大象传媒

The first flying bomb, V1, arrived on a cloudy day. Its distinctive sound was quite different from enemy and allied planes that were a daily occurrence most of the time. It was bumbling constant sound until it stopped. Then, a short time after, there was the explosion when the V1 hit the ground.

Initially I had no idea it was an exploding plane but then several more were heard that first day and near by search light battery opened up with its gun firing in the general direction of the sound. This proved to be no deterrent and after a full day the personnel simply stood around and watch as the Doodle Bug flew overhead, sometimes being attacked by Spitfires.

This went on for several weeks with most going on towards London, although we would hear nearby explosions, from those that were bought down before reaching their destination.

Generally, we knew when they were coming because we could hear the anti aircraft guns opening up on the coast when they first appeared and it wasn鈥檛 long before they come bumbling overhead a very few were bought down by the guns.

As a boy of eleven years old I found it all quite exciting and became a sort of mascot for the searchlight where I was given almost free access to the restricted area with instruction to disappear immediately when any military vehicles appeared with visiting officers. I ate in its mess and it became almost like a second home although I even stayed over night and slept under canvas as the searchlight never did.

However my most memorable occasions occurred wearily one morning when my mother violently awoke my brother and I and said get up immediately as a doodle bug was coming straight for the house. She led us down stairs, but before I went I couldn鈥檛 resist looking out of the windows, and saw doodle bug, enveloped in flames with the engine stopped, coming straight for the house and my bedroom window.

I suppose it was almost half a mile away and presumably had been hit by anti aircraft guns which had stopped the engine and caught the fuel tank alight. We scampered down stairs and dived under the Morrison shelter table, which had a solid sheet metal on top, strong angle iron legs with wire mesh sides, we covered our heads with pillows and waited and waited for what seemed like a long time but was probably only minutes when there was a tremendous explosion when the V1 dived into the nearby river bank about 200yds or so away. Little damage was done to the house as the river bank directed mush of the blast upwards.

I think I was the first out and ran ahead of my father to see the crater and pieces of metal strewn around the area. I remember finding a small trout lying in the field, dead but showing no injuries. I thought it must have died from shock!

As well as the large pieces of metal strewn about there were thousands of small pieces of wire, no bigger than needles broken into six pieces, which a number of cows (my father had a small dairy farm) picked up in the grass which punctured their stomach lining and a number died. At the time we were living with a German prisoner of war, ex-submarine, and my father gave him the job of picking up all the pieces of metal as he said it belonged to him.

This story was submitted to the People's Warwebsite by Jim Salveson of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Brian May and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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