Help please anyone! I am looking into the possibility of doing a research paper on Bomber Command’s mine laying operations during WW2. The paper would be aimed towards Bomber Command policy on the subject and the wishes/demands of the Navy and any disagreements/arguments that arose between the two Services over the allocation of resources/conduct of operations.
Can anyone help me with any document Class references at the National Archives (or even individual references)where I should start looking?
I am aware of individual Squadron ORBs having minelaying ops recorded. If anyone has come across any detailed mining operation debriefs (ie with Naval officers present or the Navy doing their nut because the mines were not dropped properly) I would be really interested.
Finally, and this shows my ignorance on the general subject, did Castal Command carry out minig operations in Europe as well as Bomber Command and is there a good book on the subject?Sorry for a very long post. Any help would be appreciated! B
By: Ross_McNeill - 29th January 2014 at 23:32
A very unsubtle meaning.
The code word for the first air dropped mines by the FAA and Coastal was Cucumber hence sowing them was gardening.
After that the areas were given flower, vegetable etc codenames until they ran out and started on marine life.
Regards
Ross
By: Jimbo27 - 29th January 2014 at 23:19
A slight thread drift, but I have always wondered about the ‘Gardening’ code word. I think I’ve read that on occasions mine laying was used to crack the Enigma traffic. Because we knew where the mines had been dropped it gave us key words to look for, and by having a known word to match up it apparently helped to find a way into the Enigma code settings for that particular period of time. So was ‘Gardening’ a true meaningless code word, or did it have a subtle meaning, planting something to produce a crop?
By: kirmington - 29th January 2014 at 19:27
Thank you everyone. Absolutely fantastic. The particular Bomber Squadron I have an interest in, number 166, carried out a lot of mining operations both in Wellingtons and in Lancasters and lost quite a few crews in the process. I am familiar with the AIR27 files but not much else (and that was in the 1980’s!) and it is the wider ‘themes’ that I am looking at rather than individual squadrons at the moment. I am really grateful for your help. If you think of anything else please post again!
By: Alan Clark - 29th January 2014 at 16:44
If you are also looking at individual operations you’ll want to look at a copy of Bomber Command War Diaries before looking at Squadron records, it should save consulting files which contain nothing of use. The Squadron appendices for units which did conduct mine laying operations should have the operations order from Group, but in many cases these never made it to the files.
By: antoni - 29th January 2014 at 16:25
The obvious word to look for is ‘gardening’, the code word for aerial mine laying. Hopefully this link to search results will work for you. There are several files that are relevant to you but most is nothing to do with mines. Its a start. Also check the appendixes for the ORBs.
By: Edgar Brooks - 29th January 2014 at 15:45
One of your first actions should probably be to get onto the National Archives website, access “Discovery,” and type in “minelaying” between 1939 & 1945. There’s at least 200 files, a lot of which is RN material, but there are also some “AIR” files, which could be useful. Then try variations of the theme, possibly with just “mine”; you have to get a bit inventive with Discovery, since the filing wasn’t necessarily done by ex-Service.
Sign In
January 29, 2014 at 2:13 pm