Military of Southern England (1983: Doomsday)

Southern England has a small but efficant armed forces devision that exists to protect the Island and its territories. The military is made up of the british army forces who chose to remain on the island as well as converted aircraft and ships.

Pre-Doomsday
The Isle of Wight had no major military presence prior to Doomsday with the exception of Fort Victoria, a fort that had been abandoned by the Royal Navy and British Army in 1969. The four Solent forts remained in the control of the MOD until 1982 however.

Doomsday to Evacuation to South Africa
On Doomsday the Island and its inferstructure weren't damaged at all but in the imediate aftermath of Doomsday the rememants of the Royal Navy, British Army and RAF made thier way to the Island. The Royal Navy had been badly damaged and the RAF was practicaly non existant and the shipyards at East Cowes were now the only place in British Provinscial Administration control where ships could be fixed. The British Army took up residence in Fort Victoria and some of the other forts on the Island and the few remaining RAF planes were moved to Sandown Airport. The shipyards at East Cowes proved to be of great use to the BPA as they were used to refit some of the cargo ships that were siezed by the BPA and were also used to make some of the RN vessels seaworthy.

After South Africa had been chosen as the destination for the evacuation of Britain the Island became a hive of activity as RN and Cargo ships stoped for thier last major refueling before St Hellen. Slowly the Island was drained of its population but around 10,000 military personal (Mostly ex-islanders or people of Isle dessent) chose to stay alongside Terence Higgins to guard the Island from raiders and other nations.

Contact with Hastings to Disbanding
The Islands military was tasked with scouting the south coast and evacuating as many british people as posible. This wasn't without troubles though as when scouts made contact with a military dictatorship in the town of Worthing they were shot dead on sight. The Island's military imediatly tried to respond with an assualt on the town but its ships wern't fully prepared for a seaborne assualt and the attack was forced back by bad weather.

The military returned to thier original task of scouting the south coast and the ships of the Interim Navy encountered a fishing boat form the Interim nation of Hastings. The two nations would soon combine and the small 400 police force that had guarded Hastings joined up with the military forces from the Island.