Martin W Bowman - Hitlers Invasion of East Anglia, 1940

HITLERS INVASION OF EAST ANGLIA, 1940

AN HISTORICAL COVER UP?

In Memoriam

Herbert Philip Bowman 20 July 1926-16 November 2002

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

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Copyright Martin W. Bowman, 2019

ISBN 978 1 52670 548 8

eISBN 978 1 52670 550 1

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52670 549 5

The right of Martin W. Bowman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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In history you dont ever get positive, conclusive evidence.

Dr. James E. Crisp

North Carolina State University

Authors Note

History is not an exact science; it is an agreed upon lie. Therefore the contents of this book are factual, save for Chapter Nine, in which I make no apology for using the false document technique to create verisimilitude in a work of fiction. By inventing and inserting documents that appear to be factual, an author tries to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief for a work of art. The goal of a false document is to convince an audience that what is being presented is factual. In this case Chapter Nine is speculative but while false documents intentionally blur the boundaries between narrative non-fiction and fact, if the factual clues presented in the preceding chapters are studied and pieced together then some or all of its parts may indeed have happened.

At this juncture I would like to record my appreciation for the valuable contributions made by James Hayward; Jim Drane of the National Trust; David Kibble-White; Peter D. Antill BA (Hons) MSc (Econ) PGCE (PCE) and The Museum of the British Resistance Organisation (B.R.O.) at the Parham Airfield Museum in Suffolk.

At present we lie within a few minutes striking distance of the French, Dutch and Belgian coasts and within a few hours of the great aerodromes of Central Europe. We are even within cannon-shot of the Continent.

So close as that! Is it prudent, is it possible, however much we might desire it, to turn our backs upon Europe and ignore whatever may happen there? I have come to the conclusion - reluctantly I admit - that we cannot get away. Here we are and we must make the best of it. But do not underrate the risks- the grievous risks - we have to run.

Broadcast by Winston Churchill, 16 November 1934.

The reader of these pages in future years should realise how dense and baffling is the veil of the Unknown. Now in the full light of the aftertime it is easy to see where we were ignorant or too much alarmed, where we were careless or clumsy. Twice in two months we had been taken completely by surprise. The overrunning of Norway and the breakthrough at Sedan, with all that followed from these, proved the deadly power of the German initiative. What else had they got ready - prepared and organised to the last inch? Would they suddenly pounce out of the blue with new weapons, perfect planning and overwhelming force upon our almost totally unequipped and disarmed Island at any one of a dozen or score of possible landing-places? Or would they go to Ireland? He would have been a very foolish man who allowed his reasoning, however clean-cut and seemingly sure, to blot out any possibility against which provision could be made.

Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill.

On Monday 28th August 1939, having been advised to report to the Recruiting Depot at Bradford, Yorkshire, 19-year-old Jim Dinty Moore caught the train from his home in Hawes at the head of Wensleydale and set off on the first leg of a journey that would last six years and five months. During the summer of 1939 he had been accepted as a wireless operator. AC2 Moores feelings were a mixture of excitement and apprehension and he certainly had no idea that within twelve months he would be flying over Western Europe as a member of the crew of a Bristol Blenheim. During the summer of 1939 the Royal Air Force prepared itself for war as best it could, with the faint hope, as in previous years that war could be averted by the politicians. In so far as the aircrew were concerned, they believed they were ready to fight, not realising that in many cases their aircraft were to prove to be no match against the Luftwaffe. Being young they did not appreciate, nor want to appreciate, the horrors of war, even though most of them knew some of those who had survived the appalling battles of Flanders during the 1914-18 War, a mere twenty years earlier.

On Sunday morning, 3rd September, Dinty Moore was sitting in a barrack block at Padgate, a training establishment on the outskirts of Warrington, having joined the RAF only four days earlier, when the radio in his hut was switched on and instead of the normal programmes serious music was being played. It was then solemnly announced that the nation was to be addressed by the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.

Arthur Neville Chamberlain, born 18 March 1869 and educated at Rugby School, was a Conservative politician who had served as Prime Minister from May 1937. He remembered the horrific losses of the First World War and was determined to avoid hostilities with Adolf Hitlers Germany, if at all possible. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in September 1938, which conceded the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany. On 30 September Chamberlain flew back to London in triumph, stating he had reached agreement with Hitler. Large crowds mobbed Heston aerodrome where he was given a letter from King George VI assuring him of the Empires lasting gratitude and urging him to come straight to Buckingham Palace to report. The streets were so packed with cheering people that it took Chamberlain an hour and a half to journey the nine miles from Heston to the Palace. After reporting to the King, Chamberlain and his wife appeared on the Palace balcony with the King and Queen Elizabeth. He then went to Downing Street where both the street and the front hall of Number 10 were packed. As he headed upstairs to address the crowd from a first-floor window someone called to him, Neville, go up to the window and say peace for our time. Chamberlain turned around and responded, No, I dont do that sort of thing . Nevertheless, he recalled the words of his predecessor, Benjamin Disraeli and his return from the Congress of Berlin in his statement to the crowd: My good friends, this is the second time there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home and sleep quietly in your beds. The RAF was stood down. There was no applause, only heartfelt relief but no one felt proud of themselves. They