People from across Hertfordshire played their part during the Second World War, on the Home Front and in far flung corners of the world.

Using the Imperial War Museum archive, we've pulled together a selection of photographs to highlight their wartime experiences.

While those in the military ventured across the world during the Second World War, those on the Home Front played a crucial role.

That included talented craftsman at the de Havilland Factory in Hatfield who built the Mosquito, with archive photos showing the building of the brilliant machines.

Known as the "Wooden Wonder" for its all-wood construction, many historians have claimed it was the aircraft that won the Second World War.

READ MORE: Inside the 'impossible' project to return the de Havilland Mosquito to UK skies

Female pilots from the Air Transport Auxiliary also played a key role at Hatfield, ferrying newly built and repaired aircraft from factory to RAF bases.

Other important factories included one building Sten guns in Welwyn Garden City, with the submachine gun being used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout the conflict.

Lieut Cdr E S Sinclair, of Harpenden, and Sub Lieut R G Pearson, from Hitchin, served in the navy aboard HMS Eskimo and HMS Shakespeare, with photos of the men at Plymouth taken after they returned from combat.

Many men from Hertfordshire served in the Pacific, with most of those as part of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment.

1st Battalion were part of the Burma Campaign, while 5th Battalion were dispatched to Malaya in early 1942, but surrendered to the Japanese after the Fall of Singapore, spending the rest of the war as POWs.

The IWM musuem archive has two photos of Royal Navy servicemen from Potters Bar, Lieut M N Fox, and Lieut P S Cole, who served aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious.

Western Front, Italy and North Africa

Men of the Hertfordshire Regiment played a crucial role in two of the Second World War's most important battles.

1st Battalion smashed through the Gothic Line high in the Italian mountains in the summer of 1944, while 2nd Battalion landed on Gold Beach at Ver-Sur-Mer during D-Day, clearing key German positions.

READ MORE: The Hertfordshire Regiment and the Second World War

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment also served in North Africa during the early years of the war.

IWM archive photos show the life of soldier, with shots of them during combat and while they enjoyed a well-earned rest.

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