Second World War 1939 -1945
During the Second World War Eastern Essex found itself on the
front line with the coastline being heavily defended. Many people with members
of their family in the armed services may find that their relative spent part of
the war years in our quiet part of the country.
Police
In 1939 the police station at Southminster became the nerve
centre of local operations protected by an ack-ack post sited at Pump Mead
Close, Southminster.
Burnham Police Station has been in several sites including
Albert Road where the below photograph was taken. The Police station is now a
private house.
|
|
1944 - Victory Photograph of Burnham Police
The Regular Officers are led by Inspector Rose
The Specials include Tubby Barker and the far left and Albie
Rice 2nd from right at rear.
|
The Police took on a co-ordinating role in World War 2 .
By World War 2 Southminster was no longer a Division but part of the Maldon area.
A Sergeant was now in charge of the Southminster area with an Inspector at Maldon.
Police Stations were located at Bradwell on Sea, Burnham on Crouch, Latchingdon, Purleigh and Southminster.
During the war the Police Strength of Maldon/ Southminster area was 14 regular Constables, 44 Special Constables and 4 vehicles were allocated for Police use.
In response to concern about bombing the Home Office offered
the following guidance to the rural parishes:- Each parish should depend
upon
1/ A Police Constable with protective clothing 2/ Two or
three volunteer Special Constables
3/ Three air raid wardens for each 500 people of the
population 4/ A first aid post
5/ Voluntary help from the men of the village 6/
The trained sense of the village
From July 1940 the entire Dengie 100 became an Army base with
passes required to get in an out as it was felt that the Dengie would be a
likely invasion point.
A Local Defence Force was formed which later became the Home
Guard . The local headquarters of the LDF was sited in Devonshire Road in the
shop which is currently Busy Bees.
Reinforced pill boxes were sited at intervals with barbed
wire, land mines and anti landing posted sited all the way along the coast. A
command post was built at Holiwell Point, Burnham with accommodation for over 20
men.
A floating defence boom was sited across the entrance to the
Crouch to deter German craft.
The Maritime traditions were put to good use with Motor
Torpedo bases established in the River Blackwater at Osea Island and in the
River Crouch at Burnham.
Across the bay from Bradwell the centre of mine
sweeping operations for the coastline was established at Brightlingsea.
In 1940 Burnham boats Ma Joie , Seasalter and Vanguard were
amongst those who crossed to Dunkirk to take off the army of the BEF. Vanguard and Seasalter were oyster dredgers owned by the Burnham Oyster Company both survived but the ketch Ma Joie ran aground and was lost. Vanguard was crewed by Les Grimwade and Joe Clough.
For details of the Thames Barges participation in Dunkirk and the war effort click the following link 
In 1943 the Navy commissioned the riverside at Burnham as HMS St Matthew ostensibly as a mine depot but in reality it was used for training army and marine personal in use of Landing Craft. The commander was Captain Danes and the his men included ten RNVR Officers with 80 ratings making up two flotillas. The main Naval base was the Royal Burnham Yacht Club which was divided internally with additional accommodation provided by nissan huts in the car park area.
Cardnell Brothers at Maylandsea built motor torpedo boats.
Coastal trade was very important to the war effort.
The waters off the Essex coast were amongst the most mined in the UK as they lay within easy reach of German aircraft from mainland Europe.
53 vessels were wrecked off the Essex Coast during the war.
Although the most dangerous area was off Harwich, 12 vessels were lost off the coast of the Dengie Peninsula to sandbanks, mines and aircraft action.
Some of the vessels were sailing barges like the Ailsa which struck a mine in the Whitaker Channel in January 1943 while travelling from Burnham on Crouch to London.
Some like the SS Norhauk were larger vessels carrying war supplies and food travelling from Canada to London who struck a mine on Sunk Sand and broke up with 9 crew members drowned.
Special Forces were based at Burnham for a short while to use
the River Crouch as training for their part in a daring mission to Capture
German General Rommel. Despite the tough training of swimming in the Crouch in
full kit the mission proved a failure.
As the war progressed enemy aircraft overhead became a
familiar sound with bombers using the Rivers as navigation aids before turning
to other locations inland.
In 1940 alone air raid warning sirens sounded on 326
occasions.
Sometimes land mines or bombs, left unused at the main
target, were dropped by German aircraft over Dengie. Most of these exploded
harmlessly in the fields although a few damaged houses as was the case with a
land mine that exploded in North Street, Southminster killing 3 people and
another that destroyed 20 houses in Princes Road, Burnham.
In 1941 a Heinkel was badly damaged but the rear gunner
manages to parachute from the plane . His luck changed when his parachute only
partly opened and he was injured on landing at Althorne. Although badly injured
he staggered to the door of a nearby cottage and knocked on the door. The
occupier, Mrs Margaret Windridge opened the door to be confronted by a blood
stained German waving a pistol in the air. Fortunately she realised that he was
surrendering his pistol and dresses his wounds before he was collected by a
local military escort.
