Midhurst, West Sussex, is an acclaimed rural area having the Head Office of the South Downs National Park Authority in its town centre. In this Book 3, of Peter Sydenham''s Midhurst WW2 Memoirs series, he concentrates on his first half of the war period 1940-1943..
Hitler was building his Third Reich. Inhumanity and antisemitism became the Nazi norm. Britains realised he could soon invade their pleasant pastures and industrial wealth. The British government hastened onto a war-footing - sent its BEF to France, asked Canada for caretaker troops, evacuated children from bombing, set-up personal air raid protection, started rationing, and created the Home Guard.
By 1940''s end Britain was alone - the lowest time in British history since the Norman invasion. Occupation by Hitler''s Nazis would have been unendurable. A truth-fiction chapter explores how the Germans might have managed to invade England successfully and how an imaginary life in Midhurst might have looked like under Nazi rule.This is presented to ensure that kind of living is fully appreciated by future readers.
When his street in London was bombed in 1940, Peter was moved with his mother to Midhurst. His childhood formation began there. At first, they had to live apart. His life is presented with a filled out back-story, painting a picture of life in those times in a quiet rural town undergoing much change.
Being isolated geographically, Midhurst initially suffered little hardship. But that changed when Petworth and Midhurst were bombed in late 1942 and early 1943.
He then moved to live with his mother in Easebourne, another kind of exciting adventure playground, right in the countryside.
The next Book 4 covers the period late 1943 to the end of the WW2. Extensive pictures are provided along with an index. The e-book version provides search capability and gives live pull-up links to videos of relevant subjects.