Gloucestershire's strategic location straddling the Severn is reinforced by Bristol's importance as a port. The Forest of Dean and the Cotswolds are densely populated by prehistoric hillforts and Gloucester, Cirencester and Winchcombe were important throughout the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The Normans built substantial castles at Bristol, Gloucester and Berkeley, scene of Edward II's murder, with many more of earth and timber. Many figured in the conflicts between rival factions culminating in the Battle of Tewkesbury. In the Civil War, Bristol underwent two sieges and Gloucester another and one of the last battles, at Stow, followed continuous skirmishing. The next centuries saw volunteer forces established, formalised by the State by the end of Victoria's reign, to counter threats external and internal. A nascent aircraft industry would develop into aircraft factories and airfields in the First World War with further development of training and aircraft storage facilities for the newly formed RAF during the inter-War period. Anti-invasion defences were constructed in the Second World War, but the primary effort was in logistics: bases for arriving US troops; RAF and USAAF training airfields and depots; and communications facilities. This last aspect, along with intelligence gathering, continued into the Cold War and beyond.

Over the centuries, proximity to major routes---the Great North Road, the Icknield Way, and Watling Street---has made Bedfordshire strategically important. Iron Age hillforts occupied significant locations, and castles consolidated Norman control after 1066. In later medieval times, two major events occurred: in 1224, the siege of Bedford Castle marked Henry III's attempt to reimpose royal authority after the chaos of John's reign; and the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461 was a major defeat for the Yorkists. During the wars of the twentieth century, the county's industrial base supported the armies fighting overseas. In the First World War, the county contributed significantly to the birth of the RAF as well as provided the base for the Home Defence armies. In the Second World War, its airfields despatched RAF and USAAF bombers over the continent, but the major activity was the secret war largely associated with the Bedford Triangle. After 1945, aeronautical research continued at RAF Thurleigh/Twinwood Farm and electronic intelligence-gathering was developed at Chicksands. 'Defending Bedfordshire' seeks to explain the significance of this dense concentration of military sites to be found in a relatively small county.

Leicestershire and Rutland, occupying the area between the Great North Road and Watling Street have seen the movement of armies from Roman times to the Civil War, with the decisive battles of Bosworth and Naseby fought within or close to their borders. The Victorian era saw the development of both the regular and volunteer forces that would later fight in two world wars, while the development of military flight in both defensive and offensive roles was a twentieth-century theme. Leicestershire and Rutland witnessed defence against the Zeppelins in the First World War; jet engines and US airborne forces in the Second World War; and elements of Britain's nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. The eavesdroppers of the 'Y' Service at Beaumanor Hall provided much of the raw material for Bletchley Park's code-breakers during the Second World War. Evidence of this military activity is visible in the landscape: castles of earthwork, stone or brick; barracks and volunteer drill halls; airfields, missile sites and munitions factories; pillboxes, observer corps posts and bunkers. This book places sites into their social, political, historical and military contexts, as well as figures such as William the Conqueror, Richard III, and Oliver Cromwell.

The Second World War was the cause of more civilian casualties, many of them young people, than of military. In Britain, young people were on the front line, facing the threat of enemy invasion and the fragmentation of daily life. Their education was disrupted as their schools were taken over by government, the military and ARP; as pupils were evacuated and staff conscripted; curriculum was diluted and part-time schooling instituted; and concerns over food and accommodation increased. Along with the physical dangers of bombing and the increased disease caused by deprivation and social dislocation, youngsters endured psychological and emotional pressure from anxieties over home and family. Young people worked in industry and agriculture; served in the Home Guard and ARP; carried out voluntary activities in health and welfare; and prepared for military service as cadets and in uniformed organisations. School buildings aided the war effort as military HQs, training centres, research centres for weapons development and, central to ARP, especially in the cities, were often at the forefront of the bombing. This book attempts an overview of the circumstances under which youngsters grew up between 1939 and 1945 on the Home Front, with particular emphasis on the 14-18 age group.

Settled by successive waves of incomers, Northamptonshire is a typical English shire county with prehistoric camps, Roman towns, Saxon burhs, castles and fortified houses, representing fortification over the centuries, a process punctuated by momentous events including the birth of Richard III and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, both at Fotheringhay Castle; King John's sieges at Northampton, Rockingham and Fotheringhay; the Battle of Northampton placing Edward IV on the throne; and the decisive defeat of Charles I at Naseby. The great ordnance depot at Weedon was (allegedly) chosen as a bolt-hole for George III in the place furthest from Napoleon's likely invasion. The Victorian period saw the army reorganized and the Volunteer Force develop. Both world wars mobilized the population and the county filled up with army camps, airfields and munitions plants. In the Cold War, nuclear missiles were pointed towards Russia. Many signs of all these events are still visible: Northampton's militia armoury in the guise of a mediaeval castle; the genuine castles of Barnwell and Rockingham: the launch-pads of Harrington's THOR missiles; the Ordnance Stores at Weedon Bec; and the banks and ditches of Hunsbury Camp or Little Houghton. This book illustrates and explains these sites.

