Codford's Second World War Landscape

When war returned in 1939 Codford was again chosen as a military garrison for many regiments from the British armed forces who were joined in 1943 by servicemen from the American Third Armoured Brigade. Camps were built close to or alongside the sites of their First World War predecessors, north of St Peter's and near St Mary’s church, with Hindon Lane, which links Codford and Stockton, acquisitioned by the military.   Chitterne Road, which was heavily used during the First World War when army camps were built to the east of it, was widened in 1942 and 1943, with washing bays and turning places for the up to 200 tanks that were parked along it. The many heavy armoured vehicles which used or crossed the road damaged its surface and deposited hazardous quantities of mud along it.   Fewer postcards depicting Codford survive from the Second World War, although several structures from the period can still be found in the landscape.