Postal Engineers in the theatres of war
During World War One, the GPO (General Post Office) had to turn its attention towards setting up and maintaining telecommunications on the front, allowing the generals at headquarters to keep up to speed with the changing situation on the front line. In all, some 13,000 GPO engineers were engaged in the constant work to maintain and keep open these vital lines of communication, on which many thousands of lives might depend. The engineers’ responsibilities did not end with telecommunication across the land. Mile upon mile of underwater cabling linking the world was maintained by the GPO to combat sabotage by German submarines.
