Chapter 13

WOLSELEY AT WAR

1938 will always be remembered as the year in which the lights of freedom and of everything which renders life enjoyable became increasingly dim as war centres formed with unmistakable certainty. Intrigue, cunningness and greed all combined to render ineffective the normal channels of diplomacy and statesmanship by which war could have been averted. Some temporary relief came when the late Prime Minister flew to Munich in the hope that the voice.of reason would be heard above that of evil, but what hopes were then formed proved effervescent, and a month or two later the old peril appeared again in even greater intensity.

It was in this heavily charged atmosphere that the Home Office approached the Wolseley Company, as an organization with a high munitions potential, to formulate an A.R.P. scheme in preparation against a national emergency when it seemed as though a spark would set all Europe in flame. What was required was a scheme in detail so that consideration thereof could be given before any work was actually begun.

Plans and sites for underground shelters within a few minutes' walk of the factory building, Firewatchers' posts, decontamination and first-aid stations, and all the other services which comprise a complete A.R.P. scheme were demanded.

Sir Miles Thomas, then the Managing Director of the Company, placed the preparation of the scheme in the hands of Mr. F. J. Beazley, then Works Safety Engineer, and during the Munich crisis, when war seemed very near, instructions were given for the first part of the scheme to be put into operation.

The first duty was to recruit volunteers for the various A.R.P. services, and no sooner was this whispered than with a promptness so typical of the Britisher in times of national danger, and in numbers which threatened to overwhelm the available training personnel, men and women of all ranks surged forward in response to this call.

The few months of relaxation following the Munich crisis provided a welcome breathing space, of which full advantage was taken to add touches here and there to what had been formulated. Estimates were made in regard to the number of employees with whom the coming war effort could be begun, and underground shelters were built to the approval of the Authorities. Training of personnel was accelerated as the general war situation became even blacker, and when on that fateful day of Sunday, September 3^rd 1939, the voice of Mr. Neville Chamberlain came through the radio to announce that all efforts to preserve the peace of the world had been wrecked, the Wolseley Company felt some small satisfaction in the knowledge that no stone had been left unturned to prepare for a great national emergency.

The first week or so following the declaration of war was a very anxious time for all, and the Wolseley Company shared this anxiely in full for the safety of its employees. No one knew when or where Hitler would strike his first blow against this country. Rumours about secret weapons of unprecedented violence suggested the dropping of fire, gas and H.E. bombs in broad daylight by relays of aircraft, and the obliteration of factories and personnel in all the large manufacturing centres.

Owing to some under-estimate on the part of the Authorities, the Wolseley Company swiftly found itself with more employees than available shelter. Obviously this had to be put right immediately and a happy thought suggested the use of a strongly built conduit housing an underground stream passing beneath the factory as a temporary shelter. Efrective rehearsals were soon taking pIace so that each employee should know precisely where he or she had to go in the event of a raid.

During the autumn and winter of 1939 and the spring of the followiiig year work on underground shelters was continued to tcope with the ever-increasing number of workpeople. Unforeseen difficulties arose. Flooding took place owing to an unusually heavy rainfall, and in some instances the new shelters were under water to a depth of some four feet. This necessitated the provision of a steam ejection system, and when this had been installed, every employee of the Company not only had a place of safety to which he could go, but had been trained where it was and how he was to go there.

Tests of the shelter evacuation system were made, and those responsible were gratified to learn that when the first air-raid warnings, were sounded there was no sense of fright or panic among the workpeople. They had complete confidence in the preparations made for their safety, and discipline was fully maintained. After Hitler's failure to achieve his object in the Battle of Britain, it will be recalled that a series of night attacks were made, but in circumstances and of a kind which were quite unexpected.

Instead of brief but intense attacks involving the use of poison gas, high explosives and possibly weapons of which we were so far ignorant, this country experienced long, persistent raids consisting of relays of bombers which arrived throughout the night.

The effect of this method of attack was to interrupt work considerably, for while these raids were in progress, the workpeople had to remain in damp shelters for long periods. Up to this point the only attention given to the Wolseley Works was an occasional shower of incendiary bombs which were promptly extinguished with very little difficulty. Otherwise, the whole factory was untouched.

