Pigeon Post's WW2 pigeon homework

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There is nothing better for cheering me up after a truly awful week than a stroke of luck - or was it merely a coincidence?

The reason I called this blog Pigeon Post is that during World War 2, a prize-winning pigeon loft at 18 Doods Road, Reigate was commandeered for the war effort. Reigate was the Battle HQ for South Eastern Command, headed by the military VIP, General Montgomery.

For my talks on Churchill's Secret Reigate, I always feature the role of these pigeons because it just goes to show how small creatures and small messages can make all the difference if they are delivered safely - and sometimes with great bravery. I have even suggested to the Council of the Reigate Society that they should be commemorated somehow locally, but they seemed to think it was a silly idea. Oh well it's their loss - our next-door ancient market town, Dorking, commemorates a flipping chicken on its main Deepdene roundabout, just where Churchill used to stay as a teenager.

I knew that the Dickin Medal had been awarded to at least one of Mr Blasby's Reigate pigeons. This is the equivalent of a Victoria Cross for animals! In total, 32 pigeons were awarded the Dickin Medal for their magnificent wartime work. Oh, how I would have liked to find out more - like their specific names, and which one did what. I guess that they had a key role in the D Day landings since these were secretly planned by Monty's army staff on a massive scale. I think it is an inspiring story.

So it was a great delight to go to Bletchley Park on Sunday - my birthday - and at the last minute to find a whole roomful of exhibits in code-breaker Alan Turing's Hut 8 - devoted to the role of pigeons in war! I shall have to go again sometime in warmer weather, and allocate an hour or so to view those exhibits in detail.

How strange that this morning, only 6 days later, when Dave my window cleaner and his friend Malcolm turned up about some household repairs - what should the guttering man do as a hobby but breed racing pigeons! So he is going to lend me a book.

And just as a bit of light relief from the ugliness and deceptions of this corrupt, sad world, I am now eagerly awaiting a DVD called "Valiant". It has only cost me one penny and it's the story of one of those splendid D Day pigeons - as a British-made cartoon. I hope that will be fun.

PS It was. I recommend it to schoolchildren needing to learn about World War 2 without any books or study skills.

My mug

The postman has just delivered my new mug from the Welsh Shop in Newport. It's ever so educational because it says "Duw Duw! Well I Never!" - the first Welsh expression I have ever learned. Now you see, this is because Welsh miners were signed up as Royal Engineers in World War 2. They were sent here to south east England with their special skills and techniques to mine the new bunkers for South Eastern Command, all in the utmost secrecy of course. It was one of these miners who accidentally let the cat out of the bag to Mr Foan the barber in the High Street. Hence the reference and brilliant play on words in one verse of my special poem by Barrie Singleton:

Welsh miners exclaiming “dieu dieu!”
Drilled tunnels for Monty’s HQ.
Soon South Eastern Command’s
Subterranean band
Were installed ‘gainst what Gerry might do.

Churchill's Secret Reigate photobook

I am getting ready for my 2nd lecture about 'Churchill's Secret Reigate' next Saturday. Over 100 people have reserved free virtual tickets and there are limited spaces with good visibility.
This will be videoed fortunately, since publishing any research is a challenge. A few notable Churchillians, friends and military historians have seen the potential and are offering great support.

Would you like to view my souvenir photobook free of charge? Please scroll down to see the link. It's of little consequence compared with the material I'm able to share in my talk. If you'd actually like to purchase it, then I will send £4 for each copy to CHASE Children's Hospice, since I gather the small amount of Govt. funding has just been cancelled.

It was a treat this week to hear from Eric Sykes' agent regarding my research. His message is that Churchill was always his hero and I am very welcome to include an extract from his autobiography about his experience of Reigate during WW2. Certainly, it is an honour to do so. Eric Sykes was in the RAF stationed at Gatton Park. His book recounts how he was in radio signals and barely saw any aircraft, let alone women, but describes beautifully, the day he first walked all the way down the hill to Reigate and saw the Canadian effect of their troops that were over here. I think that all this time, he didn't realise that Reigate Hill was actually the HQ of South Eastern Command and exactly where Monty was in charge. It says a lot for the disguise techniques that I describe in my lecture. Eric Sykes has also documented his experience of D-Day after leaving Gatton, and later on, years later, meeting up with a fellow Canadian and introducing him to Vera Lynn. The message to me was that he was "thrilled"about my news.

So do take a look. On page 25, right at the end, is a poem by a good friend of mine who has a knack of encapsulating a great story, in a nutshell. The previous pictures have no caption so you can make up your own story if you are inspired to do so. Please notice Winnie the Pooh on page 2.

No secret now - 'Monty's hideout'

Here's a magnificent view south from the top of the chalk downs of Reigate Hill, taken in 1927 by famous Reigate photographer Francis Frith. By 1941 there was a massive secret underground bunker right below this very spot - 350 ft. long, and it is still there to this day, not on the Ordnance Survey maps!



Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.

Here is the view west, from the direction of his home a few yards away. It was a very industrious chalk quarry and lime kiln business up above a few very high class Victorian homes and estates.
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Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.

Since the turn of the century, Winston Churchill was a frequent visitor along the main road south from London towards Reigate Priory on business and for weekend house parties. Was he on the look-out for a perfect secret WW2 Battle HQ location? Yes of course. The chalk quarry abandoned for safety reasons would provide a top-secret Battle HQ/control centre (with expert mining into chalk, of all things!). The very top of that cliff is a magnificent vantage point south - throughout the war and for evermore.

Montgomery was a national celebrity after the North Africa success. He was given the South Eastern Command here in Reigate (plus Battle HQ now installed) to plan something very special indeed to win the war. And yet, with his health-conscious insistence on 5-mile cross country runs every week, he was very soon familiar with the quiet country lanes all around.

The HQ was closely guarded round the clock. 3 small cottages beside the main road on Reigate Hill were secretly fortified with gun holes and interior sandbags to window level for defence against the German invasion plans! The large houses were commandeered for accommodation and offices.

First Post

Christmas is nearly here. Already I've received a surprise by post. It's a local newspaper cutting from 30 August 1990 about the prizewinning pigeons that helped to win the war. They were pedigree Logans and Barkers, frequently winning trophies and certificates for long distance races in the 1920s. The loft had become so well known that it was called the Great Doods Loft - number 18 Doods Road I'm told.

Early in World War 2, Reigate was chosen as the HQ for Montgomery's South Eastern Command. For the vital messages to and from this control hub, a despatch riders' camp was established just by the hillside near Pilgrims Way, and only a minute or two along a specially constructed road leading down to Underbeeches, where Monty was staying. No one was allowed up there of course and it's all overgrown now, but still the evidence is there. The grand old Victorian houses and new villas in the area were commandeered to accommodate the army personnel.

The War Office also took over Mr Blasby's local pigeon loft. The birds would have cylinders on their legs just like lipstick. Each day one or two of them used to fly in and land on the loft carrying their messages, so there was a sentry on guard, day and night! If the owner's family went anywhere near it, the guard would up his gun. How sad that the owner wasn't allowed to feed or even visit his pigeons. The news item reports that it broke his heart.

Some of them returned wounded, and the birds that survived were in a really bad state by the end of the war. The end of the story? They were awarded pigeon VCs.