This is a unique account of the impact that the Second World War had on the city of Sheffield. Soon after the declaration of war, the government and the people of Sheffield realized that the Germans would make the city one of their prime targets, due to the importance of the steel industry. Also, for the first eighteen months of the war Sheffield had the only drop hammer in the country, which was capable of producing Rolls Royce crankshafts for Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft.

Using contemporary diaries, letters, police accounts and other archive material, this book reveals how,...