The outbreak of the Second World War had an enormous effect on the
railway system in Britain. Keeping the trains running through times
of conflict was not such a distant memory for the railway companies
and their workers but in this second major war of the twentieth
century, the task was to prove a very different one. The railway
system no longer consisted of the hundreds of companies of the
past, but the 'Big Four' still needed to learn how to work together
and forget their differences for the war effort. The logistics of
the mass evacuation of children, and transporting thousands of
troops during the evacuation of Dunkirk and the preparations for
D-Day, for instance, were unprecedented. At the same time, they had
to cope with the new and constant threat of aerial bombing that
military advances brought to the Second World War. The railway
system, and the men and women who ran it, effectively served as
another branch of the military during the conflict. At the end of
the war, Winston Churchill likened London to a large animal,
declaring that what kept the animal alive was its transport system.
The metaphor could have been applied to the whole of Britain, and
its most vital transport system was the railway. This book is a
fascinating account of the important role that the railways played
in the defence of the country as well as in their support of the
Allied forces in theatres of war around the world. It brings to
light the often forgotten stories of the brave and hard-working men
and women who went to work on the railways and put their lives on
the line.
General
Imprint: |
Pen & Sword Transport
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
November 2020 |
Authors: |
Michael Foley
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
256 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-5267-7228-2 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-5267-7228-0 |
Barcode: |
9781526772282 |
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