Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
THE LOWLANDER - H-H-H-HANSARD
151 Plays9 months ago
From Hitler's 50th Birthday to a 'Hello' for a new President, from happy days at the liberation of Stalag 357 to a few notes from a key witness to history - Hansard, the British government's record of parliamentary proceedings - Andy and Merryn dig into this week's editions of The Lowlander ...
Recommended
Transcript
The 52nd Lowlander Division in WWII
00:00:05
Speaker
From 1944 to 1945, the 52nd Lowlander Division is fighting its way across Northwest Europe. The writing is on the wall, but it's also on the page.
Morale Boosts with The Lowlander Newsletter
00:00:16
Speaker
The Army Education Branch sends a newsletter out to thousands of men, all pulling together, pushing the enemy back. This newsletter is called The Lowlander.
Favorite Articles from April 1945
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, Andy. Hello, Mary. Hello, hello. Can you believe it? Back again, picking out our favourite articles and news updates from the regular newsletter that was sent out to the men of the 52nd Lowland Vision, this time between the 16th and the 22nd of April 1945.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, and last week we noted that April has been a very, very busy month for the jocks. In fact, Peter White, who we refer to quite often, has experience in the book with the jocks. The month of April takes almost half of the book. It's that busy, it's that intense. The 52nd is in the thick of it, and that's having an impact on what they're reading. But we'll talk more about that in a moment. First, why don't you tell us what's going on in the war this week?
Significant Military Updates
00:01:22
Speaker
So this week in April 1945, off lag 4C was captured by soldiers of the US First Army, better known as prisoner of war camp, Colditz Castle. There's no nominative determinism for the Martin B-26 Marauder flak bait, which completed a record 200th bombing mission. I don't know if there was a little bit of triggers brewing there. The Royal Air Force conducted its last big significant mission of the war,
00:01:49
Speaker
this week with a raid against Hitler's retreat at Berchter's garden and in slightly lighter news the Rogers and Hammerstein stage musical Carousel opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway proving that not everything was all doom and gloom. So shall we find out where the jocks are? Tell us where the men of the 52nd Lowland Division have been this week please and what's going
Preparation for the Bremen Assault
00:02:11
Speaker
on.
00:02:11
Speaker
So we've still got this scenario where the 52nd loan division is operating with the 4th Armour Brigade and the 7th Armour Division has 155 Brigade from the 52nd attached to them. They're kind of the most busiest part of all this, but we'll talk about more in a minute. So the rest of the 52nd loan, what they're doing is they've got up to just south of Bremen and they're now turned east and they're moving along the line of the River Vaser.
00:02:36
Speaker
And what they're going to do by the end of the week, there's some sporadic fighting, but nothing too intense. They're going to take over the German town of Verdun, which is on the north bank of the Vaser, about 20 miles east of Bremen. And they're going to take that over from the 53rd Welsh Division. And this is building up for next week. No spoilers, but this is the big assault on Bremen, which is going to be led by the 52nd Lowland Division.
00:03:00
Speaker
Excellent, excellent. Well that's going on. We talked about last week how the 155th Brigade as part of 7th Armoured Division had crossed the River Aller at Retham. They're pushing up north-east of that position and they're going to be encountering places that anybody who's been in the British Army from the 1940s through to the 19, well really to the 2000s will know.
Liberation of Stalag 11B
00:03:24
Speaker
4KOSB, of course the battalion that we're really keen on, they help liberate the prisoner of war camp Stalag 11B. Actually Peter White's platoon and B company, they take over that camp and they look after the camp for about 24 hours and they liberate all sorts of prisoners. A lot of the guys from Arnhem, some of the guys that have been captured in the desert. What's interesting as well, and this is a callback so I'm using some plot device there,
00:03:49
Speaker
they actually encountered some guys in the 4th Battalion that had been captured at Coningsbosch on January 1945 during Black Hawk. And I think if you remember back to the episode, a few episodes ago when we talked about the battle for Alpen and Hauslu, they also liberate Sea Company of seven Cameroonians who had been captured completely as 4th Battalion were attacking Hauslu. So there's lots of synergy there. Is that a falling bustle?
