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BNPS.co.uk (01202) 558833.<br />
Pic: HenryAldridge&Son/BNPS<br />
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A telegram instructing Royal Navy ships to 'commence hostilities' against Germany just two minutes after the Second World War had been declared has been unearthed.<br />
<br />
The coded missive was issued by the Admiralty in London to the Commander in Chief of the navy's home fleet at 11.17am on September 3, 1939. <br />
<br />
An original copy of the order has emerged from the family of the wireless operator who took it down and dispatched it.

BNPS.co.uk (01202) 558833.
Pic: HenryAldridge&Son/BNPS

A telegram instructing Royal Navy ships to 'commence hostilities' against Germany just two minutes after the Second World War had been declared has been unearthed.

The coded missive was issued by the Admiralty in London to the Commander in Chief of the navy's home fleet at 11.17am on September 3, 1939.

An original copy of the order has emerged from the family of the wireless operator who took it down and dispatched it.