大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jenny Ford on behalf of Mr. Alan Evans and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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What did Biddenham see of the war? We had all the usual fetes, Salute the Soldier, Wings for Victory and Warship Weeks. These were held in the gardens of big houses, Biddenham House for one. We had the usual Air Raid Precaution people and the village had a voluntary fire service made up of local residents. The Army's presence was seen twice, once in the field at the top of 'Go' Lane next to Thorpe House. This was a small detachment that built gun positions out of sandbags, and a Guardroom at the gate that rather resembled a garden hut! I think that the foundations of the Guardroom can still be seen by the gate. Most of the children were attracted to the fact that we had soldiers there and went regularly to talk to them, fascinated by the fact that the soldiers were living in tents. They did not stay long and one day all upped and left to go to Hurdlefoot Lido near Pavenham. I can't imagine that Hitler would have invaded England via Hurdlefoot Lido!

The next time the Army came to the village was for about three weeks and we had in the field by the river along by the church Auster aircraft of the Army Observation Corps that used to fly regularly in and out of the long field. Together with them was the RAF Regiment. This was the first time people had seen members of the RAF Regiment, as it had not been formed very long. They wore blue RAF shirts with black ties and RAF blue forage caps, but the rest was khaki uniform. Why they were there I do not know, but they were nice lads and again attracted the local children. We, like a number of other village residents, had some round Sunday lunch during the time they were there. We had three. I do recall they had very powerful binoculars that they let me use. I had a great time with them. When they moved on they left nothing behind, unlike the first lot who had left ammunition dumps by the roadside between the top of 'Go' Lane and Bromham Bridge.

During the day the American Flying Fortress bombers from Thurleigh would circle around building their formations to go out in bulk, sixty or seventy a time or more. Six or seven hours later they would be back. Perhaps not so many and some flying on three or even two engines with tail and rudders shot up. I would stand in our garden to count them back and watch them prepare to land and watch out for the odd straggler that could be pouring smoke.

There was the other side of course. I remember listening to the very familiar throb of the German bomber engines as they flew over Biddenham on the night of the Coventry raid and flew back again later. Two doodlebugs - V1s - showed themselves to me over the village one evening. Both carried on and came down Wootton way. Both came down in fields so no direct damage was done. I once watched out of my bedroom window as two American Aircobra fighters flew fast and low over the house only to collide way out near Kempston. One went down showing smoke. This happened just before Christmas. There was no report in the newspapers, as this sort of thing was never mentioned during the war.

There were two other incidents I remember during the war in connection with bombing. The first was rather comical. On one January night in 1941, having been to tea with a school friend in Queen's Park, I was cycling home up Biddenham Turn. Suddenly there was an almighty flash and bang from Kempston way. This was followed by silence until the air raid warning went well after the event. Next day the 'event' was discovered to have been a German landmine dropped from a lone aircraft. As they came down by parachute, these made no noise until they exploded on impact. This one missed the Barracks but fell in the Kempston rubbish tip, and while doubling the size of the tip hole returned most of the rubbish back to the local residents. This caused a laugh and was a boost to morale.

The second occurrence was at about 8.30am in July 1942. Again a lone bomber came across to Bedford to bomb Allen's, the Railway and the Gas Works. These were missed but the Waverley Hotel in Ashburnham Road was cut in half and the Assembly Rooms next to the Theatre were damaged. The other bombs dropped in Franklins and Quenby's yards causing no damage. Fortunately there were no injuries as many people were going to work and school as I was. I watched the plane go over Harpur Street. Once again the air raid warning went after the bombs had dropped. I understand that the plane was shot down over Cambridgeshire.

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