The Wirral Peninsula in north-west England experienced the tragedies and
hardships of war at first hand during the two world wars. Many residents
lost their lives in the conflicts both in active combat throughout the
world and as a result of the Wirral being a target in itself,
particularly around the docks and Birkenhead and Wallasey in the Second
World War. Both wars had a devastating effect on local communities
through the loss of life, the destruction of familiar places through
intensive aerial bombing that in large areas destroyed or damaged
virtually all of the buildings, the evacuation of children and the
hardships experienced at home. Many served on ships keeping the vital
routes from the docks open, the anti-aircraft batteries defending the
docks in the Mersey, or on the RAF airfields on the Wirral. In this
book, historian and author Mike Royden has captured the tribulations of
the times, telling the stories of many local men, women and children
during these trying periods. Wirral at War pays tribute to the people of
this region who served, died and lived through the two world wars, and
how they managed to endure in the face of the horrors of conflict.
