HALL FARM & the SOE, Godmanchester

Discussion in 'General' started by shakybridge, Feb 17, 2013.

  1. shakybridge

    shakybridge Member

    Hi,
    I've researched the 'Nazi Scientists' and also the 'Heavy Water' connection to Hall Farm, but I was wondering if any one had any information as to any other agents that were trained there. Or how many were trained at this SOE establishment?
    any interesting facts that I cna use in my WW2 charity history walk this summer gratefully received,
    Thanks
     
  2. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    What evidence do you have that it was an SOE Establishment?
     
  3. shakybridge

    shakybridge Member

    Hi,
    There are numerous references to it being an SOE Training centre for agents which were dropped into Europe, including the agents that destroyed the Heavy Water plant at Vermork.
    It was also the place Operation Epsilon took place, 10 German Nuclear scientists were kept anf listened in on. Below is an extract from a write up on the Godmanchester Porch Museum website..

    Later on, an American, Arnold Kramish, came to visit Farm Hall as he was writing a book called The Griffin that told the story of the secret operations conducted from the house by the Special Operation Executive (SOE), the predecessor of MI5. Among the stories in the book was the mission to destroy the German heavy water plant at Vermork in Norway, which was the subject of the 1965 film Heroes of Telemark, with the actor Kirk Douglas. Heavy water was used to enrich uranium, the essential ingredient for an atom bomb.
    Kramish gave us the names of the German scientists that were interned at Farm Hall. Amongst the 10 scientists there were three Nobel laureates, including Heisenberg of the 'uncertainty principle' fame in physics, and Hahn, who discovered nuclear fission in 1939.

    If it wasn't SOE then it was some other Government agency of the same ilk
    Regards

    Roger
     
  4. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    SOE was NOT a predcessor of MI5 (The Security Service) which was in existence prior to SOE, it is not listed in any of the SOE Training files or lists of Establishments
     
  5. shakybridge

    shakybridge Member

    Thanks for the feedback, I'm trying to put some information together for a WW2 charity walk to raise money towards the upkeep of the local War Memorial. Clearly Hall Farm was the location of some considerable 'undercover' work, if it's not the SOE then who would be training agents there and who was behind 'Operation Epsilon'?
    Any information greatly received as it's been a greatly researched part of our towns WW2 History and if it's wrong then we'd better correct it.
     
  6. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    Hall Farm was an interrogation centre - it appears that they were looking for technical intelligence. It is very doubtful that the people being interrogated would have been housed in a facility used for agent training. I will have a look at this and see what I can dig out
     
  7. shakybridge

    shakybridge Member

    Just add a little more credence to the story, when new owners took over Hall Farm and did some renovation work they found numerous cables hidden in the wall and floors which were identified as the ones they used to listen in on the German Scientists.
    Someone else, on an earlier thread, referred to it as being an SOE establishment early in the war, known as STS61.
    Thanks
    Roger
     
  8. shakybridge

    shakybridge Member

    Hi,
    A bit if digging suggests STS61 was actually a different 'Hall' near St Neots, just down the road!
     
  9. Little Friend

    Little Friend Senior Member

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    I took these March 2012. Former site of Aston House, Aston, Nr Stevenage.
    This is now Aston Golf Club. The (Very awkward) to photograph plaque is within the bar area.
     
  10. Little Friend

    Little Friend Senior Member

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    I took these February 2012. This is at Whitchurch, Bucks.
     
  11. Little Friend

    Little Friend Senior Member

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    A few from inside. Googling; Winston Churchill's Toyshop, will explain what happened here during the war.
     
    CL1 likes this.
  12. AlanDavid

    AlanDavid Junior Member

    Great photos, thanks for sharing.
     

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