The Battle and Preparations at Saltau
00:04:16
Speaker
that's yes that's a bad falling boss and of course people in the british army would have been posted there almost immediately after the second war war so that's bad falling boss now just north of that a few miles in fact quite a few miles north of that and again anybody from british army the rain will have shudders down the spine when they hear this name uh seven thanks for all scots have a really tough battle for the village of salt out on what is now the salt out training area um once that's done at the end of the week they then
00:04:44
Speaker
detach themselves from the 7th Armoured Division and they rejoin the 52nd Lowland Division in Verdun ready for that assault on Bremen. Yeah, you mentioned Sultag there. I know it's very strange saying favourite cemeteries, but of all the CWGC cemeteries I've been to, the one at, is it Becklingen, is the most surreal because as you get out of your battle bus to go and explore the cemetery, we know several of the guys who are there,
00:05:10
Speaker
you what you're not prepared for is the noise of machine gun fire coming across from the salt tower training area there is there is there is one thing to be laid rest in peace there's quite another in my mind and i know it might just be me but to be resting in peace under the noise of machine gun fire it's quite a thing
00:05:27
Speaker
It's very, very weird.
Visiting Becklingen Cemetery
00:05:29
Speaker
Well, it's funny you mentioned Beckling Cemetery. Beckling and Cemetery is the last cemetery in Germany that the soldiers of the 52nd are buried at. So anything that happens from now on, they're soldiers. And of course, Peter has a number of these jocks buried there. He has Private Jones, Private Parry, Private Biles and Private Hanmer. And of course, there's lots of other four KOSB guys who are killed in the assault on Bremen. So yeah.
00:05:54
Speaker
Well, in slightly lighter news, shall we see what's going on in the pages of the service newsletter?
Advances in Holland and Bremen Capture
00:06:01
Speaker
I think we probably should, shouldn't we? I think we should do. 17th of April 1945, the Battle for Germany.
00:06:13
Speaker
Steady progress was made yesterday on all sectors of the Western Front. The Germans announced the opening of the main Russian offensive against Berlin, and in a special order of the day, Field Marshal Alexander gave news that the Italian Theatre of Operations 2, the spring events have started.
00:06:28
Speaker
In Holland, British, Canadian and Polish troops all made advances. British troops are now well beyond Arnhem. The Canadians have reached Leer of Arden and the capital of the most northerly of the Dutch provinces and the Poles have reached the sea and now face Emden across the estuary of their ever ends.
00:06:46
Speaker
In Germany our troops are slowly pressing emmy back towards Bremen and last night they reported only two miles from the port. British armour is now on the move again towards Hamburg and yesterday we're 15 miles beyond the three bridge heads over the river Aller. Heavy resistance is being met at Uzen. Right well I hate to point out the bleeding obvious but this is not the Lowlander, this is the Geboah Journal so shall we explain what's going on?
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, well, I think we mentioned it last week. So six battalion helmet infantry who are in 155 brigade, 52nd lowland division, they are attached to the 7th armor division at this point. Now the distance between the 7th armor division with those guys and the 52nd lowland division is quite a large distance at the minute. And so they're clearly, they're having more access to the Jaboora journal, which is the 7th armor division's newsletter than they are with the lowlander.
00:07:35
Speaker
Okay, well, and then the funny thing is that we actually know a little bit more about the guy who was editing the jeboah journal than we do about the chap who was editing the lowlander.
Ken Hill and Kenneth Marshall
00:07:43
Speaker
Do you know by the way who invented the jeboah sign, the little baby kangaroo? I know it's not a kangaroo. I do not. It was a chap called Trooper Ken Hill of the RTR and the first six versions of the little emblem that he drew were produced by nurses.
