Major Project - Pre Production - The Story Behind the Story

The Second World War aka World War Two in Europe began on 3rd September 1939, when Neville Chamberlain the Prime Minister of Britain declared war on Germany. This declaration of war came as a result of Germany’s unprovoked attack on Poland. When Hitler refused to abort his invasion Britain and France went to war against Germany. The war quickly escalated into a global war that lasted from this date in 1939 to 1945. Over the duration of the war there were an estimated 383,800 military deaths of British servicemen alone. When the War ended in the summer of 1945 there was an estimated 50 million people who had lost their lives. It was a period in history that brought more destruction, death and all round disaster than it is possible to imagine.

The vast scale of what the Second World War became means that a large number of Britain’s living population today has a connection to someone that fought in the war. The man and story that was the inspiration for ‘Love in War’ is Arthur Tuff the Great, Great Uncle of Daniel Baugh the Producer/ Director of the short film. Arthur was a serving member of the RAF based in Africa during WWII.

During the devastation of the Second World War it became typical for service men to regularly write back to a wife, girlfriend or simply a lady friend left at home waiting for the ‘big brave boys’ to come back from the war. In Arthur’s case this woman was named Lena who lived in Australia. As Arthur didn’t have any children of his own and now four generations down the family tree and the relationship between Arthur and Lena is shrouded in mystery and rumour including suspicion of war time espionage. It is unknown how the pair met and to a fairly large degree how their relationship developed from one of friendship, to a married couple and unfortunately resulting quickly as a divorced couple. However the

source that holds the most detail and information about the couple and what ultimately was the inspiration for the idea of the film is a mass of letters sent from Lena to Arthur during the war.

Saved for over 50 years by Arthur these letters create a picture of love and genuine care from Lena for Arthur. Among the letters there is even a letter in which Lena replies to Arthur’s proposal of marriage. The couple were indeed married unfortunately from other paperwork contained within the collection is a letter that Arthur sent to The Staff Superintendent which tells the story of the quick failure of their marriage:
‘I was married in June 1945 whilst I was still in the Royal Air Force, but my wife left me in the August of that year, three months after we were married, I was still in the Forces...’
This divorce came while Arthur was still a serving member of the military with the reason unknown by living relatives. With Arthur passing away in the 1990s and no knowledge of Lena outside of what is contained within the letters the true story is likely to be lost forever. However from the disappointing reality that this story will never be known the fictional story of Love Always has been developed. The love letters left behind, painting a picture of hope, love and excitement of the prospects of the future create the foundation for this intimate film of two people in love, trapped within the unforgiving nature of war.