Tom Husband talks to John Leete, author of the New Forest At War, about Forest life during the war years...

Though activity was at its most acute just before the D-Day Landings, the New Forest was still a hotbed of military training in the weeks leading up to Operation Market Garden.

The operation was an airborne and land-based attack to take key bridges in Holland, and allow Allied troops to advance on Germany. It took place just a few months after D-Day.

Much of the training for Market Garden was based in the New Forest.

John Leete, author of The New Forest At War, has researched the lives of people residing in the Forest during that time.

John said: "The Forest had always been used by the military for training purposes back to the First World War and beyond.

"Just ahead of Operation Market Garden the Forest was a vast training ground. There were a lot of things going on; infantry training, parachute training, small arms training, hand to hand combat training, radio operator's training.

"Every situation that an army would go through just before battle, or in battle, those components were being practised in the New Forest.

"Some were fairly obvious, like the rifle ranges,

others were covert exercises, such as the secret

experiments carried out by the Royal Engineers.

"There was a lot going on. It was a hive of activity, throughout the war, right up to the cessation of

hostilities, it was still being used for training in all its guises."

But while the military kept its presence in the Forest right up to VE day, the mood relaxed after D-Day.

John said: "You come to D-Day and there's a

genuine sort of relaxation. People felt a little more comfortable and relaxed."

D-Day was a turning point for morale in the war effort, but training was still very much in evidence in the New Forest. The war was not over yet, and troops were gearing up for Operation Market Garden - which, sadly, was not the success it was set up to be.

With the strategic advance involving the largest

air-drop of troops in history, parachuting would have been a regular sight in the New Forest.

John said: "Parachute training was going on in areas of the Forest, which was a big part of Market Garden."

Unfortunately the operation was not a successful one. The military blunder cost the lives of thousands of soldiers. Out of 10,000 men dropped into Arnhem - a key position 60 miles behind enemy lines - only 2,300 came out. A total of 1,400 solidiers were dead and more than 6,000 personnel were taken as prisoners of war.

But what was it like to be a resident of the Forest while the nation geared up for what Montgomery hoped would be the decisive stroke that won the war?

"For children at the time it was all part of the life they had come to know. It was exciting. The restrictions on talking to military personnel were slightly relaxed.

"After D-Day and at the end of the war it was possible to gain access to some of the airfield sites. In the empty barracks troops had left stuff behind, and people would come up and take what they wanted as souvenirs.

"People were able to go about their normal business more freely but land taken away for military purposes was still under the control of the military.

"Those sites were not accessible until long after the war until the land was given back to the Commoners.

"But there was still, not just in the Forest but across the nation, a more upbeat and optimistic attitude."

John Leete's The New Forest At War is published by Sutton Publishing Ltd, priced £12.99.