Hi, I'm Thomas. I'm Will.
And we're here at Dover Castle
And we're going back in time
to May 1940
less than a year
after the start of the
second World War. We're going to meet
Vice Admiral Ramsay in his
underground headquarters to find out
how he helped our troops during WWII.
Looks like we have a message to deliver.
What are you two boys
doing in here? This is no place for children.
Please sir, we were asked to give you this message.
Well, thank you boys. That will be all.
Sir, what's happening?
Well, we are trying
to organise the evacuation from
Dunkirk. That means that
we're trying to help our troops withdraw
from the northern coast of France.
I'm afraid it's all rather top secret, I can't really
tell you very much. What's your role here Sir?
Well, I'm a Royal Naval Officer
and I'm in
command of the thousands
of men and women who work here in this
command centre.
When were these tunnels built, Sir?
Well these tunnels were built over a hundred
years ago in the Napoleonic War.
Not too long ago
we started using them as
a bomb shelter, then we started
to use them as a command centre and later
as a hospital. What's happening
in these tunnels? We're trying to
organise the withdrawal of
the troops from France you see
We're trying to organise ships
and blankets, food
water,
medical supplies and
lots of the troops when they get here are going to be
exhausted or even wounded.
What happens to the soldiers when they get back?
Well, they'll be put onto
trains and sent to wherever
they're from in Britain
they'll be able to spend a few weeks
maybe with their family.
After a week or so, they'll return
back to their units. Do you live in these tunnels?
For the moment, yes.
There's an awful lot of work to do
But I do have a room at
the end of one of the tunnels with a little window
and I can see the harbour so I can see what's
going on out there
I imagine once this is all over I'll return back to
the Officer's quarters back at the castle.
But I do have my own home you know
in south of Scotland. Are we safe
here? These tunnels are really quite
a long way underground, deep within the
White Cliffs here so
no bombs can reach you
We saw a lot of ships in the harbour
on our way here today
Yes, those are the ships that we're trying to
organise to get over to France
to evacuate the troops you see
I saw some of the boats are
ordinary, not war ships, why's that?
Quite simply we don't have enough
transporters or war ships to do the
job, so I'm trying to organise
as many civilian vessels as I
possibly can to get
them over there and see what they can do
see if they can be useful
How do you even track all of the boats going in and out
of the harbour? That's a very good question
It's very difficult to communicate
with a lot of these small boats, particularly
the little ships
so we use a system of flags
to communicate - called Semaphore - I'll show you
Follow me this way.
Right boys, down here
What are they doing? Well these fellows
are doing that thing I told you about earlier.
Semaphore - signaling with the flags.
With these flags we'll be able to communicate
with the ships down in the harbour.
So, gentlemen if you wouldn't mind - D
O
V
E
R
There we are chaps
Dover. Want to have a go?
Right, pass over the flags then chaps
They'll give you a hand, but are you ready fellows?
Ready? D
O
V
E
R
Excellent work. What do you think chaps?
They were alright weren't they.
Thank you very much for bringing me the message
It's much appreciated
I'm afraid I've got to get back to work now so
Thank you very much
Carry on.