But these long nights of enforced idleness were necessarily having an adverse efrect on war production, so when Mr. Winston Churchill called upon the country to continue their labours even after the warning sirens had sounded, something in the nature of a feeling of relief was felt. The appointment of air-raid Spotters was introduced, and it was only when they signalled the warning of " Imminent Danger " that all the workers sought shelter in the places allotted to them. It was an alteration which the workpeople themselves appreciated.

Unfortunately, this new system necessitated radical alterations; it meant that all the existing shelters, built away from the factory buildings, had to be scrapped and new ones built as near the shops as possible. These were of the surface type and were made in duplicate. The task was a heavy one and was not completed until night raids became common; night and day work was hurried on with all possible speed. During raids, the night shift stayed at their work in very sturdy fashion, and only took cover when the bombs began to fall unpleasantly close, as directed by the Spotters, when a dash was made for a shelter which was comparatively near at hand.

It was during the winter of 1940-41 that the authorities decided that the Wolseley Works would have to be camouflaged. An elaborate model of the factory was made to scale by the Company's own carpenters, and was duly submitted to the experts of the Ministry for approval. This model was returned completely disguised as an extension to the adjoining housing estate, even to the extent of roadways which ran as dummies across open land and continued in paint over the factory roofs. When examined in detail, it was a triumph for the art of modern camouflage.

It was while the Contractors were engaged in completing this camouflaging of the factory that Hitler struck a severe blow, on the night of April 9th-10th, 1941.

At 9.14 p.m. the Company received warning that bombers were approaching Birmingham; at 9.31 the " Imminent Danger " warning was given by the Works Spotters, at which moment a heavy attack began on the city. For rather more than an hour, the Wolseley Works remained immune. Then at 10.43 precisely, the first heavy bomb was felt in the Control Room, but without causing any appreciable damage. A few minutes later a considerable number of incendiary bombs dropped on the Trimming Shop, where much inflammable material existed. The Control Staff received notice from the Firewatchers that the situation was well in hand, but from this time until 11.12 reports were received almost constantly of incendiary bombs being dropped all over the factory and in the adjacent open spaces and on the roads. For some ten minutes the well-trained Firewatchers and Works Fire Brigade seemed to have the situation in hand, but a call was made to the N.F.S. for assistance. It was at this stage that high-explosive bombs began to fall, and much of the success achieved in grapplingwith the conflagration was due to the excellent training the A.R.P. personnel had received.

In order to provide some 30,000 gallons of static water on the spot, the underground stream referred to already which ran through the factory had been dammed in three places; unfortunately, two small but powerful bombs demolished the dams almost immediately, and this was followed by a 500-1b. bomb falling on a tra:ler pump house which buried two of the trailer pumps.

Special lines of telephone had been laid on from various points to the Control Room, and these were kept very busy reporting the fall of incendiary bombs and requests for assistance.

One of the most astonishing features of the whole attack was the extremely small number of casualties. The first request for First Aid came at 12.30 a.m., when one man was reported killed and two injured. This was the only fatality throughout the night's work. The number of injuries reported at the First Aid Centre was thirteen, most of which were quite trivial. When the fact is borne in mind that thirty-five high-explosive and countless incendiary bombs fell on the factory during the course of two hours, this small casualty list becomes all the more remarkable.

There were, hovever, some hair-breadth escapes. Fifteen workpeople, for example, were transferred from an underground shelter, on the very night of the attack, to a surface shelter rathqr nearer their place of work. A large bomb fell on the underground shelter and destroyed it completely; all that remained was a crater some 40-ft. across, and at the same time it partly demolished the surface shelter occupied by these fifteen men. They crawled out, and these heroic fellovs spent the rest of the night working hard to subdue the various fires in different parts of the Works.

The damage to the Company's property was very extensive, and would have been worse still if it had not been for the great valour and devotion to duty shown by every member of the Volunteer Civil Defence Services and by large numbers of the workpeople unconnected therewith.

