Dr Adrian Webb, a local historian and author of ‘Churchill’s Secret Chart Makers’, presented a copy of the book to the South West Heritage Trust on Thursday 6 June 2024, the 80th anniversary and commemoration of D-Day. To mark the occasion Adrian has written a guest blog about Somerset’s chart-making role in the D-Day plans.
D-Day Navigational Charts
The importance and secrecy during World War Two of the preparations for the Invasion of France is well documented and publicised. Eight decades later, British and foreign allied services still attend to remember and celebrate those heroes who ventured all. From these ports the Allies would sail for D-Day, delayed by storms until the 6th of June, went thousands men and ships in tight formation.
The Hydrographic Department of the Navy was responsible for all the charts and navigational products designed, compiled, proofed, printed and distributed to the Allies. The vital work in Taunton and Bath, without which the invasion would fail, was undertaken in total secrecy. All that outsiders knew was that the buildings used were simply “the Admiralty”.
The numbers of charts produced by the Department are staggering, as in 1938 only just over one million were issued, compared with almost seven million in 1944. During the war 30.7 million charts and diagrams were supplied to 4,969 vessels from fourteen allied countries, compared with an average of 3.5 million over a similar period in peacetime. This increase had a tremendous effect on chart making staff in the Department.
Somerset’s Secret Operations
The stories of the Top Secret chart making activities has not been told until the publication of the book – ‘Churchill’s Secret Chart Makers: the Road to D-Day and Beyond in Somerset, 1939-1945’. It details the work of the Hydrographic Department predominantly based in Taunton and Bath, with satellite operations in Exeter, Frome, Ironbridge, Armadale, Nottingham and London. It is based on a wide range of sources, including interviews with war-time staff and archives held at the Somerset Heritage Centre.
Further information is available at somersethistory.com.
