Kingswear lies on the southern tip of a peninsula on the south Devon coast and southwest of Torbay. The village enjoys a spectacular position, largely west facing, with the River Dart as one of its boundaries and with Dartmouth on the opposite bank of the river. The peninsula itself shares this boundary of the River Dart as it meanders down from Dartmoor via Totnes, and to the east and south by the English Channel. This geographical situation was crucial to the role in which Kingswear found itself during World War II. At that time Kingswear had a population of about 800 who could buy virtually anything from candles to haircuts in the village from its many shops.

There are any number of books and stories written about World War II. It is not my intention to compete in any way with these other publications; although I have included some background Information where I hope it helps to paint a clearer picture. My intention is, however, to offer a very local flavour of the events of a small Devon village between the years of 1939 to 1945.