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Second World War
From 1939 until 1945, British and Allied forces battled against Axis forces in the Second World War. People were mobilised into the military, and civilians found their everyday lives impacted in countless ways.
Use the links below to explore the stories of the Second World War via the places that English Heritage cares for and the people and events commemorated by blue plaques.
Military Operations
Key events from the Second World War were plotted and prepared for at properties now in the care of English Heritage.
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Operation Dynamo
Find out how trapped Allied troops were rescued from Dunkirk in 1940 via the daring Operation Dynamo, controlled from Dover Castle.
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Fall of France
Operation Dynamo took place in the face of the Germans’ rapid invasion of France in 1940. Find out why France collapsed so quickly.
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Silent Unseen
Read about the Polish special forces soldiers trained in covert operations, sabotage and intelligence-gathering at Audley End House in Essex.
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Operation Fortitude
Discover how Dover Castle tunnels supported the elaborate deception that concealed the true location of the 1944 D-Day landings from the Germans.
Life at War
Discover how service personnel lived, worked and learned during the Second World War.
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Deep in Dover Castle’s Tunnels
Read extraordinary stories of the ordinary people who worked in the long, brick-lined tunnels at Dover Castle, the nerve centre of the Dunkirk evacuation.
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Army Education at Eltham Palace
Learn how the Army Educational Corps found a wartime home in Eltham Palace, a stunning medieval palace turned art deco home.
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Makeup like a Wren Tutorial
Fashion historian Amber Butchart, makeup artist Rebecca Butterworth and curator Dr Kathryn Bedford discuss the military lives and looks of the Women’s Royal Naval Service staff.
Life on the Home Front
Explore how civilian life was impacted by war as never before, from flying bombs to food shortages.
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Country Houses at War
Explore the stories of evacuees, servants, aristocrats and training soldiers who resided in country houses during the war.
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Wartime Broadcasts
Morale-boosting radio shows featured music, tales of war-work and the voices of military personnel far from their homes.
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Wartime Wardrobes
Clothes rationing had a memorable effect on wartime life, from coupons to parachute silk, utility clothing and ‘Make Do and Mend’.
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The V1 Flying Bomb
In June 1944, the arrival of the V1 – also known as the doodlebug or buzz bomb – marked a significant and sinister new phase of the war on the home front.
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Mass-Observation
Mass-Observation tracked public attitudes to subjects including Hitler, bombing and defeatism. This pioneering research shaped wartime policy.
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Crown Film Unit
The Crown Film Unit was at the forefront of early documentary filmmaking. During the war, it produced documentaries aiming to raise morale and fight fascism.
Secrets and spies
Read the stories of the undercover operatives and codebreakers who made vital contributions during the war and are recognised with blue plaques.
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Juan Pujol Garcia, secret agent
Juan Pujol Garcia, codename ‘Garbo’, deceived the Nazis, diverting German forces away from the Normandy landings and helping to ensure the success of D-Day.
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Noor Inayat Khan, secret agent
Noor Inayat Khan, codename ‘Madeleine’, was the first female radio operator to be sent into occupied France during the Second World War, and at one point was the only transmitting agent left in Paris.
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Odette Sansom, secret agent
Odette Sansom, codename ‘Lise’, was an undercover courier who survived Nazi imprisonment. After her return to London on VE Day, she became the first woman to be awarded the George Cross.
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Alan Turing, cryptanalyst
As a cryptanalyst at Bletchley Park, Alan Turing made vital – and, at the time, top-secret – contributions to the deciphering of the German Enigma code.
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Joan Clarke, cryptanalyst
Remarkable cryptanalyst Joan Clarke was the most senior of the few female cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park and worked in Hut 8, which cracked the German Enigma code.
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Violette Szabo, secret agent
Violette Szabo, codename ‘Louise’, was sent into occupied France twice, and was executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp for refusing to betray the French Resistance.
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FFE Yeo-Thomas, secret agent
Wing Commander FFE Yeo-Thomas, codename ‘The White Rabbit’, was parachuted into France to organise the splintered resistance into a unified secret army.
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Christine Granville, secret agent
Christine Granville, born Krystyna Skarbek, was one of the most remarkable secret agents of the Second World War and Britain’s longest-serving female agent.
