ALTHOUGH only a small town, Abergavenny and her inhabitants played a pivotal role in World War Two.

From the retreat of Dunkirk, across the sands of El Alamein, to the final push on the killing beaches of Normandy, soldiers from the Abergavenny area were present, doing their bit and giving it their all to put an end to Hitler and his twisted regime.

These soldiers’ tales are as engaging as they are varied, and for the first time you can read all about them in a new book called ‘Abergavenny’s War.’

Over the years Chronicle journalist Tim Butters has conducted a series of in-depth interviews with veterans who fought in different theatres of the conflict.

The engaging recollections in the book range from, amongst others, a soldier who helped liberate the notorious Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, an officer who remembers the chaos and confusion of Dunkirk, a Japanese POW whose hellish experiences scarred him for life, a soldier who had a school in France named in his honour and a paratrooper involved in the D-D landings whose story later became a small part of the book and movie version of The Longest Day.

As well as firsthand memories of those who fought and over 100 pictures, Abergavenny’s War documents life in the town during that era and how, like the rest of Britain, the Gateway To Wales was irrevocably changed by World War Two.

Tim explained, “The Second World War was the defining point in modern history. It changed everything. This book is merely a small attempt to capture the recollections and tales of a modest generation who lived through it and whose story is monumental.”

Abergavenny’s War will be available to buy at all good bookstores from October 15.