At the start of World War II; September 1939, the population of North Baddesley, including Scragg Hill, then a part of Romsey Extra (this was till 1951) was about 1,000. For most of the adults the war years consisted of hard toil on farms and the factories, including 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week at Follands Aircraft (the old Borden site) and in many more jobs with night time duties in the Home Guard, ARP or Auxillary Fire Service thrown in to keep them awake.
For older children it was an exciting time, in spite of an existence only diet, and they saw sights and sounds never seen before in our island history.
Soon after war commenced on 3rd September 1939 hundreds of troops in lorries and Bren Gun Carriers were seen on Nutburn Road; on their way to join the British Expeditionary Force in France.
About this time too, a searchlight site complete with wooden hut, a Sound Predictor and dipole mounted Lewis machine gun was set up on Baddesley Common, opposite where Emer Close now stands; the actual site being right on the repositioned A27.
This site was here for most of the war, gradually upgrading to a radar controlled 36″ master searchlight, the blue beam of this was often a beacon in the night sky but was instant death to thousands of moths which came within range of the heat from it’s carbon arcs; you could see them crackle and pop in the beam, when they tested the light at dusk.
In 1940, this searchlight became part of the Decoy Site set up further over on the Common. This was erected to lure German bombers away from Southampton.
On the 22nd November 1939 a little excitement was caused when the famous actor Ralph Richardson, later Sir Ralph, then a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, crashed his Fairy Swordfish near Blackwater Pond, on Baddesley Common. He was unhurt, but his Telegraphist /Air Gunner Naval Airman A. Todd was injured. Richardson who had just taken off from Eastleigh. (FAA Base HMS Raven) to return to Worthy Down near Winchester; experienced engine problems and had to force land.
Richardson, who joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve at the outbreak of the war as a Sub-Lieutenant was already a qualified pilot, but after this episode picked up the nickname “Pranger”, but he and fellow actor and friend Laurence Olivier, who had also joined in April 1941, but was even less of a natural pilot than Richardson – he wrecked one plane and damaged two others whilst taxiing on the runway for his first flight at Worthy Down, were allowed, at about this time, to return to their acting careers by the Navy, who obviously worried about the attrition of their aircraft.
Photograph of Ralph Richardson in his Fairy Swordfish aeroplane
The first winter of the war was very severe—January 1940 and ice and snow everywhere—super cooled rain froze on everything it touched—power and telegraph wires built up a layer of ice about half inch in diameter and then snapped and telegraph poles along Botley Road and elsewhere were pulled together by the weight, until the wires touched the ground and all electricity and communication were cut off.
Trees of all sizes had branches snapped and roads and pavements were literally sheets of ice and icicles up to 2 feet long were common sights. It was a Fairyland scene but nobody appreciated the intense cold and loss of electric power it brought with it. Into February and the start of the thaw, and everyone got out the old prams, pushchairs and anything with wheels, to gather the branches that had broken off the trees—Castle Lane was the favourite spot. This free bounty of firewood was never more welcome than at this time.
Notice there were telegraph, not telephone poles then—very few people had their own phone—the telegram was the quick means of communication—I expect quite a few people here tonight remember the uniformed Telegraph boy, with his leather belt and pouch for the telegrams, riding his small motorcycle and the feeling of dread if he came to your door—80% of the news he brought during the war was bad news.
During the “Battle of Britain” on the 13th August 1940; Adler Tag (Eagle Day) the day chosen by Reichmarshal Hermann Goering to start the destruction of our RAF fighters and airfields to pave the way for the invasion of England, nine Messerschmitt 110 twin engined escort fighters were shot down. One of these was destroyed by Sergeant N.L.Guy of 601 Hurricane squadron based at Tangmere, which, after a dog fight above the high overcast sky, came screaming to earth at Flexford, North Baddesley. The pilot baled out, badly wounded, but his crewman died. Sgt. Guy was himself killed just five days later (18th August) shot down into the sea off Sussex, engaging ME109 fighters.
Aviation archaeologists recovered one engine and other parts in 1976 but in 1993, another recovery team led by Ian Hutton found most of the other pieces at around 20ft deep.
In 1990 the late Tony Holmes of Pound Lane Nursery was digging the foundation for his new house and found a part of this ME110, almost certainly shot off during the combat and identified as an elevator control surface mounting.
