Continuing with the story of the BRO.
Once trained, the groups of Auxiliaries were dispersed to their home locations, mostly in countryside areas, where they would organise the patrol teams, select a covert area for an Operating Base (OB), and construct this. All of this was done in extreme secrecy, and the tightest security.
In all, there were around 1,000 OB's, situated throughout the mainland UK, and to this day, only a handful have been located, such was the secrecy of the BRO.
Patrol teams were made up of between eight to ten men, with sometimes two teams per OB, each of which would rotate the duties, spending up to two weeks at the OB, which had supplies and basic rations to cover this period. During this time, the men were away from their families and friends, and had absolutely no contact with the "outside world", except for their own radio or "dead letter drop" communications with the local HQ.
In the event that Britain
had been invaded, life expectancy of the Auxiliary teams was ten days !
The Operating Bases.
As mentioned, these were constructed in countryside locations, mainly in woodland, or heathland with plenty of scrub and other cover.
The bases were built underground, to a depth of at least 12 feet (3.65 meters), and then covered with earth, grass and foliage, providing excellent, natural camouflage and, at that depth, ensuring that discovery would be extremely difficult - even to this day!!!
The OB's were, of course, compact, but able to accommodate the full 8 to10 man patrol, if somewhat cramped.
Entrance was via a steel ladder inside a vertical, brick-built shaft, with the steel hatch for this extremely well camouflaged, often with a bush, tree stump or large clumps of grass on top. The hatch was counterbalanced, to assist easy closure, and could be locked from the inside.
The interior was equipped with sleeping bunks, table and chairs, a storage area for rations and equipment, and a separate area for weapons, ammunition and explosives. Toilet facilities were of the chemical "Elsan" type.
At the opposite end from the entrance shaft there was an emergency exit, finally exciting above ground some distance from the main entrance shaft. and again, effectively camouflaged externally.
This emergency exit was constructed with a "dog leg", providing a concrete and brick blast wall, similar to those found in concrete "pill boxes" or gun emplacements, and intended to shield escaping personnel from the blast and shrapnel of grenades, should a German patrol discover the main entrance, and drop these down the shaft.
Lighting and heating were rudimentary, consisting of oil lamps, and a paraffin heater, with a fresh air vent, in the form of ducting, through the wall, the open ends of which emerged above ground some distance from the OB, and were, again camouflaged very effectively.
Cooking could be done on a stove, again built into the wall, and the chimney for this would once again be run underground some distance, and then hidden inside a hollow tree trunk, allowing any smoke or cooking fumes to vent and disperse above the tree canopy.
The Museum has re-created one of these OB's, partly underground, and the photos below give some idea of what it must have been like inside, during WW2.
As it was very cramped, and movement restricted, especially as I was on my small mobility scooter, I wasn't able to photograph the representation of the entrance shaft and ladder or obtain suitable angles to get more shots. (Entrance to the Museum's OB is via a ramp, with the exit near the reconstruction of the emergency "blast wall" exit, again via a ramp).
The modern lighting inside this recreated OB is fairly dim, although probably brighter than that of the wartime oil lamps, and created the right kind of atmosphere. The first photo was taken using the available light, to give some idea of how conditions might have been, with the remaining two shots using flash, in order to view the various details.
Note the oil lamp, Sten gun and gas mask, and the bomb making items on the table.
The emergency exit (and the visitors actual exit) is at the end of the brick storage area, seen through the hatch of the main room.
And finally, to complete this chapter on my latest "Travels of Tel's Tin Tent", the final three photos show a better image of the control tower at Framlingham in 1944, with a B-17 overhead, a map of the airfield, with the museum area outlined in red and showing the various dispersed sites, and a wartime aerial photo of the airfield and surrounding area.
And a snippet I've only just learned - the singer Ed Sheeran comes from Framlingham!
I hope you've enjoyed this coverage of this year's "Travels", and thank you for your kind comments and "likes" etc.
Depending on weather, and my personal mobility, I still intend to try to get to the Lake District this year, to search out the trail of WW2 escaped Luftwaffe PoWs, so there
may be more to come. If not, then hopefully I'll do it in spring.