The Children Who Fought Hitler: A British Outpost in Europe

Few people know that Ypres, center of First World War remembrance, was once home to a thriving British community that played a heroic role in the Second World War. This expatriate outpost grew around the British ex-servicemen who cared for the war memorials and cemeteries of Flanders Fields. Many married local women and their children grew up multi-lingual, but attended their own school and were intensely proud to be British. When Germany invaded in 1940 the community was threatened—some children managed to escape, while others were not so lucky. Armed with their linguistic skills and local knowledge, the pupils of the British Memorial School in Ypres were uniquely prepared to fight Hitler in occupied territory and from Britain. Still in their teens, some risked capture, torture, and death in intelligence and resistance operations. An exceptional patriotism spurred them on to unparalleled feats of bravery. While their peers at home were being evacuated to the English countryside, these children were directly exposed to danger in one of the major theatres of war. This is their story: a war story about people from an unusual community, told from a fresh and human perspective.