大象传媒

These are a few of Granny鈥檚 memories, Vera Law, of the 1939/45 war.

When war was declared I was only 12 years old. I lived with my parents and two brothers on the farm at Ottinge. My father came into the yard where we were playing to say that war had been declared. At the same time we heard the air raid siren sounding and we felt very frightened, not knowing what was going to happen. Mother said that we should all go inside the house, as it would be safer if we were bombed. Of course nothing happened that day.

Soon we were told that everyone must 鈥淏lack Out鈥� windows and doors so that no light could be seen by enemy aircraft. All the empty houses in the area were taken over and occupied by the troops. Different regiments came and left during the war period. Every day the soldiers would parade in the square, practising rifle drill and marching. At playtime all of the school children would watch them. At the start of the war there were no air raid shelters at the school. So when the siren went, we would all have to run across the road and shelter in the church. For safety reasons only half of the children were in the school at any one time. Those living on the outskirts could go in the morning and those living locally in the village could go in the afternoon.

My first fright was at one play time when two very low flying German fighters flew right over the school and looking up we could see the pilots looking down at us. Also we could clearly see the large black swastika on the wings. They flew up the valley, along the railway track and were not challenged, as the soldiers did not appear to be manning their guns.

Several bombs were dropped in and around Elham and Lyminge but fortunately no one was seriously hurt. They seemed to drop mostly in open spaces and sometimes in soft ground. Even so many ceilings, windows and roofs were damaged. One Sunday a string of bombs was dropped near Peydens at Elham. 3 more fell on the kennel bank and one in front of Dr Hunter Smiths house. Later when I was working in Lyminge stores, a bomb fell at the back of the shop. Again it was in soft ground and all the tins, packets and bottles etc., fell off the shelves. The windows were smashed and there was a great deal of noise and mess. Luckily, no one was hurt. Some small bombs were dropped at North Lyminge and in the meadows nearby. This may have been because troops were always about there and sometimes 鈥淏ig Bertha鈥� was used from there. 鈥淏ig Bertha鈥� is a gun that used to brought along the railway lines from Bishopsbourne, where it was kept in a tunnel and fired out into the channel. This was practising in case the German Army invaded England in their boats, when it would have been used to fire on them.

Probably my nearest escape from injury was one dark evening, cycling home to Ottinge from the shop in Lyminge with my friend. We heard a plane coming over very low, and in the moonlight we saw something leave the plane. We stopped and there was a very large explosion a few hundred yards away in the orchard of Lower Court. We learnt later that it was a land mine. Another one fell on the observer post in Lyminge at the back of Rat鈥檚 castle. When we arrived home we found windows broken etc. My mother was desperately worried, as she knew I would be on my way home, but the blast went away from us 鈥� thank goodness.

During the latter part of the war, the Germans started using the 鈥淒oodlebugs鈥�. These were unmanned large bombs, which looked like small aeroplanes and were driven by engines. You knew the sound of their engines and hoped that the engine noise would not stop, because if it did the doodlebug began to come down and then exploded as it hit the ground. One came down near the Prince of Wales pub in Rhodes Minnis and demolished 3 or 4 cottages. One lady lost the sight in one of her eyes, but the other occupants were not injured. Another one fell on the Methodist church in Lyminge, completely demolishing the building and the house next door. Again, no one was hurt. A third one fell at Ottinge, near the railway line. My father was delivering milk to the Railway cottages. He was blown by the blast into the kitchen of one of these cottages, but again he was not hurt.

One day I returned from work to find my mother in a very distressed state. She had just been informed that my brother, a navigator in a Lancaster bomber had been reported missing during a raid over Germany. Luckily, a few days later, we were told that he was the sole survivor from the plane. He had parachuted out, and came down in the Black Forest. Fortunately, he made his way in the right direction to safety.
We had all grown accustomed to having the Army around us and seeing the lorries, tanks and Bren guns being carried on our country roads. I was a very young lady in my teens and I quite enjoyed seeing these young soldiers around. I used to go to the local dance and even played baseball with the Canadians on Tayne field. Many local girls married them and have remained in the area.

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by BARBARA COLLINS-NEWING from 大象传媒 KENT on behalf of Mrs Vera Law and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

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