FIRST HIT
A simple plaque on a memorial
stone situated at the junction of the A169 and A171 roads two miles west of
Whitby in North Yorkshire tells an interesting wartime story. Fighter ace Fl. Lt. Peter Townsend was on
coastal patrol from RAF Acklington in Northumberland on 3rd February
1940, when he spotted an enemy Heinkel bomber.
He chased the bomber inland and shot it down close to the spot marked by
the plaque. The enemy plane crashed in
flames into a tree, narrowly missing a pair of remote cottages nearby. It was the first enemy aircraft to be shot
down on English soil in the Second World War.
The plaque reads :
N.R.C.C
The first enemy aircraft to be shot down in England during the second
world war
fell 80 yards opposite this tablet on 3rd February 1940.
Townsend, subsequently Group Captain, was later to become
closely involved with Princess Margaret.
THE FAULD EXPLOSION
A plaque on a memorial stone alongside a huge crater near
to the village of Hanbury in Staffordshire, tells a dramatic story:
‘ Just after 1100 hours on 27th
November 1944, the largest explosion caused by conventional weapons in both
world wars, took place at this spot, when some 3500 tons of high explosives
accidentally blew up. A crater some
300ft deep and approximately a quarter of a mile in diameter, was blown into
the North Staffordshire countryside. A
total of 70 people lost their lives and 18 bodies never being recovered. The 21 MU RAF
Fauld disaster is commemorated by this memorial, which was dedicated on
25th November 1990, some 46 years after the event.
The stone which is of fine white granite,
was a gift organised by the Commandante of the Italian Air Force Supply Depot
at Novara, a sister depot of 16 MU RAF Stafford, from the firm Cirla & Son,
Graniti-Milano.’
The explosives were apparently being stored in old mine
working prevalent in this area.
The Fauld Crater
THE DAM BUSTERS
The Royal Air Force Station at Scampton in Lincolnshire
closed down in 1996, to be remembered as one of the famous wartime bases. This is where the famous 617 Squadron – The Dambusters – were based. It is also the site of Nigger’s grave, Wing Commander Gibson’s dog, immortalised in the
film ‘The Dambusters’ and a book of the same name. It is now the home of the Red Arrows flight.
Nigger's Grave
Gibson's Grave
Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, the legendary leader of the Dambusters, was shot down near Steenbergen in Holland on 19th September 1944 and, together with his navigator, Sqdn Leader J.B Warwick DFC, was buried in the local cemetery.
OPERATION PLUTO
During WW2 the invasion of Normandy in France needed a vast amount of advanced planning to get the invasion troops, vehicles and supplies across the English Channel. Land arrangements were mainly satisfied by floating huge piers across the channel to construct the artificial Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches.
Another important logistic was the supply of fuel and this was solved by Operation PLUTO (Pipeline Under The Ocean). A pipe line was laid across the 70 miles of channel between Shanklin on the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg in Normandy enabling a million gallons of fuel to be pumped daily.
The place where the pipeline conmmenced can be seen on the promenade at Shanklin and part of the pipeline can be seen in nearby Shanklin Chine where it has been preserved.
A MEMORIAL SEAT
In the Rose Garden of the Abbey Gardens at Bury-St-Edmunds
in Suffolk, is a metal memorial seat on which the inscription reads :
1945
Presented to the City of Bury-St-Edmunds
By the US Army Air Force.
The seat was
constructed from parts of a ‘Flying Fortress'.
A very fine memorial recalls the period of the Second
World War between 1943 and 1945, at the USAF Station Deenethorpe in
Northamptonshire. Situated on the
roadside alongside the now derelict airfield, the inscription reads :
To remember the 401st Bombardment
Group H
8th United States Air Force
Station 126 Deenethorpe
October 1943 – June 1945
The best damned outfit
in the USAF
MORAL BOOSTER
Between April and June 1942 Allied prisoners of war at
Tandjong Priok POW Camp, Java, built a chapel which was consecrated as St
George’s Chapel. Two stained glass windows set into the wall behind the altar
were designed and painted by a British Officer Lt. Commander H.C Upton, RNVR.
Part of the design included the Royal Coat of Arms and, known only to a few of
the prisoners for fear of retribution, the artist replaced the face of the lion
with that of Winston Churchill, smoking his trade mark cigar.
