2nd September, 2024 in Military, Society & Culture

Lessons learnt from the Second World War

By Victoria Panton Bacon

Eighty-five years ago, the outbreak of the Second World War was confirmed. Author Victoria Panton Bacon asks, what have we learnt?

Colin Bell, now 103, recollects the announcement of the Second World War. Colin was 18 years old at the time, living with his family in East Molesey in Surrey.

“Strangely I wasn’t scared, I probably should have been, but I was eighteen years old at the time and because we were half-expecting war to be announced I remember feeling quite calm.”

This is Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell’s recollection of the announcement, by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, that Britain was once again at War with Germany; at 11 am on 3rd September 1939, 85 years ago. Colin Bell, now 103, was one of millions huddled around wireless sets in kitchens, sitting rooms, village halls and community centres across Great Britain that morning, with his family, listening to the news they had long been fearing. Despite the passing of over eight and half decades, Colin can recall Chamberlain’s words as though they were spoken yesterday. He remembers, too, how he (and some of his friends) were influenced by H.G. Wells’ book The Shape of Things to Come, which they had read at school. This predicted that another world war would take place, with remarkable accuracy, but also predicting the outcome would be a ‘draw’ not victory on either side, which perhaps was reassuring because at least Wells did not write of defeat.

Speaking from the Cabinet Room at 10, Downing Street Chamberlain explained to the nation that war could not be averted because Germany was continuing to refuse to withdraw troops from Poland. He spoke of his profound sadness that his ‘long struggle to win peace’ had failed, but because of ‘evil things’ war was inevitable; that ‘bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution’ had to be fought; and, in the closing words of his address, of his certainty that ‘right will prevail.’

“However,” Colin told me, “Whilst I wasn’t scared, my parents were, they were very frightened indeed. I remember we spent the first few days thinking we would be bombed immediately (everyone did), but it wasn’t really like that – it was more a state of confusion because we didn’t know what to expect.” The Bell family lived in East Molesey, in Surrey, not far from Hampton Court; Colin said he told his parents he wanted to sign up for the RAF as soon as possible, but his father strongly discouraged him, persuading him – instead – at the start of the war to join the Home Guard. “I spent the first few weeks of the War guarding Hampton Court Bridge, which I didn’t find at all interesting, most of all I just didn’t feel useful.” A year later, with his parent’s reluctant blessing, Colin applied to join the RAF; eventually becoming a decorated Mosquito pilot, serving in Bomber Command’s Night Light Striking Force, a member of 608 Squadron. By the end of the war, he had flown fifty sorties; including many over heavily defended German cities – in his relatively small, but very fast and feisty, de Havilland Mosquito aircraft. “Every sortie was different,” Colin explained, “you never knew if you would come back; some operations were more petrifying and risky than others, and you always had to keep your wits about you, but not for a moment did I not want to be part of the war effort; we had a job to do, an enemy to destroy – who was certainly intent on destroying us.”

Dorothy Drew, now two years deceased, also spoke to me about her memory of 3rd September 1939. Dorothy was seven years old at the time, living in Romford, in east London.

She told me: “I was playing on my swing in our little garden. The birds were singing, and the sun was shining, I was having a nice time and was upset when my father suddenly appeared and said to me, ‘Dorothy, you need to come inside. We must listen to Mr Chamberlain on the wireless because what he is going to say is very important’.”

Dorothy told me her father, an engineer, was particularly proud of this wireless, which he had made himself; she described it as a ‘great big set, that sat in an alcove in the kitchen, with big buttons on it.’ Quite often, as a child she said she ‘watched’ the radio whilst people talked, imagining the faces behind the voices.

However, that day, she said, there was no ‘childish fun’ to be had behind the words emanating from the wireless set. She too, like Colin, recalled her parents panic-stricken and terrified reaction to the news. Dorothy, together with hundreds of children her age, some older and many even younger, was a wartime evacuee. This was a generation who had to learn to grieve at a young age; had to live separated from mothers, fathers, grand-parents, brothers, sisters; many witnessed (and suffered themselves) the brutality men could inflict on each other – in a nutshell, this was a generation for whom childhood was cruelly taken.

How could the parents of both Colin Bell and Dorothy Drew; representing this whole generation, not feel anything but fear and absolute dread – not even twenty-one whole years had passed since the armistice of the First World War; a war that was won, but the legacy of so much loss, grief, suffering still impacting the lives of all who learnt on 3rd September 1939 that they were about to experience a second World War in their life time.

It could be argued that, eventually, the ‘right’ Chamberlain spoke of in his speech did prevail; just over five and half years later the Second World War was won when the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan – but with it the largest loss of life in any single conflict; around 80 million died (about 3% of the population of the whole world …), two thirds of the deaths civilian. Those who survived have lived their lives with an immense range of emotion; the trauma of their own suffering (emotional and physical), witnessing other’s suffering and learning to live with grief at such a young age is undoubtedly an exacting emotional burden. I have been privileged to speak to several who lived through these years, and for whom are gifted with memory to recall their recollections*. Whilst the tragedy of war escapes no-one, some have been able, more than others, to draw strength from their experience, living a life of courage because, quite simply, they know how very precious life is and how every day is a gift. Returning to Colin Bell, only last year, aged 102, he raised over £56,000 for four charities abseiling down the side of the Royal London Hospital. After completing his descent, he spoke of his gratitude that he was given this opportunity, declaring the adventure as “money for old rope!”

The men, and women, from around the world, who have bravely recalled their recollections of the Second World War (as written in my books) have done so, not so much that they might be remembered, but for the thousands each one represents (who could not tell their story) and so that future generations might better understand the Second World War years. When I began writing these history books, back in 2014, it did not occur to me that ten years later I would – tragically – be writing with a third world war potentially looming. The overall message of all the remarkable men, and women, I have spoken to, fought, strove and suffered so much that at the very least this does not happen.

In the words of Lt John Randall (now deceased), who whilst serving in the SAS at the end of the War was one of the first to rescue the few survivors of the of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp:

“In spite of the horrors the survivors have a history of extraordinary bravery, a determination to survive and the indomitable spirit to never give up hope. This must be an inspiration to all of us.”

Sadly, what Mr Chamberlain spoke of on 3rd September 1939 – “bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution” – is all too prevalent in the world today. For the sake of those who lived through both World Wars, for those who did not, and for all who battle for and yearn for peace today, we must not give up hope of a better world.