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South-East Northumberland at War 1939-45

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher: Your Towns & Cities in World W

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781473867468

In 1939, South-East Northumberland shared a proud tradition of military service with its wider region and this was reflected in the huge numbers of men and women from the area who came forward for service in the military or in roles such as the Home Guard, ARP services or nursing. This part of Northumberland was a key recruitment center for the local county regiment, the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, with men from the area being heavily involved in the fighting during the blitzkrieg of France and the Low Countries, the miracle of Dunkirk, as well as many more battles. Yet, to the dismay of many, an entire territorial battalion was taken prisoner at Singapore. The district was also vital as both an industrial and farming center with a nationally significant mining industry, light and heavy industry and shipbuilding nestling alongside large tracts of farming land. The area's coastline was a key battleground throughout the war with the Nazis making determined attacks on the vital shipping lanes which ran up the coast from London to Scotland. The port town of Blyth thus played a substantial role in maintaining the supply lines of the British Isles and was also home to a large submarine base and training center. Many communities in the area welcomed evacuees from urban Tyneside whilst others were themselves evacuated. Others saw the business opportunities created by the war and this book highlights this and also includes accounts of the struggle that many families faced in coping with rising wartime prices, longer working hours and endless worry. Despite the hardships the people of South-East Northumberland faced, morale was maintained and the community continued to provide incredible charitable support right up until the end of the war in addition to their normal efforts.Others, unfortunately, saw the war as a chance to improve their financial prospects and the book also uncovers several scandals and subsequent trials which showed a sometimes darker side to the home front. South-East Northumberland at War 1939-1945 poignantly commemorates the efforts and achievements of Northumberland's southeastern communities: farmers, fighters, families divided, all surviving astounding challenges.

North Northumberland at War, 1939–45

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2017-05-31

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1473867444

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In 1939, North Northumberland shared a proud tradition of military service with its wider region and this was reflected in the huge numbers of men and women from the area who came forward for service in the military or in roles such as the Home Guard, ARP services or nursing.This part of Northumberland was a key recruitment centre for the local county regiment, the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, with men from the area being heavily involved in the fighting during the blitzkrieg of France and the Low Countries, the miracle of Dunkirk, as well as many more battles. Yet, to the dismay of many, an entire territorial battalion was taken prisoner at Singapore.This district was also vital as a training area, with the wide and relatively uncluttered skies being widely used for the training of aircrew, one airfield played a key role in the build up to D-Day.In addition to combat and training, this area was also rich with fertile land and so played a crucial role in the war effort as it supplied food to its own communities and wider Britain.Many communities in the area welcomed evacuees from urban Tyneside whilst also welcoming servicemen (especially from the RAF) into their homes. Others saw the business opportunities and this book includes accounts of the struggle that many families faced in coping with rising wartime prices, longer working hours and endless worry.Despite the hardships the people of North Northumberland undertook, they all bundled together, and continued to provide incredible charitable support right up until the end of the war in addition to their normal efforts.They managed to maintain their morale throughout the majority of the war despite rationing, blackout and wartime restrictions.North Northumberland at War 1939-1945 poignantly commemorates the efforts and achievements of Northumberlands northern communities: farmers, fighters, families divided, all surviving astounding feats.

South Shields at War 1939–45

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2020-10-28

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 147389123X

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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.

Middlesbrough at War 1939–45

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2022-05-05

Total Pages: 147

ISBN-13: 1526704781

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Middlesbrough was of vital importance to Britain’s war effort. The town, and its surrounding area, contained a number of vital industries including shipbuilding, chemicals, iron, steel and other metals, and engineering, as well as a joinery firm that played a leading role in the wartime aviation industry. The ICI plant at nearby Billingham also played a leading role in the creation of petrochemicals and explosives. As with many communities, the start of the war saw Middlesbrough faced with hastily having to bring its Air Raid Precautions and civil defense services up to full strength. With its strategic importance it was believed that Middlesbrough would be an obvious target for the Luftwaffe. As a result, schoolchildren and other vulnerable people were evacuated from the town at the very start of the war in a scheme that did not prove entirely successful. Middlesbrough became the first built-up urban area in mainland Britain to be bombed. In the event, Middlesbrough was raided periodically throughout the war with the worst coming on the night of 25/26 July 1942, when waves of Luftwaffe bombers dropped almost 30 tons of bombs on the town. The raid killed sixteen people and caused very extensive property damage. Meanwhile, just days later, bombs fell on the town’s railway station as a train was waiting at the platform there. The pictures of the resulting damage were wired around the world.

NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND AT WAR 1939 - 1945

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781473867437

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Tynemouth and Wallsend at War, 1939–45

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2017-11-30

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1473867568

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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.

RAF Bomber Command at War, 1939–1945

Author: Craig Armstrong

Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation

Published: 2021-04-28

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1526700530

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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.

War Diaries 1939 1945

Author: Alan Brooke Alanbrooke (Viscount)

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2003-06

Total Pages: 830

ISBN-13: 9780520239029

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The first complete and unexpurgated publication of the diaries of Lord Alanbrooke, who during World War II was Chief of the Imperial General Staff of the British Empire and Churchill's most prominent advisor -- and rival.

VCs of the North

Author: Alan Whitworth

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2015-10-30

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1473848237

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Today the Victoria Cross remains the supreme British award for bravery. It takes precedence over all other awards and decorations. During its 160-year history, since the first medals were given for gallantry during the Crimean War in the 1850s, 1,357 of these medals have been won, and almost fifty of them have gone to the soldiers of Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland . Alan Whitworth, in this carefully researched and revealing account, describes in graphic detail the exploits and the lives of this elite band of heroes. Within this group of Northern VC recipients are a number of outstanding names, including Richard Annand who gained the first VC of the Second World War and Roland Bradford who was one of only four sets of brothers to have secured the VC. He also had the distinction of becoming the youngest general in the British army. But among the roll of the brave whose gallantry and self-sacrifice are celebrated in these pages the reader will find the names and extraordinary deeds of many other men who were either born or bred or lived and died in the North. They will also find the story of the youngest Victoria Cross recipient who won his award aged just nineteen.The stories of these ordinary individuals who have 'performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country' will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in military history in general and in the long military tradition of the North of England.

The Battle Honours of the Second World War 1939-1945 and Korea 1950-1953

Author: Compiled from official records

Publisher: Andrews UK Limited

Published: 2012-03-29

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1781513791

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In February 1925 the War Office published an Army Order listing the battle honours awarded for the Great War, and although this was announced as the final list there were subsequent revisions and minor amendments. No such list was published after WWII but an (unofficial?) Record was published in 1958 by the War Office, with a limited distribution, which included the Korean War battle honours, and this is that list with 651 actions. This Record covers only British, including British Gurkha, Regiments and Colonial Regiments. In most cases there is a brief summary of the operations with an indication of the troops involved and these include Commonwealth troops though the question of their Battle Honours is one for the Commonwealth Government concerned and the Sovereign. There were a good many errors in the list, typographical, grammatical, misspelling of place names, dates and order of battle. In some cases there was confusion between those battle honours which were selected to be carried on the Colours and those which were simply awarded. Strange new regiments appeared:- Highlanders Light Infantry (a persistent favourite), King's Own Yeomanry Light Infantry, the K.A.R.R.R.C, London Irish Fusiliers, London Irish Buffs, Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment (an unauthorised ‘Queen’s Own’), and the Royal West King Regiment, to name some of them. Place names also caused some trouble and in some of the brief descriptions of the engagements or actions there were order of battle mistakes such as the confusion between the 12th Frontier Force Regiment and 13th Frontier Force Rifles, two different regiments of the old Indian Army. The index contained scores of place names that had nothing to do with anything, this has been pruned drastically so that it contains only those places for which a battle honour was awarded. Every effort has been made to eliminate errors and present a corrected version and a number of sources was used the most important of which was H.C.B.Cook’s The Battle Honours of the British and Indian Armies 1662-1982, a magnificent piece of work. Other valuable works included: Orders of BattleSecond World War 1939-1945 H.F.Joslen; Commonwealth Divisions 1939-1945 Malcolm A.Bellis; A Register of the Regiments and Corps of the British Army Arthur Swinson; Regiments and Corps of the British Army Ian S.Hallows and Handbook of British Regiments Christopher Chant.