A tribute to the WWII contributions made by this northeastern English town from the historian and author of RAF Bomber Command at War 1939-1945. South Shields and its near neighbors such as Jarrow were key communities in the national war effort, despite their relatively small size. Located on the East Coast, South Shields was situated at the key entry to the strategically important River Tyne and was well defended against enemy attack. Huge numbers of South Shields men and women volunteered for wartime service, while many others worked in vital wartime industries. The town had a particularly high number of men serving in the Merchant Navy and the South Shields mariners suffered very heavy casualties. South Shields also had a multi-cultural population with a large number of foreign (or aliens as they were referred to) seamen and an especially large and active Yemeni community. Indeed, South Shields was to become the first town in Britain to have a purpose-built mosque. Although there were tensions amongst the population due to cultural and racial differences, the Yemeni community played a considerable and loyal role in the war effort. The book also looks at the considerable contribution made by the men and women who volunteered for the ARP and Civil Defence Services. The towns of Tyneside, including South Shields, were heavily attacked by the Luftwaffe and the blitzes of 1941 hit the town particularly hard. No member of the community was left untouched by the war, whether they were evacuees, workers, servicemen or just civilians struggling to maintain a home in wartime Britain.

This local history explores the wartime contributions and sacrifices of a strategically significant English port town during WWII. Located on the River Wear, Sunderland was a vital hub for shipbuilding and coal exportation. During the Second World War, these important attributes marked it as a prime target for the Luftwaffe. The town experienced numerous air raids, including one which caused devastating casualties and structural damage. The authorities struggled to provide adequate shelters and Air Raid Precautions services. Sunderland also had a proud tradition of military service. Many joined the local Army regiment, the famed Durham Light Infantry, which saw action in almost every theater of the war. Other brave Wearsiders joined the Merchant Navy, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force. Some served in Bomber Command, seeking vengeance for the brutal bombing of their home town.

“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

Spanning 150 years of South Shields' changing fortunes, A Tyneside Heritage is a pioneering work of interwoven local and family history. After the nineteenth-century boom years of coal exporting and shipbuilding for global markets came the First World War, then the mass unemployment and political turbulence of the 1930s. Luftwaffe bombing in the Second World War was followed by the peacetime challenge of attracting new industrial development. Against this background, four generations of the Chapman family played a leading role in the town and in County Durham as businessmen, soldiers, borough councillors, sportsmen, philanthropists and representatives of royalty.

Tynemouth and Wallsend were key communities in the national war effort despite their relatively small size. Located on the key East Coast they played a significant military and civil role in the war. Tynemouth was situated at the key entry to the strategically important River Tyne and was well defended against enemy attack with several forts and other measures in place. The scenic seaside town saw a large military buildup with several different army and naval units rotating through the area to man defenses and to train whilst the local Home Guard unit was voted one of the best in the country and was asked to give a radio broadcast on its methods (despite some comic accidents along the way).Wallsend, a largely urban industrial community, was home to key wartime industries with its shipbuilding yards (including Swan Hunters) building and repairing huge numbers of vessels, both naval and merchant, throughout the war. This made the town a significant target for the Luftwaffe and several determined raids were made which inflicted heavy casualties, especially during 1941.The area also hosted a large number of heavy and light industrial works which made significant contributions to the war effort. The fishermen of the North Shields fishing fleet also played a dangerous role during the war (many, including one of the authors grandfathers served in the Royal Naval Reserve) when supplying fresh fish, already a dangerous task, to a near-starving wartime population was made more dangerous through enemy action.The book also looks at the considerable contribution made by the men and women who volunteered for the ARP and Civil Defence Services. The heavy raids resulted in great loss of life, including the most deadly single attack outside of London when over 100 people were killed when a North Shields shelter took a direct hit in 1941, and the men and women of the emergency services were faced with horrifying scenes (the authors other grandfather was a regular fireman and ambulanceman who had a particularly lucky escape when his fire engine was blown into a shell crater during a raid) which they had to overcome and work through.No member of the community was left untouched by the war whether they were evacuees (the authors father was one of them), workers, servicemen or just civilians struggling to maintain a home in wartime Britain.

The Royal Air Force had placed a great deal of faith in its force of bombers, Bomber Command, in the event of a future war. The belief in the ability of formations of bombers flying in daylight and unescorted, protecting themselves from enemy fighter attack, informed early tactics but led to bloody losses. Hampered by government restrictions on targets, by late 1941 Bomber Command was in crisis. As a result, and coupled the growing dire war situation, a new and forceful commander, Sir Arthur Harris, was appointed and new strategies allowed Bomber Command to broaden its attacks despite some opposition. The result was the area bombing strategy which focussed attacks upon enemy held towns and cities. This Main Offensive period lasted throughout 1943-1944 and saw both victories and defeats. It was also the period that saw a limited number of precision attacks; on Augsburg, Peenemunde and, most famously, the Ruhr dams. Bomber Command also aided in tactical and strategic support for the invasion of Europe and the subsequent fight to push inland. New technological developments allowed Bomber Command to hit V-Weapons sites and to focus more on precision bombing, but Harris remained determined to hit German towns and cities whenever possible, while the Command's growing power allowed it to rain devastation upon its targets, culminating at Dresden. Much has been written about Bomber Command, but this book focusses largely on those who took part in the raids and on public attitudes towards the campaign in Britain. Using accounts from national and local archives, newspapers and existing historiography, the book seeks to shed light on untold stories from Bomber Command’s war.