Tower of London at the Tower was German spy Josef Jakobs who was shot on 15 August 1941. The executions for espionage during the wars took place in a prefabricated miniature rifle range which stood in the outer ward and was demolished in 1969. The Second World War also saw the last use of the Tower as a fortification. In the event of a German invasion, the Tower, together with the Royal Mint and nearby warehouses, was to have formed one of three "keeps" or complexes of defended buildings which formed the last-ditch defences of the capital. The Tower of London has become
To the Last Man (Torchwood) Raynor was also inspired by the issue of World War I soldiers who were executed for cowardice when they were suffering from shellshock. One of the episode's working titles was "Soldier's Heart", an American Civil War term for shellshock. The final title recalls an infamous order from Field Marshal Douglas Haig on 11 April 1918, in response to the German Spring Offensive, which included the phrase: "Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement". This policy led shell-shocked soldiers, like the fictional Tommy, to be sent back to war after a very short recuperation