Life on the home front - Ashford Borough Council
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TH A
A Y 7 5 N NIVERS
ARY
VE D
Life on
the home
front
FE ON THE HOME FRON
LI T
Evacuation
During the Second World War
many children living in cities
and towns that were at high
risk of being bombed were
temporarily evacuated to places
that were considered safer,
usually to more rural locations
in the countryside. The first
A play performed by the Catford
official evacuations began on Central School for Girls “to
1 September 1939, two days cheer themselves up” during the
war. Image courtesy of Smarden
before the declaration of war. Local History Society.
Catford Central School Thousands of children were
for Girls outside Smarden evacuated to Kent towns and
e
School, March 1940, the sam
day the Mayor and May oress
villages. Catford Central School
of Lewisham visited.
Image courtesy of Smarden for Girls evacuated pupils
Local History Society. to Smarden, Bethersden and
Biddenden. Mrs Blundell the
Head Mistress, as well as some
younger brothers and sisters
were also included in the
group of evacuees.
Mrs Emmie Marchant’s evacuees:
Dennis Brockenshire (left) and
Keith Richardson (right). The
younger brothers of pupils
from Catford Central School
for Girls. Image courtesy of
mond Keene
Rehearsal of “A Midsummer Smarden Local History Society. The Rathbone’s evacuee, Ray
ght) who was
Night’s Dream” by the pupils (left) with Joh n Furse (ri
at Hegg Hill
of Catford Central School visiting his grandmother
rtesy of
for Girls. Image courtesy of Farm, Smarden. Image cou
iety.
Smarden Local History Society. Smarden Local History Soc
E ON THE HOME FRO
LIF NT
“To begin
Home Guard and
with they
D e f en ce V were the ‘L
olunteers’ ocal
rif les, no (L D V ), with no
Civil Defence
uniform,
brassard ( o n ly their L
armband) DV
the Home . A y ear or so a
Guard pro f t er
with unif p e r w as in being
(Left) J.C. Beadle M.C., Sec
tion-Leader,
e th reat of inva si on an d the impact of bombing was enlist
orms, rif l
e s , ammo an
,
“Local Defence Volunteers”
1940. Due to th d all, I
Captain,
rn me nt ca lled on volu nt eers to join the Home auxiliary
ed (not to
o willingl
Right) W.G. Rushton, later the gove y) as paid
Smarden Platoon, “Ho me Gua rd”.
to be tr aine d in civi l defence duties such as Company
, plus my
typewriter,
Image courtesy of Smarden Guard and , of which for B
gh ti ng, firs t aid an d ambulance driving. and Hoth S m a r d e n , Pluckley
Local History Society. firefi f ield form
every af te e d a platoon,
rnoon rep and
Civil Defence consisted of the Air Raid H eadquar o r t e d at Compan
ters in the y
Precautions, St.John First-Aid Detachment, o f f i ce . T h r o o m n ext the pos
e H.G. was t
Special Constables and the Fire Service. training kept hard
in the Sch at it;
ools durin
and every g the week
Saturday ,
Pluckley rif le pract
Brick Wo ise at
rk s. As D
near, we b -Day drew
ecame of f
Army, an i c i a lly par t of
d were res the
a night g p o n s ib le for post
uard at th ing
e railway
Godinton bridge in
Park.”
M. R athbo
ne, Smard
Smarden Local Defence Vol
unteers
Wartime Special Constable en.
Ima ge cou rtesy of s.
pocket book. Image courtesy of Smarden
Smarden Local His tor y Society. Smarden Fire Service. Local History Society.
Image courtesy of Smarden
Local History Society.
Sydney E. Small (centre)
with sons E.J. Small (left)
ge courtesy of
and L/ Ac. Arthur L. Small Kennington Home Guard 1940: Peter Howard, seated Tenterden Home Guard. Ima
al History Society.
(right). Image courtesy of far left, later joined The Buffs Regiment (Royal Tenterden and District Loc
iety. East Kent Regiment) and was awarded the Military
Smarden Local History Soc
Cross. Image courtesy of Robin Britcher.
