During the Second World War the open spaces of Wanstead Flats were an ideal location for military purposes. Between 1939 and 1945 anti-aircraft batteries and barrage balloons were established there and in 1944 the Flats were an important assembly point for the D-Day invasion forces.

For several years during and after the war the Flats were also home to a large number of prisoners of war (POWs), likely German and Italian prisoners. The main location for these camps was the triangular plot of land bounded by Lake House Road, Dames Road and Centre Road, now best known as the sites of the Jubilee Pond and the fairground, but it is possible there were other locations too.

The history in this booklet has been pieced together from reminiscences, newspaper reports and official papers by the Leyton and Leytonstone Historical Society.