Can someone please clear up the confusion I have regarding this episode? Who put the 'From Adolf with Love' note in the fuse? Was it Ivor and the rest of the team in general, testing whether Ash still had his nerve, or was it as this quote from Wikipedia states that it was "someone at the bomb plant in Germany giving an unnamed enemy sapper a break". I always believed it to be a defused bomb and just a test, this sheds a different light on it??
I was a bit bewildered at the final moments too, until I remembered that throughout the series Hitler isn't mentioned by the name they would use in Germany ("Hitler") but instead referred to by the bomb squad as "Adolf" and "Uncle Adolf", which then all makes sense: they wanted to see if he still had the mettle to defuse a bomb but didn't want to risk his life on a live one.
shareWell, I must say I was relieved at the ending. We all thought it was going to explode. What a great series.
shareHey folks,
Yes, Ash was angry when he came out of the pit, and he shouted at the Sergeant and the Major, and that certainly could lead one to think they played a trick on him as noted by Badge's comment, "they wanted to see if he still had the mettle to defuse a bomb but didn't want to risk his life on a live one."
However, there were a number of other interactions between the characters which suggest to me that Ash was actually defusing a live bomb.
Susie was on the scene pacing back and forth around her car, and she certainly did look like she was seriously concerned for Ash's safety. When the Major fist arrives on the scene and he starts toward Ash, Sgt. James clearly states that Ash is on edge and seems to persuade the Major to let Ash alone to do his job. When the rope and pulley device jams, the Sergeant and the Major want to go to the pit, but Ash stops them by telling them it is "his bomb." After some time in the pit the second time, the Sergeant starts toward the pit to assist Ash, but this time the Major stops the Sergeant with a shake of the head, reminding him that Ash has to do it on his own.
All of those scenes lead me to believe the bomb was the real deal and not "fixed" by Ash's friends. As to the note inside the fuse that said, "From Adolf with love," I think it was just that, a note from the person who assembled the fuse in Germany - much as many of the bombs we dropped on Germany were signed and had notes written on them by the ordnance folks who loaded them in the bomber aircraft. If the bomb exploded, no one ever saw the comments; if the bomb did not explode, the comments would be there for all to see.
In the case of the "From Adolf with love" note, I suspect the German factory worker who assembled the fuse put the note inside with the intention that it would be read if the bomb did not explode and was eventually defused successfully.
I think Ash's initial rebuke to the Sergeant and the Major upon coming out of the pit was simply his first reaction, and then he very quickly realized he did successfully defuse the bomb and was on his road back from his fears and depression.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
You read way to much into it. Ivor did it!
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