The Secret War: Volume 1 [VHS]

Take a journey behind the scenes of World War II to a secret war where British Scientific Intelligence fought with the weapons of technology rather than guns in order to counter the threat posed by the enemy. Initially this was a war of playing technological catch-up against a foe that had a substantial head start. The very freedom of the British Isles and arguably the world was balanced on a knife-edge in a deadly game that proved to be the key to withstanding and breaking the enemy's onslaught.

The Secret War is a wonderful BBC documentary series that was first broadcast in 1977. Rather than suffering the ravages of time, it remains potent due to its extensive use of historical film archives and personal narratives of the actual fighting men and women from both sides. The British personnel who waged the Secret War can now be accorded the hero status they deserve for their secret roles in events that shaped modern history.

The Secret War is a three volume (two episodes per volume) series that is narrated by William Woollard. The presentation is kept interesting through the use of relevant locations such as from within the fuselage of a wartime bomber. Woollard's exposition is crisp and engaging with some passages achieving the dimensions of a good detective thriller. For me this series appeals on many levels. On an intellectual level it sets the record straight, for instance exploding the myth of precision aircraft navigation at night by "dead reckoning". It lifts the veil of secrecy revealing the important part science and intelligence played in winning World War II.... Most of all, it is the emotional level, the triumph of the human spirit that is uplifting and sets this documentary apart from others. The struggles, the successes, the failures and the achievements by individuals and the triumphs of teamwork are all there. While the focus is on the science, the heroism of the everyday person fighting in those terrible times shines through. We owe so much to so few.

Volume 1 opens with The Battle of the Beams. France has fallen and Britain braces itself for attack. Using a newly invented secret weapon, radio navigation beams, the enemy was able to bomb strategic targets in Britain at night. Virtually defenseless against the beams, the first task was to convince a sceptical establishment that the beams did indeed exist. Professor R.V. Jones of RAF Scientific Intelligence takes up the story explaining how the beams were first discovered. With the enemy poised to strike at Britain's vital industries can countermeasures be devised and deployed in time? Intelligence suggests there are more than one type of beam. Can they all be found and countered before it's too late?

The second episode, To See for a Hundred Miles, is the story of the invention of radar and its use in WWII. Both sides had early forms of radar but a way of generating more powerful radio signals at shorter wavelengths was needed. British scientists rose to the occasion with the Cavity Magnetron but what if it were to fall into enemy hands? The struggle to innovate and capture the upper hand produced rapid successes but could also lead to tragedy. The deadly peril into which Allied bombers flew is graphically underscored by captured time-lapse film of a radar screen tracking a raid over Berlin.

I highly recommend The Secret War to anyone interested in history, science & technology, warfare or human endeavour. Read more ›

Seven episodes were made: The Battle Of The Beams (bomber guidance radio beams), To See For a Hundred Miles (the vital role played by radar), If (weapons that never made it off the drawing board), Terror Weapons (the story of the V1 & V2 rockets), The Deadly Waves (magnetic mines), Still Secret (the Enigma Code & Bletchley Park), and The Battle Of The Atlantic (the U-boat patrols and how Britain finally broke their stranglehold).

This is a documentary series that has stood the test of time (just as The World At War has) and is just CRYING OUT for a DVD release! I sincerely hope The Secret War WILL be issued on DVD as my VHS copies purchased way back in the late 1980s (two years before I even owned a VCR) are now so badly worn that you can almost see through the tapes because they have been played so often.

It's such a shame that documentaries of this calibre are no longer made. To me The Secret War is a classic example of the very high quality of British TV broadcasting when it was the envy of the world.... These days with all the reality TV, makeover programmes, "let's go buy a house in who cares where" and comedy programmes that are centred around various bodily functions and ridiculing others less fortunate, it is clear to anyone with a few brain cells that British TV has degenerated into the toilet of the world! Even more ironical is the fact that it was the then infant British TV system that helped to defeat one of those Nazi bomber guidance beams mentioned in The Battle Of The Beams episode.

The Secret War comes highly recommended by me. For anyone who is interested in history or technology this is a "must buy"! Read more ›