Coventry and the Great War

Coventry and the Great War is a detailed account of life in Coventry during the First World War. It covers many aspects of life including the city’s growth into one of England’s main munition centres. It looks at the factories and the lives of the thousands of women who kept them going and sometimes died doing so. It also looks at the personal memories sent home by Coventry men at the Front, their struggles, their bloody deaths and even links up to the 1914 Christmas truce in which Coventry men actually took part. Refugees are covered as are enemy aliens who were rounded up in the city and of course it looks at the true story of the German-born mayor who was in office at the outbreak of war. Coventry’s connection to the first tanks is looked at as are the many aircraft built and flown around the city, and the deaths of young airmen as they fought above the city. Having a centuries-old ancestry in the city, the author tells of his own family connections: his grandfather fighting in Galipolli and the Somme; his great-uncle in Gustrow, prisoner of war camp; and the death of his grandmother’s brother in France. The First World War isn’t just history ... it’s personal.