00:07:58
Speaker
and distributed among the men. So the chap who was editing the Geboah Journal was a gentleman called Kenneth Marshall and he was from Finland. He was a Cambridge man, Peter were a man. He joined the home guard, actually joined the first Cheltenham battalion at the home guard and during practice in May 1940 he was shot in the back
00:08:20
Speaker
but he thankfully recovered, went on to join the regular army in 1941, and he served in the army educational corps, became the editor of the Jaboa Journal in 1944, because the first issue was in June 1944, and he went on to become staff officer promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He became the staff officer in charge of education for the largest of the three corps groups in the British zone in Germany.
00:08:50
Speaker
He got an MBE later on and ended up, funnily enough, as the headmaster of Paston Grammar School in North Walsham in Norfolk, which he probably about 15 miles away from me. So there you go. We know infinitely more about the other division than we do about our own division, so that's great.
Newsletter Comparisons: The Lowlander vs Geboah
00:09:10
Speaker
Do you remember the film The Desert Rats?
00:09:12
Speaker
I do remember the film, yes. They crawled their way, they crawled their way across the blazing sands of Africa to turn this disaster into victory. Richard Burton, James Mason, Robert Newton, but do you remember who directed it? Absolutely no idea. Robert Wise. Who's Robert Wise?
00:09:32
Speaker
Robert Wise, he directed Desert Rats, but he also did Run Silent, Run Deep, The Sand Pebbles, which is the one where Steve McQueen got his Oscar. He did Citizen Kane, West Side Story, Sand Music, and he helped launch the Star Trek movie franchise that she bumped back this week. He didn't direct Citizen Kane, he must have worked on it.
00:09:56
Speaker
That's enough regression. Yeah, I think so. I think we should get back to the job at hand. I mean, I think about the Jabor General. We mentioned it last week. It looks very similar to the Lowland. Clearly there's a template for these divisional newsletters, and we do keep our eyes out for any more. But it doesn't seem to have quite the content. And I don't know whether that's down to a bit of fatigue. The 7th Armoured Division had been fighting since June 1944 in its current form. So it's interesting to know they don't quite have the same content.
00:10:24
Speaker
as the 52nds Lowlander. No, it doesn't have the same flair does it? No, no. Good enough though, although if we turn this page over and go to the second page of the what is this the 16th or the 17th? It's the 17th. The 17th of April. There's a last sentence here which reads the British troops made further gains in the flooded area around Lake Comacchio. Never has there been such an understatement in the history of writing about the Second World War.
00:10:54
Speaker
Go on, why is that? Well, I think this is a reference to Operation Roast. OK. Do you know this one? No, I don't know anything about Italy. Do you know? No, not a lot, really. OK. All right, so you know Italy is shaped like a boot, yeah? I do know that about Italy, yes, yes. OK, and we're doing pretty well, like working our way up the spine.
00:11:18
Speaker
Well, April 1945, what we need essentially is a plan to draw the German reserve forces away from the main offensive. We're working our way up the boot of Italy. And the Allied 15th Army Group's big spring offensive is going to push the German army back across the River Poe. And I don't think people realize that the Poe River is the longest river in Italy.
Operation Roast in Italy
00:11:41
Speaker
It's 445, 445 miles long.
00:11:45
Speaker
it starts right over on the left-hand side on Mount Morvizo, which is just up from Nice, okay? And it comes out near Venice. And when you actually say that and sort of draw that line across the top, you realize what a geographical barrier it is to moving northwards. There's a huge valley area around the Po that's called the Pianura Padana, and it's really
00:12:10
Speaker
really good at connecting the industrial towns along its length. So it kind of becomes the main industrial arm across the west to east, round across the top of it. So on the right hand side, on the east coast, we've got a thing called the area called Camacho. Now we've got, we sort of have to go down
00:12:31
Speaker
the boot a little bit. If I say that we've got La Speciale on the west coast, Bologna in the middle, and Ravenna on the east, well Camacho is just up from Ravenna. What we've got is the Camacho Lagoon. It's a huge area of shallow, boggy, it's like brackish water, it's pretty horrible. And while a lot of it's been reclaimed today, back then, it was just this massive wet area. And there was like a spit of land into the lagoon.
