Isle of Wight in World War Two

History

The Isle of Wight played a significant role in the Second World War, its position in the English Channel making it strategically important. The island was heavily defended and served as a key location in the preparations for D-Day.

Radar stations were established on the island, part of the Chain Home network that detected incoming enemy aircraft. The station at Ventnor was one of the first targets of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in August 1940. It was attacked and damaged but continued to operate from a mobile reserve station.

The island was bombed repeatedly during the war. Cowes suffered the heaviest raids, with the J. Samuel White shipyard and the Saunders-Roe aircraft factory being primary targets. A devastating raid on Cowes on 4-5 May 1942 killed 70 people and destroyed much of the town centre. Newport, Ryde and Ventnor were also bombed.

In the lead-up to D-Day in June 1944, the island was a staging area for the invasion of Normandy. Troops were billeted across the island, and landing craft assembled in the Solent. PLUTO (Pipeline Under The Ocean) ran from Shanklin to Cherbourg, pumping fuel to the Allied forces in France. A pumping station at Shanklin Chine was disguised as an ice cream parlour.

Evacuees from mainland cities were sent to the island early in the war, though as bombing increased, children were evacuated from the island itself. Pill boxes, gun emplacements and military structures from the war period can still be found around the coast.