With the outbreak of the Second World War, Shropshire authorities
immediately implemented pre-arranged plans to cope with the approaching
conflict on the Home Front, including the building of air raid shelters
and pillboxes and the renovation of redundant camps and disused
airfields.
Men not eligible for the services volunteered for the LDV (later the
Home Guard), the AFS and the ARP. Women were recruited for a variety of
other posts, with members of the WVS dealing with a massive influx of
evacuees from Merseyside and Smethwick right from the start.
Shropshire's factories turned to armament production, coal mines
increased their output and farmers cultivated more acreage (an extra
47,000 acres ploughed for food production in the first year of the war).
PoW Camps sprang up, with prisoners frequently seen being transported to
work on local farms, while uniformed servicemen and women from Britain,
the Commonwealth and America became familiar sights on the streets.
Using a variety of sources, including newspapers and verbal testimonies,
the author paints a picture of the effect that six years of war had on
those Salopians who, when others marched away, remained on the Home
Front. Their struggles, acceptance of shortages, hardships and
determination not to give in are reflected throughout this book.