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fighters was heartbreaking.
September 20th 1940 - Churchill made famous speech, in praise of the gallant 'few' of the Royal Air Force, who won the Battle of Britain.
September 15th 1940 - During the raging of the battle, Thameshaven, the huge oil depot in our area was bombed & set alight. It burned for three days and the smoke rose 10,000 feet, plus Tilbury docks nearby.
CLIMAX !
September 15th 1940 - In the early evening of that same day, in the midst of these events, a dozen of us were grouped together and issued with arms and ammo and taken to the top of nearby Langdon Hills. This is the highest and most strategic point in Essex.
Thus began the longest night of my life. The civilian population had taken cover & prayed. Intelligence had spotted German soldiers embarking onto invasion barges on the French coast en route to Britain. At the same time the German airforce were bombing a pathway from the English coast, up the Thames estuary and on to London. We were in that lane. Paratroopers were expected to land and crush any resistance. We set up a road block and waited for the invasion to come. Wave after wave of bombers came over, some to go to London, some to jettison their bombs and turn back, some to be hit by gunfire and crash. And still they came. The oil depot was hit again, flame and smoke filled the air, plus gunfire from the anti aircraft units and the shriek of falling shrapnel. The hours crawled by as we sheltered in the ditch. The air grew chilly and one lad kept on about he'd not got his greatcoat with him. The attack raged on. In the early hours our C/O came around. His words to us were to say, there would be no surrender but we were to fight to the death.
Slowly, oh so slowly, dawn broke. The bombing now ceased, a deathly silence ensued and still we waited and waited for what was to come. A handful of soldiers with rifles and one machine gun against battle trained German paratroopers. The hours crept by in that deathly silence when about 10 o'clock we received the order to stand down. The invasion had been postponed !
Much, much later we were informed that the Royal Air Force had poured oil around the invasion barges and set the sea alight. Unable also, to defeat the RAF over Britain, Germany changed their plan and did not attempt invasion again.
Air raids continued for many months but with less intensity.
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The war spread, and in the next 5½ years of duration, I was moved on to other theatres of war and duties in Iraq, Israel, India and finally to the Western Desert. So, the invasion that never came, became a memory. It could have altered the course of history.
EPILOGUE - 2004 - 63 years later.
Purely by chance, on a flight, I became acquainted with a lady who lives in Langdon Hills, in Essex. This rang a bell, and I mentioned that I had served there in the war. This led to an invitation to have a look around there now.
It is sometimes a mistake to go back to the past, but I went. My first visit was to the little village of Horndon-on-the-Hill, my first war site. As expected, vast changes had taken place, new houses, new roads even. But in my mind I recalled the momentous events of 1939. I spoke to some of the residents, one lady had lived there all her life. I recalled the months of night duty and events.
My next call was 'one tree hill', another of my war sites. It is now a national park, and the ranger in charge was most interested in my past and war recollections.
My highlight was to be invited to Thurrock war museum. I met the local historians, a Mr J. Catton & Mr R. Reynolds. They asked of my war recollection, made copious notes, and presented me with their book "Thurrock goes to War". A very pleasant trip.
On Langdon Hill, I sat and gazed down the valley at Thameshaven oil depot and remembered those far off dramatic days with the sky black with bombers and the depot on fire. I was minded of the poem extract "….Time, like an ever rolling dream, bears all its sons away…".
Maybe I was lucky to witness those little parts of Britain's history, and I'm glad I went back.
In the twilight of my days, I have looked back briefly, and now move on to what the future may bring.
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Bracknell Camera Club and its individual members have, during the past few years, participated in more & more external competitions, with much success. Recently, members entered the Havant National Photo Exhibition, which received some 800 entries.
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