Operation Hillside: Secret WW2 Mission at National Trust's Hughenden Manor > .
ARP, Bunkers, Shelters, Underground - BePr >> .
Hughenden Manor is a red brick Victorian mansion, located near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. In the 19th century, it was the country house of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield.ARP, Bunkers, Shelters, Underground - BePr >> .
Arthur Harris took over Bomber Command in 1941 and was appalled by the way the airbase was run. He overhauled it and introduced saturation bombing as a military tactic to help win the war. To do this he needed very precise target maps and expert navigators, as well as the precision timing it would take to get 1,000 bombers over the target in under an hour.
German map production was deliberately stopped in 1931, which meant that when the war started, no one had up-to-date maps of Germany. So our first priority was to secure current maps of enemy territory. A fleet of mosquitoes took off from RAF Benson to take photographs of Germany and the photos were sent to Hughenden Manor.
Hughenden Manor was in close proximity to Bomber Command at Walters Ash. It had been requisitioned by the Air Ministry and was the obvious choice for the mapping operation
The Manor played a key role in the bomber offensive. It was an ideal location, hidden away in the woods—near to Bomber Command but hard to spot from the air. There were no military police on guard and no obvious signs that it was being used by the military.
The cartographers produced leading-edge maps of Germany from aerial photography--ensuring that information was up-to-date. Inaccuracies could cause real problems for bombers, so a checking section was formed in 1943.
Hughenden's secret map-making operation in WW2 only came to light 60 years later after a chance encounter one of our house volunteers had with a visitor.
Saturation bombing proved to be hugely successful. The Germans were totally overwhelmed and enormous damage was done to their military bases and fortifications. Flying bomb sites, including Peenemünde, were sought out and bombed to devastation. Aerial surveillance uncovered about 120 different sites where the Germans were building concrete ramps to launch their flying bombs in France and the Low Countries. They were using slave labour to construct them.
The RAF waited until construction was complete before bombing the ramps, destroying them completely. Other targets included the Ruhr Valley Dams (attacked in the “Dambusters” raid). Operation Hillside also provided bombing support for the D-Day landings, and played a role in the destruction of the German battleship Tirpitz.
On 25 April 1945, The Berghof was bombed and considerable damage was inflicted, but British forces were frustrated to learn that Hitler was in the safety of his Berlin bunker at the time. Five days later, however, Hitler committed suicide.
A recruitment drive for the most talented surveyors, cartographers, and designers ensued. There was a chronic shortage of cartographers, and all staff were sworn to secrecy about their hidden role in the war—150 people were employed altogether.
Beginning October 1941, the basement at Hughenden Manor was used as a secret intelligence base code-named "Operation Hillside".
The UK Air Ministry staff at the manor analysed aerial photography of Germany and created maps for bombing missions, including the famous "Dambusters" raid.
The Manor played a key role in the bomber offensive. It was an ideal location, hidden away in the woods—near to Bomber Command but hard to spot from the air. There were no military police on guard and no obvious signs that it was being used by the military.
The cartographers produced leading-edge maps of Germany from aerial photography--ensuring that information was up-to-date. Inaccuracies could cause real problems for bombers, so a checking section was formed in 1943.
Hughenden's secret map-making operation in WW2 only came to light 60 years later after a chance encounter one of our house volunteers had with a visitor.
Saturation bombing proved to be hugely successful. The Germans were totally overwhelmed and enormous damage was done to their military bases and fortifications. Flying bomb sites, including Peenemünde, were sought out and bombed to devastation. Aerial surveillance uncovered about 120 different sites where the Germans were building concrete ramps to launch their flying bombs in France and the Low Countries. They were using slave labour to construct them.
The RAF waited until construction was complete before bombing the ramps, destroying them completely. Other targets included the Ruhr Valley Dams (attacked in the “Dambusters” raid). Operation Hillside also provided bombing support for the D-Day landings, and played a role in the destruction of the German battleship Tirpitz.
On 25 April 1945, The Berghof was bombed and considerable damage was inflicted, but British forces were frustrated to learn that Hitler was in the safety of his Berlin bunker at the time. Five days later, however, Hitler committed suicide.
Hillside took part in Operation Manna which supplied food to the starving Dutch population in 1945, and created maps of a Gestapo prison outside Amiens, enabling Mosquito pilots to blow the walls so the prisoners could escape to freedom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Arthur_Harris,_1st_Baronet .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Arthur_Harris,_1st_Baronet .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Benson .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Medmenham .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peenem%C3%BCnde_Army_Research_Center .
National Trust sites with a WW2 connection:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Medmenham .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peenem%C3%BCnde_Army_Research_Center .
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