WORLD WAR TWO

 



 

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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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 27^th 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 25^th 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'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USAF MEMORIAL

 

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 401^st Bombardment Group H

8^th 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 18^th 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

 

 

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 6^th 1944 to Berlin, August 25^th 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 CHURCHILL BARRIERS

 

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.

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

Churchill Barrier

Scapa Flow and marker buoy

 

 The Royal Oak bell

 

THE ITALIAN CHAPEL

 

 

 

This very fine ‘tin tabernacle’ is situated on the tiny island of Lamb Holm in Orkney.

During WW11 550 Italian prisoners of war, captured in North Africa, were housed on this previously uninhabited island between South Ronaldsway and The Mainland. They were to be involved in the construction of The Churchill Barriers.

Scapa Flow was a strategic Royal Naval base during both world wars and in 1939 a German submarine broke through the defences and torpedoed HMS Royal Oak which together with its 833 men sank into 90 feet of water where it still rests today.

Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, ordered four defensive concrete dykes to be constructed across the eastern approach to Scapa Flow and they became known as The Churchill Barriers. Today they carry a road linking the various islands, including Lamb Holm, to The Mainland.

The prisoners were housed at Camp 60 in 13 Nissen huts and they enhanced the camp themselves with the use of the readily available concrete and in 1943 the camp commandant authorised the use of two Nissen huts to provide a chapel for the prisoners. The huts were placed end to end and the interior was lined with plasterboard. The prisoners built a concrete façade complete with belfry to conceal the shape of the Nissen huts which they thickly coated in concrete. One of the prisoners, Domencio Chiocchetti, assisted by his fellow prisoners, painted the interior which resulted in a magnificent and spectacular work of art. Chiocchetti also fashioned a statue of St George from barbed wire and concrete which still stands near to the church.

In 1960 Chiocchetti returned to Lamb Holm to restore his paintwork. This category A masterpiece is now under the auspices of a preservation committee.

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD WAR ONE

 

 

THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS

 

 

A rare survivor, this wooden cross was brought from France in 1924 and re-erected near the railway station in Dingwall by the 4th Seaforth Re-Union Club, in memory of their beloved dead during the 1914-1918 War.

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THE WAGGONER'S RESERVE

A fine memorial,which commemorates a very fine troop of farm lads who went to war, can be seen in the Wolds Village of Sledmere near Malton in East Yorkshire. 

The inscription on The Waggoner’s Memorial  reads :

‘ Lt Col Sir Mark Sykes, Bart. MP, designed this monument and set it up

as a remembrance of the gallant service rendered in the Great War 1914 – 1919

by The Waggoner’s Reserve, a corps of 1,000 drivers raised by him

on the Yorkshire Wolds farms, in the year 1912.’

The amazing stone relief panels depict the men enlisting, training and fighting, as well as their peaceful activities on the farms.   These men were experienced horsemen and joined the reserve from all parts of the Wolds.  When war broke out, they became part of the Army Service Corps and most of them saw active service in Belgium and France.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An illuminated memorial book, listing all men of the Waggoner’s Reserve, and their deeds, can be seen in Sledmere church.















WAR GRAVES

Known as The Marble Church, St Margaret’s Church at Bodelwyddan in North Wales, was built in  the mid 19^th century by Lady Margaret Willoughby de Broke at a cost of £60,000.  This finely ornate church, which took four years to build, is a spectacular landmark at the side of the A55 road.  In the churchyard at the front of the church is a curious ‘war grave’ area of 117 graves with their white military gravestones.  34 of these are the graves of British servicemen who died during WW1 and the other 83 graves are those of Canadian Servicemen who died at the nearby Kinmel Park Military Camp.

It appears that the majority of these servicemen died as victims of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19.  However there is much speculation over the fate of five of the Canadians.   What is certain is that on 4/5^th March 1919 a disturbance took place within Kinmel Camp, a staging camp, where Canadian Troops were waiting to be repatriated.  The men were restless following repeated sailing delays, and when a ship, allocated to convey the troops back home to Canada, was diverted to carry food supplies to Russia, riots took place and in the mêlée three soldiers were killed and two died later of injuries.  Apparently Courts Martial were held and some detentions were ordered.  It had been said that the five Canadian servicemen had been executed for mutiny following the riots, but this has been strongly denied by The Canadian Department of National Defence.

St Margaret's Church

 

 

 

 

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

 

 

Richmond Castle in North Yorkshire was used as a barracks in the 19^th century and some detention cells still remain. They were used to house conscientious objectors in WW1 whose death sentences had been commuted to hard labour. Percy Goldsbrough was one of them and he left a message on his cell wall which is still there. It reads: “I Percy F Goldsbrough of Mirfield  was brought up from Pontefract on Friday August 11^th 1916 and put into this cell for refusing to be made into a soldier.”

 

Richmond Castle

 

 

 

 



THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

THE LAST INVASION OF BRITAIN

 

Above the doorway of the Royal Oak pub in the centre of Fishguard in Wales are the words   

 

‘Last invasion of Britain peace treaty was signed here here in 1797.’