Those original windows are now on permanent display at the
Anglican Church of All Saints, Jakarta.
In 2005 faithful copies of the windows were produced and
placed in the Far East prisoners of war building at the National Memorial
Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire and Churchill’s face can be clearly seen.
CHANGI PRISON
The infamous Changi
prison in Singapore was built in 1936 to house just 600 prisoners. During WW2
after the fall of Singapore the prison was used by the occupying Japanese army
to hold some 3000 POW’s and civilian detainees whilst some 50,000 POW’s were
held in various camps nearby. Thus the hell hole of Changi became synonymous
with Japanese prison camps. About 850 POW’s died at Changi and a lychgate was
built at the entrance to the burial ground by 18th Division REs. The
original gate was subsequently dismantled and in 1952 it was re-erected and
dedicated at the entrance to St Georges Garrison Church, Tanglin Barracks,
Singapore. In 1971 it was again dismantled during the withdrawal of the British
Garrison and the gate was once again re-erected at Bassingbourn Barracks, near
Cambridge. In 2003 the gate was finally moved to the site of the Far East Prisoners
Of War Grove at the National Memorial Aboretum near Alrewas in Staffordshire. A
block of stone and a cell door from the demolished Changi Prison, together with
a portion of the infamous Thailand Burma Railway, are also preserved at the
site.
The original lychgate
Cell door
Preserved railway
THE CHURCHILL BARRIERS
Churchill Barrier
MONTY'S CAR
Field Marshal Bernard
Montgomery ‘Monty’, was the most famous British soldier of WW2 and led armies to success in North Africa and Europe. Whilst
leading his troops in North Africa, Monty was very fond of his Humber staff car
known as ‘Old Faithful’. When he was chosen to be one of the leaders of the D
Day landings in France he asked for a new Humber, which fell into the sea as
it was being unloaded off the supply ship. Monty had it recovered and when it
was serviced it was as good as new. Known as the ‘Victory Car’ Monty used it
from Normandy, June 6th 1944 to Berlin, August 25th 1945
and it never let him down. the victory car was returned to the UK in 1947 and
can be seen in the Motor Museum at Coventry.
The barriers are a
series of four causeways which link the Orkney Mainland to South Ronaldsway via
the islands of Burray, Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm, a total length of 1.5 miles.
They were built in the 1940’s at the instigation of Winston Churchill as naval
defences to protect the naval anchorage in Scapa Flow. They now carry the A961
road from Burwick To Kirkwall.
In 1939 the Royal Navy
battleship, HMS Royal Oak was moored in Scapa Flow and on 14 October she was
sunk in a night time attack by a German U-boat which had entered this natural
harbour between the mainland and Lamb Holm island. 833 lives were lost and the
sunken battleship is a designated war grave marked by a buoy next to Scapa
Beach where there is a Memorial Garden.
Although the shallow
eastern passage into Scapa Flow had been protected by sunken block ships and
anti-submarine nets the U-boat was able to navigate around them at high tide
and escaped the same way. The barriers were constructed using Italian prisoners
of war to provide the labour. The use of POW labour for war effort work was
prohibited under the Geneva Convention but their use was justified as
‘improvement to communications between the islands’ which resulted in the
present day A961.
Gabions enclosing
250,000 tons of broken rock from local quarries were used as foundation and
were covered by 66,000 locally cast 5 ton concrete blocks with 10 ton blocks
alongside to act as wave breaks.
As a war grave, the
remains of the Royal Oak are protected by a ‘cage’ and diver’s are forbidden to
trespass. However a diver did recover the ship’s bell and after a period of
time he handed the bell over to the authorities and it is now preserved in
Kirkwall Cathedral as a memorial.
2 comments:
Thank You for including St Georges Chapel commemorating prisoners of war taken by Japanese Armed forces. There is little comment regarding those servicemen sacrificed through Japan's cruel prisoner policies. My wife's Uncle Frederick Dowding was abandoned by RAF Command whilst on active service in Java February 1942 later to die in mainland Japan December 1942 at Yokohama. He was a LAC groundcrew servicing Hurricanes of 605 Squadron. Family legend reports that he had opportunity to escape aboard a fighter but stepped down to assist a colleague who had been shot by Japanese troops whilst insisting that the pilot escaped.
I am so glad to see this post.
Brass Plaques
Engraved Plaque
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