during the second world war, dover was on the front line, with only the straits of dover separating the town from nazi-occupied france, and one of the most likely areas for a german invasion. as a result, the school was again evacuated, initially for a term to blundell's school in devon with which dover college had a long-standing friendship, and thence to poltimore house, also in devon. it returned to dover in 1945 with 168 boys. during the war 102 former pupils died; lt col terence otway won a famous dso for his action in capturing the merville battery on d-day.