Titchfield During the Second World War

1944

Titchfield's proximity to Portsmouth and the Solent made it part of the wider military landscape during the Second World War. The area was within the defensive perimeter of the Portsmouth naval base, and military activity in the surrounding fields and along the coast was extensive. In the build-up to D-Day in June 1944, the lanes and fields around Titchfield were used for the staging of troops and equipment as part of the vast military concentration that assembled in southern England before the Normandy landings. Soldiers were billeted in local buildings and camped in the surrounding countryside. Vehicles and supplies were marshalled along the roads leading to the embarkation points on the Solent shore. The village itself was not heavily bombed, though air raids targeting Portsmouth sometimes affected the surrounding area, and the sound of bombing and anti-aircraft fire was a regular feature of life during the Blitz. The war disrupted the agricultural rhythm of the village, with land requisitioned for military use and labour diverted to the war effort. After the war, the village returned to its peacetime character, but the experience of 1939 to 1945 left its mark on the community. The war memorial on The Square records the names of those from the village who did not return. The wartime period is remembered as a time when Titchfield, like every community in southern England, was caught up in events of global significance.