HEWITT'S HISTORY FILES

THINK Sussex and the war in the skies and the chances are you will think of the Battle of Britain.

By The Newsroom

Published 31st Oct 2007, 15:54 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:40 BST

But Sussex's wartime role was even more significant still- a role that placed it in the thick of things right through to the end of 1944.

Just as interestingly, it was a role that no one could have expected, as historian Rupert Matthews argues.

"When they were doing all the pre-war planning, they were expecting the Second World War to be like the First with trenches," he said.

And if there was to be fighting, it would be German bombers coming in off the North Sea.

For full feature and more pictures, see West Sussex Gazette November 7