Milton Bryan campsite
During World War II, and as part of Winston Churchill’s propaganda war, we now know that the secret Political Warfare Executive ran many of its organisations in Beds, Bucks and Herts, one of which was at Milton Bryan.
A top secret radio station was built to record “black propaganda”. A multi-national team pretended to be Germans, and fooled the enemy into thinking they were listening to real German radio stations. The programmes encouraged German soldiers to surrender, give false and misleading instructions to civilians. The latest German hits and news from Germany, which had been intercepted at Bletchley Park, were played. These broadcasts were made to the German Army across Europe, to U boat crews in the Atlantic and also directly to Germany itself.
After the second World War, the radio station stood derelict for many years but the main building, guard house, air raid bunker and some of the living quarters still exist. The building is now being gradually renovated and the surrounding area used as a rural campsite. One of the old nissen huts has been turned into a canteen and the other into a toilet block.
The site in Milton Bryan is situated on the very edge of the Woburn Estate about 2 miles south of Woburn. The closest sections of the GSRW are at Woburn Abbey and Eversholt to the north.