North Northumberland At War 1939 45

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sunderland was a key shipbuilding and repair facility with a long history of providing vessels for the British Merchant Navy. As well as its shipbuilding industry, the town also possessed other important industries such as paint manufacturing and extensive industries connected with shipbuilding and coal mining. The port town, on the banks of the strategically important River Wear, was also a main hub, along with its northerly neighbor the River Tyne, for coal exports, with much of the coal produced in the huge Durham coalfield being dispatched south via the Wear. All of this meant that the town found itself on the front lines of the war effort and marked it as a prime target for the Luftwaffe. The town experienced several heavy air raids, including one which caused a great deal of damage to both housing and key industries, as well as resulting in serious casualties to the civilian population. The considerable disruption and dislocation caused meant that the authorities struggled to provide adequate shelters and to fill the gaps within what were to become vital Air Raid Precautions services. When the bombing came, these volunteers were to make a vital contribution. Sunderland also had a proud tradition of military service and many of her men and women volunteered for service in the armed forces, with many paying the ultimate price in defense of freedom. A large number of Sunderland men served in the Merchant Navy, while the Royal Navy also boasted many Wearsiders. The local Army regiment, the famed Durham Light Infantry, also boasted many Wearsiders and the regiment saw action in almost every theater of the war. For other Wearsiders, the attraction of flight drew them to service in the ranks of the RAF, for some, service in Bomber Command was motivated by a thirst for vengeance after witnessing the bombing of their home town.

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.