This may or may not be Military related, I really do not know. On the outside a fairly regular looking old book, size some 7" x 5". The book is "Longmans New Historical Readers. Sketches from British History. F. York Powell". It looks to be somewhere about the WW1 time frame, just a guess. I would welcome ideas and opinions about this quite strange item. Regards, Clive.
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Image 5 - The Secret revealedComment
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Hi Clive
very surprising, really
cordially
DidierComment
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Good afternoon Clive , many thanks for showing this superb item , does the set appear to be hand made or an official manufacture ? any trade markings ?
Leaving aside the S.O.E option wouldnt it be fantastic if this was used by the british home guard auxiliiaries or better still a german collaborator , designed to be hidden but easy to get to hence the book ..... left on the shelf at the wars end and quietly forgotten ........ one can dream ......Comment
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Brilliant . What is it? a morse code sender ? does it receive as well ? RobGod please take justin bieber and gave us dio backComment
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Very cool, but what exactly is that stuff inside?
I have a similar book I made myself. This one also looks handmade IMO.
JLComment
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Many thanks for the comments so far. It certainly looks to be hand-made, no trade or official markings that I can see. Not exactly sure what the internal components are. Perhaps frequency coils, tuner and terminals for a separate headset. Not sure this would transmit, probably just a receiver. SOE, Auxiliary Unit, German collaborator, any of these would be just great! I have not seen another like this and it does look a professional job, or by a gifted amateur. It was obviously made for a purpose and possibly something of a clandestine nature. Will welcome any further thoughts, comments or ideas. Regards, Clive.Comment
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The item on the top right all most looks like it could be used as a morse code key. The item on the top right looks like a terminal post to attach wires. Not sure about the coiled wire, my first thought was for a antenna. Enough wire there to make field expedient long wire.
Originally posted by seebee1 View PostComment
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Well I think it is a little more rare and interesting than something from the SOE
Looks like a home made receiver most likely well hidden by its owner in a 'German POW camp'
One item almost fully forgotten today were the mores code broad-casts on the news that where very easy to listen in on with a very simple receiver, one did not even need a crystal just a coil like this.
One of the best old stories I heard from a POW Vet was how they used the 'shoot on site' wire as the coil for their receiver. The Germans moved it out one day, they thought they where being nice giving Tommy some more room, destroying the coil in the process, so the camp went on strike to get it placed back.
I bet that left the Germans scratching their heads
Oh one more little thing this sort of out of date and boring, esoteric book would of been normal fair in a POW camp many such fair as the 'The Diary of A Country Parson', The Birds of East Anglia and the all time favorite Billy BuddLast edited by byterock; 03-06-2011, 04:26 PM.Comment
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I really like the German POW theory, could well be what it is. I have not ever seen other examples, but guess they must exist. Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Regards, Clive.Comment
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Hi,
IMHO its a cristal radio receiver. These things were made to listen to the BBC in occupied country. In Belgium in 1944 radio's were forbidden for a lot of people so they made their own receivers or rebuilded cristal receivers to fit into a box or book.
To me this is an example of a rebuilded cristal receiver. It was a clandestine radio receiver. Not really exclusifly SOE or resistance but ofcourse they used it too.Comment
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Maybe a receiver from the Channel Islands, where a British book would not be out of place on the book shelf.Comment
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