Secret war diaries of billeting officer published by Chichester author

David Warwick, a former reporter on The News, has written many non-fiction titles but Chorus Endings, his 43rd book, was his first novel, published in June 2016.

His latest, Home Front Wickham, is autobiographical, based on diaries discovered only after his mother had died and enhanced with his own memories of growing up in Hampshire.

He said: "My mother’s wartime diaries, kept in secret at a time when invasion was imminent, the outcome of the conflict unknown, have this week been published. And they have quite a story to tell."

Dorothy Warwick was billeting officer for Wickham and a member of the Rural District Council from 1938.

David, her youngest son and last surviving member of the family from this time, said: "She was responsible for the placement and welfare of some hundreds of evacuees. She recalls many an incident, both humorous and harrowing. So, too, her experiences as first lady member of the Rural District Council - quaint by contemporary standards but they got the job done.

"The diaries were discovered during house clearance only after her death. I have added my own childhood memories to produce Home Front Wickham."

Originally from Preston, Dorothy spent the early years of her marriage living above her husband's tiny ironmonger shop with no electricity or running water. She had four children, her eldest, Mary, following her mother’s example to become first lady Lord Mayor of London.

David said: "Together, we spent hours huddled in the cellar listening to the sound of distant bombardment and enemy planes droning overhead. Only eight days during the month of July 1941 were free of raids.

"As the village prepared for the expected enemy assault, signposts were removed and bridges damaged to impede their advance. Concrete blocks known as dragon’s teeth appeared in strategic places for the same purpose.

"The Home Guard, under the leadership of General Sir Herbert Powell, late commander of the Gurkha Rifles in India, sprang into action, patrolling nightly for parachutists, spies or unexploded bombs, simulating attacks on one another’s villages in preparation for what might come.

"Gradually the tide began to turn, until in 1944 the long-expected invasion of Europe was imminent. No one knew exactly when this would be but yellow markings appeared on the square and walls around the village, later to be revealed as markers for the parking of military vehicles of all kinds, provided a clue.

"Troops were encamped everywhere. Then, early in June, all traffic within a ten-mile radius was banned, the soldiers were on the move, gliders filled the air. D-Day had arrived."

Dorothy was one of only a few people who knew the whereabouts of coffins stacked for those would never return - and she kept her secret.

David recalled: "For those on the Home Front, D-Day was followed almost immediately by its aftermath, the first of Hitler’s 'revenge weapons' – the V1 flying bombs, or doodlebugs as they came to be known.

"Pilotless, they were the first aircraft the family had seen propelled by jet engines. Their guidance system being rudimentary, there was no knowing when or where they would arrive, till the engine cut out and they plummeted to earth, causing destruction wherever they fell."

The diaries conclude with the coming of peace but Dorothy continued with her diaries for the next 30 years. David said none of these could hope to measure the excitement or achievement of the 1938-1947 period. Regardless, it is family that remains throughout the heart of the narrative.

David said: "The conflict remains forever louring in the background, modifying and developing the personalities with which we had been born.”

Home Front Wickham by David Warwick is published by Crump Barn Studio, available from all bookshops priced £9.99.

Writing is in David's blood. He worked for The Evening News in the 1960s and also set his novel Chorus Endings in the Meon Valley, where he lived for around 30 years.