South Devon in the Great War (Your Towns & Cities in the Great War)

To the casual observer, south Devon may have seemed an agricultural backwater of Britain during the war, important in but two respects; the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth and the Royal Naval base at Devonport. However, a closer and more considered gaze reveals significant changes.
By late 1915 many of the young men and, significantly, almost all of the horses had gone away to war. Older men and many women now farmed the land, aided by German POWs. Dartmoor Gaol became home to hundreds of Conscientious Objectors put to work on the quarries whilst large and medium sized country houses were converted to hospitals and convalescent homes.
Not only does South Devon in the Great War detail these changes, it also explains how the local regiment responded to the call to arms of a whole nation. Within these pages the reader will find many personal tales of sacrifice, loss and grief. Most of all, however, readers will be ultimately uplifted by tales of the endurance of the human spirit.