Listen to a Podcast
Listen to discover more about the Second World War at our sites and the collections and people associated with them.
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Speaking with Shadows - The Polish Special Forces Soldiers of Audley End
Discover the daring Polish soldiers who undertook secret wartime training at Audley End House to go above and beyond for their nation and Allied victory.
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The Country House at War
Hear about life at the country houses requisitioned by the military and reinvented as barracks, offices and training facilities as the war raged.
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Remembering D-Day
How the biggest landing by land, sea and air the world has ever seen helped bring about the end of the Second World War.
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On His Majesty’s Secret Service
The once-hidden history of spies, intelligence personnel and secret agents whose exploits were crucial to British intelligence.
Famous Wartime Figures
Blue plaques commemorate people from a wide range of wartime roles, from pilots to prime ministers.
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Douglas Bader, pilot
Douglas Bader was one of the first ‘Wing Leaders’ and one of the most deadly fighter pilots in the RAF.
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Patrick Blackett, scientist
Patrick Blackett was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and a highly influential military advisor during the Second World War.
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Winston Churchill, Prime Minister
Sir Winston Churchill was known for his inspirational speeches as Prime Minister during the war.
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Charles Coward, rescuer
British soldier Charles Coward rescued Jewish prisoners from Auschwitz and testified in the Nuremberg trials.
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General Charles de Gaulle
General Charles de Gaulle led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany.
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Anna Freud, psychoanalyst
Anna Freud set up the Hampstead War Nursery, providing care for over 80 children of single-parent families.
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Abram Games, designer
Graphic designer Abram Games created recruitment posters and used humour to engage soldiers with messages about health and hygiene.
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Martha Gellhorn, war correspondent
Martha Gellhorn was a pioneering war correspondent whose passionate but lucid reporting style became highly influential.
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Guy Gibson, Dambuster
RAF pilot Guy Gibson led the ‘Dambusters’ bombing raid in 1943.
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Field Marshal Viscount Gort
Field Marshal Viscount Gort was Commander-in-Chief at Dunkirk and directed the defence of the besieged island of Malta.
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Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, ATS Director
Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was head of the women’s branch of the British Army, the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
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Amy Johnson, pilot
Pioneering aviator Amy Johnson broke world records before becoming a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary.
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Una Marson, broadcaster
Una Marson created of the morale-boosting show Calling the West Indies, featuring voices of West Indian personnel and uplifting tales of war work.
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Lee Miller, photojournalist
Lee Miller’s reportage included the siege of St Malo, Hitler’s private apartments, the liberation of Paris and Dachau concentration camp.
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Field Marshal ‘Monty’ Montgomery
Field Marshal Montgomery was a British Army officer celebrated for his leadership at El Alamein and in Normandy.
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Lady Reading, WVS founder
Lady Reading founded the Women’s Voluntary Services to perform civil defence tasks in preparation for war.
Second World War Places to Visit
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Audley End House & Gardens
Learn the story of the Polish special forces soldiers trained in covert operations.
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Dover Castle
Explore the tunnels where Operations Dynamo and Fortitude were planned.
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Pevensey Castle
Discover the Second World War defences concealed at the medieval castle.
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St Catherine’s Castle, Fowey
Visit this small Tudor castle to discover how it was adapted to provide Second World War defences.
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Kirkham Priory
Explore the once top-secret location where the military tested equipment in preparation for the D-Day invasion.
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Temple Church, Bristol
Visit Bristol’s treasured Temple Church, saved after being ravaged by the firestorms of the 1940 Bristol Blitz.
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Pendennis Castle
Follow the tunnels to the Half Moon Battery to be transported back to the Second World War.
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Royal Garrison Church, Portsmouth
See the fine 20th-century stained-glass windows depicting scenes from the Second World War.
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Hurst Castle
Discover how this Tudor castle, commanding the narrow entrance to the Solent, played an active role through both world wars.
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Portland Castle
Explore Portland Castle, used by the Welsh Regiment, the WRNS and for the build-up to the D-Day invasion in 1944.
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Dartmouth Castle
Visit the castle whose final military phase saw it equipped with quick-firing guns to protect merchant shipping convoys.
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Tynemouth Castle
Visit to hear the voice of a Second World War gunner describing air raids, sinking ships and primitive living conditions at the castle.