00:12:58
Speaker
Strategically, it was quite useful, the topography, because it meant that any action there could probably succeed in convincing the Germans that the main offensive would be along the coastline and not through the argenta gap, which is a little bit further inland. So all the way around the Comattio area, the Germans had got about 1,200 men dug in. All you need, in theory, is a half decent fighting force.
00:13:26
Speaker
We send in the commandos. We've got number two, number nine, four, oh, four, three commando. Okay. Brigadier Ronnie Todd legend in his own. Right. We've got in the squadron special boat service, wading their way through the water, mud up to their armpits, men, men handling boats to rain and stuff.
00:13:42
Speaker
And basically what they were told was, can you please wade into the Comacchio and make as much noise as possible, create as much confusion as possible, convince the enemy, convince the 1200 Germans that we've got a massive force coming through that area so that any information about what's happening goes back with the impression that there's this huge push up the coastline.
Heroism in Operation Roast
00:14:05
Speaker
this had everything operation roast had everything it had a creeping barrage that went wrong it had um the commandos were crossing the lagoon circumventing the lagoon they went round it over it they captured two bridges blew one up the sappers went in the next day and rebuilt it you know all about that um and and you've got um nine commando you've got five and six troops and nine commando got seriously pinned down um then
00:14:31
Speaker
was it one and two troops put up a smoke screen and there's a bayonet charge coming through the clearing smoke which clears too quickly and the commanders get exposed. It's everything you need for a classic kind of, what's the word I'm looking for? Well it's kind of commando comic type stuff isn't it?
00:14:50
Speaker
exactly exactly the german defenders who flee to the north they fall into um because six troops kind of gone round to to one side there's probably an army technical term for that but then the defense who's going north it's called the flank well okay so the the the germans who go north they fall into um the brain gun trap okay um it's it's not just the commanders we've got north irish horse tanks supporting them
00:15:19
Speaker
We've also got some Italian partisans supporting them. I think it's important.
00:15:23
Speaker
because we always forget that the partisans were doing good stuff. But the idea is that they sort of take this area and go on to attack Port Garibaldi after they take the Valletta Canal. This is all about making as much fuss and noise as possible. Two VCs were won during this operation. Yeah, that kind of puts things into perspective a bit. One was for Thomas Hunter, 4-3 Commando. He got a posthumous Victoria Kosh for single-handedly clearing of farmstead
00:15:52
Speaker
that had MG42s in it after he charged across open ground firing his Bren from the hip. He went on to an even more exposed position to draw fire away from his mates. That just went pear shaped. And this was also the action in which Anders Larsen got his VC. He was serving as a temporary major with the SBS.
00:16:21
Speaker
He was hit by grenades, hit by spandau fire. He threw a grenade as he went down, refused to be evacuated because he thought that would impede the withdrawal. And he accounted for, I think it was six or seven machine gun emplacements, killed probably about a dozen of the enemy, enabled several prisoners to be taken. I think his citation says, by magnificent leadership and complete disregard for his personal safety, which is kind of, you know, the big of it is really inaccurate.
00:16:49
Speaker
but it it's just ah it's full-on commando comic and you know what i can't find i can't find a book written about it no somebody will somebody will say that there is one i have no doubt well having listened to all that i can only say one thing mamma mia did you see what i did there i think we should take blackety pig now don't you
00:17:18
Speaker
21st April 1945 Home News During a debate yesterday on the army, a Labour MP suggested that the penalties for those who were convicted of harbouring deserters from the forces should be reduced from a maximum of 6 months imprisonment to a maximum of 1 month and from a maximum fine of ยฃ30 to a maximum fine of 40 shillings.
