Some Welsh names just sound made up. Fireman Sam came from a fictional town called Pontypandy and Pontyberry is another pretend place in a Welsh TV show that I have never seen - 'Stella'.
Pontypool.
A real place. One i've heard of but had no reason to visit until I learned of a 1940's weekend taking place there. I'm in the middle of making a bit of a documentary and thought i'd use the event to get a few establishing shots and also to have a look around.
Short promo I put together for the event, using some excess footage.
I followed the Sat Nav directions bluntly delivered by my iPhone and arrived in the middle of nowhere. I've never been to a 1940's weekend before. Events I had visited before this had more of a general theme of war rather than a particular time frame.
I parked my car and walked up to where I saw the tip of a US flag waving for my attention. Underneath that was a small field with camped reenactors either side. Just before I got to that part was the small railway station building where people shuffled into, escaping from the crappy weather. I followed suit.
In here was the canteen. It was great. Straight out of the Forties. Familiar WW2 songs play out of some speakers to a room full of tea-drinking humans in period dress. This is what Gary Sparrow must have felt like.* The real deal.
Just beyond that the steam train was parked at the platform. Allied soldiers patrolling, eyeing up people like me. It was a real treat to see a steam train up that close and fully operational. There was a small cost to travel which I hadn't accommodated for. I'm a student and there is zero allowance for steam trains in my monthly budget. Next time.
Steam.
I had a quick look around and attempted to spot the organiser, Andy. I had no idea what he looked like so went off a few generic descriptions I had from people I had asked. I sat in the canteen and bought a cream tea from the dickie bowed guy behind the counter. Thankfully my modern tender was accepted and I started throwing it down my face.
Great Forties vibes in the canteen.
I spotted who I thought was Andy. He was a understandably busy guy and we parted ways after a brief chat during which he pushed a complimentary train ticket into my hand. What a hero. I get ride on the train.The train ride was great. The local Bobby onboard asked for my papers and the British soldier referred to my camera gear as spy equipment. A nice touch that I appreciated.
The reenactors were great and the most approachable i'd ever met at anything like this. I met two guys (Nick & Richard) who I interviewed for my film and they let me have a look at the impressive stockpile of weapons (Below).
Nick & Richard
The entire event was full of nice little touches. The thing I loved most about the event was the intimacy of it. It was free to get in, there were no overpriced options, no one was there with the sole purpose to make money. It is run by people who are passionate about the era and attended by those who share that passion. I can't remember the last time I attended anything where the only intention was to share an interest without charging six quid for a cup of tea.
Mock-Up of a downed German plane
Big thanks to Andy Knock for the train ticket and allowing me to film at the event.
Driving around, frantically trying to park. The deep thuds of heavy machine gun fire echoes through the woods. We leave the car in a nearby ASDA and rush towards the action with absolute dread.
Caldicot.
We were late. We thought we missed the World War Two reenactment. Luckily what we heard was the fall of Saigon -Vietnam.
Fortress Wales 2016.
Wiermacht soldiers with Cornish accents chatting away happily whilst in line to buy overpriced burgers and Vikings rearranging their horns in the reflection of their three door Volkswagen Polo are a common sight. I've been to a couple of reenactments before but this was the first one my Girlfriend had ever attended. She is slowly getting in to it all so she needs less persuading these days to come with me to things like this.
Troops capture a man from the future.
Near the entrance I saw a swastika flag and I made that my first port of call. Enthusiastic volkssturm chewed my ear off for a good twenty minutes without letting me get a word in. All I wanted to do was hold his panzerfaust. (Volkssturm were basically conscripted males between the ages of 16-60 forced to fight as a last ditch attempt at the end of the war).
There were a few German set ups from different parts of the UK dotted around the grounds of Caldicot Castle, the venue of the reenactment. It reminds me a lot of going on a school trip and there are other schools there. You are all there for the same reason, wearing your uniform, but there's always that unspoken rivalry often resulting in aggressive tutting.
I went there this time with the aim to hold a few of the weapons and have a closer look at them but the majority of the re-enactors weren't keen to let me. Maybe it was for the best. It would probably be like handing over my offspring when they asked for it back.
We made it to the WW2 battle and it was a lot better than expected. A Sherman tank made an appearance and I spotted my mate from the volkssturm, limping away holding his panzerfaust.
