This book isn't a story it's an historical account of what life was like for the German POW's who spent time incarcerated in Camp 266 at Langdon Hills in Essex. The camp opened just before the end of the Second World War and saw the arrival of its first inhabitants in April 1945 before finally closing its doors in June 1948. The camp could hold up to 800 prisoners at a time and also had satellite camps at nearby places such as Tillingham and Purfleet. It includes accounts from some of the prisoners themselves, looking at what they did before the outbreak of the war. It then looks at how and...

Durham was, and still is, one of the country's oldest and best-loved cites. The very name was synonymous with dedication, dependability and determination.

Men from the city answered the call to arms with an eerie normality, no matter what their age or social class. Many had been miners before the war and had spent their working life down a pit, but just as many had been teachers. Others were students at the Durham School, one of the most prestigious in the land, going on to further greatness at Durham University. When the announcement of war was made, they all enlisted to do their...

Situated on the south coast of England, geographically and strategically, Dover more than played its part in the First World War. It was from its harbor that the many vessels of the Dover Patrol set about preventing German ships from using the English Channel. It was undoubtedly one of the most important Royal Naval units that Britain had during the First World War.

Because of its important defensive roll, Dover was identified as a legitimate and relevant target by the German authorities. As a result, German Zeppelin's and Gotha aircraft subjected Dover to 113 aerial attacks,...

Chatham played a very important part in the nation's Great War effort. It was one of the British Royal Navy's three 'Manning Ports', with more than a third of the town's ships manned by men allocated to the Chatham Division. The war was only 6 weeks old when Chatham felt the affects of war for the first time. On 22 September 1914, three Royal Naval vessels from the Chatham Division, HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, were sunk in quick succession by a German submarine, U-9. A total of 1,459 men lost their lives that day, 1,260 of whom were from the Chatham Division. Two months later, on 26...

Folkestone became one of the most important British towns during the First World War. Through its harbor, an estimated 10 million troops and nurses either departed from or arrived back in England between 1914 and 1919. For those leaving it was, for the most part, to fight on the battlefields of the Western Front. For those returning, it was either because they had been wounded or that they were coming home for some well-earned leave.

Because of its geographical location along the south coast, the town was always going to be heavily involved in the course of the war. Shorncliffe camp...

Maidstone in the Great War tells the remarkable story of this Kent county town's immense contribution to the Great War effort from the outbreak of war in 1914, to the long-awaited Allied victory in 1918. Maidstone has a long and illustrious military history a " it even had its own Civil War battle, dating back to 1648 a " and with the onset of the First World War, its civilians, like thousands of communities up and down the country, sent their men off to fight for their king and country. The town paid a hefty price as it lost nearly 900 of its young men. The harbinger of death catered for all...

The Isle of Sheppey, although not a heavily populated area, played an extremely important part in Great Britain's war effort on the home front throughout the four and a half years of the First World War. In doing so, Sheppey provided protection for the Thames Estuary, the River Medway and the naval shipyards at both Sheerness and Chatham. Its defensive emplacements largely responsible for acquiring the nickname locally of the 'Barbed Wire Island.' One of its main claims to fame in relation to the years of the First World War would have undoubtedly been in relation to aviation. The island had...

The First World War was fought on two fronts. In a military sense it was fought on the battlefields throughout Europe, the Gallipoli peninsular and other such theaters of war, but on the Home Front it was the arduous efforts of women that kept the country running. Before the war women in the workplace were employed in such jobs as domestic service, clerical work, shop assistants, teachers or as barmaids. These jobs were nearly all undertaken by single women, as once they were married their job swiftly became that a of a wife, mother and home maker. The outbreak of the war changed all of that....

Explores the effects of war on the Isle of Thanet

Using newspaper articles, photographs and his British Army Service Record, Stephen Wynn has formed a clear picture of Walter Tull and his achievements.