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Have you ever thought about how your parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents coped with rationing during the Second World War? Or how much pay and holiday entitlement they recieved? This podcast provides some fascinating insights into the social history of the war.
D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, was a significant part of the Allied liberation of Europe and the end of the second World War. This podcast has interviews with people who were there at the time and gives eye witness accounts from two different perspectives.
The podcast also has interviews and excerpts discussing differences between pay, holiday, and food now and during the Second World War.
This podcast uses audio clips recorded during the previous MAT project, Dive Onto Victory, commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. Between 2005 and 2007 the Trust dive team investigated a number of sites within Portsmouth Harbour. One site in particular, on the Gosport side of the Harbour, proved to be significant and, after survey, around 250 artefacts were recovered from the seabed. In addition to the archaeological investigations, the project also sought to collect oral histories related to working on or with the sea. For more information, go to Dive onto Victory.
Another MAT project that may be of interest is the Landing Craft project, funded by English Heritage. This project enabled collaborative work between the MAT and Southsea Sub-Aqua Club to survey and record the remains of LCT(A) 2428, a Second World War landing craft that sank in the eastern Solent in June 1944. For more information, go to the Landing Craft project.
The Preparation for D-Day in Southampton
But what about the logistics that goes into planning an invasion?
Well, for this collection of audio segments, volunteer Maggie Fogg shares the transformation Southampton went under to prepare for the monumental amphibious invasion known as D-Day. Listen to learn more about how thousands of men were trained, homed and finally shipped over to Normandy for the liberation of Europe. Learn about how Southampton’s commons and schools were commandeered for planning the attack, and how the docks played such a pivotal role in transporting landing craft and mulberry harbours to Normandy. The audio was researched by Maggie herself as part of the trust’s new Fathoming The Future project, made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.