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, despite heavy bombing, the people of
Sheffield refused to be intimidated.
It looks at the events that were happening in the city during the
countdown to the war, such as the evacuation of the children not only to
other safer districts, but to the Dominions, and the development of the
Sheffield Home Guard, who started out as 'Dads Army' but were sent to
London to relieve its Home Guard when the capital was under heavy fire
from German rockets. Also included is a description of the protection of
the dams above Sheffield and how the Ladybower reservoir was used as a
training ground for the 'Dambusters'. Finally, there are accounts not
only of Sheffield men who were taken as prisoners of war, but how the
police dealt with the German and Italian prisoners at Lodge Moor Camp.
