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The German plane getting lower, and the pilot still firing,
my Dad pushed me into a doorway. The plane was so low
by now that I could see the pilot. I believe he crashed into
the sea about ½ mile off shore. My mother was oblivious
to what had happened to us and when we got home
wanted to know what all the noise was. As you can
imagine my Dad's reply was not repeatable.
If you drive out of Hythe on the coastal road you’ll enjoy
a very attractive stretch of sea at Sandgate where author
HG Wells built a house before arriving in Folkestone.
Here’s another eye witness account from the BBC Peoples
War Archive written by Brian Jones who was a child
living in Folkestone during the Battle of Britain.
Where I lived was known during the war as Hell Fire
Corner. As the Germans were only 21 miles away across
the Channel they would send shells over and although
we were not the main target for the bombers, if they were
unable to unload their bombs over the intended target,
(say London) they would on returning unload their
bombs on to Folkestone or Dover. Also Folkestone was
prone to “tip and run” raids from France by (it was
thought) trainee German pilots. There was lots of action
in the air during the day especially during the early part
the war with frequent dogfights with English fighter
planes attacking German fighter planes. I could never
understand when I looked up and saw this going on that
the planes never seemed to be moving. Once when I was
staying with my grandmother in Ernwell Road, Folkestone
a dogfight was taking place overhead and cannon shell
was getting quite close. I was in a friend's house at the
time opposite and we sheltered in the pantry. However
the roof of the pantry fell in because of the overhead
dogfight and my friend and was slightly hurt.
Dover's traditional role as guardian of the Straits has
seldom been more greatly tested than during the Second
World War when the town bore the brunt of enemy
shelling. On 10 July 1940, the day that the Battle of
Britain began, hundreds of Hurricanes and Spitfires
engaged in deadly combat with the Luftwaffe’s
Messerschmitts and Heinkels. In Dover ambulance driver
George Knight was shot in the leg while watching the
dogfights in the blue skies above the town.
On 19 August, in retribution for an attack on German
ships in the Channel, a bomb was dropped on an Army
v Navy football match behind the castle. All the players
on both teams died. In September the London Blitz
began but Dover continued to be pounded by long range
shelling.
Dover’s Buckland Hospital became known as
the Casualty Hospital treating many seamen injured in
Luftwaffe attacks on British shipping in the Strait of
Dover and the harbour.
There were terrifying days to come in Dover, perhaps
none more so than 14 August 1940 when 200 British
and German aircraft met head on over the town. The
aerial battles lasted four days interspersed with long-range
shelling.
On 19 August, in retribution for an attack on
German ships in the Channel, a bomb was dropped on
an Army v Navy football match behind the castle. All
the players on both teams died. In September the London
Blitz began but Dover continued to be pounded by long
range shelling
from the French coast.
The beaches were strung with barbed wire and just a little
inland in the beautiful Alkham Valley a special unit of
just five local civilian volunteers known as the 201
Battalion Home Guard were placed under the command
the splendidly named Colonel McVean Grubbins of
Military Intelligence. Led by Lt. Cecil Lines the men were
equipped with Smith & Wesson revolvers, a Fairburn
Commando knife and a brass knuckleduster and trained
to kill silently and to carry out subversive actions with
anti-personnel mines and plastic explosives if invasion
came. Their HQ was a secret tunnel dug out for them by
the Royal Engineers and they operated in total secrecy
with not even their wives told where they were.
By the time the Battle of Britain officially ended on
31 October 1940 Dover had seen 50 civilian deaths and
over 200 injured. Of the 2,927 men actively involved in
defending British air space, 544 died and another 358
were wounded. They destroyed 2,375 enemy planes and
it was a Dover man Eric Simcox Mars who claimed the
most hits. Simcox Mars survived the Battle of Britain but
was among the 791 of The Few who died before the end