During the “Battle of Britain” quite a few German and British planes were shot down in the area including two Hurricanes at Rownhams and Lee; one belonging to Flight Lieutenant Nicholson, the only Fighter Pilot VC of the war. Of course the wreckage was collected for souvenirs by anyone near the crash sites, much to the disgust of the authorities. Head mistress Mrs Mc Coll was asked to read the riot act to all the school pupils about this, and within a week or so, the long paling fence between the school and Ron Lewis’s coal yard was completely covered in bits of fuselage, wings, tail fins, undercarriages - marked with German crosses, swastikas, RAF roundels etc. and it took a 60ft RAF “QUEEN MARY” aircraft transporter to take all the wreckage away.
During 1940, after Dunkirk, the Local Defence Volunteers were formed to resist invasion. A platoon was formed in Baddesley under the command of John Lister of Manor Farm and when the name was changed to Home Guard he became Lieutenant Lister with two sergeants – Colonel Frakes and Billy Hibberd.
Names in photo – from Left to Right —
TOP ROW
Unknown—unknown—JOHN ANDREWS—unknown—ALEC FOYLE—HARRY PIERCE—HUGH MATTHEWS—JIM PHILLIPS(Ryders farm)—CHARLIE MACK
CENTRE ROW
ARTHUR BETTERIDGE—unknown—PERCY COBERN—BILL HURST—JESSIE BETTERIDGE—unknown—unknown—ALF HURST—HERBIE ANDREWS—MR HILL—CHARLIE OLIVER—JIM LANE
BOTTOM ROW
Unknown—unknown—COLONEL FRAKES—JOHN LISTER—BILLIE HIBBERD—DONALD TRENFIELD—unknown—PERCY HAYBALL
The arsenal of weapons and ammunition, grenades etc. not issued for personal use, were kept in the Stable Block at the Manor House.
Weapon pits were built in Nutburn Lane above the sunken road to the church. A Vickers machine gun was obtained and this was sited by the Red Hut and sometimes mounted on a motorcycle combination adapted by Colonel Frakes for mobile use. He was a Channel Islander who had been a cavalry officer in the French Army in the 1914-1918 war and ran a poultry farm on what is now the Firgrove estate. Contrary to popular belief he was not slightly mad but very inventive and was a very talented oil and watercolour artist.
Photograph of Home Guard soldiers manning a Vickers machine gun by the Red Hut
AUXILIARY UNITS HOME GUARD 1940-44
North Baddesley men of the Home Guard who were seconded to the secret auxiliary units 1940-44. The local Defence Volunteers, who later became the Home Guard, were formed in June 1940 to counter the imminent invasion threat from the Germans after the fall of France, and the picked men of these Auxiliary units would have stayed behind in secret hideouts to harass the enemy troops if they had succeeded in landing.
John Edmunds of Bishops Waltham has been researching these units, and has kindly let us have a photo taken at Fleming Park Pavilion at Eastleigh, which we assume was taken when the whole Home Guard was stood down in December 1944.
The Baddesley men in this Chandler’s Ford area secret auxiliary group are as follows:
Back row —far left—Bill Diaper, “Yewtree Cottage”, Street End
—far right—Reg Sillence, “Northlands”, Middle Road
Centre row— far right—Eddie Fry, “Mon Ami” Botley Road
Bottom row—second left—John(Jack) Jolly, “The Creek” Botley Road
— sixth from left—E.P.Adderley, “The Bungalow” Botley Road
— far right—Sid Osman, Castle Lane.
Another was— Clem Morris, Rownhams Lane, but not identified in this group.
Others, from a wider area, who are identified in this picture are— Middle row—second left—Bob Taplin, Botley —third left—Jim Payne, Stoke Park Wood, Bishopstoke —fourth left—Mr King —fifth left—Monty Dymott, Chandlers Ford —second right—Sid Randall, Botley Front row —far left—Chris Kilford, Botley —fourth left—S/LT Reg Bignell, Botley —middle—LT. George Stokes, West End —third from right—Bill Escott, Chandlers Ford —second from right—Bob Lewry, Botley.
John Edmunds can be contacted on—01489 893937
Most of the information here is from his research and is as accurate as his sources memories.
