War In A Seaside Town

Having read with great interest the book, Worthing At War, by Colin Clark and Rupert Taylor, I was prompted to place on record a few of my own experiences and memories of those war years in Worthing. Although I can recall the following happenings, I cannot be precise about the dates, but it all happend between the declaration of war in September 1939 and 'VE' and 'VJ' days in the summer of 1945.

War Was Everywhere

The majority of young lads, like me, at that time had an interest in the progress of the war. It was the subject of every radio news bulletin and headlines in the daily papers. There was no escaping the subject because we were issued with gas masks and taught how to use them, we could not walk along the sea-front or go on the pier, or in the bandstand, because a multitude of large concrete (anti-tank) blocks, each about 6ft square, were spread along the shore-line. In addition, a section of the pier was blown out by the military to stop enemy ships unloading supplies at the pier-head. A copious amount of barbed wire was strung between the blocks and land mines were laid under parts of the shingle beach. This was all done to hamper the progress of a possible German invasion. Pill boxes, anti-aircraft guns and searchlight batteries were strategically sited around the town, RAF wireless and Radio-Location (now called RADAR) stations were on the outskirts at Poling, Highdown and High Salvington and most of the South Downs, north of the town, were used as a training area for the British and Canadian armies. Troops were stationed in the town, tanks were carried by Southern Railway and sometimes unloaded at the Bridge Road Goods Depot. The roads, especially in hot weather, and the kerb stones, were badly damaged by the movement of tanks and assorted military vehicles that lined many roads throughout Worthing. After the war those concrete blocks had to be removed from the beach and this, not only presented problems but cost a fair bit in time and money. I recall seeing them loaded individually on to lorries and taken away, some went up Hill Barn Lane and others to a sandpit near Storrington.

Volunteers

For those who were not in the armed forces, there was other important work to do, after normal working hours, like fire watching and growing food and/or duty as an ARP warden or service with the Home-Guard. Food was rationed and most youngsters, who shopped for their busy parents, soon learnt how the ration book system worked and where to join the shortest queue. We queued up for everything because it meant that a shop had received a supply of something like fish, offal (not rationed) and, toward the end of the war, bananas and oranges. Such things as Dig for Victory, the blackout, the air-raid siren and salvage, were all part of every-day life. From soon after the British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk to the time of the Normandy landings, gunfire and the screech and clatter of tank tracks became familiar sounds in the town and the surrounding villages.

Railway Crossing

We lived on the East side of St. Elmo Rd. The rear of the house overlooked the tennis courts (Now bowling greens) which were bounded on the other sides by the houses and bungalows in Woodside and Pavilion Roads. The properties on the south side of Pavilion Rd. backed onto the main railway line which ran from Brighton to Portsmouth. In fact we lived about centre between the South Farm and West Worthing railway stations and crossings. I often stood on Jacob's Ladder, a footbridge between Heene/Tarring roads and Becket/Pavilion roads and watched a train of flat goods trucks carrying tanks. The load was so heavy that a steam locomotive was used at each end to push and pull. The poor old Southern Railway, like the roads, was never designed for this sort of work.

Air Raid Shelters

From our bedroom window we had a clear view to the South-East and often saw German aircraft flying to and from raids on London, or, carrying out hit and run raids on Worthing.
I remember sitting under the dining room table, with my parents, and hearing the bombs explode when German aircraft attacked Ford aerodrome. Not long after, myself and other youngsters assisted with the unloading, from a large lorry, of Morrison table shelters, in 'kit' form, which were later assembled in the main living rooms of many houses in the road. I think each householder paid about 35 shillings (£1.75) toward the cost. I know my father, as an owner-occupier, paid a similar amount each half year to the Worthing Town Council for special insurance to cover bomb damage repair.

