MontyB
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Hitler's top secret scheme to set up his headquarters in sleepy Midlands market town if UK invasion had been successful
By Tara Brady
UPDATED: 16:23 GMT, 19 February 2012
A sleepy market town in the Midlands could have been home to Adolf Hitler if the German invasion of Britain had been successful.
Historians believe the dictator wanted to use Apley Hall, near Norton, in the heart of the Shropshire countryside as his headquarters which would have been the nerve-centre of his operation.
The Grade II* listed stately home, just seven miles from the tourist town of Bridgnorth, was once a retreat for rich guests wanting to escape the city.
But it could easily have played host to more a sinister resident if history had turned out differently.
Experts believe the Nazi tyrant was interested in the area because it was
geographically in the middle of England.
It was also away from the urbanised West Midlands and had a handy airbase nearby.
Richard Westwood-Brookes, who studies historical documents, said: 'As far-fetched as it may sound, the papers, which were marked 'top secret’, earmarked a place in the middle of nowhere where Hitler hoped to set up camp during his planned invasion.
'It was widely believed that Hitler’s invasion was timed for 1940 but that he
scrapped the idea after the RAF fended off the Luftwaffe over Kent.
'The fact that some of these documents date from 1941, a year after the Battle of Britain, clearly shows that Hitler never abandoned the plan.
'To go to so much trouble in researching Bridgnorth and the surrounding area indicated that the Nazis saw the town as of key importance for something.'
A bundle of 1940s papers recovered in a bunker in Belgium at the end of the war contained maps highlighting strategic sites for attack by the Germans, including railway stations, power plants and bridges.
An enormous amount of attention was focused on Bridgnorth.
With the papers were books about Shropshire and its stately homes.
The secret papers detailed lines of communication between Bridgnorth and other towns in the region, including Ludlow, where German spies had highlighted the railway station and two garages where vehicles could have been stored.
It is believed Apley Hall, now privately owned, would have acted as the nerve centre in Hitler's UK invasion operation.
The house, commissioned by Thomas Whitmore in 1811, was designed to look like a romantic castle overlooking the River Severn.
During the war it was owned by Major A. W. Foster, a decorated hero of both the Boer War and First World War who had lost a leg in battle.
The hall boasted not only opulent fittings and furniture but also games and billiard rooms.
Historic: Inside Apley Hall which Hitler wanted to make his headquarters
The crenulated Orangery was converted into a swimming pool, said to be the first private pool in the country.
But Bridgnorth pensioner Eve Fisher says many people in the town were aware of Hitler’s plan to take over the glorious mansion.
She said: 'There were very genuine concerns at the outbreak of war that the Germans would come here.
'There were all sorts of stories about how they were going to send in parachutists dressed as nuns, and all sorts of other tricks.
'You dread to think what might have happened if the Nazis had managed to invade.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ket-town-Midlands-UK-invasion-successful.html
Sorry Del but I couldn't resist.
By Tara Brady
UPDATED: 16:23 GMT, 19 February 2012
A sleepy market town in the Midlands could have been home to Adolf Hitler if the German invasion of Britain had been successful.
Historians believe the dictator wanted to use Apley Hall, near Norton, in the heart of the Shropshire countryside as his headquarters which would have been the nerve-centre of his operation.
The Grade II* listed stately home, just seven miles from the tourist town of Bridgnorth, was once a retreat for rich guests wanting to escape the city.
But it could easily have played host to more a sinister resident if history had turned out differently.
Experts believe the Nazi tyrant was interested in the area because it was
geographically in the middle of England.
It was also away from the urbanised West Midlands and had a handy airbase nearby.
Richard Westwood-Brookes, who studies historical documents, said: 'As far-fetched as it may sound, the papers, which were marked 'top secret’, earmarked a place in the middle of nowhere where Hitler hoped to set up camp during his planned invasion.
'It was widely believed that Hitler’s invasion was timed for 1940 but that he
scrapped the idea after the RAF fended off the Luftwaffe over Kent.
'The fact that some of these documents date from 1941, a year after the Battle of Britain, clearly shows that Hitler never abandoned the plan.
'To go to so much trouble in researching Bridgnorth and the surrounding area indicated that the Nazis saw the town as of key importance for something.'
A bundle of 1940s papers recovered in a bunker in Belgium at the end of the war contained maps highlighting strategic sites for attack by the Germans, including railway stations, power plants and bridges.
An enormous amount of attention was focused on Bridgnorth.
With the papers were books about Shropshire and its stately homes.
The secret papers detailed lines of communication between Bridgnorth and other towns in the region, including Ludlow, where German spies had highlighted the railway station and two garages where vehicles could have been stored.
It is believed Apley Hall, now privately owned, would have acted as the nerve centre in Hitler's UK invasion operation.
The house, commissioned by Thomas Whitmore in 1811, was designed to look like a romantic castle overlooking the River Severn.
During the war it was owned by Major A. W. Foster, a decorated hero of both the Boer War and First World War who had lost a leg in battle.
The hall boasted not only opulent fittings and furniture but also games and billiard rooms.
Historic: Inside Apley Hall which Hitler wanted to make his headquarters
The crenulated Orangery was converted into a swimming pool, said to be the first private pool in the country.
But Bridgnorth pensioner Eve Fisher says many people in the town were aware of Hitler’s plan to take over the glorious mansion.
She said: 'There were very genuine concerns at the outbreak of war that the Germans would come here.
'There were all sorts of stories about how they were going to send in parachutists dressed as nuns, and all sorts of other tricks.
'You dread to think what might have happened if the Nazis had managed to invade.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ket-town-Midlands-UK-invasion-successful.html
Sorry Del but I couldn't resist.
irate: