THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

PREPARING FOR D-DAY IN FINDON — 1943

Copyright Valerie Martin 2000

Part printed in the Findon News in March 2001.

On 3RD JANUARY 1943 there was much activity in the sky. American heavy bombers escorted our fighters in an attack on the U-boat base at St. Nazaire.

There were still air-raids being conducted by the Germans and much damage was done in Worthing on 9TH FEBRUARY 1943.

The war was hotting up and on 1ST MARCH 1943 there was a mass exodus of soldiers from our area, Canadians and British. The roads were blocked by tanks going on manoeuvres.

The late Bill Day told me — "The lower end of Church Drive packed with bren-gun carriers and trucks. The soldiers showing us lads over them and then playing football with us in the adjoining field. 

The Canadians showed us how to play, I think it was softball, very similar to our rounders.

Just before D-day all along the bye pass was packed with lorries, tanks and army vehicles of every kind.  Then suddenly when we got up they were all gone, the place seemed so quiet, so strange and so frightening".

 

At teatime on 9TH MARCH 1943 there was yet another raid. Twelve Luftwaffe aircraft appeared flying extremely low in towards our coast.   They were so low that they appeared to be just above the waves.  .   They came in at sea level so as not to be detected by the radio-location.  Bombs were heard and machine gun fire in Findon.   Six attacked our area and the others flew on to Brighton.

A month later, during a calm clear night on 14TH APRIL there was an terrific droning sound of bombers over Findon.   The noise went in waves.   It was a calm clear night.  One wave was continuous for about 20 minutes and many many aircraft were engaged in an attack on the enemy in Italy.  

On the morning of 25TH MAY 1943 the dreaded Luftwaffe went all out to attack in our worst bombing raid of the Second World War on our area. The enemy were confident enough to swoop in and out in daylight in a neatly planned exercise.  They were over English soil for just six minutes and left behind a toll to be remembered.  A total of twenty four people were killed and over 130 were injured in nearby Brighton.    The Germans left over 150 Brighton homes uninhabitable.   The Black Rock gasworks was a blazing inferno.   The London Road viaduct received a direct hit and was a devastating scene.    The Luftwaffe dropped a total of 22 1000 lb bombs on the raid before disappearing over the horizon and back to Germany.

On 26TH SEPTEMBER 1943 it was Battle of Britain Sunday to commemorate the Royal Air Force's victory over the Luftwaffe in September 1940.

A great force of bombers flew south in the afternoon leaving a great white vapour trail in the sky over Findon.

CHRISTMAS EVE 1943 dawned and was another lovely sunny winter's day with a clear sky. Many bombers passed over Findon heading to the south and disappeared out to sea. Villagers later heard on the radio news that over 1,300 aircraft had been sent to bomb occupied France.

In FEBRUARY 1944 black strips of paper with a silver underside were picked up on the Findon Downs. This had been dropped from enemy aeroplanes in a desperate attempt to upset the radio-location.

Nearby Worthing had an early warning of momentous events to come when elements of the 4th Armoured Brigade (veterans of the famous 8th Army, which had defeated the legendary German General, Erwin Rommel, in North Africa) arrived in the town on 12TH FEBRUARY  1944.   They brought with them more than two hundred tanks to line the town's streets, quickly settled into billets in The Steyne and surrounding streets and formed their headquarters in the Eardley House Hotel in Marine Parade.

By the close of FEBRUARY 1944, the United States 39th Infantry Division was undergoing intensive training in the nearby Arundel area and great tracts of our countryside (encompassing Angmering, Patching, Burpham and Clapham) were requisitioned by the War Office.   There was evidence to all Findonians that something of great significant was imminent.

In preparation for D-Day, previously empty quiet meadows where cattle had once been put to pasture were overflowing and crawling with Bren gun carriers, armoured vehicles,  Jeeps and army transport.   Camouflaged army tanks lined the  length of many nearby roads.   Some coastal roads in nearby Worthing were completely sealed off.

Meanwhile, Courtlands, the large mansion at nearby Goring, had been transformed into the headquarters for the Canadian 1st Army.   Canadian troops were already familiar to the residents of Findon and Worthing, having been here since 1941.   But now they arrived in their thousands in Southern England.

In nearby Littlehampton and Shoreham, the port workers had for some time been sworn to the greatest secrecy .  Without knowing precisely where or when they would be used, they had been gathering numerous blunt-nosed landing craft in the two harbours and along the banks of the River Arun and River Adur.    It is said there were also loaded ammunition barges tied up to the banks of the Arun for miles inland.    These almost resulted in disaster when, after D-Day they were being towed down river and out to sea when en route to the invasion armies on the French beach heads.    One of the ammunition barges (said to be carrying at least 400 tons of ammunition) was departing Littlehampton harbour and almost collided with a Dutch coaster which was entering the port against orders.

Another memory is jogged from the grim days of 1944....

I have come across the War Diary of 2888211 Sergeant James Simpson Robertson of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders.  On 16TH APRIL 1944 he was posted to our area.   I am guessing this may have been at the Muntham Court Estate?   If you would like to read this, click on 16th April 1944 — Findon Woods near Worthing, Sussex and scroll down to that date.

30TH APRIL 1944 was a momentous day when the first of 500,000 prefabricated homes (prefabs) went on show in London.

4TH MAY 1944 was Operation Fabius.   It was a final rehearsal for D-Day and was launched on 4th May 1944.   It involved many thousands of troops (including the 3rd British and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions) making a full blown  assault on the so-called enemy shore.   This was, in fact, the beach between nearby Felpham and Littlehampton.

As D-Day drew closer, aircraft of a long-range Mustang squadron based at nearby Ford, penetrated deeply into Europe on "spy in the sky" reconnaissance missions.  

D-Day also had to take account of possible failure on the day and for this purpose a large Somtping field was laid out with huts and tents to receive wounded allied troops and German prisoners of war.

A top secret involving double identity was X-Troop, a unique British Army unit of 72 soldiers, based in a large property in nearby Littlehampton and attached to 10 Inter-Allied Commando.   These soldiers had been issued with new identities because most of them were of German origin and many were also of Jewish extraction.   If captured by the Nazis regime, they would certainly have been executed.   They were all volunteers with anti-Nazi views and took part in very risky and invaluable reconnaissance raids on the French coast prior to the D-Day landings.

ANOTHER DOWNED AIRCRAFT QUEST..... Peter Archbold in New Zealand emailed to say....

Here is another novel photograph.    The steeds and riders are just passing the Premier Garage in the Findon Road.   What a peaceful sight...... you wouldn't think there was a war going on.     But the date is reputed to be wartime....around 1944.   

click to enlarge

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.