WW II Homepage

The Second World War was the largest and deadliest war in world history. It is generally regarded as taking place between 1939 and 1945, with roots in earlier conflicts. The Allied Powers, led by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States, defeated the Axis Powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan.

The war was fought in response to the military aggression of Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the imperial ambitions of Japan in Asia. The majority of the fighting took place in and around Europe, where Germany invaded and occupied much of Europe and later the Soviet Union, and in and around Asia and the Pacific, where Japan invaded many countries around the Northern and Western Pacific.

The main aim of the Nazi aggression was for a greater German Empire at the expense of the peoples of Eastern Europe. During the war, Germany also pursued another aim, the elimination of European Jewry, which they believed had "biological base" in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.

Much of the fighting took place in Europe, and East and Southeast Asia as well as on islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is believed that approximately 62 million people, or 2.5% of the world population, died in the war; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in particular, the Holocaust), massacres, and aerial bombing.

Despite being a rural county that is located many miles away from the main urban areas of the the Country, Pembrokeshire experienced many air raids and bombings during WWII.

Use the links on the right to find out about the bombings that took place around the county and the spy's that people were made weary of.