PART of the defence of Britain during the Second World War was unveiled for just one week in a wood close to Bromyard.

Archaeologists working at the Bromyard Downs as part of a three-year lottery funded project discovered the two secret war bunkers in Warren Woods, which is National Trust land.

One was excavated to ground level and pupils from Brockhampton Primary School got the chance to see it last Friday, before it was covered up again.

The resistance bunkers have an amazing history, which was explained to the children by Tim Hoverd from Herefordshire Archaeology.

He said they were planned to be used by resistance groups, known as Churchill's Secret Army, in the event of a Nazi invasion and there were further bunkers in the county, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and into Wales.

He said: "If Hitler invaded Britain these people would try and stop him or try and slow the Germans down.

"They would have to make sure important information didn't fall into enemy hands."

It was thought the Germans would invade from Ireland, into Wales and into the Midlands.

There were two bunkers in Warren Wood which were 60 yards apart.

The first one was too small so another was made.

For the second, they excavated through the bedrock and put in a concrete floor and brick walls.

The six men assigned to the bunker would make their home underground for four to six days at a time.

Mr Hoverd said: "This group of six people would regularly patrol the area. All would be on stand-by 24 hours a day, 365 days a years.

"If the Germans came over to Britain they had one job- to get up here, get explosives, ammunition and weapons and put explosives at key points in Bromyard.

"They would then find people who shouldn't fall into Germany's hands and they would then kill them. Luckily they never had to."

They would have had to have killed people who had access to important information and they also had a list of German sympathisers.

He added: "They were wanting to serve their country in such a way they were willing to take on that responsibility. They would have known these people and they would have had to kill them."

The bunkers were in use between 1940 and 1945 but were covered over by the army during the early 1970s over concerns for safety when children played in them.

The Bromyard Downs Common Association and the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust won £165,550 of lottery grant money for the project at The Bromyard Downs.

The project aims to monitor the condition of habitats and the wildlife and train volunteers to preserve the 114-hectare site.