Description

During the year 1940, a picturesque Kent village in the Downs behind Folkestone and Dover became virtually the epicentre of the greatest of all air conflicts: The Battle of Britain. The village is called Elham and this book is a chronicle of the events that took place there during that momentous year – in the skies above, in the streets and in the surrounding countryside. Taking the diary of Mary Smith, the daughter of the village Postmaster – in which she briefly recorded the news headlines of the day and any local events that affected her – Dennis Knight has skilfully woven around her brief account a narrative which unfolds gradually to reveal the truly cataclysmic effect of the Battle of Britain on an innocent and peaceful community. By the end of the year the battle was over but nothing would ever be the same again. At least seventeen aircraft, contestants from both sides, had been shot down or crashed within the parish boundaries. Bombs had fallen in the main street and the nearby military aerodrome at Hawkinge had been blasted and strafed many times. Hundreds of brave young men had died violent deaths; the social life of the community had been totally disrupted. Parachuting airmen had been captured or rescued, violent rows had erupted among members of the local Home Guard. Regular soldiers had been billeted in many of the houses and most people could claim that the war had arrived literally in their back gardens. Many famous people appear in this chronicle, and many ordinary ones too: some of them indeed are still living at Elham today. This book recreates more than many others the atmosphere of apprehension, calm and courage that sustained people during those vital months. It is not only funny and touching, but violent and sad: a worthy tribute to thte stoicism of the villagers of Southern England and the gallant airmen of both sides who strove so fiercely for victory against the background of vapour-trailed skies and the patterns of green fields below