After commencing my researches in January 2022 (largely at the West Glamorgan Archive Service but also using records from the National Archives at Kew) and with much-needed help from my wife in record copying, I’ve now reached the stage where I will finally be able to proof read my work.
It’s been professionally edited by my publisher, Y Lolfa of Talybont, and once I’ve given it the once (or twice, or thrice) over, it’ll be ready for typesetting etc. It runs to 95,000 words and cover all things Home Front in Second World War Swansea.
Official publication is set for October 2024 though I’ll be selling copies at the Waterfront Museum in Swansea on the last Saturday and Sunday in September (Historical Association Swansea Local History Day on the Saturday, and the Swansea Local History Book Fair on the Sunday). Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. I’ll be giving a 20 minute talk on the book on the Sunday, time yet to be decided.
I think it’s the first book to look at the experiences of the town and the people of Swansea during the Second World War “in the round”, covering far more than just the devastating air raids. Kindertransport arrivals, evacuees, refugees, the conscription of men and women, conscientious objectors, Home Guard, civil defence services, anti-aircraft and balloon defences, air raid shelter construction, turning the town into a fortress with pill boxes and tank traps, anti-invasion plans and exercises, crime, health, rationing, the arrival of the Americans, VE and VJ Day celebrations and post-war squatters all feature…
I’ll be posting updates here and on my Twitter account as publication draws near. As it’s a local history book (produced to Y Lolfa’s high standards) it won’t be a JK Rowling size print run :o) so I would recommend that if folk are interested in the subject they don’t dawdle over making a purchase. More details on purchase options later…
Sir John Hodsoll, Inspector General of Air Raid Precautions, March 1941:
“Probably no town in the country, and certainly no town in south Wales, has been subjected to so much severe raiding as Swansea.”
Winston Churchill on a visit to a bomb-battered Swansea in April 1941:
“Are we downhearted?”
Onlooking Swansea citizens:
“No! Not likely!”
(The book cover image (courtesy of the West Glamorgan Archive Service) shows the smouldering ruins of the renowned Ben Evans department store after the Three Nights’ Blitz of February 1941).
Bernard Lewis (Author) 