Digging For Britain - WW2 Special

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by hucks216, Dec 9, 2019.

  1. hucks216

    hucks216 Member

    On Wednesday 11th December the BBC4 programme Digging For Britain is having a WW2 Special where their dig relates to Band of Brothers. Programme is on at 2100 and on the iPlayer afterwards.

    ELWI7_HXYAEcmjb.jpg
     
    kopite, AB64, Buteman and 2 others like this.
  2. TriciaF

    TriciaF Junior Member

    thanks - hoping to watch that.
     
  3. hucks216

    hucks216 Member

    Programme details:

    The team are on an archaeological hunt of our more recent past as they follow the search for artefacts from World War II. They join marine archaeologists in the Solent as they raise the once-in-a-lifetime find of a Fairey Barracuda dive bomber. More than 2500 Barracudas were in service during the war, but not a single complete plane survives today. NaoĆ­se Mac Sweeney joins the post-excavation to reveal how the find could help bring this rare aircraft back to life.

    Also featured, a dig in the Lake District that tells the moving story of the Windermere Boys and the role the area played in rehabilitating these children liberated from the Nazi concentration camps after World War II.

    In Aldbourne, Wiltshire, the search is on for the most famous American unit of the US army, 'Easy Company', whose paratroopers were stationed there in 1943 and 1944. Archaeologists are particularly looking for any personal items of this renowned regiment to gain insight into the lives of its soldiers in the months and days leading up to the D-Day invasion.

    And off a beautiful beach in Devon, divers plumb the depths to discover more about a secret wartime military exercise that may have remained buried from view if it hadn't been for the curiosity of a local amateur archaeologist.
     
    kopite and JimHerriot like this.
  4. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    And then folks can see on 4+1HD at 22:00 the programme "My Grandparent's War".

    Evening viewing sorted.

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2019
  5. SteveDee

    SteveDee Well-Known Member

    This program was repeated again tonight and is back on iPlayer: BBC iPlayer - Digging for Britain - Series 8: 4. WWII Special

    Especially interested in the bit about Operation Tiger, and the work of the late Ken Small to retrieve a sunken US tank.
     
  6. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    There is much more to Aldbourne and Ramsbury than BoB. Although the TV series dominates their history.
    I have previously posted on this before so shouldn't really repeat myself.
    The two villages and the whole area were host to the 48th Division (Western Command) in 1939 where the 67th Field Regt trained after Embodiment in Sept 1939. Their HQ was in Ramsbury with one Battery in Aldbourne. They used used the Artillery ranges around Salisbury Plain.
    They embarked from the area in Jan 1940 eventually being evacuated from Dunkirk.
    Aldbourne History group have been studying this period but the Covid Lockdowns seem to have disrupted this.
    They have a number of stories and documents in their files that appear to have evaporated or not been posted online.

    Look for "Ramsbury at War" by Roger Day This covers the area of Ramsbury and Aldbourne 1939-45 including the Airfield from which the 82nd Airborne flew by glider to Normandy.
    His parents provided lodgings for an American Paratrooper, he co-authored "Tonight We Die as Men".
    An interesting accompaniment to their sister Company in BoB.

    Sad the Digging For Britain program overlooked all this. Its some time since I watched it.

    https://breakinggroundheritage.org.uk/onewebmedia/Digging Band of Brothers Report 1 2019.pdf
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2023

Share This Page