Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

WWII Week - Part Six: Our Spitfire

I have unearthed some news following the post about our Spitfire Fund earlier in the week that I thought interesting enough to share. It comes from Doreen Sturtivant courtesy of her father Ray Sturtivant who sadly passed away last year but left us all with a wonderful book about all things Spitfire, 'Gifts of War'.

It seems that our Spitfire, Royal Tunbridge Wells, with our magnificent coat of arms sitting proudly on its flanks, was presented to No.121 Eagle Squadron at RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey on the 5th of November 1941, to run offensive operations over the channel and provide bomber escorts.

However, sadly, just six weeks later Pilot Officer Kenneth Le Roy Holder 745890, a young 23 year old pilot, failed to return from a regular patrol off the Lincolnshire coast. His body was recovered though and is buried in a cemetery in Ipswich, Suffolk. Our Spitfire was lost.

However, the story doesn't end there. Another Spitfire of the same classification was flying for another squadron at Brize Norton until they moved overseas, the aircraft was then transferred to No.131 County of Kent Squadron in Merston, Sussex. Upon arrival at the new squadron in 1942 the aircraft was renamed to Royal Tunbridge Wells and ordered to fly routine sweep patrols. Unfortunately bad luck struck this aircraft too when just four months later it was involved in a mid-air collision with another Spitfire and had to make an emergency landing. The pilot survived but such was the damage to the aircraft that it was converted into another classification of Spitfire, reserialed and renamed. Ending our proud association with the Spitfire.

WWII Week - Part Five: Heroes

No war would be complete without its heroes, and Tunbridge Wells certainly has its fair share. Here are the stories of two of our Victoria Cross holders.

Captain Lionel Queripel from Warwick Park received the highest military decoration there is, the Victoria Cross, which is "awarded for valour in the face of the enemy" for his part in manoeuvres in Arnhem, Holland in September 1944.

Captain Queripel and his company were advancing along a main road towards Arnhem clearing a path for the following battalions of the Parachute Regiment. They were under continuous machine gun fire which, at one point, became so heavy that the group became split on either side of the road and suffered considerable losses. Captain Queripel at once proceeded to reorganise his force, crossing and recrossing the road whilst doing so, under extremely heavy and accurate fire. As he battled to regroup his men he stopped to carry a wounded colleague to the safety of a first-aid post and whilst doing so was himself wounded in the face.

Captain Queripel brushed this aside and gathered his remaining troops together to charge towards the enemy strong point. This strong point consisted of a captured British anti-tank gun and two machine-guns. Despite the fire directed at him, Captain Queripel succeeded in killing the enemy and recapturing the anti-tank gun. As a result of this the following battalion was able to continue their advances towards Arnhem.

Later in the same day Captain Queripel found himself again under heavy fire with a small party of men. By this time he had received bullet wounds in both arms and regardless of this and the heavy mortar and machine gun fire directed at him, he continued to motivate his men to defy the enemy with their dwindling resources of hand grenades, pistols and rifles.

As the fire rained down upon them and the enemy pounded them with incessant mortar fire they had no option but to retreat, Captain Queripel ordered his men to withdraw and covered them with his pistol and a few remaining hand grenades.

This was the last anyone saw of him.

Our other recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War II was Captain John Brunt. Captain Brunt was already a recipient of the Military Cross, which he was awarded for his dogged determination in killing the enemy in Decemeber 1943 and he was awarded the VC for his bravery in Italy in 1945 when his division was under heavy attack from a German Panzer Division.

Whilst his company was being pounded by small-arms fire and heavy mortar fire, Captain Brunt grabbed a Bren Gun and personally confronted the enemy, he ran towards them killing fourteen of them which caused the Division to have to regroup during which time his remaining holed-in troops could fall back to a safer position. Captain Brunt assisted in carrying some of his wounded colleagues back to a first-aid post and then went back to face the enemy.

The Panzer Division now flanked them on two sides, Captain Brunt grabbed another discarded Bren gun and leapt onto the turret of the nearest Sherman tank. He ordered the tank commander to drive from one fire position to another, whilst he stood there, on the turret, firing at the advancing enemy as bullets whizzed past him. Then, seeing the enemy arming themselves with bazookas and approaching his men from another direction fast, he jumped off the tank and ran towards them killing them all and causing the enemy to finally withdraw.

Over breakfast the next morning as the unit relaxed and celebrated their victory, Captain Brunt was standing with a well-deserved cup of tea outside the mess tent when a stray German mortar bomb took them by surprise and landed at his feet, killing him outright.

These brave men are celebrated in Tunbridge Wells at the Victoria Cross Grove in Dunorlan Park. The Grove also commemorates the other eight recipients of the Victoria Cross who had shown great bravery in other conflicts. Pay the Grove a visit and sit in quiet contemplation at what these great men did for our country.

World War II Week continues tomorrow...

WWII Week - Part Four: Buildings

Seeing as though Tunbridge Wells was equidistant from the coast and the capital it became an important hub for certain parts of the military who occupied several buildings in the area.

Bredbury House was one of the most important. It was the home of No.12 Civil Defence Region who would coordinate the defences of the area in the event of a land invasion.

In the event of the Germans cutting networks around the country to London, Bredbury would become the communications centre for the south-east with the building housing a regional government. From here the authorities could control fire and rescue teams and even coordinate military maneuvers. The building and its infrastructure was also cloned in secure bomb-proof bunkers just outside town at Hawkenbury. Bredbury was so important that it was visited on many occasions by dignitaries such as King George VI, The Prince George, Duke of Kent and the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (see above photograph).

The other famous building in military use was No.10 Broadwater Down (see below photograph) where General Montgomery was HQ'ed together with his famous network of tunnels stretching to Hargate Forest. Montgomery also commandeered No.2 and No.13 Broadwater Down to use for soldiers lodgings. Montgomery also took up residence in No.69 Warwick Park for a short time.

Several buildings were requisitioned to become hospitals including No.25 Frant Road and Manor Grange in Hurstwood Lane. Also, Tunbridge Wells, even though it was closer to the enemy than London, was a destination for a lot of refugees from the capital. Many buildings were converted to house them all including No.2 Ferndale, No.17 Landsdowne Road and the Wellington Hotel.

The now-demolished but once utterly beautiful mansion building of Dunorlan Park (see below photograph) was claimed in 1941 as housing for troops and in the two years until the War Damage Commission took it over in 1943 the troops stationed there managed to destroy most of the avenue of statues and the figures on the fountain by using them for target practice.

World War II Week continues tomorrow...

WWII Week - Part Three: Living Day to Day

Tunbridge Wells residents still had to live and work during the war years, the country still needed to function. Although this was obviously quite difficult with such a large number of the populous fighting the enemy, the townsfolk pulled together. With so many of the local working men having been enlisted, jobs were filled by women to make sure the basic public services kept functioning (see photograph below) and by 1942 all women over 21 were required to take employment in certain parts of the military or industries providing the military. Meanwhile, all the men not enlisted were asked to be part of the Local Defence Volunteers (Home Guard) or Wardens (see photographs below). The Home Guard's HQ for Kent, Sussex and Surrey was actually based in Frant Road and Broadwater Down.

Women of World War Two

One of the more memorable restrictions of life during the war was rationing orders. Pretty much as soon as the war began food was rationed to the public, items such as sugar, meat, butter and even tea were limited. This led to a Black Market in these precious items and fines were imposed for anyone found to break the rules, of which there were plenty. Even such presumably abundant commodities as water didn't escape rationing as by 1943 limits were put on its usage and consumption. It's an interesting point to note that rationing actually got worse as the war ended as the production and supply of more and more products dwindled (bread, vegetables, coal, gas, electricity and paper), with it finally ending in 1954.

Transportation was restricted too, both public and personal, as petrol was reserved mostly for military use. By 1942 petrol for residents cars was stopped completely.

Leisure activities, while still popular, were also curbed. Cinemas, theatres, pubs and restaurants were asked to close earlier than normal and even the churches weren't allowed to ring their bells for fear of bringing unwanted attention.

22nd Battalion Home Guard, 1940.

To hide the town from enemy attack all lights had to be blacked out. Street lamps were turned off completely and house lights and car headlights were concealed as much as possible.

Cars (see photograph top) and kerbstones were painted with white stripes to make them slightly more visible from the road, although this caused more casualties than expected as pedestrians stumbled their way around town. A reported rise of 73% in traffic-related accidents was recorded during the blackouts.

Steps were also taken in case the enemy did manage to invade and try and take the town. In 1940 all road signs were removed so the enemy couldn't find their way, although no-one else could either. Huge "Dragon's Teeth" concrete blocks were installed at road junctions to stop enemy tanks running amok.

Wardens and their bicycles, 1939.

What buildings were used during the war? Read more tomorrow...

WWII Week - Part Two: Helping Out

It was not just the soldiers overseas who were fighting the enemy, the public of Tunbridge Wells were doing their own bit too. As the town was quite a financially healthy one we gave lots of help in the form of monetary aid.

Not long after the outbreak of war, the council and its leaders began a series of fund-raising weeks, the first being a Spitfire Fund, in which the town raised funds to buy a Spitfire aircraft for the RAF. In the seven weeks of the event during 1940 the town raised £5,031 (£145,000 in today's money), more than enough to get the fighter into the sky. You can see the aircraft in the picture below proudly bearing our town's name on its flanks. Does anyone know what happened to it?

Another fund raising drive was War Weapons Week which was held at the end of 1940 in which the town raised a truly astonishing £510,224 (£14.7million in today's money), that is approximately £14 10s per head (£415 per head in today's money). Perhaps displaying a shot-down German fighter in the local library helped the drive along (see photograph below).

The generosity continued a couple of years later in Warship Week when the town donated another £450,000 (£13million in today's money) to help pay for the construction of HMS Brilliant, the incredible amount raised was the highest in Kent.

Other Fund Weeks throughout the war raised in total another £1million (£29 million in today's money), and together with all savings drives and collections an astonishing £8million (£235million in today's money) was donated and saved by the residents of Tunbridge Wells, which equates to approximately £235 per person (£6,800 per person in today's money). They certainly gave very generously.

Those who weren't so financially well-off could still give, and they did. Generous knitters knitted 35,000 articles of clothing for victims and their families, and even 48,000 cigarettes were shipped to brave soldiers in the field.

Of course giving money wasn't the only donations that were made to the war effort. Houses were requisitioned (more on that another day), iron fences were torn up, resulting in some properties losing their boundaries, in fact any ironwork on domestic or public property which was judged to be neither essential for safety purposes nor of historic value was ordered to be salvaged. Households donated their metal pots and pans. Even the recently bombed remains of the Calverley Park bandstand were melted down for its precious metal. You can walk around town today and still see fences with their rapidly-hacked-off post stumps, next time you're walking around town keep an eye out for them.

How else did we help during the war? Read more tomorrow...