On the night of 20 November 1914, everything pointed to the likelihood of invasion by a German army, whisked across the North Sea on a fleet of fast transports. The Royal Navy's Grand Fleet prepared to sail south from remote bases in Scotland; shallow-draught monitors were moored in the Wash; and 300,000 troops stood by to repel the enemy on the beaches. Fortunately, the night passed without incident. For thirty years prior to the First World War, writers, with a variety of motivations, had been forecasting such an invasion. Britain regarded the army as an imperial police force and, despite the experience gained in military exercises involving simulated invasions, the Royal Navy was still expected to fulfil its traditional role of intercepting and destroying enemy forces. However, as the technology of warfare developed, with the proliferation of ever more powerful warships, submarines, mines, and torpedoes, alongside the added promise of aerial assault, it became obvious that these long-established notions of the Navy's invincibility might no longer be realistic. The perceived threat of invasion, whether justified or not, persisted throughout the First World War, and this book describes the measures taken to protect Britain against enemy attack by land, sea, or air.

Nottinghamshire's position at the very heart of England has given it important strategic significance throughout two millennia, underlined by the number of roads, waterways, and later railways, criss-crossing the county. An endless succession of armies have used the Great North Road: the Romans, the Vikings, the Normans, the Lancastrians and the Jacobites. Strategic river crossings and road junctions have been guarded by Roman camps, Viking and Saxon burhs, medieval castles, Parliamentarian and Royalist forts, and the anti-invasion defences of the Second World War. The area has traditionally provided a rallying point for armies to be gathered, from Richard III's in 1485 to Kitchener's in 1914. Building on the experience of the great training camps of Clipstone and the Dukeries and the extensive munitions works of Chilwell and Nottingham, in the Second World War the county expanded such provision, becoming home to a concentration of flying training centres, key components of the army's and the RAF's logistical support networks and further munitions plants. Much of this military activity has left its mark on the landscape, some of it relatively untouched, and some adapted to meet the demands of change. Some monuments are of enormous national importance; Newark-on-Trent, as well as retaining its unspoilt medieval castle ruins, boasts the best single concentration of Civil War-period fortifications anywhere in Britain.

Throughout history, Cambridgeshire (including Huntingdon and Peterborough) has figured in many of the conflicts which have shaped our nation. Doomed Roman legionaries marched from Longthorpe to defeat by Boudicca's Iceni; Saxons and Danes fought over the edges of the Danelaw; the Normans came this way to crush Hereward's Fenland resistance; in the Civil War it provided the defended frontier between Parliamentarian and Royalist; in Napoleonic times French prisoners of war were incarcerated here; and in the twentieth century its flat expanses were home to numerous airfields and missile bases. This book describes the function and purpose of these defensive structures and reveals the evidence which many of these major events left on the ground: the earthworks of hill forts, medieval castles and moats; the masonry of later forts and strong-houses; drill halls and militia barracks; and the lines of anti-invasion defences from 1940.

For two thousand years London has been at the heart of Britain's development as a nation, providing a focus for its political life. The military element is now usually visible only through the pageantry which attends royal occasions, but this masks a more serious underlying intent. Frequently the target for both foreign invaders and domestic factions, it has been required to defend itself against everything from seaborne raiders to aerial bombardment and the threat of nuclear war. At the same time, the direction of military affairs has been centred on London, along with the military infrastructure of barracks, depots, magazines, dockyards and munitions factories. The evidence for much of this can be seen in the landscape, from the mediaeval Tower of London and the underground nuclear citadels in the urban centre, to the royal palaces, moated sites, airfields and anti-invasion defences in the suburbs and the green belt. This book describes the various elements of London's military heritage, and places them in their historical and social context. From the castles and strong-houses of the mediaeval and Tudor monarchs and statesmen, to the pseudo-fortresses of the Victorian militia and rifle volunteers; the airfields of the anti-Zeppelin fighters of the Royal Flying Corps, and the Battle of Britain bases of the RAF, to the pillboxes of the defences against invasion in 1940, and the anti-nuclear defences of the Cold War and beyond.

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For 2000 years, Hampshire has been at the heart of the nation's defences against foreign invasion, as well as being heavily involved in civil conflict. Through Roman forts, medieval castles, fortified manors and moats, Victorian drill halls, military airfields, anti-invasion defences, radar sites, bunkers and nuclear attack monitoring posts, this book describes the structures put in place to defend Hampshire's inhabitants against enemies from both home and abroad.

In August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War, there was enormous pressure on men to enlist in Kitchener's New Armies, supplementing the tiny regular army and Territorial Force. This pressure was intense, and posters, the entreaties of local worthies, and an apparently indiscriminate scattering of white feathers, all exacerbated masculine sensitivity. We are all familiar, if only through BBC TV's 'Dad's Army', with the Home Guard of the Second World War. Far less is known of their First World War equivalent: the Volunteer Training Corps (VTC). Like their counter-parts in WW2, the VTC comprised those who were too old, too young, too unfit or too indispensable to serve in the regular forces. They fought for the right to be armed, uniformed and trained; to be employed on meaningful duties; and at first, to exist at all. This book explores the origins, development and structure of the VTC, along with those who belonged to the many supporting medical, transport, police and youth organisations who kept the home fires burning or, in some cases, tried to put them out. The VTC arose from the need of those men who were forced to stay at home to be seen to be doing their bit. They saw the removal of the bulk of both the regular army and the Territorial Force to the Western Front as their opportunity to prepare to resist the expected German invasion of Britain, and as a way of countering accusations of shirking, or even cowardice.