Ordering takeout with the lads is always a pain in the arse.
Our journey ended where it began, beneath the toxic green glow of the ASDA sign. My Girlfriend enjoyed her day and didn't need buttering up, so no overpriced burger for her. I dressed up the meal deal and told her it would be romantic if we ate it in the car. It worked. Auf wiedersehen Caldicot.
These guys are slightly more authentic in monochrome.
Just me and a US jeep. Nothing more to say about that.
London. A place I have visited countless times. Although I have a keen interest in History, I have successfully managed to evade visiting any of the museums there properly. Four of us decided to make a point out of visiting them over the period of a couple of months.
My Girlfriend was keen to visit the Science Museum first but the rest of us soon put an end to that silly idea as we had found out that the Imperial War Museum (IWM) had Heinrich Himler's death mask on display. She eventually gave in and the words "Heinrich Himmler's death mask" were thrown around in conversation an awful lot in the weeks leading up to this trip.
We arrived and it was pissing down as always. We had our bags checked at the door for bombs, guns and sharp objects so we could safely enter the museum to see their collection of bombs, guns and sharp objects.
Tube selfie.
The atrium of the building is pretty impressive. The ceiling has airplanes hanging from it with wires. It's like some rich kid wasn't satisfied with Airfix models and wanted the real things instead. I don't think I have ever seen a Spitfire that close before.
Something else that I was keen to see is one of the two original Eagle's that sat atop the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Taken by the Russians after the Battle of Berlin and ended up in the London museum. There are a couple of chunks missing out of it from when it got caught up in the battle also. Very impressive thing.
If I could have gotten this back on the MegaBus, I would have taken it.
A used Zyclone B canister sat unassumingly in a display case, the contents of which was probably responsible for the death of a room full of people in Auschwitz's gas chambers.
Used Zyclone B canister.
After seeing all these things, with one eye on them and the other scanning the room for the death mask. Everywhere we thought it may be, we were wrong. I did something I hate doing in any situation. I asked for help.
The enthusiastic museum employee told me that the mask was removed some time ago and they hadn't updated the website yet.
Brilliant.
By no means a wasted trip. The museum is very impressive and always worth a visit.
We have since also been to the Science Museum. I know what you're thinking, we went all the way there and there was no 'Science' as advertised on the website. Well, you thought wrong. There was plenty.
The other day I overheard some old guys talking about upcoming Remembrance Sunday where they briefly mentioned how the city was bombed during the war. I always knew that this was a thing as the Germans bombed the port here which shipped out coal and whatever resources that fed the war.
A couple of stray bombs hit the suburbs surrounding the ports so I decided to look online to dig out some pictures of the aftermath and attempt to find the areas today.
Grangetown.
Every city has that one area which is filled with horror stories and bad people. Grangetown is Cardiff's answer to The Bronx, or so i'm told. Seeing that this area was the worst hit by these stray bombs, I decided to go against everyones advice and walk there to find these sites that were hit.
Believing everyone who said that I was going to be robbed, I didn't bother taking my posh camera but settled with just my posh phone instead. With a haircut that questions my sexuality as well as my nationality and my bright coloured coat, I was a bit nervous. I felt like that odd jigsaw piece that you always find in the 'Monopoly' box.
I knew the name of the two streets I was after and awkwardly went into corners to consult Google Maps.
January 2nd, 1941.
Hollymans Bakery, Stockland Street.
An affluent family run business with a cellar which was used as an air raid shelter which when the sirens used to sound to warn of enemy aircraft above, the family used to invite anyone in off the street who was looking for refuge.
Hollymans Bakery, now a hardware store.
The building took a direct hit and the bomb hit the cellar directly. 32 people were killed.
Memorial plaque on the building.
Not far from the bakery, at the corner of Ferry Road is a street that has hardly changed since 1941, apart from the obvious modernisation and repair to the bombed structure. I understand this to have been a residence at the time. Seven people were killed.
1941
2015
So I appear to be a survivor of the dreaded Grangetown. No bother from anyone but the cops who asked me what I was doing as I was awkwardly trying to take pictures with my phone whilst attempting to hide it at the same time.
This Summer, her and I travelled through a bit of mainland Europe. We were in romantic Salzburg for two days, one of which I wanted to drag her away for the day to a place she has never heard of to feed my interest.
