DAYLIGHT RAID ON SMALL COUNTRY TOWN

“Daylight Raid on Small Country Town” Considerable Damage To Property, A Number Of Casualties

On Friday afternoon last a single raider bombed a town in the Southern Area, causing damage to property killing four people and injuring others. The raider all machine gunned the streets but fortunately no one was hurt by this means. It was very dull at the time and the sky was overcast. One cottage and three shops with living accommodation were destroyed and about eight other shops and houses were rendered uninhabitable, at least for the time being. Two bombs fell on either side of the High Street on property, a third fell in the garden of an adjoining house, and exploded later the same evening.

An eyewitness, who had been staying in a house that was demolished, said that he had gone out for a walk with his wife  and baby. He was on a high hill and noticed a plane, which at first he took to be British, circling around and flying low. This went on for some time, and suddenly the plane flew towards the Parish Church. He saw the bombs released, and made sure that it was aiming at the Church. At the same time the raider flew down lower and began to machine gun.

The story is now taken up by Mr. S.A. Clinker, an Air Raid Warden and clerk in a solicitor’s office. He said “We heard the noise of the plane in the office, but took little notice of it until machine gun bullets rattled on the roof. All the staff then dived under the tables and desks, and we then heard the explosions of the falling bombs. Although we were not far from where the nearest bomb fell, we did not feel to any great extent the effects of the explosion, though some of the windows of the offices were blown in. With other members of the staff we then went out into Church Street, which was filled with dust and smoke. One of our junior clerks in the office lives in the street, in a house adjoining a cottage on which one bomb fell.     His home was badly damaged. As we drew near to it an old lady, who was living in the house with his family, extricated herself from the wreckage, and, apart from suffering from shock and minor injuries, was all right. She had been sitting in the bedroom of the house with her husband who was asleep in bed. When we eventually rescued him we found him badly injured, and he was removed to hospital.  From the wreckage we also extricated the lad’s mother, but she was then dead.”

A very large bomb had fallen on a cottage occupied by Mr. S. Allcorn. Where the cottage stood was a large crater some 20 to 30 feet across. Fortunately, Mr. Allcorn was away at work, and as he lived alone no one was in the place at the time. Beams and parts of twisted metal that had once been a bedstead were hurled Into the churchyard. A feather bed was thrown up so high that it lodged in the topmost branches of an evergreen oak tree some twenty yards away.

This cottage adjoined a draper’s shop on the corner of Church Street and the High Street. These premises, together with that of the tobacconist and confectioner’s next door, were razed to the ground. From the wreckage of the draper’s shop the proprietress was extricated, but she was not found to be seriously injured. However, two other ladies near this spot at the time – Mrs. Carter of Avalon, North Warnborough, and Mrs. Stokes of the Council Houses, were both killed. The proprietress of the tobacconist’s shop was also found dead beneath the wreckage of her shop. The adjoining premises had to be evacuated. Damage was done to the stock in these shops, while a number of people had lucky escapes from broken glass and falling plaster. On the opposite corner of Church Street is the house occupied by Mrs. Wallis and Miss Andrew. This received the full blast of the exploding bomb. Windows were smashed, doors blown in and slates torn from the roof, while down the middle of the house is a crack. Both ladies were in the house and received superficial injuries and suffered from shock. Another occupant of the house had gone to the cellar and escaped unhurt. 

Two workmen were engaged strengthening parts of Mrs. Bloomfield’s house for air raid protection. Both had miraculous escapes from death as the bomb fell close to them. They were both buried beneath the wreckage and apart from cuts and shock, they suffered no severe injury. Their motor car was standing in a spare piece of ground and it was buried by debris and soil.  The water main was also burst, and damage was done to an electric cable.

The second bomb fell near the shop of a builder, completely demolishing it. Several people were buried beneath the debris, among them being Mrs. Boyce, who received slight injuries, and Mr. Herzog, chief clerk, who also sustained slight injuries. Mr. Herzog served in the last war, and as a result of injuries received lost his leg. During a raid in another town earlier in the year his home was practically destroyed by a bomb, which exploded near to it. Mr. Dedman was also taken out of the wreckage, and he was rather badly hurt, his injuries including a broken wrist and cuts to the head and face.

Behind the shop is Greenaway Cottage, and it was in front of this that the time bomb fell. Damage was done to the property and contents, but fortunately the occupiers, Mrs. and Miss Bedford, had gone to a neighbouring town for the day. The house next to the builder’s yard was partly demolished, and adjoining property suffered damage and included a guesthouse, an inn, and a restroom, which had only been opened the previous week. In addition, fairly considerable damage was done at a farm. A few panes of glass in the Church were broken, and slight damage was done to the roof. 

At the time of the raid some School Cadets, who were in uniform, were drilling in a field at the rear of the Church, and the raider came down and machine-gunned them, but no one was hurt. A builder was working on the roof of the hospital as the raider passed over, and he also came in for some of the machine gunner’s attention. Bullets also rattled over the almshouses, and two holes from bullets were afterward found in a rainwater tank standing near to the door of one of them . Bills and memoranda from another property were thrown into the air and came to earth in a field nearly two hundred yards away. They were scattered all over the grass, something like a miniature snowstorm. It was fortunate that there were not many people about at the time. A quarter of an hour later and children would have been flocking down Church Street from school.  A  number of people had miraculous escapes.           One girl, for instance, who had been pushing a pram with a small child in it, would have been in Church Street if she had not paused to speak to a Girl Guide friend. As it was, she was nearing the corner of the street when she saw the bombs falling and she ran in the other direction and came to no harm. A milkman, named Mr. Judd, was delivering milk at the house next door to a builder’s yard and had just knocked on the fastened door as the bomb fell. He did not have to wait for the door to open, for the blast blew him and the door to the further end of the passage of the house. Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt. The Fire Brigade quickly dealt with a small outbreak of fire.

Members of the A.R.P . and First-Aid Services augmented by others from the surrounding district,  rendered yeoman service. Others also worked laboriously in clearing the wreckage and assisting in the search for the victims. The highest praise must be accorded to all of them for the work they did. Work of rescue continued until after nightfall. When operations were resumed the next day the work of salvage and clearing up the debris went on.  A chicken that had been trapped for twenty-four hours was released, and the previous day two cats that had been trapped by the wreckage were freed and were uninjured. The morale of the people was excellent, and some Union Jacks which were found among the debris were placed on vantage points on the damged property. 

During Saturday afternoon the Bishop of Winchester, accompanied by his Chaplin and the Vicar, visited the bombed area and inspected the damage.