The secret guerillas who’d have fought a Nazi invasion of Britain
Nightmare visions of a world under Nazi rule have inspired thrilling recent tV and movies, including the man in the high Castle and SS-gB.
till now, there hasn’t been a serious documentary investigation into what a german occupation of the UK could really have looked like. it’s a simple enough question: what if we’d lost the Battle of Britain?
historian and mail writer guy Walters tackles this chilling, but very believable, scenario in Nazi Victory: The Post War Plan ( Yesterday channel), with an examination of the third reich’s detailed plans for a Britain under the jackboot.
it’s a masterful project, fusing heavyweight research with a Boy’s Own taste for war stories. there’s plenty of vivid detail — such as the true tale of how SS concentration camp guards in the Channel islands murdered an 18-year- old prisoner . . . crucifying him on a gate one winter’s night and soaking him with water, so that his body froze.
But there is also a commendable reliance on historic papers, leading us deep into the archives. many tV historians shy away from libraries, afraid of making their subject seem dry — but in the genealogy show Who Do You think You are? viewers love the ancient ledgers and documents. We want to see the evidence.
Walters didn’t try to overturn what most people already know about hitler’s invasion plans: Churchill faced execution, edward Viii would be restored to the throne. the King and his family would seek refuge in Canada.
many conclusions were surprising, though. Blenheim Palace near Oxford was earmarked as the Nazi hQ. Blackpool was to be a military holiday camp, where german troops could go to party. adolf had his eye on a country home near Bridgnorth in Shropshire.
the best discovery was saved for last. as war loomed, ultra- secret resistance cells dubbed auxiliary Units or aUs were set up across Britain. Self- contained and answerable to no one, their mission was to fight a ruthless guerilla war to the death when the Nazis came.
Walters was shown round one of their underground bunkers, so well hidden that it was invisible even when he stood over the entrance hatch. inside, it looked remarkably clean with fresh stocks of food. it reminded me of talking 20 years ago to thriller writer george Brown.
he’d heard whispers of the aU, he said, and was digging around, planning to write a novel — until two old soldiers paid him a visit.
Stop asking questions, they said. Forget your book. Or you won’t live to write it. george didn’t think they were joking.
everything in Nazi Victory was conjecture, of course — the polar opposite of From Fire To Ice (BBC4), which managed to cram half the gCSe physics syllabus into its first hour.
this is basic science, delivered by Dr helen Czerski with lashings of enthusiasm. Under the subtitle the incredible Science Of temperature, she demonstrated how heat is the fundamental factor that shapes the universe. the colder atoms are, she explained, the less they move — a law that applies to water and volcanic lava alike.
Dr Czerski has a knack for finding lively examples. a long sequence in a glass- blowing factory, and another in ice caves under a glacier, made physics far more interesting than it ever was in the classroom.
One item was baffling, though. to demonstrate how fluids cool, the doc poured a cup of tea — and put the milk in first. how could a physics genius make such a basic error?