7 - Cambridge at War

Summary

The author looks at the part Cambridge played in the First and Second World Wars, and how war affected both Town and University in different ways. She describes Cambridge in 1914, with recruits lining up at the Corn Exchange, deserted lecture halls, and soldiers camping on Parker’s Piece. The town became site of a significant temporary military hospital built on a college cricket field, and it witnessed a constant flow of wounded soldiers from the front arriving on stretchers at Cambridge station. In 1939, Cambridge experienced the terror, bombs and blackouts of war all over again. The sound of aircraft overhead was ever-present as Cambridge was encircled by RAF airbases at Bourn, Bottisham and Fowlmere, and privately owned Marshalls Airport. Duxford’s key role as Sector Station in the Battle of Britain and home to the US Air Force is carefully explained. In the Cold War era of secrecy and espionage that followed, the names of the notorious Cambridge Five and location of the regional nuclear bunker in Cambridge are also revealed.