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 author's 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 author's 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 author's father was one of them), workers, servicemen
or just civilians struggling to maintain a home in wartime Britain.