It was the great fire in the Trimming Shop that acted as a most efficient beacon to the bombers coming in to continue the work of destruction. It has been said already that this department contained considerable quantities of inflammable textile materials, and nothing short of a miracle could have prevented the great conflagration that took place, thanks to showers of incendiary bombs, many of which lodged in the gutters of the roofs and caused molten metal to pour on to the stores of fabric beneath.

In some parts of the building, material was stacked nearly as high as the roof.

In order to effect a maximum efrort to prevent this disastrous fire becoming wholly out of hand, the Firewatchers divided their forces, some going to the roof to cope with the cascade of incendiary bombs, and others remaining beneath to deal with the fires on the ground. The efforts of all to save this department, or at least to keep the fire under some degree of control, were beyond all praise.

It was particularly unfortunate that the Trimming Shop had a roof constructed on the semi-cantilever principle. It depended for its support upon only about one-half of the usual number of stanchions. When the roof began to burn, the centre collapsed and the roof fell in, which caused practically the whole of the bu'lding to catch alight. It was obviously hopeless to attempt to control a conflagration of such magnitude, and so every effort was made to save the rest of the building.

The whole fire situation at midnight on this never-to-be-forgotten night looked very ominous; acres of roof appeare to be alight. A lucky hit by two small H.E. bombs, followed by incendiaries, had ignited an oil store and reclaiming department, a place to which the oil-loaded swarf from machining processes is conveyed for the extraction of the oil. Another misfortune was that railway trucks loaded with swarf stood in this shed and obstructed many of the firemen in tackling the fires from close quarters. The trucks could not be moved because of damage caused by H.E. bombs, and so the fire gained an ever firmer hold, which, together with the bursting of the oil drums and the explosion of H.E. bombs, was strongly suggestive of Dante's inferno.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Saw Mill and the Paint Shop had become desperate. A number of H.E. bombs had put the static water tank in the latter out of action; there was no water to be had from the town's mains, and every drop of static water in the Works was concentrated on fires elsewhere; not a drop could be obtained from a lake in the vicinity, and so fires which, in ordinary circumstances, would have been considered serious, had to be tackled by the personnel with any means at their disposal, without any water at all.

The roof of the Paint Shop was well alight, and by 12.30 a.m. the water situation had become so bad that numbers of firemen could be seen standing amongst the tangled and twisted ironwork with a branch pipe of water in their hands from which trickled a small stream with hardly sufficient power behind it to reach the roof. The Paint Shop had also suffered severely from H.E. bombs, but in the Saw Mills the principal damage was caused by incendiaries. In the north light, a glass substitute had been used in the roofs of both buildings, and this material had ignited in dozens of different places. The situation was more or less kept in hand by a Shelter Warden who exercised his initiative in a very practical and prompt manner. Seizing a baton of timber from the Saw Mills, he led a party of men on the roof where he showed them how to beat out fires with a baton. The party set to with a will, and the roofing material which could not be extinguished by this novel means was knocked through to the Watchers below to tackle. The resourcefulness of these " Fire-Bashers " on the roof proved most effective, and there is no doubt whatever that they saved the buildin.. One young man was seen to dive repeatedly under stacks of timber, and by using his cap to protect his hands, pulled out incendiary bombs so that they could be rendered harmless in the open by sandbag treatment.

In regard to the best method of extinguishing or otherwise dealing with incendiary bombs, honours were about equally divided between the stirrup pump and the sandbag. Some Firewatch parties favoured one method and some another. The classic manner of handling the former was strictly observed, namely, one man at the spray in the prone position and two others workingthe pump. The sandbag devotees could be seen dashing about with a sandbag in each hand and dropping one on a bomb as they passed, and leaving it to burn in a semi-controlled condition on the concrete floor.

The kind of sturdy independence and initiative which was so characteristic of the Civil Defence Volunteers is illustrated very forcibly by the report made by a Fireguard on the following morning: -

We went to our Post on the sounding of the whistles (Fire Watcher Post No. 60, in the Service Department).

We had been at the Post about half an hour when we saw a fire on the Works "F" Block, so we reported to the Fire Station to see if we could be of assistance.