Bed On Lathes

The Morrison table shelter was a hefty beast, constructed with 12 sections of angle-iron bolted into a frame about 3ft high. This supported a thick steel top, measuring about 6 x 4ft. Spring steel lathes criss-crossed the bottom angles about 6in above the floor and wire-grids were clipped on all sides to form a cage. In theory these could withstand the weight of a collapsing house and so protect the occupants until they were dug out by an ARP rescue team. In practise, bedding was laid on top of the lathes, some food, first-aid kit and torches were kept under this ‘table' so that the shelter was ready for use during a raid. Before the advent of the Anderson garden shelter and the Morrison, the cupboard under the staircase was thought to offer the best protection if the house was damaged. Very often when the siren went during the evening we slept under this 'table'. The amusing thing was that as soon as the siren went or guns fired our large black cat was the first on the bedding inside our shelter. Three of the side-grids were always in position and the fourth was hooked on from inside, by the last entrant.

Shell Cases

We often watched dog-fights between the RAF fighters and the Luftwaffe bombers over the town during the battle of Britain. Along with many others, dad and I went to see the Heinkel 111 that was shot down and crashed at the top of Honeysuckle lane in August 1940. It attracted a large crowd, many of whom took a bit of perspex or metal work as a souvenir. This aircraft is the cover picture of Worthing At War. During one dog-fight, spent cannon shell cases were falling in St. Elmo road and our neighbour, ran out and picked up a couple, while my father, typical ARP warden, was shouting to her to get back indoors before she got hurt. These two brass cases were polished by her and kept as ornaments on her mantelpiece.

ARP Warden

Until he was called up in 1942, my father was one of the local air-raid wardens attached to the ARP Post in the basement of the old tennis-club in Pavilion Rd. I think he did most of his training, especially the anti-gas, in Beach House. Consequently an abundance of first-aid kit and other ARP equipment stood in our front hall ready for emergency use.

That Emergency Came

I well remember the night in November 1941 when many houses in Haynes Rd were destroyed by bombs, (Picture W.A.R P.61). Dad and I came out of the Rivoli Cinema, I suppose shortly before 10pm, and as we walked toward Teville Rd we heard the familiar throb of German aircraft engines. "Thats a bloody Jerry if ever I've heard one," said dad and we then hurried through the dark streets toward home. When we reached the southern end of St. Elmo Rd, bombs came whistling down. "Down son" shouted dad and he laid on top of me in the road as debris fell around us. After this we ran toward our house to find the front door blown open and a few windows smashed. Dad grabbed some of his emergency ARP gear and cycled up St. Elmo Rd toward the devastation in Haynes Rd. While he was away, mum and I cleaned up the broken glass at home. Later dad came back for more first-aid gear and said that one of his fellow wardens had been killed and that, he and a war-reserve policeman, by the light of their respective torches, were trying to help an injured person trapped in the wreckage.
Although the direct hit was three roads away the blast damaged several houses in St. Elmo Rd and no doubt in other roads as well.

Working Men's Club

Our house suffered again in March 1943 when a 500lb bomb landed on the Working Men's Club at the Pavilion Rd/St. Elmo Rd junction (Pic W.A.R P.74). Although this and neighbouring buildings were destroyed, a great deal of the blast went across the tennis courts opposite instead of damaging more property. There were no flats on that corner in the 1940s. I was in Storrington that day and due to catch the bus home that arrived at Worthing Station at 4.50pm, thus giving me about 10 minutes to walk from the station, in Cross Street, along Pavilion Rd., home. The bomb fell at 5pm, but, fortunately for me, I missed the bus at Storrington and came home on the next one. There was some relief when I got home at 6pm (instead of 5pm as expected) because I had been reported missing and they were looking for me among the debris. More windows were smashed this time and, with the help of neighbours, mum and I spent a long time digging bits of glass out of carpets, curtains and furniture. Because it was war-time the windows were replaced, under the war-damage insurance scheme, with a type of agricultural glass, which was not easy to see through. However, these were replaced by father when he left the RAF in 1945.

