Wirral at War is a tribute to the wartime record of the people of the Wirral in the two World Wars.

Frome at War 1939-1945 is a comprehensive account of this Somerset market town’s experience of the conflict, covering in detail life on the Home Front set against the background of the wider theatres of war. The narrative of that global struggle is given with a focus on the ordeals endured by the people of Frome, as they cheered their men and women fighters off to war, welcomed hundreds of evacuated men, women and children to the town, and contributed their part to the fight against Hitler and the Nazi threat. Rare insights into the life of the town are included, along with seldom told stories from the footnotes of history; from Frome’s part within the secret underground resistance movement and the national fight for women’s equality, to the gradual influx of American GIs and Field-Marshall Montgomery's stay in the aftermath of Dunkirk. The book incorporates memoirs and memories, along with in depth research from official records and newspaper accounts, which allow the reader to see the war not only from ordinary people’s perceptive, but the military experiences of Frome’s heroic men and women - and in many cases their tragic sacrifices – as well. More controversial aspects are also touched on, including injustice, espionage, racism and politics, to give a full and fascinating picture of a town facing profound trials of endurance and courage, but at the same time revealing the characteristics that have sustained Frome throughout its illustrious and turbulent history.

Stafford at War is a vivid many-sided portrait of a county town during one of the extraordinary periods in English history. In his wide-ranging narrative Nick Thomas looks at the impact of the Second World War on the townspeople - how it affected their daily lives, their work, their families. And he recalls the contribution Stafford made to the war effort at home and abroad. The story he tells gives a fascinating insight into wartime life and it is a moving record of the sacrifices made by local people. His detailed and fully illustrated account will be fascinating reading for everyone who knows Stafford and wants to find out about its history.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Shropshire authorities immediately implemented pre-arranged plans to cope with the approaching conflict on the Home Front, including the building of air raid shelters and pillboxes and the renovation of redundant camps and disused airfields.Men not eligible for the services volunteered for the LDV (later the Home Guard), the AFS and the ARP. Women were recruited for a variety of other posts, with members of the WVS dealing with a massive influx of evacuees from Merseyside and Smethwick right from the start.Shropshires factories turned to armament production, coal mines increased their output and farmers cultivated more acreage (an extra 47,000 acres ploughed for food production in the first year of the war).PoW Camps sprang up, with prisoners frequently seen being transported to work on local farms, while uniformed servicemen and women from Britain, the Commonwealth and America became familiar sights on the streets.Using a variety of sources, including newspapers and verbal testimonies, the author paints a picture of the effect that six years of war had on those Salopians who, when others marched away, remained on the Home Front. Their struggles, acceptance of shortages, hardships and determination not to give in are reflected throughout this book.

“A comprehensive view of the important part Cumbria played in WWII, including a detailed look at the warships built in the Barrow Yard.” —Firetrench The outbreak of war marked a new era for the people of Cumbria. Many young men and women enlisted in the Forces, while older people joined the Home Guard or became Air Raid Precaution Wardens. Children from cities were sent to Kendal to escape the threat of bombing raids, members of the Women’s Land Army began to arrive on at the local farms, and Silloth airfield near Carlisle trained thousands of pilots from allied countries. The first sign of German interest in the important shipbuilding town of Barrow-in-Furness was in May 1936, when a rigid airship and passenger aircraft flew very low and slowly over the Furness rooftops. Vickers shipyard became a target for enemy bombing and eventually more than 10,000 houses were damaged or destroyed by the Luftwaffe during the Barrow Blitz that took place during April and May 1941. Extensively researched, the book takes a detailed look at the ships built in Barrow, memorials in the city of Carlisle and towns and villages across Cumbria, and remembers the brave dead of Second World War. Overall, this is a poignant testimony to the momentous efforts, bravery, self-sacrifice and determination of the people of Cumbria during the Second World War, who sought to find normality in a reality so far removed from anything they had ever known. “In this fascinatingly good read, Ruth has captured the spirit and uncertainty of all Cumbrians in those stressful years.” —Cumbria Family History Society

Barawling Australians, Polish pilots burning to avenge themselves on Germany for the invasion of their country, the German officer who drowned while trying to escape from a South Tyne PoW camp, and the pub landlady who watered down her gin in order, she claimed, to prevent naive Land Army girls getting drunk it was all part of life in Tynedale as the district went to war for the second time in twenty-five years.Although well away from the battlegrounds of Europe, Tynedale did not escape the ravages of the Second World War. The rolling moorlands of the heart of Northumberland are still pitted with dozens of craters, where both Allied and Axis aircraft crashed in flames, and there were tragedies on the Home Front too.At remote Coanwood, twenty-four men were left dead or seriously injured when a training exercise went badly wrong, and an exploding ammunition train at Hexham railway station left three men dead. Even before the conflict began, founder of the British Union of Fascists Sir Oswald Mosley and the hated Nazi propaganda broadcaster, William Joyce better known as Lord Haw Haw both came to the heart of Northumberland to preach the Fascist gospel in Hexham.This book deals with the everyday impact of six years of war on the district, from the arrival of gravely wounded soldiers from Dunkirk at Hexham Emergency Hospital, through to dealing with thousands of often louse-ridden evacuees from industrial Tyneside, the heroics of local servicemen and the antics of the Home Guard.