FE ON THE HOME FRON
LI T
Air Raids
The Ashford Railway Works was a prime target
for German bombers. In fact, during the war,
there were some 4,000 air raid alerts and bombs
regularly fell in the vicinity.
Bombed,
Beaver Road Primary School
oug h Museum
March 1943 (c) Ash for d Bor The worst incident for Ashford came on 24 March
1943 when an air raid that lasted just three
minutes, killed 50 people and seriously injured a
further 77. Two spotters saw enemy aircraft flying
from the Mersham area directly out of the sunlight. New Street bombed, March
1945 (c) Ashford Museum
They sounded the danger signal and the staff at the
railway works had only 25 seconds to find cover.
Although the railway works was the main target,
the surrounding areas were also badly hit. The
worst of the damage occurred in Milton Road, New
Street, Hayward’s Garage, Dover Place, New Rents,
Star Road, Hardinge Road and Kent Avenue.
ch 1943
Hay wards Garage bombed, Mar
(c) Ashford Borough Museum During the raid, a bomb also fell on Beaver Road
Primary School, formerly located on the corner of Heinkel bomber that crashe
d
on Spearpoint Rec in May
Beaver Road and Victoria Road. Thankfully, the 1941.
Image Courtesy of Robin Bri
tcher.
sirens sounded in time and the children were already
in the playground shelters. Two classrooms which
80 girls had just vacated were completely destroyed.
Long before the all clear sounded, parents and
friends rushed to the school to find the children
unscathed. Miss Adams, the Head Teacher, received an
award for her actions, which ultimately saved the
lives of the schoolchildren.
German pilot Paul Keller, nicknamed the
“Bombenkeller” (bomb shelter), led the attack
on Ashford. Keller did not survive the raid,
his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and Road,
Wrecked houses in Grosvenor
bed March 1943 December 1942. Image courte
sy of
Dover Place, Kent Arms bom he crashed in Godinton Road.
(c) Ashford Borough Museum Robin Britcher.
IFE ON THE HOME FRONT
L
Buzz Bombs
On 13 June 1944 Britain came under attack from
a strange new German weapon, a V-1 flying bomb.
The allies called it the “buzz bomb” or “doodlebug”
d.
because its engine produced a very loud buzzing soun
The V-1 was essentially what we now call a cruise
missile. It was used for bombing London, but it also
caused great devastation throughout Kent.
June to fix
In the early morning of 24 The Royal Dragoons trying
Ber t Wood’s a buz z bomb
1944 a buzz bomb fell on the dam age caused by
e, Smarden. at Hothfield Place, Hot hfi eld ,
bungalow, Burnt House Lan b o mb
Local of a buzz rte sy of
Image courtesy of Smarden The result Farm 28 June 1944. Image cou
History Society. Luck hurst Hothfield History Soc iety.
crashing at 1944.
29 Aug ust
Corner on arden
tesy of Sm
Im age cour Luckhurst Farm Corner fro
ory Society. m the “I remember the fi
Local Hist other side, 29 Aug ust 194
4. rst night of the bu
Image courtesy of Smarden zz bombs
- like nothing so
Local History Society. much as a quick
succession
of diesel trains, on
ly just overhead.
It was a
dangerous night
for us, for all the
soldiers
round about were
firing with every
thing they’d
got. Day af ter da
y, night af ter nig
ht they
went on. Most of
us were sleeping
downstairs
now or in shelters
. Our people were
trying
to shoot down the
tion buzzers outside th
A buzz bomb fell on Corona e towns,
Villas on 29 Aug ust 194 4. where the populati
on was less dense
Mrs E. Ledger and her bab
y .”
urt .
Joh n were saved and unh
Image courtesy of Smarde n 29 August 1944, Fairview Villas completely L . R athbone, Sm
destroyed by the same buzz bomb at Luckhurst arden
Local History Society. Farm Corner. And before the war. Images courtesy
of Smarden Local History Society.
