Casualties of the bombing of Salcombe

CASUALTIES OF THE BOMBING OF SALCOMBE

Occasionally you hear an urban legend which suggests that Salcombe's war bombing consisted of one bomb from a stray aircraft which took out a single property. This could not be further from the truth - in fact, Salcombe was caught between a rock and a very hard place in the Second World War and living there became increasingly dangerous as the D-Day landings approached.

This is not a modern map of the town but is contemporary with that which was studied by wartime planners in Whitehall in 1939. They considered Salcombe to be a very safe place, tucked away out of danger and far from the big cities which the Germans would regard as targets. The Germans looked at the same map and saw the strategic possibilities of Salcombe's harbour and the long river estuary which lay between the sea at Prawle Point and Kingsbridge upstream.

1930s map of Salcombe

The Whitehall planners sent large contingents of civilian evacuees to the area. The Luftwaffe sent low-flying reconnaissance planes and, in 1940, spotted the construction of an RAF airfield at Bolt Head - an airfield which was operational from 1941 to 1945. It would appear from captured German material that they saw the RAF presence there as significant and from that time onwards, sent planes on a regular basis to attack allied aircraft taking off from Bolt Head, to bomb the airbase, to maintain a close watch on the estuary and the towns of Kingsbridge and Salcombe and to bomb these places as a deterrant to the civilian population.

Ultimately, the Germans were proved correct in their surmise about the estuary - it played a vital role in British and American preparations for the D-Day landings on continental Europe which were to signal the beginning of the end of the war. But initially, the estuary was not the primary reason for RAF Bolt Head - the function of that base was to provide protection for shipping coming up the English Channel with vital supplies for the war effort.

And between the rock of Bolt Head and the hard place formed by the harbour and the estuary lay the little towns of Salcombe and Kingsbridge and their people.

The raids recorded below are not the only occasions on which bombing took place in the area:

20 October 1940	Kingsbridge
21 April 1941	Salcombe
25 April 1942	Bolt Head
1 May 1942	Bolt Head
8 September 1942	Salcombe
19 September 1942	Salcombe
2 January 1943	Kingsbridge
6 January 1943	Kingsbridge
9 February 1943	Salcombe
16 February 1943	Kingsbridge
12 March 1943	Salcombe
30 March 1943	Salcombe
30 March 1943	Malborough
30 March 1943	Bolt Head

Thames barges (left)

Courtesy of the Victorian Web.org

Off-shore incidents affecting the town of Salcombe include:

19 September 1942

In April of this year, Churchill decided to attempt a limited landing in France, codenamed "Sledgehammer". 1000 "Thames" barges were requisitioned and adapted to provide a ramp at the rear end which enabled men and motor vehicles to disembark from them. These barges, chiefly used for taking London's rubbish down to the Essex marshes for disposal, had to be towed because they were not powered. The requisitioned barges were towed in flotillas by tugs or small steam boats to various ports in southern England for the necessary adaptation and subsequent training exercises to take place. Renamed "landing barges", five of these "craft" were towed to Salcombe for the very first of these exercises in September 1942. Numbers 332 and 362 were bombed and sunk by the Luftwaffe shortly after arriving at Salcombe on 19 September.

12/13 March 1943

The night of 12/13 March saw bombs falling on the centre of Salcombe.

(The following information has been sourced from Luftwaffe records)

"12/13 March 1943:

A pilot identified as "Deall" of Squadron 266 (the Rhodesia Squadron) intercepted and shot down a Focke-Wulf 190 over Chivelstone ( just outside Salcombe) then immediately turned and chased another FW 190 , shooting it down just as it reached the French coast."

Squadron 266 was charged at that time with the prevention of the so-called "hit and run" raids which were causing such havoc in southern England. Other German planes taking part in the same raid got through and dropped bombs in the central Salcombe area.

13 August 1943:

The sinking of two vessels off Salcombe by bombing - 1) the PIERRE DESCELLIER (built 1933) and 2) the INTREPIDE (launched 13 March 1943). This is the incident in which Elizabeth Mary Chadder-Blank (see below) was killed. She is believed to have been on board a smaller boat, possibly delivering water to one of these ships.

