A former Watford Observer reporter has written a book about an uprising during World War II.

An American Uprising in Second World War England by Kate Werran tells the story of a shoot-out between Black and white American soldiers in a quiet Cornish town that ended up putting the 'special relationship' itself on trial. The subsequent court martial into what tabloids labelled a ‘wild west’ mutiny became front page news in Great Britain and the USA.

Werran has painstakingly pieced together this account of a shocking drama the authorities tried to hush up. With research from wartime cabinet documents, secret government surveys, opinion polls, diaries, letters and newspapers, as well as testimony from those who remember it, the story offers a rare window into a little known side of the ‘American Invasion’.

By breathing new life into a vanished trial, it reveals a rare and surprising insight into the wider story of how Britain reacted to soldiers of the Jim Crow army when they came to stay.

Werran studied at Oxford University before writing for local and national newspapers, including the Watford Observer. She has also worked in television, producing history programmes for Channel 4, Channel 5 and the BBC.

An American Uprising in Second World War England by Kate Werran is published by Pen & Sword History and is available now.