Before the Second World War, Tyneham was a simple village in Dorset focusing most of their attention on farming. In December 1943, the villagers were moved out by the Royal British Army, prior to Churchill’s War Cabinet deciding to use the area for D-Day preparations.
It was thought at the time the villagers would be able to move back into their family homes, however after the war the area began use as a gunnery range (still in use today).
Today the empty and overgrown buildings are the only things that remain. Tyneham is a village trapped in time, protected from modern technologies the village remains as it was some seventy years ago. Both the schoolroom and church in the village have been restored to how it would have looked during the 1940s before the evacuated.
After spending most of the morning soaking up the history at Tyneham we moved down the coast to Fort Henry. Fort Henry was the largest observation post for Exercise Smash, a rehearsal using real ammunition in preparation for D-Day. The bunker, comprised of solid concrete, acted as the view point for high ranking officials to watch the simulation.