Voices of the First World War - Böcker

During the First World War, Norfolk was very much on the front line. Soldiers from Norfolk fought all across the globe, many leaving their home county for the first time. Norfolk’s women served in the forces, in factories and as nurses, both at home and abroad. Even the local children had their parts to play. Norfolk saw Zeppelin air raids and the first air raid in which civilians were killed took place over the county. To top it off, the pleasant Norfolk coastline was seen as a likely landing place for any German invasion.In this book, archivist and historian Frank Meeres has gathered an astonishing range of true stories and poignant images relating to the people of the county during that dramatic period. Finally, Norfolk’s men and women can tell their own stories – in their own words.

As the ‘second city of empire’, Liverpool and the surrounding region played a pivotal role in the First World War. Even before the conflict, almost a third of all the goods that came into the country and the products that were shipped overseas passed through the port. During the First World War, thousands of men from Merseyside served in the military and the Merchant Navy. Many troops, including American forces, disembarked or stayed for a time in the area. Merseyside may not have been on the front line, but it was at the front of the war effort.Merseyside’s War relates the experiences of the people who lived in Merseyside during the war, from farmers on the Wirral Peninsula and landladies in Southport to shipbuilders in Birkenhead and female munitions workers in Bootle. It also captures the fear, excitement and boredom of those who fought in the war in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, or served at sea, in the air or in hospitals. Voices from both the front and the home front may be heard in diaries, newspapers, letters, government records and other documents from the time, as well in memoirs and oral histories.These varied voices and the accompanying images help us to more fully understand the way the war shaped the perceptions and experiences of the people who lived in England’s third-largest city and its hinterland.