Having received permission from the Control Room, we ran a hose pipe from the wall box in the 60-ft. way up to the Trimming Shop. When we arrived, there was a jet already playing on the fire from the same side of the building. In order that we might make the best use of the water to prevent the fire from spreading, we broke through a door, and concentrated water at the point where the fire was spreading back through the building roof.

At this time, a Biirringham Fire Engine arrived on the scene. Very shortly after, the water supply failed, and, moreover, the roof and walls commenced to collapse around us. We left the building at once, and, mounting the Fire Engine with the Firemen, immediately proceeded to draw water from the reservoir at the end of Drews Lane. From there we ran the hose up Drews Lane, through the Main Gate, and down to the Trimming Shop fire which we had just left.

Before we could get the branch-pipe fitted to the end of the hose, the water was turned on. We afterwards failed to fix it in spite of all our efforts, with the assistance of several other men. We then left and returned to the pump to get the water shut off, to enable the branch-pipe to be fitted. In the confusion, however, I am not sure if this was done.

We then returned to the Trimming Shop to see if all was now well with our hose. On arrival, a shower of incendiary bombs fell on " F " Block in a part not yet affected by the fire, and we immediately entered the building and succeeded in extinguishing the bombs.

On leaving the building, we saw an outbreak of fire in the Canteen Block. We did not appear to be able to do any more useful work in "F" Block, and on turning the corner of the Canteen near theWorks Engincer's Office, two H.E. bombs fell, one in the road, andthe other on thebrook near the dam.

We carried ondown the road through the bomb crater until wecame to the Fuse op, when a radiator dropped near us, thrown by a bomb which fellon the Service Stores. Pieces of masonry and glasscontinued to fall until after we had entered the covered way. At this point, we were requested by an A.F.S. man to go for further assistance to cope with the fire in the Swarf House.

We met a party of A.F.S. men in the 60-ft. way, and passed on the request for help, and then returned to our Post in No. 60 Shelter to contact with the other two men in the Post. Finding them all right, we thought it desirable to contact the otherFire Watcher Posts in the Block to see if they were coping with the situation. We visited No. 62 Shelter and found it occupied by two A.F.S. men. We then went into the Hardening Shop, but we smelt escaping gas, so we retired back to the Post.

We again left the Post and went to the Main Gate to see if we could lend further assisance, but found a large number of A.F.S. men had arrived. At that moment a number of bombs dropped on the Machine Shop and just beyond. There was a good deal of machine parts and masonry flying about, so we lay down under the wall for a few moments.

We then returned to the Fuse Shop and passed through to the shelters outsile and found two women endeavouring to make contact with others who had been transferred to another shelter. They, however, joined forces with us, and we toge',her entered the Lockheed Shop, where we opened a number of tool ch.-s's and transferred the precision tools we found to one of the surface shelters. The women worked there strenuously with us. While we were engaged on this work a bomb fell in the Fuze Shop stores. This bomb was very near and threw us on the ground. The distance away was not more than five yards.

We salvaged all that we could, and the place becoming very hot, due to the exploding of oil tanks and the spreading of the fire, we left to see what assistance we could give in other quarters.

We then returned to the Post, shortly after which the "All Clear" went, and the rest of the night we continued to lend a hand where we could in a general way.

And so this night, the product of man at his worst, proceeded. When the " All Clear " signal sounded, efforts which had not relaxed for a single moment to gain control of the situation were renewed with a will, in spite of the exhaustion felt by the firefighters. When dawn broke, a terrible sight came in view. What, only a few hours previously, had been a well-organized and orderly factory, now appeared to be little better than a desolate, smoking ruin. Large areas of roof had collapsed, partly burying the charred remains of much-needed war supplies. Unexploded bombs were known to be hidden beneath the general ddbris, and to add to the situation, there remained the strong possibility of a further raid the next night.

As the morning proceeded and the workpeople began to arrive from their bomb-ravaged homes and districts, the need for some strong leadership to put in hand at once the work of reconstruction became apparent. To thwart the very purpose of the raid, the factory would have to be restored, as an important war production unit, in the least possible time, and so Mr. H. C. R. Mullens, the Managing Director, called together a meeting of Executives so that not an unnecessary minute should be lost in formulating and putting into execution a concrete plan to bring production up to its maximum again.

