across the channel towards the English coast. It was recognised that the understanding and use of radar was essential to gaining victory in this war. The raid was a dangerous undertaking but it proved to be a successful mission. The captured radar showed the British engineers and scientists how advanced the Germans were in radar technology as well as providing information about how to improve British radar systems.

The radar system at Bruneval - Wikepedia

The scientists and engineers in Malvern also worked to devise ways of blocking German radar systems during a raid by using a system called Windows. H2S was also an important area of radar investigation enabling aircraft to be aware of enemy planes in their vicinity as well as providing an important navigation aid when locating targets.

Like the research of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the top secret work undertaken at TRE was  essential in helping the Allies defeat Germany during the Second World War. 

After the war many of the discoveries made by TRE staff at Malvern College led to the creation of items used widely today such as microwave ovens and systems used by police to identify speeding motorists plus developments in radio astronomy. Of course, over the years there have been many advances in radar technology but the work of scientists and engineers at TRE, plus those working in radar establishments in other countries, have led to developments that we now take for granted.

Books

Damien Lewis - SAS Shadow Raiders: the ultra-secret mission that changed the course of World War II. 2019.

Reg Batt - The Radar Army: winning the war of the airwaves.1991.

Ernest Putley - Science Comes to Malvern: TRE a story of radar 1942-1953. 2009.

Websites 

How the Introduction of Radar in World War II Changed the Course of the War - Michael Stroud

Telecommunications Research Establishment - Malvern Museum

Malvern Radar and Technology Society - website 

Telecommunications Research Establishment - Wikipedia

Malvern Radar Heroes - Qinetiq 

TRE, RSRE,DRA, DERA and RADAR - Malvern Beacon 

How Malvern College was taken over by boffins in WW2 - Worcester News 19 June 2019 

The Bruneval Raid - Malvern Radar and Technology History Society

The Forgotten Bletchley Park - Daily Mail  9 December 2019

 H2S - Wikipedia

Using Chain Home Radar - Warfare History Network 

Percy Gale

Percy Gale was born on 4 September 1904 in West Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. His mother was Mary Ann Jenkins Gale. On 3 December 1938 Percy married Irene Hedwick Louise Wyatt and in 1939 their daughter, Mary was born. In 1939 his occupation was listed as hospital porter.

The next definite information that we have about Percy is that he died on 12 August 1943 and was buried at the Bone War Cemetery Annaba, Algeria.

The Bone War Cemetery contains 868 burials of Commonwealth soldiers from the Second World War.

Allied forces landed on the coast of Algeria in November 1942. Allied forces then continued into Tunisia where fighting in the North African campaign continued until the end of 1943 when the Axis forces surrendered. 

Allied forces occupied Bone (Annaba) from 12 November 1942. Bone was an important port for supplies and also had an airport. There was also a hospital.

The control of military bases on the Mediterranean coast in North Africa was important for the Allies to keep watch on the movements of German ships and troop movements in relation to North Africa and also in Italy.

The limited information that we have about Percy's service during the war includes that he was an Aircraftman 2nd class (AC2) in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. His service number was 1666106 and his unit was 1 Base Personnel Depot, Mediterranean Command, at Fort De L'eau (Bordj El Kaffan), another port further along the coast. Fort De L'eau also had an airport and a hospital. We have not located any information as to how Percy Gale died.

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale was born in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales in 1920. His parents were George Windsor Gale and Sena Smith.

During the Second World War Windsor Gale was appointed as a pilot officer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve on 11 January 1945. His service number was 190271. Windsor was stationed at Leuchars Station, Fife on the east coast of Scotland where he was a Flight Engineer in 206 Squadron, Coastal Command. The role of the Coastal Command was to observe the path of German naval vessels, including submarines, in the North Sea.

The B-24 was not a comfortable plane to fly in and some of the crew had to sit on the floor. It was cold with lots of drafts. It was difficult to move around the plane and the crew often collided with structures and equipment within the plane. When the plane was refuelled the plane filled with fumes and aircraft doors would have to remain open until the fumes cleared.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator- Aviation History

On 21 April 1945 Windsor Gale was one of eleven crew members aboard a B-24 Liberator VIII which left Leuchars at 20:11 the previous evening on an anti-shipping patrol. The plane was shot down by a night fighter on a night patrol to Kattegat and crashed into the western part of the Rold Forest, nine miles north of Holbro, Denmark. All the crew died. Windsor was 24 years old.

