Short wave radio range

I know in films you see the underground tapping morse in France and them receiving it back in England, but was this possible, especially in 1939-1940?

I am looking to see if there was radio communication and what the range on the radios were early in the war?

Any help appreciated

 

Here's a couple of links to get you started-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Army_radio_sets
http://www.laud.no/ww2/

As you can probably work out, range depended on atmospherics, power, the efficiency of the antenna and location. A set in open country- especially at night- is going to be able to put a signal over a longer distance than an urban one.

 

Back in the day when AM radio was king it was occasionally possible to pull in signals from Japan in the Western US. HAM radio operators regularly connected with fellow HAMs in Europe, Asia, and South America from the US. In the contest to see how many different countries they could contace CW was the favored mode.