Shell holes tied by wire to London
Underground signal center in Britain controls every message to front
By John MacCormac
London, England –
A British-American-Canadian communications center of the dimensions of a small town was busily at work 100 feet under the quiet English countryside controlling the assault on Cherbourg. Its first great function was to transmit orders for the invasion of Normandy, but its construction had been launched two years before D-Day.
Its scope is such that in one area alone, the British Post Office laid two million miles of wire. It is equipped to communicate with the nearest frontline shell crater in Normandy or eventually with the point where the Anglo-American armies will meet those of Russia.
An all-services undertaking, its hundred teleprinters and switchboard and its 14-position telephone switchboard with 200 lines and 400 extensions are operated by WRENS, ATS and WAAFs. A separate radio room, manned by Royal Signal and U.S. Army Signal Corps operators, provides a special link, enabling field troops to summon air support. A battle in France, in fact, can be directed from this center completely by radio.
This giant communications center has now cast its tentacles ac ross the Channel. One schedule, anticipating the progress to be made for a certain date after D-Day, called for 700 miles of eight-wire lines, 1,500 miles of special pole line, 30,000 miles of field cable, 400,000 yards of assault cable and 50 special radio installations.