HAMPSHIRE AT WAR: An Oral History 1939-1945 by Patricia Ross

ISBN 978 1 872438 28 3  234 x 153mm  Forthcoming pbk., abt £17.95

Incredibly, the War against Hitler began almost 70 years ago. To a modern generation watching grainy newsreels of the Blitz, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain or D Day, these events are as strange and remote as Agincourt. Yet there are people alive today who remember the heroism and sacrifices of those terrible days, both as serving members of His Majesty's Forces and as brave individuals facing privation and fear on the home front. For some, the war years coincided with their childhood, leaving indelible memories of bomb sites littered with shrapnel and the sky a theatre of war as the RAF and the Luftwaffe fought for supremacy over the green fields of England.

Hampshire is a county with more reason than most to remember those six years crowded with incident. It was from the South Coast that some of the flotilla of small boats ventured forth to conjure up the miracle of the Dunkirk evacuation. Hampshire was in the front line during the Battle of Britain as Hitler's Stukas tried in vain to knock out Ventnor's radar. Portsmouth, home of the Royal Navy, withstood the punishments of the Blitz. Southampton was forced to endure the Blitz for its crucial part in lend-lease and the Battle of the Atlantic. And finally, with the coming of the Americans, the entire county became a vast armed camp as the Allies prepared for D Day - the springboard to victory.

Author Pat Ross, celebrated for her studies of Hampshire folklore and local history, has woven together a fascinating tapestry of recollection from those who saw it all happen with their own eyes. Hampshire At War records these memories in the witnesses' own words, and is illustrated with contemporary pictures, some of which have never before been published. As a testimony to the grit and courage of Hampshire people, and as a memorial to those who did not survive to tell their own stories, this book will become a classic of its genre.

The genesis of the book was an oral history of Hayling Island's experience of Hitler's War. Surprised by the number and quality of the stories gleaned, the author has resolved to widen her research and the completed book will encompass the whole county - plus contributions from beyond its borders.

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