Collection description:
This site has been produced with the aim of bringing together facts, documents, photographs and personal narratives concerning the ATS (an auxiliary UK military service involved in wartime operational support). Details of organisational structure, duties and uniforms are available as well as photos, digitised documents, and personal histories provided by ATS veterans. There is also a bibliography and related links.

Stories relating to World War II:
c.100

Subjects covered:
Auxiliary Territorial Service

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Collection description:
The BBC's WW2 People's War project ran from June 2003 to January 2006. The aim of the project was to collect the memories of people who had lived and fought during World War Two on a website; these would form the basis of a digital archive which would provide a learning resource for future generations.

The target audience, people who could remember the war, was at least 60 years old. Anyone who had served in the armed forces during the war was, at the start of the project, at least 75. Most of them had no experience of the internet. Yet over the course of the project, over 47,000 stories and 14,000 images were gathered. A national story gathering campaign was launched, where 'associate centres' such as libraries, museums and learning centres, ran events to helped gather stories. Many hundereds of volunteers, many attached to local BBC radio stations, assisted in this.

The resulting archive houses all of these memories. These stories don't give a precise overview of the war, or an accurate list of dates and events; they are a record of how a generation remembered the war, 60 years of more after the events, and remain in the Archive as they were contributed. The Archive is not a historical record of events, a collection of government or BBC information, recordings or documents relating to the war.

Stories relating to World War II:
c.47,000 (note: These vary widely in length, quality and detail).

Subjects covered:
All aspects of WWII. See archive for details.

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Collection description:
The Chorley Home Front Project was designed to celebrate 60 years of relative peace in Europe and to honour those people who suffered and died during World War II. The Heritage Lottery Initiative funded the project and many local people worked on the project as volunteers.

The first aim was to record the memories of those people who were schoolchildren in the Chorley and South Ribble Boroughs during the period 1939 to 1945. These memories have been stored in the North West Sound Archive as an historical record.

The interviews were carried out by children from nine schools across the two boroughs who found out how to use the mini disc recorders, how to interview people and what questions they wanted to ask.

The website contains nearly 50 edited recordings which can be downloaded as MP3s, plus additional written stories and related photos.

Stories relating to World War II:
c.50 (from approx 20 interviewees)

Subjects covered:
Home Front • British Army

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Collection description:
This is the website of the historian James Holland, author of Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege, 1940-43; Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War 1944-45; and Twenty-One: Coming of Age in the Second World War.  

As well as the author's blog and information on his books, the site contains an extensive collection of transcripts from the oral history interviews he has carried out during his research. Copies of the recordings are also held by the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive.  

Stories relating to World War II:
68

Subjects covered:
British Army (North Africa / Italy) • Royal Navy • Royal Air Force • Canadian Armed Forces • American Armed Forces • Indian Armed Forces • New Zealand Armed Forces • South African Armed Forces • German Armed Forces • Italian Armed Forces • Italian Home Front • Maltese Home Front • French Resistance • Italian Partisans

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Description:
An excellent website covering the wartime experiences of Second Lieutnant Joe Brown, Battalion Intelligence Officer with the 155 Infantry Brigade, which was part of the 52nd Mountain Division. It includes a very interesting description of the landings at Walcheren in 1944, and Joe Browns experiences in The Netherlands and Germany 1944-45.

Stories relating to World War II:
1

Subjects covered:
British Army (Northern Europe)

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Collection description:
The Wartime Memories Project is a non-profit organisation, a constituted group run by volunteers. The costs of this website, our displays and educational activities are funded by donations, grants and from the pockets of our members.

The aims of The Wartime Memories Project are to collect and preserve recollections, documents, photographs and small artifacts from the two World Wars, to ensure that future generations will have the opportunity to learn first hand from the accounts of those who lived through the conflicts.

Individuals can submit their stories for publication on the site. Further information can be found here. 

Stories relating to World War II:
c.1000

Subjects covered:
All aspects of WWII. See the index for details.

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