Luftwaffe Target Dossier, UK 1939.

[Carruthers]

I've always had a passing interest in local history especially if there is a family conection of any sort. Well over twenty years ago I became aware of the US National Archive holding vast numbers of intelligence documents retrieved from Berlin at the end of WW2. There's an RAF station a couple of miles away from here where my grandfather served at the end of WW1 and into the 1920s and it occurred to me that the Archive might hold something of relevance. I sent off an enquiry and they were able to supply copies of the Luftwaffe Target Dossier for the station. The dossier included an aerial reconnaissance image which they copied and provided me with a large print and the negative.

Unfortunately, I don’t speak German but some of the terms used in the documents don’t need much in the way of translation with local airfields and other places of military interest being listed.

Strangely, there is no mention of Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country residence and only 3.5 miles to the SW. During WW2 there was an anti-aircraft battery on the hill above Chequers and a detachment of Coldstream Guards guarded the house and grounds. When I was at junior school, the caretaker (janitor) had been a member of the Coldstream Guards at Chequers. I remember him telling my dad of the night he was on duty and Churchill suddenly appeared out of the darkness and said ’Good evening, Sentry’. The sentry admitted getting the fright of his life but managed to salute and splutter a response. Apparently Churchill walked around the grounds at all hours as an aid to concentration.

Anyway, I hope that there might be something of interest to Dwellars.

RAF Halton mid 1939. (Courtesy US National Archives)


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I couldn't reproduce the exact angle of view in the second image, but I think that it will suffice.


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