This site explores Swanage in the World War II (1939-1945)

Swanage, at the time of the 1939 census, had a population of 6,332 and approximately 100 worked in the Stone trade in the vicinity of Worth Matravers.

This site is divided into four major years, 1940 to 1944, it covers the local Poole and Swanage defences, the proposed German Invasion Plan, Beam Radar, Local Air Raids, the British invasion of Italy in May 1943 and the British invasion of France in June 1944. The information has been rationalised into an Introduction with a more technical development of a particular sub-topic in the second column.
The fictional character Robert allows the reader an insight to what it was like to live in Swanage in the period 1919-1945. From a quote by Ian Mortimer, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society:

…The very best evidence for what it was like to be alive in this era is an awareness of what it is like to be alive in any age, that includes today. Our sole context for understanding all the historical data we might gather is our own life experience….

Robert was a typical Swanage boy, no further or higher education, poor pay, shared housing and a lifetime of labouring at the brickyard, his only joy was playing football.