Parliamentary Discussions on Deserters
00:17:39
Speaker
The government did not see their way to accept the amendment and it was heavily defeated, as was also the amendment moved by the same member to exempt new relatives of the deserters from all penalties. Gosh, etc. That's quite a thing, isn't it? Well, that is a big thing, but here's the breaking news. For the first time since starting the launder, I went on to Hansard.
00:18:02
Speaker
Did you really? I didn't do a mirror and then bore myself with the actual speech, but what did come up... Sorry, I'm already joking of course. What I did do is I found examples of some cases where people... I don't even think about it, I don't know why I hadn't thought about it until I read this. Obviously, desertion was a thing.
00:18:21
Speaker
And the British Army didn't have the death penalty for desertion, unlike the First World War where they had the death penalty. But clearly there was a lot of desertion going on. There was an all theatres, especially things like Italy, and then when the 21st Army Group were in North-West Europe. And there were all sorts of reasons for that desertion.
00:18:42
Speaker
I think it's also worth pointing out that we shouldn't think of desertion as just being a ground-based activity, either. This is harbouring deserters from the forces. We're talking about all three. Well, you know, I sometimes think of the Navy as being above and below sea and sort of trying to divide them in two parts, although I'm not sure how you escape from submarine, except carefully when holding your breath.
00:19:02
Speaker
Yeah, well, so it was interesting because in Hansard there's a debate on looking at the case of a particular woman from Barcelona in North of England. So Mrs Kh-54 of Barcelona was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for harbouring her son, an army deserter, and as it was evidence that she'd endeavoured to persuade him to return to his unit if he can see a way to remit the remainder of the sentence. So there's lots going on there.
00:19:28
Speaker
Yeah. So this is a this is Dr. Edith Summerskill that's this raised there. So I hadn't thought about families harbouring their
00:19:37
Speaker
husbands, children, whatever it may be in their house and look after it. I don't know why it just hadn't occurred to me. And Mr. H. Harrison responded, the information is that Mrs. Kay had been harming her son for over three years from September 1941 until his arrest is a zerter in January 1945. I have an inquiry made following upon representations by the Honourable Member for Burslin, Mr. McLaren.
00:19:59
Speaker
And I've reviewed all the circumstances of the case. I regret that I can find no sufficient grounds to justify me in recommending any remission of the sentence passed by Justices. Well, I mean, I've already got huge questions about this. Because number one, if you're hiding for three years, that's something. Yeah. I mean, how could she do it? I mean, I think SOE should have had a word with it and said, can you give us some tips?
00:20:27
Speaker
And the second thing is the amount of resources that have been put into chasing these lads up. Yeah. I hadn't really thought, three years, 1941, he does a bunk and then she's saying you need to go back to unit as a way of kind of getting her sentence removed and you think, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:20:47
Speaker
No, no, no. If you've harbored him for a couple of weeks and you say you need to go back to your unit, maybe for three years. Dr. Summerskill went on to, it's not a fact that this woman devoured on many occasions to persuade her son in return and that he refused to do so. And is she not a highly respected woman? Surely she was simply displaying a maternal instincts which perhaps rather than got away with reason and therefore should not in this case be regarded with the same compassion.
00:21:14
Speaker
And then I love the fact that Morrison comes in and he says, I believe it's fair to say this lady did try to persuade her son to go back to his unit, but he was with her for three years. Exactly, Mr Morrison. Sorry, go on. She does not appear to have been very successful. But yeah, then he goes on.