The enthusiasm of all, and the vigour and energy displayed swiftly produced results, and an apparently hopeless wreck began to assume again the characteristics of a modern factory.

Everyone feared that a raid might take place on the following night, and when the air-raid warning sounded, the anxiety of all was intense.

Many had been on duty for more than twenty-four hours, and ho,vever willing to face all that the night might inflict, their exhaustion made them doubt their ability to give of their best. Fortunately, however, the Besch had -evidently used up all his available energy, for the follo-,vin. night's raid proved to be nothing more than a handful of incendiary bombs and two small "hi-h explosives," a matter which was hardly worth comment in the light of what had taken place previously.

The energy put into the work of rehabilitation will be appreciated from the fact that within five days of this raid, which, at the time, seemed devastating, the Works were reopened at 8 a.m., and Mr. E. G. Morley, the General Manager and Civil Defence Controller, was able to make the following report to the Ministry of Home Se.-urity:-

Damage to Buildings-

20% structural destruction, and ;

40% roof destruction.

Damage to Essential Services

Water; low pressure;

Gas; low pressure,

Electricity; O.K.;

Sewers; O.K.;

Telephones; few lines working.

Casualties to Employees-

1 death;

13 slightly injured, previously reported.

No assistance required.

Effect on Production-

20% loss.

After the termination of hostilities, the Company was fortunate in obtaining a copy of the " brief " prepared by the Germans for the instruction of the airmen detailed to bomb the factory.

This interesting document contains various maps of the area in which the factory is situated, the target being outlined in red, as well as a large-scale plan of the factory showing the individual buildings. There is also a full description of the buildings, including details of their construction and height, and the purposes for whic6 they would probably be used, such as Power Station, Machine Shop, Assembly, etc.

As a further guide to the airmen, there is included a fine aerial photograph of the factory, which is dated and which was presumably taken on one of the rare daylight raids on the area that took place a few days previously.

The various services trained to deal with air raids received very valuable experience from the attack just described. Training continued with renewed energy, and any weaknesses which had become apparent in the first large raid were rectified with all speed.

When, therefore on the night of May 16th-17th of the same year, another attack was made on the Wolseley factory, a condition which might well have proved far more serious than the first raid was handled with the utmost promptness and efficiency, backed by previous experience, by the Fire Guard and the Works Fire Brigade. A large incendiary bomb was dropped on the partition dividing the Lorry Garage and the Rough Material Stores. The fire which resulted was extinguished with great promptitude, but unhappily tragedy swiftly followed. A following bomber dropped an H.E. bomb on a nearby shelter which killed the Groundsman and Steward of the Wolseley Athletic Club, and also two members of the Steward's family. This tragedy was keenly felt by all, for both Vernon Gill and Charlie Forrest were very popular.

Beyond a very hefty bomb which fell near the factory and succeeded in putting the football pitch out of action for a long time, and a smaller bomb which was within an ace of registering a direct hit on the oil stores recently restored after the previous raid, not much trouble was experienced during June of that year, save a fe,v broken windows through concussion and shrapnel, but on July 29th, 1942, Birmingham received another severe raid, in which the explosive incendiary bomb was used for the first time; if it had not been for the fact that the Wolseley personnel had been warned of the possible use of this weapon and had been trained in suitable defensive measures, this attack might well have proved far more serious than it was.

It was sharp while it lasted and demanded both skill and pluck to cope therewith. A cluster of incendiary bombs, of both the ordinary and explosive type, fell in the new Glider building and started a fire in the highly inflammable material used, but the Fire Services were equal to the occasion and the damage was quite nominal. Many such bombs were dropped in and adjacent to the factory, and it says much both for the skill of the personnel and for the training they had received that the casualty list was but four, two of which were serious.

At a time when so much heroic work was being carried out, it would be somewhat invidious to mention names, but it is nothing more than bare justice to record the behaviour of a Fire Guard named Collinc,,s. He received an injury in the knee by shrapnel, but he insisted, after it had been dressed, on returning to his post of duty and there he remained until the "All Clear" was sounded when he fainted with pain.