Berchtesgaden.
We took an hours bus ride across the border to the Bavarian City. The first thing I recognised were the impressive Alps which I had seen in the background of home footage shot by Eva Braun, of Hitler & Co. at The Eagles Nest.
Initially, my only intention when visiting Berchetsgaden was to go to Eagles Nest. Travelling on a budget and the trip all the way up the top being significantly more expensive than anticipated I decided against it. As soon as we got there I was looking up to the hills for it. We were there a while before I saw it completely by chance. I was really impressed. It was something I had seen an awful lot of in pictures and newsreels, and there it was in font of me. It felt a lot like my experience at Nuremberg Rally Site. (Nuremberg Rally Site)
Eagles Nest
Eagles Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) was Hitler's 50th Birthday present paid for by the Nazi Party. Here, Hitler planned his conquest of Europe and entertained heads of state in intimate gatherings. It was the second seat of government outside of Berlin. Eva Braun's sister held her wedding reception here.
I had a small mental list of the things in the town itself that I wanted to see and these took no effort to find at all. The first thing I noticed was the fountain in the main square where members of the SA
gathered for a picture in the 30's.
Fountain, 2015
In 1945 the town was alive with Allied soldiers after the town's surrender was received. There was a feared "National Redoubt" - a last stand of the Nazis where government and armed forces to retreat to the area which was never realised or even properly planned.
Wall painting in Palace Square part of a WW1 Memorial, 1945
Memorial in 2015. Some slight changes to the original, where the dates for WW2 were added.
Allied soldiers negotiating the surrender of Berchtesgaden with city officials.
Memorial plaques for both World War's
Air raids failed to reach most of the city and only key Nazi buildings were targeted so the city itself is largely how it looked back then. I didn't get the chance to visit the Berghof or anything in Obersalzberg. I plan to do so when I return, along with the Eagles Nest.
My Girlfriend? Well she ended up loving the place. The beauty of it was enough to sway her over and we ended up having a lovely day there. Something that will work in my favour the next time I want her drag her somewhere for war stuff. Brilliant.
I've never seen this picture before and came across it completely by accident after a documentary wrongly used it to portray occupied France. I immediately recognised it as the City Hall in Cardiff, the city where I live.
1938.
Sudetenland, the German speaking/populated portions of Czechoslovakia started to demand a union with Hitler's Germany. The Czech's refused due to the tactical importance of the land and Hitler threatened war. In 1938 and without consulting Czechoslovakia, Britain and France agreed to hand it over to Germany. This was looked at as an act of peace and Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) waved around a piece of paper which Hitler had written a promise not to go to war. This was the Munich Agreement. At that time, Britain was not ready for war or able to help out Czechoslovakia if Germany attacked, so giving in to Hitler seemed to be the most sensible option.
Sudetenland was handed over.
TIME Magazine declared Hitler as 'Man of the Year in 1938'. Many people admired him for turning around Germany in a time where the depression was still affecting the country. He was not seen as the evil guy that he is today.
To show his support of the agreement, Lord Mayor Purnell of Cardiff, erected the four flags of the nations involved in the agreement, over City's Hall. This included the Swastika. The flag wasn't largely associated with evil at the time.
Cardiff City Hall today.
Within 24 hours, two men from the labour party took it down but it was soon replaced.
Myself in front of City Hall a few years ago. The only picture I could find with it, which I lifted off Instagram.
Six months later, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and the Munich Agreement was void. Britain said it would defend Poland if Hitler invaded. The war had begun.
Reminders of the war are everywhere. Bullet holes and pock marks scratched into walls. Memorials, Soviet and otherwise are commonplace.
Above the doorway of an anonymous building I spotted this. Its history in a timeline of charming pictures. When it was built, bombed and when it was substantially repaired.
If I was to go all deep, I would talk about how its symbolic and represents resilience and all that, but on the surface of it all it's just the documented history of a building that got caught up in a war. A series of pictures that defines the effect of the war on the city as well as the individuals who lived in it.
The dates in-between it's bombing and its repair reaches that of nearly a decade which gives a good indication of the extent of damage and how the war affected the city for all those years after.
I've been looking out for more of these in other German cities but this is the only one I have come across so far.
