Max Pudney recalls a boyhood episode
There was an unbelievable roar of BMW radial engines just above the roof tops, then came the explosion of nearby bombs. My parents and I were under the dining table with our fingers in our ears, but in less than 10 minutes it was all over.
Sunday 23 May 1943 was a beautiful spring day. The air raid sirens had sounded shortly before lunchtime, but at that stage of the war we had become a trifle blasé and paid little attention to the warnings.
Twenty-five Focke-Wulf FW 190 fighter bombers from SKG 10, led by Austrian-born Lt Leopold Wenger, had taken off from their base near Caen in northern France, to fly at 50ft above the sea trying to miss the radar, bound for Bournemouth on the south coast of England — my home town!
However, the enemy aircraft were picked up by naval radar at St Boniface Down on the Isle of Wight and Fighter Command was alerted. My sister, a WAAF plotter, was on duty that day near Exeter. She felt somewhat unnerved as she pushed the enemy discs across the plotting table towards Bournemouth, she told us afterwards.
The cliffs at Bournemouth are 100ft high and several Bofors anti-aircraft guns had been positioned along the top to combat such a raid. Unfortunately their gun barrels could not be directed below the horizontal, thus being of little use on that day. I had seen the guns practising on several occasions, firing at a drogue towed by an aircraft. After that raid, the guns were all repositioned below on to the promenade. Closing the stable door, as they say.
The Germans had apparently set up special groups to carry out tip-and-run attacks on seaside towns such as Bournemouth, which was a reception centre for aircrews arriving from Canada and the USA, having completed their flying training. They were resting there until vacancies occurred in operational training units. The enemy knew quite well that such towns were seething with Commonwealth aircrews and did their best to kill as many as possible.
Reports of the raid vary considerably, but it seems the raiders came in perfect line astern formation, dropping their bombs on selected targets, mainly hotels that were likely to be accommodating aircrew members and large important-looking buildings. They also machine-gunned groups of people, causing heavy casualties.
I spoke to an ex-RAF pilot recently who had arrived in Bournemouth only two days before the raid, having trained in Canada. He was in his billet and heard the roar of approaching planes. Looking out he saw a German plane at almost eye level flying towards him. At that moment it released a bomb, with the plane and bomb seeming to be heading straight towards him! He immediately thought, “I’m going to die, this is going to be a short war”, but they both passed over the roof and he lived to tell the tale.
A Canadian bomb aimer was strolling through the flower gardens on this beautiful sunny afternoon. “I remember hearing the roar of engines and looking up I saw my first enemy aircraft, an Fw 190. I ran across to the shopping area. On the way I saw an Australian airman hit — he spun around, his leg was missing!”
The Central Hotel on Richmond Hill received a direct hit. The bar was crowded with pre-lunch drinkers and the floor is said to have collapsed. Drinkers and diners were buried below under heaps of rubble, but passers-by immediately started to dig them out. There is no record of any casualties.
Beales, a huge department store, received a 500lb bomb and a fractured gas main which immediately started a serious fire, taking five hours and 15 pumps to bring under control, but by then the building had all but collapsed. On the flat roof was an anti-aircraft machine gun post manned by men of the 87th Light AA Regiment. They continued to engage the enemy aircraft, which were flying past very low and fast, with their triple Lewis guns, (three barrels linked together) while the building was burning beneath them.
The guns received a direct hit from a cannon shell, causing casualties to soldiers operating the guns. The two NCOs led their men, carrying the guns, down the stairs through the smoke and flames to safety. They were both awarded the British Empire Medal for bravery. One aircraft was seen to be hit and disappeared towards the sea, losing height.
The Metropole Hotel was also a billet for Commonwealth airmen, and there too the bar was full when a bomb caused the walls and floor to collapse, with 12 civilians reported to have been killed. Seventy-six-year-old stoker David Gear was in the boiler room when the bomb struck and, although bruised and cut about the head, he stayed to dampen down the boiler fires, switch off the electric power and wait until the steam pressure had fallen before cutting his way out with a fire axe. He was awarded the Commendation for Civilian Gallantry.
When all was quiet we crawled out from under the dining table, feeling relieved that we were safe and sound. The only sign of the raid was a piece of bomb splinter having hit the house and a brick from someone’s house lying on the grass. I cycled around the town looking at the damage and rescue squads still rummaging through the ruins. They were being assisted by dozens of air force personnel and the occasional American soldier who had probably come to Bournemouth for a quiet weekend.
For some time after the air raid several roads were closed because of unexploded bombs and badly damaged buildings. Because the bombs were dropped from low height, some failed to explode. On one occasion the fins of a bomb were seen in a garden — obviously an unexploded bomb. The Bomb Squad was called and dug very carefully but failed to find anything. It was decided the bomb had landed horizontally, skidded along the road, detached its fins into the garden and come to rest some distance away.
A few minutes after the raid a former RAF sergeant was accosted by an elderly lady who started belabouring him with her walking stick and shouting, “Why weren’t you up there stopping them?”
He said, “One confused old lady unknowingly inflicted more damage on my person than Hitler had been unsuccessfully attempting over the past four years!”
The mayor of Bournemouth received a letter from the local CO of the RNZAF, expressing the thanks of all the officers and sergeants posted to the town, for the hospitality and friendliness shown to them.
Two German aircraft were apparently destroyed that day. One was thought to have crashed into the sea and another Fw 190 was shot down over the town, killing the pilot, Uffz FK Schmidt. It is debatable whether the plane was shot down by a Spitfire or by one of the Bofors guns stationed on the cliffs.
The total deaths that day caused by enemy action were 208. Civilian deaths amounted to 77, plus 196 civilian casualties treated in hospital, while many others were treated at first aid posts. Military deaths were 131 and casualties were treated in military hospitals.
The German radio described the raid to be 88 percent successful.
- Report by Max Pudney