Function

A body known as The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (U.K.W.M.O.) was set up in 1957 to warn the population of any impending air attack. The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) set up in WW2 as part of the Royal Air Force (RAF) to spot enemy aircraft, became the eyes and ears of the UKWMO in the cold war. In the nuclear era the job of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was to report the positions of the bomb strikes and monitor resulting fallout areas and relay these back to Group Headquarters. Fallout warnings would be issued by the Group Headquarters and be relayed to the public via the HANDEL network. This data would be shared with the Regional Government Headquarters to enable them to control the post strike situation. The structure of the organisation was such that the destruction of an observer post or headquarters would have limited effect on the ability of the organisation to function.

Organisation

Throughout the Cold War the UKWMO staff and the ROC were separate organisations. The UKWMO was run by the 'Home Office' in England and the 'Scottish Department of Home and Health' in Scotland through part time civil servants. The ROC continued to be part of the RAF and administered by the Ministry of Defence. The ROC at this stage were a uniformed organisation who were seconded to UKWMO to be its field force. Command of all sections resided with the non-uniformed UKWMO staff. The attack warning and subsequent fallout warnings were assessed by the scientific members of the UKWMO. ROC members played no part in any assessment or decision making within controls.

At the time of the creation of the UKWMO in 1957 the ROC consisted of 40 Observer groups with 1563 observation posts. In 1968 the Labour Government spending cuts saw the disbanding of the Auxiliary Fire Service, the Civil Defence Corps and some elements of the Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve. The ROC was reduced in size to 873 underground posts and the staff halved. A further rearrangement of boundaries occurred in 1973 which reduced the organisation to twenty five groups.

This left each Group with thirty to forty observation posts within its control. Each post making frequent observations and forwarding to them to Group for processing. Bomb detonation locations and estimated yield were calculated. Fallout predictions would be made by taking into account factors like bomb size and wind direction. Live radiation readings from posts were used confirm the path of fallout and amend the prediction if necessary. Each Group Headquarters area was subdivided into Warning Districts. If fallout were imminent in a District the Fallout Warning BLACK would be issued via the HANDEL network for the affected district(s). Eventually the Attack Message WHITE or All Clear would be issued when fallout levels had dropped to a safe level.

Each of the five Sectors consisted of five Groups, the Sector Headquarters was collocated with one of the Groups. Groups forwarded their observations to Sector who would collate this to create a national picture. Sectors had links to our European neighbours Civil Protection authorities to exchange information about fallout that may affect other counties.

Sector and Group Locations

The UK was divided into twenty five areas each served by a Group Headquarter. Five of these acted as Sector Headquarters too. Preston Sector headquarters also served as the UKWMO headquarters had the facility to issue the country wide HANDEL Attack Warning message should the RAF strike command be disabled. The ROC Group locations were not a secret as almost all were listed in their local telephone directory under Royal Observer Corp quoting an address and phone number. On the whole most members of the public knew nothing about the existence of the U.K.W.M.O.

 

Structures

During the period 1960-62 small underground chambers were constructed to protect the observers from blast and fallout. At this time Group and Sector Headquarters had purpose built bunkers constructed. These were usually semi-sunken to afford protection against minor blast damage and increase the fallout protection factor. The picture shows the York Group HQ, now a museum operated by English Heritage. The HQ originally stood in the grounds of a Government building the external fence around the museum was added when that property was sold off for housing development.

This photograph is typical of the exterior view of a ROC observer post. A 20 ft vertical ladder leads to an underground chamber only 7ft x 16ft x 7ft high. This houses the observers and their instruments and welfare facilities. Conditions were very primitive, as there was no running water, gas or mains electric.

 

Communications

The ROC had an extensive communications network of its own. Other topics on this web site explore the communication network in great detail but to summarise.

• The observer posts were linked to their Group HQ by landline with a master post also having a radio backup. Each post had a HANDEL receiver, a hand operated siren and pyrotechnic maroon, enabling it to act as a warning point for the local population.
• Group Headquarters were linked to its adjacent Headquarters by both landline and radio for speech and telegraph. Should a link fail or a message required to be passed to a Group that wasn't directly connected it would be relayed via another Group who had a direct connection.
• Each Group HQ had a landline and radio link to the Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ).
• A single sideband radio transceiver was provided for the Last Ditch Network (LDN) which could be used if all ground based communications (radio and line) were disrupted.
• The five Sector Headquarters were additionally connected by land lines directly to the other Sectors Headquarters. Sectors had a radio studio linked into the BBC transmitter network.

Stand Down

On the 10 July 1991, the current Home Secretary Mr Kenneth Baker announced to parliament that the services of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation were no longer required. Its field force, the Royal Observer Corps would be 'Stood-Down' on 30 September 1991.

Former members meet socially via the Royal Observer Corp Association, (ROCA). Many of the monitoring posts have been left derelict but a small number survive thanks to the dedication of a few individuals who have lovingly restored them. Many of the Group controls have found other uses and some have been demolished for housing. In Bedford, for example, Observer Close MK40 4EU is all that remains.