00:21:32
Speaker
And this for me is the really interesting thing about considering what's written in Hansard and understanding that the politics of the military kind of try to work together to further each other's aims, but they do have to keep themselves separate. He says, if I remit this sentence, which I believe is 14 days, I am myself by administrative action amending the law. And if the law is to be amended, it should be amended by parliament. And that to me speaks to the fact that we value
00:21:59
Speaker
the law so highly that there's still an instant deferral to it. It's not a case of, well, extenuating certain circumstances, but no, we must change the law. Well, I think that's the thing. And of course, that's in January, of course, that is the Lord Morrison of Lambeth. Herbert Morrison is a fairly well-known politician at the time, one of the most senior politicians. And the fact is that's in January, they're considering making amendments to the law.
00:22:28
Speaker
And then in April 1945, we can see a member of parliament raising that as the point. They're saying, well, can we get this law changed? Can we do it? So it's really interesting to see that. And the conversation goes on. We won't dwell on it, please. You say we won't dwell on it. I've just spotted the paragraph at the bottom. McGovern jumps in and he says,
00:22:52
Speaker
What does the government expect the woman to do? Didn't they answer some? Is this not the sort of thing you condemn families in Germany for doing under the Gestapo? Would it not have been better for the mother to have sent her boy to hide in the auction near London where the right honourable gentleman hid during the last war? Oh my god, oh wow, I mean, oooh! Hot stuff!
00:23:16
Speaker
I appreciate my honorable friend's wish, as usual, to be rude. It does not worry me. It is the nature of the law which is involved and the law is not a matter for me, but for the Secretary of State, for what? Oh my God. Well, there you go. You know, somebody quite often on Prime Minister's question times nowadays say, oh, well, you know, they really should be raising the standards. They should be, you know, going back to the good old days. You think, no, there was no good old days. They were just as nasty to each other then. Oh dear.
00:23:47
Speaker
Saturday 21st April 1945, this is from Malolanda. Patton and Konev are 70 miles apart. The German High Command celebrated the furious 56th birthday yesterday by issuing some of the worst news the German people have had for a long time.
Red Army's Advance on Berlin
00:24:05
Speaker
The routine communique admitted that the Red Army, having crossed the Oda and the Nysa, was only 17 miles from the outskirts of Berlin, and only 25 miles from the center of the capital. The fighting was described as ferocious around Vriesen, and the Germans admitted that Soviet tanks have broken through south and southwest of Muncherberg, and are only five miles from the road and rail between Berlin and Frankfurt, and a similar distance from Firstenbader.
00:24:33
Speaker
The Red Army is halfway to Berlin from both Kustrin and Frankfurt and Oder and the latter has been hopelessly outflanked. The German people were told yesterday that the battle for Berlin has ended its decisive stage. Well and thankfully they've given us a lovely map. They've given us one of those wonderful radius maps where they show the miles and I think so the tip of the German spear which is
00:25:00
Speaker
The tip of the Soviet spear, which you can see on there, is almost touching, but it's about 25, maybe just under 30 miles to Berlin. Of course, by the time this has been printed, they were actually significantly closer. And it's amazing. And it's also crucially, it's got the river Elba in it, running through the middle. And you can see where patterns, sort of fingers of units are now poking forward. And it really is not very far at all.
00:25:25
Speaker
It's not surprising they mentioned the Fuhrer's birthday though, because it's only 10 days time he's going to commit suicide. Oh, that's a spoiler. So those of you who didn't know about that, he does blogs. He's not in Argentina. But his birthday has become a
00:25:45
Speaker
a huge point in the Nazi calendar for the last 20 years or so. Started on his 34th birthday in 1923. His 50th birthday in 1939 was a massive event. Absolutely massive. Huge.
00:26:00
Speaker
and yeah
00:26:20
Speaker
I don't know whether it's been recoloured or not, but there is quite a bit of photography around that 50th birthday. It's awful. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you know, I mean, yeah, I do. And actually, the 50 is 56th birthday is the last footage of Hitler and it's famous. There's a famous bit of a newsroom. We can share this on our on our socials.
