Cheers and Cheerio: Audley End & WWII

We spent the day at Audley End House, experiencing what we have determined would be kin to a WWII movie set. And we had the time of our lives.

Audley End House. It's hard to do it justice. The grounds are expansive with bridges, a farm house, multiple gardens and Greek temples. It's a bit like Pemberley (really known as Chatham House) in Pride in Prejudice.

Adam in one of the gardens

The House was used Station 43, a training ground for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the precursor to the CIA during World War II. The men & women who were in training were billeted (or lived) in the House while the grounds were used for training exercises. The training goal was to learn everything there was to know about war so that if they were captured while on a mission, the spies would have the chance to defend themselves. Consequently, German, American and British guns, uniforms, etc. were all used to prepare the spies who were American, British, German and Polish (the Polish resistance provided many SOE agents). And on this day, training camp was happening. We saw a firearm demonstrations, a battle simulation, lindy hop demonstrations, an amphibious attack training exercise (it was awesome), and took a tour of the beautiful house.

Take a look:

Firearm demonstration of all guns used in WWII, including machine guns. Thank God they were using blanks (Adam and I did wince a bit thinking of the Hill City episode earlier this summer)

American Troops

American Tent

Inside American Tent. Adam said the tent smelled like an Army Surplus store.

American Uniforms

Sir Winston Churchill, of course

Battle Simulation

Battle simluation. At one point, the man on the left fell against a tree and stuck his tongue out of his mouth, exclaiming to an "enemy" soldier: "I'm dead! I'm already dead!" Good man. He was following orders from the commanding officer who was running the exercise: "You're dead!" Then, pointing to another, "You're dead too!"