At least one curious feature about th,s raid was the similarity between the damage done to a concrete floor by an exploding incendiary bomb and an unexploded 250-1b. H.E.; both made a neat round hole of some twelve inches in diameter. The workpeople were not at all taken with the idea of carrying on their duties anywhere near this sinister-looking hole until a Civil Defence Official had made a preliminary inspection. There was an additional cause for all minds to be made easy because an informal visit of King Haakon of Norway at 10.30 a.m. had been arranged. When the King and his party passed round the factory, they might well have felt less at case had they known that they were often in areas where unexploded bombs had fallen which had still to be located and rendered harm'ess. Happily, nothing happened.

On March 4th, 1945, the Air-raid Warnings were heard for the last and 176th occasion. The damage done amounted to nearly half a million sterling.

Although the training of personnel in A.R.P. duties was given high priority both before the war and during the air raids, this did not preclude the Wolseley Company from responding to the insistent call for men for Home Guard duties.

Immediately after the epic of Dunkirk, no time was lost in organizing the Wolseley Home Guard Unit, which afterwards b.-came the " D " Company, 37th Battalion, Warwickshire Home Guard, which was formed on July 12th, 1940. The Wolseley Company provided the necessary headquarters in the factory, and every effort was made to encourage the men to join. The Unit was commanded, when it was first formed, by Captain S. A. Fitzgerald, but at a later date such command was taken over by Major A. H. Hall. With their qualifications and experience rapid headway was made; it swiftly became a highly effective and wellorganized unit.

A miniature rifle range was installed, and the keenness of the employees to join and undertake valuable war work will be gauged from the fact that within a very short time of its formation the names of 767 members were shown on the nominal role. This being in excess of Company strength, transfers had to be made to A.A. and other units.

The primary object of forming the Company was to protect the factory and the surrounding countryside in the event of a landing by enemy airborne troops, and the training was conducted accordingly. Eighty per cent. of the men underwent a bombing course, and seventy per cent. used the service rifle range for practice. Furthermore, instruction was given to a great number in the use of the spigot Mortar and Northover Projector.

The efforts made to bring the Unit to a high state of proficiency in defensive warfare proved unnecessary, but for some four and a half years the factory was provided with a fully trained guard.

A few months after the formation of the Home Guard, and at a time when Hitler's much-vaunted Luftwafre had been taught a severe lesson by the famous " Few," it became abundantly clear that losses not only in machines but in personnel would have to be made good from a well-stocked reserve, and every encouragement given to youngsters to become interested in aeronautics so that they might be trained as Pilots, Observers and Air Crew members'

With this object in view, the Wolseley Company at once set about forming a branch of the Air Training Corps. The members consisted not only of boys and youths under the age of 18 who were employed at the factory, but the sons of factory workers were also eligible, and by this means the numbers of recruits were swelled considerably.

482 (Ward End) Squadron A.T.C. was formed on August 28th, 1941, under the command of Flight-Lieutenant J. Mitchell, who is the Welfare Manager at the Wolseley factory.

Some idea of the proficiency of the training and the enthusiasm shown by both the Trainees and the Trainers can be gauged from the fact that of the 501 cadets who passed out, 162 joined the R.A.F. or the Fleet Air Arm and 103 the Navy or the Army.

The physique of these youths was not overlooked by the Wolseley Company. If they were to become efficient airmen, it was es-ential that they should undergo some form of physical training, and so this branch was supervised with great care. A measure of the success obtained can be gained from the numbers of sports events in which the Squadron competed and gained trophies. These included: -

Two Midland Command Trophies.

Two Birmingham Wing Trophies, open to 30 Squadrons.

Two Area Trophies.

Five Command Boxing Championships.

The Northern League Area Football Championship (1943).

Second place in Youths' Open Mile.

British Empire Games, London, 1944.

The attention, however, given to physical training was not carried out at the expense of studies which alone would fit the recruits for entrance into the Services mentioned. Regular courses of instruction in navigation, morse, mathematics, engine overhaul and such-like were provided by members of the Wolseley staff qualified to give such instruction. Cadets spent a week or so at R.A.F. Stations in various parts of the country, where they also became accustomed to camp life. During the period of such training no fewer than 514 flignts were macle during which over 75,000 miles were flown. After proficiency had been reached, cadets were given flying practice, some of which took place over the North Sea.