00:26:39
Speaker
is where he goes down the line of Volkssturm and you've got some very, very young, very, very young Volkssturm and he gives them this sort of little cheek grab and this sort of well done and he gives them a medal because they've tried to take out a Soviet tank with a panzer first or something horrendous like that. So that is that birthday and it's his last birthday and the one that he's actually filmed for the last time. And then he basically retreats into the bunker from that point and never comes out again alive.
00:27:12
Speaker
Tuesday 17th April 1945.
President Truman's Congressional Address
00:27:14
Speaker
This is from the Jiboa Journal. World News, America. President Truman last night addressed a joint session of Congress. His speech was heard not only by the members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, but by many people in all parts of the world, for it was broadcast.
00:27:35
Speaker
Oh, well, of course, he's only been the president for by this point, not even I think just just about a week, in fact, not even a week, five days since he took over the presidency from from Roosevelt who died, who died that week. And all of a sudden he's there and he's in charge of a war. Yeah. And and he's kind of lots of people say he's the least likeliest person to be president ever. He's just nobody ever rates him. And then he comes in and and does a pretty, pretty good job, I think.
00:28:24
Speaker
22nd April 1945. Princess Elizabeth yesterday celebrated her 19th birthday. Oh bless her. Good old Princess Elizabeth.
00:28:33
Speaker
Now, this is back in the day when she only had one birthday, isn't it? She joined the ATS at 18, 18 years old, her own insistence. This was 1945, mind you. She joined as a subaltern and by the end of the war, she'd reached the rank of junior commander.
00:28:52
Speaker
and she'd completed her course at the number one mechanical training centre of the ATS and passed out as a fully qualified driver. However, comma, I can certify that she carried on driving for the rest of her life like she was still going into the front on, you know, because honestly, round the lanes of Norfolk, if you saw a dodgy Land Rover coming towards you with an old lady with a headscarf on, she's
00:29:15
Speaker
Crikey, you got over to one side. More than once, more than once I came up against, like Queen Elizabeth II. I think on that note we should probably move on, don't you? I do indeed.
Churchill's Speeches and Reflections
00:29:33
Speaker
And finally we go to this week's thought for the day from the 22nd of April 1945. The British people are not only strong enough to overcome the enemy
00:29:42
Speaker
but to reap the reward of the gallantry and steadfastness. The Prime Minister at Bristol yesterday. April 20th, he was receiving the Freedom of the City of Bristol. There's a little bit of footage of this. I mean, it's not very sort of deep as a quote, but during the same speech
00:30:00
Speaker
Well, he's accepting the freedom of the city. He also said that he or whoever stood in his place would have to ask war weary Britain for a new leap forward, for a new lifting of the soul and body to defeat Japan. He was shattered. In the film footage, he looks absolutely exhausted. He doesn't look like the portly Winnie that we sometimes saw.
00:30:23
Speaker
expect to see. He just looks like an old, tired man, absolutely exhausted. In fact, he said that in the event there was a new Prime Minister, he would support him, whoever it may be, but he didn't go on to say who he thought that might be.
00:30:38
Speaker
And the thing is, Roosevelt had already popped his clogs. I mean, he had bad health anyway, but probably as a result of the stress of the war. The only one that seems to be doing okay is Stalin at this point. He seems to be loving it, you know, at this stage, because I think he's got to the point where he's going to get whatever he wants. I have been working on my Churchill voice. I'm not going to practice it with you now. I'm so glad.
00:30:59
Speaker
You'll be pleased to see. Yeah. Well, especially because the last word of that quote has got to Essie's and of course he has a terrible life. I said I wouldn't do it though, I'm moving on. No, the only other thing that I can remember from that speech is that he says that we have no intention of encouraging festivities or indulging in any thanksgiving.
00:31:21
Speaker
until we're basically assured by the military commanders that the task is so far complete that everyone may cheer. Remember that. And what you're saying is that, you know, even we even though we know the writings on the wall, we can see Bloomberg Heath practically from where we're standing. It's not all done until every pocket of resistance has been erased, no matter which 30 you're fighting in. And that's that's quite a thought. Yeah, really. Well, it's true because Hamburg and Bremen haven't been taken yet.