IFE ON THE HOME FRONT
L
Women at Work
e Se co nd Worl d Wa r me n aged between 18 and
During th
ne ed ed in th e Ar me d Fo rces and this would
41 were
aw ay fr om th ei r jo bs in factories and farms.
take them
e sh or ta ge in th e wo rk force, women worked
To fill th
orie s co ns tr uc ti ng we ap on s and many others
in the fact
rk on farms.
joined the Land Army to wo
Land Army girls working at
n
Hamden Grange Farm, Smarde Driver Joan Sharpe
e
where around 350 women wer (Mrs Sydney Millen) Land girls working at Vesper
trained in milking during attached to the Corps Hawk, Smarden, c.1944. (Left)
of
the war. Image courtesy of Royal Electrical and Florrie Bennett and (Right)
n Local Histor y Society. Mechanical Engineers, Tilley Stevens, Women’s Land
Smarde
Repton Manor, Ashford. Army. Image courtesy of
She was a driver for Smarden Local History Society.
Army Officers, called
up in 1939. Image
courtesy of Smarden
Local History Society.
Leading Wren Audrey Batt
(Women’s
Royal Naval Service), with
her sister,
December 1944 to January
1949.
Audrey Batt spent two yea
rs on H.M.S.
Somerset and two years on
H.M.S.
Gan net, Londonderry. Image Kate Rofe, munitions worker.
courtesy
of Smarden Local History Kate was employed at a factory
Society.
at Foots Cray (London Borough
W/O Julia Davis, Women’s of Bromley) that constructed
Lucy Morris (later Mrs Rel y
f), Sybil Batt (front), Land Arm Auxiliary Air Force, who spitfires for the war effort.
Women’s Land Army. Worked
at 1942-1946, was a tractor joined at the outbreak Photo taken before the war.
her home at West Hoy, Sma er
rden. driver and carried out oth of the war and served at Image courtesy of Smarden
Image courtesy of Smarden rde n.
farm work at Bobbing, Sma a Kent aerodrome. Image Local History Society.
Local History Society. n
Image courtesy of Smarde courtesy of Smarden
Local History Society. Local History Society.
The Battle The first major incident of
the Battle
of Britain of Britain occurred on 2 Sep
when more than 70 Hurricane
tember 1940
s and Spitfires
in the hter and bomber
Britain was on, and we intercepted 250 German fig
“And now the Battle of peared The Battle of Britain,
ra th er under it. A. A. guns ap planes over Ashford.
Weald we re in it, or
fights all over our head
s, with the July - October 1940, is without
in various fields. Dog- aking Later, on 15 September 194
ic ef fe ct of ex ha us ts in the cold upper air m doubt the greatest air battle 0, now
dramat ped and
celebrated as the Battle of
e fighters as they swoo
Britain Day,
white streaks around th
in history. The battleground waves of German bombers and
see
of the sky. We used to
fighters flew
sw irl ed ag ai ns t th e blue was the skies above Kent above the Kent countryside
s; bombs bound for London.
with the bailed out pilot
parachutes descending ll.” and the orchards, fields and 21 squadrons scrambled to
us at night; shrapnel fe
meet the fray and
tison ed arou nd
we re jet villages below where hundreds by nightfall the RAF had sho
t down 61 German
aircraft, 34 of which were
L. R athbone, Smarden. of aircraft crashed. bombers, for the
loss of 26 fighters.
ntrails
edral with co RAF P-51 Mustang takes off
St Paul’s Cath the In the whirling dogfight tha
ove it during from a wet runway during a t ensured,
in the sky ab IW M.
ain, 1940. © test at the Ashford air base, the skies were filled with
Battle of Brit curling
21 October 1943. © IWM. tracers, smoking aircraft
and the crackle
of ammunition. For the peo
ple of Kent who
watched from below it was
impossible to
distinguish friend from foe
.
Two German Dornier 17
bombers over West Ham in
London during a raid on
the first day of the Blitz,
7 September 1940. © IWM.
A Heinkel He 111 bomber fly
ing
over the Isle of Dogs in
the
East End of London at the
start A formation of German
of the Luftwaffe’s evenin erator Heinkel He 111
g raids A battle-da maged B-24H Lib bombers, 1940. During
on 7 September 1940, the up at Ashford the Battle of
first of the 490th Bomb Gro Britain, the Heinkel’s
day of the Blitz. © IWM. 4. © IWM. ability to take heavy
airfield on 30 June 194 punish ment was one of its strengths. © IWM.
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