WORLD
WAR TWO – 1939-45
 World
War Two arrived with the Autumn in 1939 – and the Fates swiftly conspired
to bring the conflict directly to the heart of Orkney.
From
the moment of the declaration of war with Germany by Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain on Sunday, September 3, the islands were predestined to be
in the main line of fire.’
The lack
of military hostilities elsewhere in Europe during the early months was
later to be labelled by historians as the Phoney War. But for Orkney it
was real enough as the county was forever written into military record
books.
 For
a small community of just 22,000 civilians, it was remarkable how powerfully
the conflict was to touch Orkney. Within the early days and weeks, the
impact of war was both immediate and deadly:
An Orcadian
died in the very first act of the war at sea as the liner Athena was sunk – and two Orcadians were killed when the aircraft carrier
HMS Courageous was torpedoed two weeks later.
Disaster
in the night followed as more than 800 men perished in Scapa Flow as HMS Royal Oak was destroyed.
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