Preparations for D Day

‘Police calling… All members of the public must leave sea front and immediate vicinity at once, and those without special permits or temporary passes must go outside the barriers.’

This ban on visiting Southsea seafront was issued on 17 August 1943. Boarding house and hotel keepers had been forewarned by the Police that all guests who were not in the area for an approved purpose must be out by this date, and that no more visitors were to be accepted.

Wartime books

In February 1943 a successful appeal was launched, by the Lord Mayor, to collect a quarter of a million books in 14 days. Of the 261,175 collected, 225,000 were good only for salvage, 24,000 were sent to the troops serving the World War II and 2,700 were allocated to local libraries which had lost their stock in the Blitz. All those sent to the troops had a slip inside them bearing the good wishes of the people of Portsmouth.

Wartime fundraising

Throughout generations Portsmouth has been paying to fortify the nation. Within living memory, during World War II, fundraising events to support the war effort were regular features of life. Examples include during May 1943, Portsmouth raised £1.2 million during Wings for Victory week which was enough to pay for 100 Spitfire fighters. Even more generously, in March 1942 Portsmouth people gave £1.3 million to pay for the cruiser HMS Sirius.