00:31:50
Speaker
Even though the actual fighting for those doesn't result in huge amounts of casualties, the game isn't up yet. The Germans are officially still fighting and some of the resistance is still sticking out. Japanese as well. There's still a war going on in the Far East. Of course. Yeah, full flood. On that note, shall we round it up for this week? Yeah, I think it's probably best to. So that was the Geboah Journal. That was the Lowlander. It's coming up to the end of the war.
00:32:21
Speaker
Time lunch is on. See you next week. See you next week. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Lowlander. The Lowlander was written, produced and presented by Andy Aitchison and Mirren Walters. This was a hellish good production.
00:32:59
Speaker
And now we go to the classified football results for the week commencing the 16th of April 1945. English league South. Chelsea Nell, Brighton 2. Crystal Palace 6. Stop. Stop. You disappeared on the word South and came back in on Brighton.
April 1945 Football Results
00:33:15
Speaker
OK, I'll do it again. Sorry. No, what are you sorry for? You should stop me when that sort of shit happens. OK. OK, here we go.
00:33:31
Speaker
And now we go to the classified football results for the week commencing 16th April 1945 English League South Chelsea Nell Brighton 2 Crystal Palace 6 Brentford 1 Luton 1 Oldershot 2 Millwall 2 Reading 2 Portsmouth 3 Fulham 1 Queensborough Rangers 2 Charlton 3 Sparas 4 Clapton Orient 0 Watford 3 Arsenal 2
00:34:00
Speaker
West Ham 3, Southampton 5 English League Cup, North Bolton 3, Newcastle 0 Doncaster 1, Man United 2 Liverpool 0, Chesterfield 0 Wolves 3, Cardiff 0 Scottish League South Dunbarton 3, Hearts 2 Falkok 2, Ayrdeonians 1
00:34:27
Speaker
Hamilton 5, Clyde 3 St. Meryn 1, Partik Thistle 2 English League, North. Atkinson 0, Burry 2. Birmingham 1, Coventry 2. Bradford City 4, Halifax 0. Bristol 2, Aberamham 1. Barnsley 1, Leeds 3. Barnley 2, Sheffield United 0. Hull City 2, Wotherham 8.
00:34:58
Speaker
Lincoln 2, Grimsby 2. Lovells 2, Baff, Nill. Man City, Nill. Blackburn 1. Minnersburg 2, Huddersfield 1. Northampton 2, Derby 1. Notts County 1, Nottingham Forest 3. Preston North End 5, Blackburn Nill. Rochdale 1, Oldham 2. Sheffield Wednesday 3, Bradford 1. Southport Nill, Everton 5.
00:35:29
Speaker
Stockport Knell, Crew 1 Stokes City 1, Aston Villa Knell Sunderland 5, Hartley Pool Knell West Bromwich Albion 1, Leicester 1, Knell Wrecksham 2, Chester 2 Yoke City 2, Darlington Knell Scottish League Cup Final, South Queens Park Knell, Rangers 3
00:35:56
Speaker
Scottish League North East Aberdeen-Nilden-Ferrman 1 Arbroath 1, Wraith Rovers 4 Dundee 3, East 5-2 Rangers 4, Hart Snell Quite what levels and Bath are doing in the North League, I've got absolutely no idea!
00:36:15
Speaker
All the weeks we've been doing this, I'm starting to understand how much the men must have looked forward to every week. Something to hang on to, the footballs themselves. Just something to hang on to, even if the leagues are a complete nonsense as well. They're not really playing competitively. You'll notice that the same teams are playing each other over and over and over again, because obviously there's restrictions on their travel and all the rest of it.
00:36:49
Speaker
He went in there and he just swam the bloody Germans off. The hell is good.