It refers to the last landing of a foreign army on British soil which occurred during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1797 a force of 1,400 men was put ashore at nearby Carregwastad Point with ambitious orders to march north through Wales to take and burn the port of Liverpool. Half soldiers, half released  jail prisoners were under the command of an Irish-American named Colonel Tate. They were immediately attacked by a mixed force of yeomanry and villagers including women, and in two days their surrender was accepted. The French invasion force was lined up on Goodwin Sands and Colonel Tate signed a surrender document in the presence of British commander Earl Cawdor at the Royal Oak. The table on which this took place can be still seen inside the pub.

 

 

 

 

The Royal Oak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEFENCE BATTERY

 

 

 

During the Napoleonic Wars, the 12^th Earl of Cassillis of Culzean Castle on the Ayrshire coast, was well prepared for a possible invasion.  He constructed gun emplacements on a rampart near the castle.  11 six pounder cannons could fire cannon balls up to 2 miles distance.  They are still intact being the only Battery of their type remaining in Britain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ROYAL MILITARY CANAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the beginning of the 19^th century it was thought that a likely point of possible invasion by Napoleon’s Army was at Romney Marsh and as a result a unique defensive canal was built as a third line of defence after the Royal Navy and a line of 74 Martello Towers along the coast. Construction began at Seabrook near Hythe in Kent in 1804 and was competed in 1809 at a total cost of £234,000. It runs for 28 miles to Cliff end near Hastings. A Royal Military Road constructed parallel to the canal with an earth parapet 13 feet high had field guns positioned every 600 yards which as a whole formed an impressive defensive structure.

 

 

 

 The Royal Military canal

 

 

 

 

The canal is still well maintained being an important environmental site for the control of water levels in the area.  

 

 

 

 

 

THE TRAFALGAR WAY

 

 

 

The Trafalgar was inaugurated in 2005 when the Princess Royal unveiled a plaque at Falmouth in Cornwall to launch a series of events along the Way, each one marked by a similar plaque.

The Trafalgar Way is the historic route used to carry dispatches, with news of the Battle of Trafalgar, overland from Falmouth to The Admiralty in London.

In 1805, Lt. Lapenotiere of HMS Schooner Pickle reached Falmouth on 4^th November enduring bad weather. He then continued by express post-chaise to London with 21 stops to change horses on the 37 hour 271 miles journey. At the Admiralty he delivered the news of the decisive defeat of the combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar and the death in action of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson. The news was immediately passed on to the Prime Minister and the King.

The victory removed the threat of an invasion of England by the armies of Napoleon Boneparte

 

 

This plaque on a building in Lemon Street at Truro marks the fist post-horse change.

 

 

EQUESTRIAN STATUE

 

 

What is said to be the only equestrian statue  in an English church can be seen in St Luke’s church at Gaddesby in Leicestershire.   The 1848 statue, by Joseph Gott, of Colonel Edward Hawkins Cheney and his horse, is a life size sculptured monument depicting Col. Cheney of the Royal Scots Greys, who fought in the battle of Waterloo on June 18^th 1815.   He had four horses killed under him and rode off on a fifth horse when command of the regiment devolved upon him.  

At the base a panel shows Col. Cheney in hand to hand combat with a French officer who was trying to recapture a lost Napoleonic eagle.   

The story goes that Gott, on completing the statue, realized that he had left out the tongue of the ‘in extremis’ horse and in despair he committed suicide.


 

 

THREE  OLD SOLDIERS

A gravestone situated just outside the door of the church at Studland near Swanage in Dorset tells, on one side, the remarkable story of Sgt William Lawrence, who saw active service with the 40^th Regiment of Foot for some ten years.  He fought against the Spanish in South America in 1805 and then fought in most of Wellington’s battles in the Peninsular War.   He was severely wounded at the storming of Badajos, but recovered sufficiently to take part in the decisive battle of Vittoria.  He advanced with Wellington into France and fought in the ‘glorious battle’ of Waterloo.   He was awarded the silver medal and no less than ten clasps.  William ended up in Paris during the Allies occupation.

The other side of the stone simply reads:

CLOTILDE  LAWRENCE, St Germain-en-Laye (France),

Decedee a Studland Le 26 September 1853.

William had married Clotilde Clairet in France and brought her home to his native Studland where they kept a small inn.  When William died in 1869, his wish for a military funeral was respected and volunteers fired a farewell volley over the grave of this brave man.

 

 

 

 

 

A gravestone in Utley Cemetery at Keighley in West Yorkshire tells us that it is in memory of :

 

‘Christopher Ingham landlord of the Reservoir Tavern, Keighley,

who died September 1866 in the 80th year of his age.

He was one of the heroes of the Peninsular War having served in the

95^th Regiment of Foot for which he received the silver medal with clasps

for the engagements at Toulouse etc. He also received the

Wellington Medal for Waterloo dated June 15^th 1815.

 

 

 

 

Known as Sharpe’s Grave, because it is thought that Bernard Cornwell used Ingham’s life as the basis for his ‘Sharpe’ novels.     The Reservoir Tavern still exists in West Lane at Keighley.

 

 

 

In the churchyard of the parish church at Thornton-le-Dale near Pickering in North Yorkshire, is a gravestone which was restored in 1939 by the Lancashire Fusiliers.  It tells an interesting story :

‘ In memory of Mathew Grimes, who died October 30 1875, aged 96 years.

An old Soldier who served with the 20^th and 24^th Infantry

 in India and Peninsular Wars

Guard at St Helena over Napoleon and a bearer of that Monarch to his grave.

This monument is erected by admiring friends of an old veteran.