Two Lots Of Gas

Late one afternoon mother and I saw a loose barrage balloon fired on by a British fighter to render it harmless. One very noisy night mum and I, watching from the rear bedroom window, saw one of Worthing's gas holders, in Lyndhurst Rd, go up in flames following a machine gun attack by a German bomber. I think it was that night that our house shook as we got to the bottom of the stairs when the Germans dropped a land-mine type bomb on houses in the Grove Road area. Land mines, usually dropped by parachute, seemed to have a more percussive bang than H.E bombs

Dud Bombs

My neighbour and pal watched an enemy aircraft drop a stick of bombs which fell in the St. Andrews Rd. area. None went off and when examined they were full of sawdust, most likely sabotaged by the forced labour who built them. The only damage was mechanical as the heavy bomb casing struck the corner of a house. One of the casings stood for a while inside the ARP HQ somewhere in Orchard Avenue. Around that time a crate of incendiary bombs landed near Pelham Rd. and only one went off. It was thought that the crate should have stayed in the aircraft. The latter was either damaged or its bombs were also sabotaged

Fell Short

I remember seeing tanks using flame throwers while training on the downs, but sadly, one midday, an artillery shell fired from the training area, which should have gone out to sea, dropped short and exploded in the front hall of a house in Pavilion Rd. This resulted in the death of a young lady who was walking nearby. [According to Worthing At War, she was 15-years old] I was just leaving home when this shell went off, the blast blew my trades-bike over and I ran down St. Elmo Rd and around the corner into Pavilion Rd and saw the damage. This was the first time I had seen a person killed.

Target Railway Again

During another night raid, a bungalow was destroyed in Pavilion Rd. when bombs hit the railway line. We were sleeping downstairs at that time, because of the raids and were awakened by the explosion. That was another near miss for us and even a closer one for father and two of our other neighbours who were at the ARP post, under the tennis club, about 500 yds from the impact.

Training

Many times I watched people training with the ARP on the old tennis courts behind our house. They erected a few small huts, set fire to them with a type of incendiary bomb while trainee crews, with stirrup pumps, put them out. Most of us lads were taught what to do. One directed the hose nozzel at the point of fire, another pumped water from the attached bucket, while the third fetched more buckets of water. The nozzel could be switched over from jet to spray, which was recommended for certain types of bomb.

One sunny evening I sat on a wall overlooking the 'tennis court' and listened to a lecture and demonstration, by the Home-Guard, about the workings of a weapon known as the Blackard Bombard.

Sea Mine

Mother, father and myself had a narrow escape while shopping in Montague Street on a very windy afternoon. We looked in a shop at the Crescent Rd junction and then, as we crossed the road and entered a shop on the opposite side, there was a mighty explosion which shattered the plate glass in the shop we had just left. We learnt afterwards that a sea-mine had been blown ashore and set off some of the land-mines on the beach as it exploded.
The sea-front road between Marine gardens and the Pier was often littered

Dim Out

After the D-Day landings in June 1944, the town was almost clear of military vehicles and as the risk of air attack, especially from the hit and run raiders, diminished, the total night blackout was replaced by the 'Dim out' when just a few street lamps were turned on.

Land-Mark

I understand that when the authorities realised that the German daylight 'hit and run' raiders, based in France, were using the Worthing Corporation Electricity chimney, in Little High Street, as a land-mark its height was reduced by some 70ft.

Cemetaries

Dad told me that, in case of invasion, a lot of Worthing's archives and records were hidden for the duration of the war in some of the monumental tombs in South Farm Rd cemetary. On this subject, I remember looking at the white crosses by the graves of the German airmen in a special section of the cemetary at Offington Corner. Each cross carried the flyers name and rank and they were buried with full military honours under their own flag.

Delivery Vans

Although their use was restricted because of petrol shortage, most of the trades-vehicles had a 'cannon' badge on their windscreen which, I believe, meant that they were available on demand for war-work in an emergency.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.