A Schoolboy's War in Ascot and Langton Matravers, Dorset

When war broke out I was 6 years old. We lived in Ascot so did not see much of the German bombing. I remember seeing one group of their bombers when I was on a train going up to Waterloo. Then the night bombing started and the air raid warning would frequently sound. My father was an air raid warden before he joined up. One night a stick of anti-personel bombs was dropped along Fernbank Road. I believe one person was killed at the roadside. A bomb fell on our vegetable plot destroying my father's work, including two cauliflower that I had 'adopted'. Of course the house was damaged, but it still stands. After our bomb, while I was sheltering under the stairs, my father opened the front door, asked if we were all right and went off again. Well, he was on duty!

In 1942, after my father joined the RAF, we moved to Dorset. My elder brother and I were at a school in Langton Matravers at this time. The war did not pass us by. There had been a bomb on the school tennis court, and we had another larger one two fields away. Another night a German plane crashed several hundred yards from us.

We lived beside Studland Church. One day I was surprised by a loud roar. I rushed out of the door in time to see two ME 109s fly over. The noise was caused by their sudden climb from sea level to clear the low cliff and trees just a few hundred yards away. They were so low that I could see a pilot, wearing his breathing gear, looking down at me. This was one of the tip-and-run raids. The planes flew low to avoid radar and then dropped a couple of bombs on Swanage before dashing for safety over the English Channel. A pilot, on another occasion, decided to machine gun people trying to get off Swanage beach through several gaps in the barbed wire. Another pilot was kinder: he had been at a school in Langton Matravers before the war and kindly dropped his bombs elsewhere.

Sometimes, looking over Ballard Down from school we would see a great cloud of black smoke rising. My home was not on fire! Oil was stored in a wood near the south beach in Studland. I don't know why some of it was burned, but there was a sinister reason for its presence. Studland beach was a possible place for the Germans to land if Hitler had chosen to invade us. Under Studland Bay there were oil pipes. The plan was to release the oil if the Germans came, and set the bay alight.

Later in the war this schoolboy was excited by two rehearsals for the Normandy landings. Both happened during school holidays. First, I awoke to the sound of gunfire. From my bedroom I could see a destroyer through a gap in the trees; and there were smaller craft coming and going all the time. Some were giving covering fire to the troops and vehicles that were being landed under the watchful eyes of the King, Churchill, Eisenhower and Montgomery from Fort Henry. This vantage point is near the Manor House Hotel and I believe it is now open for public viewing. I didn't see the King, only his empty Rolls-Royce. The other occasion I remember was the bombing rehearsal. We were warned to keep all windows open to avoid blast damage. Even so part of the plaster fell from my bedroom ceiling.

At the time I could recognise all the bombers - heavy, medium amd light. They flew over Studland Heath from all directions, at different heights, and dropped their bombs. To my young eyes this was precision bombing of the highest order. No bombs hit other planes beneath them!

My mother's 'war work' was to help in a village canteen for the soldiers who were stationed on the edge of the village. I have a photo of the seven women who worked in it. During holidays I often made toast for the soldiers, but I was too shy to leave the kitchen. However, I was often given American chewing gum by the grateful men! Alas, many of those men died on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

My final memory is a little confused as far as timing is concerned. During the summer my school would frequently bathe at Dancing Ledge. First in a small pool blasted out of the rock; then in the sea. It was a great experience swimming from the great rock ledge straight into 6 fathoms of the English Channel.

One day a line of landing craft was seen between Swanage and the Isle of Wight. Has the invasion started? Some of us walked to the cliffs near Dancing Ledge and saw an 'armada' making its way up the Channel. Yes, the invasion was on: later to be confirmed on the wireless.

History tells us it was delayed by 24 hours. Perhaps our confirmation was unofficial!

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