WELFARE

It became evident to the Wolseley Company at an early stage that if the incessant demand for greater and still greater war production were to be fulfilled, serious thought would have to be given to the workers' health. The long hours in the factory, the daily double journey to and from the Works in black-out conditions, and the mental anxiety during air raids could scarcely fail to affect war production unless some counter-measures were introduced to maintain the health, both physical and mental, of the workers.

The demand became still more pressing when full night shifts were undertaken. This entailed the complete blacking-out of all the glass in the factory roofs. Twelve acres had to be painted and this resulted in the use of artificial light all day, winter and summer, a condition which in itself well might have imperilled the health of the workers, had not the danger been foreseen.

At considerable expense the Company built a Solarium equipped with a battery of the latest type of ultra-violet ray lamps, and this was made available to every employee. The Solarium was used regularly by a great many for sun-bathing during the working hours, and on December 15th, 1939, Mr. Walter Elliot, the Minister of Health, visited the factory and made a thorough inspection of the working conditions, and particularly of the Solarium. During his visit he chatted to many of the workpeople, and commented on their healthy appearance, although it was then mid-winter.

The excellent ballroom in the canteen building was of the utmostservice in providing much entertainment to relieve the monotony of long hours of work during the black-out, and the general stress of wartime conditions. Many times each week, at mid-day and even at midnight, concerts were given as well as cinema shows and dances, all of which did much to maintain the morale of the workers.

Shortly before the war the Wolseley dance room, with its fine stage, had been used by the B.B.C. for the broadcast of an " Industry Entertains " programme, and greatly to the delight of the workers, the B.B.C. again made use of the setting for the broadcast of the first of the " Itma " series on September 21st, 1944.

The factory was fortunate enough to be visited by many wellknown stage and' screen personalities to help in the entertainment, and on October 30th, 1942, the American film star, Edward G. Robinson, was almost mobbed by the workers when he came to see for himself the extent of the wartime activities. It is interesting to record that before the war Leonard Cottrell, the well-known B.B.C. Feature Writer, was in charge of the Publicity Department of the Wolseley Company, and during the war the Wolseley Company's wartime activities were made the subject,of more than one B.B.C. Broadcast, notably " Spotter's Post " (an impression of the work of the Aircraft Spotter at a Midlands Ammunition Factory), broadcast on April 25th, 1941. In actual fact, this was a vivid description of the air raid on the Wolseley factory in April, 1941.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

With its vast Machine and Assembly Shops working night and day, which never ceased to pour out munitions at an ever-increasing rate, it is not surprising that the Wolseley factory was visited by numbers of highly distinguished personalities who desired to see for themselves how this scale of output was achieved.

Such visits were always welcomed by the Wolseley Executive, and there appeared to be nothin. unusual when Major Dennison, the Deputy Controller to Lord Dudley, telephoned to the Managing Director early in April, 1940, requesting an appointment for an interview, details of which could not be given throu,,h the telephone.

Within an hour Major Dennison arrived and requested to be shown over the factory. This was granted with pleasure, but during the course of the inspection so many questions of a highly diverse nature were asked, that a feeling was created that the mere inspection of the factory was not the primary ob'eot of his visit. On completion of the tour, he took his departure without giving the slightest indication of the precise reason for his visit. A few days later another interview was sought by Major Dennison, and thistime he explained that he wished to discuss arrangements for an inspection of the factory by their Majesties the King and Queen.

And so it came about that on April 18th, 1940, the Wolseley Company was honoured by a Royal visit. On arrival at the factory at 11.40 a.m. their Majesties were received by Viscount Nuffield, Sir Miles Thomas and Mr. H. C. R. Mullens. Their Majesties showed great interest in the various processes they viewed and in the varied equipment which formed an integral and typical section of Birmingham's great war effort. The inspection lasted until a little after one o'clock and the King and Queen were given a tumultuous welcome by all the workpeople, and were assured of their loyal support by the send-off given as they left the factory.