NOT LISTED BELOW

8 September 1942:

Kenneth William John Minney was the son of Gunner Charles Minney and Mrs. E. A. Minney of 6 Church Street, Salcombe. He was was still alive when brought out of the wreckage of his home and was taken to the hospital in Kingsbridge where he died next day (9 September 1942) aged 11 months. Kenneth is commemorated on the Kingsbridge War Memorial.

Thanks to David Murch for this additional information:

" Bombs fell in the Church Street area, demolishing three houses on the southern side of the street, by and below the arch, and severely damaging houses opposite, and in Buckley. The Church and houses in The Island were also damaged."

THE CASUALTIES
ANNA ALEXANDER	Child. Daughter of Signalman Dennis Harry Arthur Alexander of the Royal Corps of Signals and his wife Mrs. D. E. Alexander. Died at Fort Charles 30 March 1943 aged 3.
DOROTHY ROSE BALL	Civilian of 5 Church Street, Salcombe. Wife of Roderick William Ball. Died at 5 Church Street, Salcombe, 8 September 1942 aged 40.
ELEANOR MARY CATFORD	Civilian Fire Guard of 65A, Fore Street, Salcombe. Daughter of the late Alfred Edward and Mary Jane Catford. Born in Devonport in the June Quarter of 1879. Died at 65A Fore Street 12 March 1943 aged 63.
ELIZABETH MARY CHADDER - BLANK	Civilian. Daughter of John Henry and Ethel Honey of 2 Sunny Corner, Liskeard, Cornwall. Wife of Alfred Chadder-Blank of 6 Clifton Place. Born in Liskeard in the December Quarter of 1904. Died on board a small boat in the Estuary 13 August 1942 aged 38.
BERNARD DARNBROUGH	Child of 77A Fore Street, Salcombe. Son of Driver Harry Darnborough of the Royal Army Service Corps and brother of Derek (see below). Died at 4 Church Street 8 September 1942 aged 4.
DEREK DARNBROUGH	Child of 77A Fore Street, Salcombe. Son of Driver Harry Darnborough of the Royal Army Service Corps and brother of Bernard (see above). Died at 4 Church Street 8 September 1942 aged 7.
ELIZABETH GIBSON	Child of 1 Clifton Place, Fore Street, Salcombe. Daughter of Polly Lapthorn (formerly Gibson) (see below). Died at 1 Clifton Place 12 March 1943 aged 15.
POLLY LAPTHORN	Civilian of 1 Clifton Place, Fore Street. Wife of Driver Sydney Dalton Lapthorn, Royal Army Service Corps; formerly named Gibson, she was the mother of Elizabeth Gibson (see above). Died at 1 Clifton Place 12 March 1943 aged 37.
CATHERINE SUSAN PATEY	Civilian member of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade of 9 Fore Street, Salcombe. Daughter of the late Edward and Mary Patey of Kingsbridge. Born in Kingsbrdige in the December Quarter of 1877. Died at 9 Fore Street 12 March 1943 aged 65.
DAVID MICHAEL PUTT	Child. Son of Thomas Henry Putt, of Hope Dean, Marlborough, and of Grace Putt. Died at 4 Church Street, Salcombe 8 September 1942 aged 3 days.
EDITH PUTT	Civilian of 4 Church Street, Salcombe. Wife of William Henry Putt and grandmother of David Putt (see above). Died at 4 Church Street 8 September 1942 aged 68.
GRACE PUTT	Civilian. Wife of Thomas Henry Putt, of Hope Dean, Marlborough and mother of David Putt (see above). Died at 4 Church Street 8 September 1942 aged 27.
WILLIAM HENRY PUTT	Civilian of 4 Church Street. Husband of Edith Putt. Born in Kingsbridge in the March Quarter of 1882. Died at 4 Church Street 8 September 1942 aged 60.
MARY EMILY RICHARDS	Civilian of Sea-Moor, Grenville Road, Salcombe. Daughter of Able Seaman Ernest Albert Richards, R.N. Died at 65A Fore Street 12 March 1943 aged 19.
THOMAS SLADEN	Civilian of 5 Church Street, Salcombe. Son of the late John and Sarah Sladen of Kingsbridge. Died at 5 Church Street 8 September 1942 aged 75.
JOHN ALISTAIR PETER STEDMAN	Child of 9A Robinsons Road, Colliers Wood, London. Son of Frederick Terence Stedman, Died at Fort Charles 30 March 1943 aged 2.