Hastings History: When bombs rained down on the town in the worst wartime attack Hastings has known

He writes: Last Saturday, 11th March, was the 80th anniversary of the heaviest and worst bombing raid on Hastings during the Second World War. On that day in 1943 there was much destruction over a wide area, caused by Luftwaffe aircraft using machine guns and high-explosive bombs. There were 39 deaths and 90 people injured.

At just after 3.30pm on the 11th, a substantial raiding force of about twenty Focke-Wulf FW 190 and Messerschmitt FE 109 single-engine fighter-bombers crossed the Channel at Fairlight and then came in line abreast at rooftop height across the town, while another eight aircraft patrolled just offshore. A salvo of 25 high-explosive bombs was dropped randomly across the borough.

The devastation inflicted upon Hastings and St Leonards was unprecedented. Damage was widespread, with the Silverhill area suffering especially badly, where many buildings were completely wrecked. Shops and houses at the Silverhill crossroads were demolished, plus St Mathew’s School in Strood Road, which was luckily empty.

The low level from which the bombs were dropped and the high speed of the aircraft caused the missiles to play strange tricks. One penetrated the house adjoining the Hollington police station, which stood on the corner of Battle Road and Perth Road, and then ‘bounced’ over the Tivoli pub on the other side of Battle Road and exploded in Adelaide Road.

The Hastings Observer two days later reported that rest centres had been opened in the Silverhill area, and mobile canteens were providing persons rendered temporarily homeless with refreshments. However, “The loss of his rabbits, which were buried under debris, seemed to distress one resident more than the loss of most of his furniture,” said the Observer.

Six days after the big raid the Hastings fishing boat EVG RX 152 was blown up by a mine picked up in her trawl in Rye Bay. Her crew survived. But the three crew of the Boy Billie RX 61 were killed in the fishing fleet’s worst tragedy of the war when their boat hit a mine on 10 April 1943. The crew were lifeboat coxswain Ned Muggridge, Dave Coussens and Charles Page.

The second heaviest wartime attack took place on 23 May 1943, when at least 25 people were killed and 85 injured. The Swan Hotel in the High Street and the Albany Hotel in Robertson Terrace were both destroyed.

There is more information about the Second World War in the Hastings Chronicle section of my website www.hastingshistory.net.

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