It was a fine and clear day, about 11-00 a.m., a Saturday, I think. Some things are forgotten in fifty years. I did jobs for a fisherman who moored his motor boat, DR 80, about 100 yd. away from the end of the railway footbridge at Kingswear. He wanted me to row his dinghy to Dartmouth and fetch a 40 gallon drum of diesel oil from a marine engineer whose premises were on the river embankment and roughly midway between the Hospital and the Lower Ferry slipway.
Moored in the middle of the river, opposite the Royal Dart Hotel, was
a large grey ship, the BELFORT, a converted cargo vessel, which tended a fleet or a dozen
or more M.L.'s and M.T.B.'s. In the evening many of these fast well-armed craft returned from convoy and patrol duties in the Channel and moored alongside. At dawn some left the harbour, often with an outgoing convoy of ships, to resume their duties. Usually four or so craft remained alongside the mother ship. Farther up-river, opposite Coronation Park, two coal hulks were anchored. Often one or two vessels were alongside them taking on coal.
On arrival at Dartmouth a large drum of diesel oil was lowered into the dinghy using an improvised sheerlegs. The stern sank lower into the water and the bow rose up under the additional weight of 400 lb. or so. To lower the bow, and because there was insufficient room at the stern, I sat on the seat nearest the front. I cast off, pointed the boat towards Kingswear and started to row. The boat, down at the stern and deep in the water, was very sluggish and hard to handle. I rowed hard and the boat moved slowly with the current taking me a little up-river.
When about 20 yd. abreast of the mother ship I changed direction and headed parallel to her with the intention of turning across her bow to get around her. I was pulling hard against the current and looking up-river when I noticed three planes travelling over Noss from the Hillhead direction. As these low-flying fighter bombers passed over the shipyard a
bomb was dropped which caused a large explosion and initiated a smoke and dust
cloud. Two or these planes, flying side by side, proceeded towards the Naval College whilst the third turned down-river towards me. This aircraft, flying very low and with cannons firing, passed over the coal hulks and dropped a bomb which hit directly a small coaster, the FERNDALE, tied alongside. By now, machine guns were firing at the planes from land sites and ships but some guns could not fire because of the lowness of the plane for fear of hitting houses on the opposite side of the river. There was a lot of noise which echoed, and re-echoed, within the river valley. It was frightening.
A couple of sailors on the mother ship were shouting and waving frantically at me to come to the side of the ship for protection. I could see the fighter flying towards the ship so I thought it wiser to stay in the open. In any case, I couldn't row fast enough to reach the ship in time. The plane passed, mast-height, over the ship with its cannons blazing. The guns of the M.L.'s and M.T.B.'s directly beneath were firing at it and the noise was deafening. Lewis guns, Oerlikon cannons, pom-poms and other guns, all opened up. Something fell from the plane, which looked like part of its landing gear, but the plane flew on under intense fire towards the
Castle and safety. I could see clearly the pilot, dressed in flying helmet and jacket looking down towards Dartmouth as the aircraft flew over the ship. The other two planes then re-appeared from the Townstall direction, low-flying down the valley over the market place and church before following the other plane towards the river mouth and away from the guns. One of these planes had dropped a bomb on the
Naval College .
The air-raid siren started to sound as the planes were disappearing. Then it stopped there was a deathly silence. The air was saturated with smoke and the smell of cordite. I felt thankful that I was unharmed and recommenced rowing. I noticed that the small cargo vessel had sunk and the tops of its masts were sticking out of the water.
This raid only lasted a minute or two but the happenings are as vivid now as they were then. I can still smell cordite when I recreate the picture in my mind.
Dennis Thyer
The raid took place on 18th September 1942 at 11.31. I was 13 years 9 months old at the time. I wrote this article in 1992 for my grandchildren. I lived in an advantageous position in Kingswear overlooking the railway station and river, and on the Brixham-Kingswear Road. Very little escaped my attention. My father was in charge of the small fire station at Kingswear from July 1942 until July 1944, and he worked at Phillip's Yard, Sand Quay.
Strafing a playing field, Torquay 1943/44
I was a student at the South Devon Technical College, Torquay from 1942 to 1946. We did games on Wednesday afternoons at Pennymoor playing field in the St. Marychurch area. Our class was divided into two groups and we played each other at rugby. In late 1943 or early 1944, about 1-30 p.m., three or four of us arrived at the field about 20 minutes before the lesson started. The field was flat and open with 2 or 3 pitches on it. There were no surrounding hedges or trees in the field to use for shelter; only a wooden changing room near the entrance. Whilst we were waiting outside the locked changing room, two ME 109 fighter bombers, flew very low towards us across the field firing cannons. We ran to the back of the shed for a little protection. The planes passed directly overhead and a few minutes later reappeared still firing guns and flew over the hut. We hastily ran to the opposite side of the building for shelter. No shells landed very close to us but we were scared stiff. When walking to Torre station after the lesson we could see some evidence of the attack. Some roads and walls were pitted with shell marks and plenty of broken glass and roof tiles littered the roads and pavements. I don't think there were any casualties, however. Even now, in 2004, about 60 years later, I can still see clearly in my mind the pilots in their grey planes displaying black crosses, flying towards me with cannons firing, and experience a strong sense of fear. We were fortunate to escape unharmed. The remainder of our class arrived soon after the planes had disappeared. Had the planes arrived 15 or 20 minutes later they would have been able to machine gun 30 or so teenage boys playing rugby. What a narrow escape!
Dennis Thyer
13/09/2004