In July, 1942, His Majesty King Haakon of Norway paid a private visit to Coventry and Birmingham, for the purpose of inspecting the various factories comprising the Nuffield Organization. He arrived at Birmingham on the evening of July 29th where he was entertained to dinner b y i-ord Nuffield. The date was illchosen for shortly after the guests had left, and with a full moon shining brightly over the, city, the air-raid sirens sounded and Birmingham experienced almost the last of its many air attacks.

But King Haakon was quite unperturbed by his disturbed night's rest. On the following morning he carried out a detailed inspection of the Wolseley factory.

Shortly before this, namely, on September 23rd, 1941, General Weson, of the U.S. Army, and his staff visited the factory, and during the following January Madame Nikolayova and members of the Russian Trades Union Delegation were visitors. After a detailed inspection, they lunched in the Works canteen where Madame Nikolayova spoke to the workpeople and conveyed greetings to them from their Russian Trades Union Colleagues. The visitors received a rousing welcome, and a newsreel film was made of the occasion.

During September, 1941, Mr. Winston Churchill visited the Wolseley factory. Although his visit had not been made known previously, the news that he was making an inspection spread very quickly, and the never-failing conscientiousness of the workpeoplefor carrying out their duties was temporarily overcome by their enthusiasm for such an occasion, and their desire to give hima true welcome. A large and enthusiastic crowd of workpeople followed Mr. Churchill on his tour of inspection, and with an abundance of good humour so characteristic of him, he delighted everyone by sitting on the folded hood of the open car in which he was making his journey, waving to them as he passed through the factory on his way back to Birmingham.

On July 18th, 1942, Lord Halifax, who was on a brief visit to this country from his duties as British Ambassador to Washington, visited the factory to take back with him to America a first-hand impression of a cross-section of Britain's war effort.

The number of distinguished visitors increased with the output of munitions, and as D-day approached and every worker was keyed up in anticipation of the early con;iing of the climax of the war, such visitations became more and more frequent. Early in February, 1944, the Chinese Military Mission, headed by General Yng Chien, were amongst the visitors, to be followed, during the next week, by Sir Stafford Cripps, who at that time was Ministerof Aircraft Production, and who made a careful inspection of the Horsa Glider production. Before leaving he addressed the workers and expressed the satisfaction his visit had given to him.

Then on March 22nd of the same year, the work pople were thrilled to see the familiar figure of Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery walking round the factory. He received a tumultuous welcome both during the course of his inspection, and later when he made a most rousing speech in the Works canteen. Following his visit, he asked the Company to undertake the reconditioning of his two caravans which had formed his mobile headquarters and sleeping accommodation since those fateful days in 1942 when he broke through Rommel's lines at El Alamein. These two caravans were intended to accompany the Field-Niarshal across the English Channel, and typical of the man, he found time, within three weeks of D-day to write the following letter to Sir Miles Thomas, the then Vice-Chairman of the Nuffield Organization:-

T.A.C. Headquarters,

21 Army Group,

No. 1 A.P.D.C.,

London, W.l.

June 26th, 1944.

Dear Thomas,

I should like to let you know that I have now wih me in France the caravans which you so kindly overhauled for me in one of your factories. They came ashore in France with no trouble at all, and I feel sure they are now very well fit for the campaign which lies ahead.

It was very kind of you to have taken so much trouble over these caravans, and 1 would be grateful if you would tell your workpeople who overhauled them what a good job they have done.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) B. L. MONTCOMERY,

General.

Sir Miles Thomas, D.F.C.,

Vice-Chairman,

The Nuffield Organization,

Cowley, Oxford.

Field-Marshal Smuts was another highly popular figure who called at the Works on May 19th of the same year to carry out an inspection. When walking through the Horsa Glider Assembly Shops, he noticed some of the girls working and waving improvised Union Jacks which they had made out of pieces of fabric and coloured with aeroplane dope. To their delight, he walked up to them and asked whether he could have one of these flags, and throughout the remainder of his tour he waved this flag, to the great delight and amusement of the workers.