International Find a Grave

The crew consisted of:

Pilot Lieutenant-Commander Nicodeme Guilonard of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
Second pilot Flying Officer Anthony Richard Tenison Smith,
Navigator Flying Officer Alan James Harding,
Navigator Warrant Officer George Henry Topliff,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Flight Lieutenant Peter Stevens Leinthall Laycock,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Warrant Officer Walter William Spencer,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Warrant Officer Thomas Keith Theaker,
Air Gunner Warrant Officer George Charles Kenneth Long,
Air Gunner Warrant Officer Kenneth Alwyn Albert Emery, 
Wireless Operator-Mechanic/Air Gunner Flight Sergeant Frederick Ralph Orritt and
Flight Engineer Pilot Officer Windsor Thomas Henry Gale.

Photo of the crew - PO Gale bottom right- Airwar over Denmark

The bodies of the crew, initially buried by German soldiers, were rediscovered in 1947. They were reburied in the Arestrup Kirkegård cemetery. The priest conducting the service concluded his speech for the fallen with the words: Now we will lay to rest our unknown friends.

International Find a Grave

A memorial stone was erected in Torstedlund Forest, in the western part of Rold Forest, where the Liberator had crashed.

Memorial Stone - Rebildporten

Two and a half weeks after the plane was shot down by the Germans, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies on 8 May 1945.

RAF Leuchars - Wikipedia

RAF Leuchars Remembered - Scottish Saltire Aircrew Association 

Flight Over Kattegat - BBC 

Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR Mk VIII; KH410; PQ-N - Aviation Safety Network

Consolidated B-24 Liberator VIII -  Aviation History

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale - International Find a Grave 

B 24 GR8 KH410 crashed in Torstedlund Skov Forest -Airwar over Denmark 

World War Two in Rebild - Rebildporten

Rex Moses

Reginald Moses (Rex) was born in Sydney on 5 January 1915. His parents were Reginald John Henry Moses (1889-1936) and Agnes Campbell Thom (Fairy) (1891-1974).

When  the Second World War commenced in 1939, Rex's younger brother Ken had applied to join the Air Force but as there was a long waiting list he enlisted in the Army instead. When serving overseas Ken eventually received notification from the RAAF that he could apply to enlist but the notification was a little late. However, Rex joined the RAAF in 1943.

Prior to this Rex worked at Steelcraft Pty Ltd in Crows Nest.  They were bolt and rivet manufacturers. During the Second World War the company made munitions for the military. His employment when he enlisted was given as clerk and storeman.

On 8 January 1943 Rex enlisted as a Technical Trainee in the No 14 Repair and Salvage Unit (RSU) of the RAAF which was later renamed as the No 14 Repair and Servicing Unit. This was a maintenance unit of the RAAF, stationed in Australia, as well as on islands to the north of the country, which serviced Australian aircraft involved with defending Australia from Japanese invasion, including planes damaged by enemy fire.

Rex's service number was 74777. On the enlistment form he was described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. After enlisting Rex undertook the initial training course and was then remustered to a group to train as a Flight Rigger. This training took place between 19 April and 10 July 1943. He passed successfully.

Rex spent time at a variety of locations including Bradfield Park, Geelong, Ascot Vale, Richmond (NSW) Mount Druitt, Pell and Livingston in the Northern Territory before being transferred to Townsville in Queensland on 22 May 1944. During this time he undertook a series of technical courses learning about the maintenance and repair of aircraft.

Bradfield Park

From 14 December 1944 to 10 January 1945 Rex was attached to the Operational Base Unit (OBU) at Townsville. Moving aircraft around a large sparsely populated country such as Australia created challenges in the 1940s so emergency and designated landing grounds were created to support the safe transit of aeroplanes. This resulted in a network of OBUs established to operate these airbases and provide emergency services, repairs and general servicing of aircraft.

Rex left Townsville on 8 March 1945 and travelled to the island of Morotai, a northern island of Indonesia to the west of West Papua where he arrived on 24 March. United States troops had landed on the island on 15 September 1944 and secured a perimeter around the island's airfield. The airfield perimeter was  enlarged but some Japanese forces remained on the rest of the island for the remainder of the war.

Base at Morotai Island

The Allied Airforce base on the island aimed to secure the island as a safe base so that the Allies could liberate the Philippines from the Japanese.

RAAF Kittyhawks at Morotai Island

On Morotai Island Rex serviced the Allied planes that flew from the airbase as well as repairing planes damaged by enemy fire.

Rex returned to Sydney at the end of the war. Rex's rank at the time of his discharge on 12 February 1946 was Leading Aircraftman. He returned to work at Steelcraft.

Airforce service records - NAA