大象传媒

Bournemouth is a beautiful resort on the South coast of England. With its favourable climate and dozens of hotels, it made the ideal location for No.3 Personnel Reception Centre of the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World war. The beaches and cliffs overlook the English Channel and, even on a bright day, the horizon is usually obscured by a haze.

On occasion a fearful sight emerged from that haze; the so called tip-and-run raiders of the Lufftwaffe. At times these were ME10-9 fighter bombers, but the favourite attacker was the Focke-Wulf 190. They operated out of a number of airfields in the vicinity of Cherbourg and Caen. The payload was a 500 kilogram bomb carried under the fuselage. Their objective was to hit the railway stations or gas depots, but other invitiing targets were the hotels of the Bournemouth and Torquay where the German Command knew the Canadian airmen were billeted.

For the most part they were young, recently graduated officers and NCOs awaiting posting to operational training units or active squadrons. The time usually chosen for an attack was lunch ot teatime, when most everyone was eating or relaxing.

On 23rd May 1943 the peacefulness of a beautiful Sunday morning was abruptly shattered when 22 German aircraft, led by Lt.Leopold Wenger, conducted their most audacious raid on Bournemouth.

The Kingsway Hotel, the congressional church and Beales department store sustained significant bomb damage, but at the Lansdowne Circle, the Metropole Hotel was virtually destroyed when it took a direct hit. Casualties were high. Among the 128 killed that day were 51 service men. Members of the RCAF are recorded in Les Allison's memorial book "They Shall Grow Old Not". They include two Manitobans: Sgt.David Chalmers (38) from Rosewood, and Flight Sgt. Air Gunner William Abbott (21) from Winnipeg.

Visiting Charminster Cemetry on a visit to Bournemouth in 2000, I was directed to the military section known as the North Cemetry. Here the grounds were immaculately maintained, with spring flowers at each grave site.

(PK)

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