Fatal casualties included 63 year old merchant seaman, Albert
Amos of Silver Road, Burnham on Crouch who was killed in the River Crouch on 10
July 1941 and Robin Chandler( 9 years) David Harold Clark ( 5 years) and Walter
Stanley Hillier(47 years) who were killed when a land mine hit their respective
houses at 11-13 North Street, Southminster on 25 September 1940. Further
casualties were Mrs Gladys Cundy,Mrs Nellie Bigmore and Miss Sheila Bigmore who
were killed when a landmine landed in Princes Road, Burnham on Crouch in
1942.
Given the coastal location this area saw many aircraft crashing . Records show 59 Allied , 12 German and 4 Unknown aircraft crash landing during the war.
Of the 12 German aircraft crashing 7 were shot down by allied aircraft, 2 were brought down by anti-aircraft fire and the cause for 3 was unknown; probably inflicted a long way away.
Some of the bombs were deliberately invited from 1942 by the
Nore Naval Command after the construction of a bombing decoy site at Mayland on
the extreme northern promontory of open grassland overlooking Lawlinge
Creek.
The site was used in 1944 to imitate the night time lights of
D day invasion yards.
By 1946 the site had returned to open grassland.
In 1930 a small airfield was established to service aircraft
using the offshore sandbanks for target practice. In 1941 Bradwell Bay was
enlarged into a full airfield and was used as a fighter base for the remainder
of the war.
This web site has a page on Bradwell Bay Airfield - Please click the below button to visit the page
There were about 3,000 German/Italian prisoners of the war in the Eastern Essex area all of which were working on farms.
Most were held in camps and then released to work on the farms. They were allowed a certain amount of freedom and often seen walking in the area.
The Crouch Valley Railway Line was an important resource
bringing in equipment for Bradwell Bay or the other units and of course evacuees
escaping the blitz in London.
Attacks on training and stations became a common occurrence
with the lady booking clerk at Southminster Station being shot in the arm and a
floating mine narrowly missing Southminster Station exploding behind nearly
houses at Station Road, Southminster.
16th June 1944 saw an new threat when Bradwell-on-Sea saw the
first V1 doodlebug to be launched at Britain. Residents head a loud buzzing
sound and saw a cigar shaped object with a tail of pink flame flying overhead.
Fortunately for Bradwell although many more doodlebugs passed overhead only one
fell on the village and that fell on the seawall. Other parts of the district
were also to become accustomed to see doodlebugs and their successors the V2
rocket two of which fell close to Creeksea Place Camp.
V1 rocket 
photo
courtesy of www.eriding.net/media/
The doodlebugs provide sport for the Tempests from Bradwell
Bay who shot down many doodlebugs during July and August
1944.
The area played an important part in the Invasion of France
with 32 landing craft based in the Crouch. A naval base was established at
Creeksea Place, Burnham where 700 men were trained to use the landing
craft.
A Concrete slipway was constructed at Creeksea which was used by RAF fast Pilot Rescue Launches which patrolled in the north sea to rescue shot down aircraft and motor torpedo boats that were based in the Crouch.
During the War many vantage points were used to watch out for
enemy aircraft and an invasion fleet.
Following the war the work continued with the Royal Observer
Corps establishing a network of underground Posts which would be used in the
event of the cold war with Russia becoming a real war. These posts consisted of
an underground chamber with sleeping and working areas and a small building on
the surface.
These posts are still to be found at East Ends Road, Bradwell
on Sea , Latchingdon Road, Latchingdon and Goldsands Road, Southminster. These sites are privately owned and can be dangerous - Do not visit
without approval of the owner
. to see pictures of the Bradwell on sea Site
to see pictures of the Latchingdon Site
to see pictures of the Southminster site
The suffering of the area during World War 2 is illustrated
by the following bomb count which was recorded for an area now covered by Maldon
District Council although most of the bombs fell in the Dengie 100.
26,778 explosive or incendiary bombs
83 parachute mines
83 V1 flying bombs
54 V2 rockets
25 people killed
191 people injured
Wing Commander Vaclav Bergman was a real hero. He was based
at Duxford with 310 Czechoslovak fighter squadron in 1940 flying
Hurricanes.
On 26 August 1940 he was wounded during a dogfight over
Clacton. He attacked one Dornier but during the attack he was jumped by four
fighters. During the dogfight his Hurricane was badly damaged and caught fire . He
managed to bale out, landing at Goldsands, Southminster and was treated at
Rochford Hospital.
Wing Commander Bergman continued to fly fighters with great
distinction during the war leading to promotion to Wing Commander in 1944 and
the award of a DFC.
After the war he returned to Czechoslovakia but emigrated to
England in 1948 to escape the communist takeover. He rejoined the RAF to serve
in the Korean war as a pilot being mentioned in dispatches and then obtaining a
bar to his DFC.
Vaclav retired from the RAF in 1970 after an illustrious
career. Sadly he died at Dumbarton, Scotland on 31 December 2002.
for the official
biography of Vaclav Bergman
Looking for ancestors who were in the armed services ? If so visit forces reunited by clicking the link below