Ray Cobern, Aug 21st 2009
Chandlers Ford Resistance Group
The Chandlers Ford Group consisted of seven men led by a sergeant Bill Escott who in the daytime ran a cycle shop in Chandlers Ford. Many of the men worked on local estates and farms whilst Ron Cooper and Monty Dymott worked for Hendy Lennox, a large garage in Chandlers Ford. Another was a coalman and another worked in a transport cafe.
Mr Dymott drove lorries and made a regular run to Dagenham to pick up new agricultural vehicles. At all times he carried his personal weapon, a Colt 38 revolver in a concealed holster in his trousers. In the evening he would leave his home in Leigh Road where he lived with his parents to train with the rest of the team. He regularly devoted 70 hours a month on top of an arduous day job.
The group had a hideout (OB) in the brickfields, now the Chandlers Ford Industrial estate. The Royal Engineers built the OB with a concealed entrance at the bottom of the hollow stump of an elm tree. The hollow led to a trap door, which then led into a tunnel. Mr Dymott recalls how the tunnel was often six inches deep in water so they were soaked by the time they reached their room at the end. Here there was a store for ammunition and explosives as well as food and a sleeping area. Cupboards and bunks were cut into the earth walls of the hide and there were cooking facilities as well as a chemical toilet. The OB was so damp that they did not leave weapons there but stored them elsewhere. One evening, on his way to the OB, and festooned with rifles and a submachine gun, Mr Dymott passed two Canadian Officers. He was promptly called to account for not saluting, a physical impossibility considering his load. The outraged officers quizzed him as to what he was doing and where he was going; questions he was under orders not to answer. His shoulder flashes showed him to come from the no 4 Group 203 Btn Home Guard which "did not exist". The officers later traced him to his home and came round to ask more questions but the secrecy of the organisation was preserved.
Training covered all aspects of guerrilla warfare; sabotage with explosives, silent movement across, countryside and silent killing of opponents. The Auxiliaries were equipped to the highest standard and frequently had new devices before the regular units. One night the Chandlers ford group met with another unit in some sand pits in North Baddesley off the Baddesley road to try out some new shaped charges called "beehive charges" which would punch a hole through armour plate. To test these charges they had a bomb case that had been brought up from Portsmouth for them to practise on. They fitted two charges and backed away slowly as they had been taught. They all took cover, one member of the team behind an old tree. There was a tremendous explosion and Mr Dymott saw the bomb fly in the air and pass out of the quarry clean over the tree that one of his mates was hiding behind. When the dust settled, their officer decided that they had caused enough of a commotion for one night and they climbed aboard their truck and set off for home.
About a mile down the road a couple in night-clothes standing in the middle of the road flagged them down. The couple asked if they knew what was going on as there had clearly been an air raid but there had been no air raid warning sirens. Apparently they had just settled in bed when the explosion occurred and brought the bedroom ceiling down on them. Needless to say the group admitted nothing and went on their way. The next day reports came in of some 32 houses that had suffered damage from the mysterious "air raid".
Sometimes the night exercises took the form of travelling across country undetected. This would often involve fording rivers where the technique was to strip naked and wrap all clothing and kit in a waterproof ground sheet, which would be pushed in front of the swimmer as he crossed the river. One night two of the Chandlers ford group emerged naked from a river and bumped into a woman who was walking her dog. The outcome of this encounter is not recorded.
Frequently exercises involved other groups from the area. One night an exercise was conducted near Bishops Waltham under the command of Major Clive who was in charge of all the Hampshire groups. At the end of the exercise Major Clive announced that he was off home, he lived in Bishops Waltham and that the others might just catch a pint at the local if they were quick. The group trouped into the pub still with lumps of various explosives, detonators and time pencils about their persons. The pub owner was not welcoming and refused to serve them. A disgruntled group filed out leaving a lump of gelignite and a time pencil in the fireplace; the resulting explosion too~ 0e windows out of the front of the pub. The group were treated with greater respect in future.
Not all the exercises took place in the UK. Major Clive led parties on "weekends away", which involved small groups travelling across the Channel by submarine or MTB to occupied France. This practise was discontinued after six of the Auxiliaries were killed and two taken prisoner. Like all other groups around the country the Chandlers Ford group were stood down in 1944. Mr Dymott recalls that the four years were great fun but involved sadness, when he came home from a training week to find that his mother had died in his absence. The group members went back to their day jobs and said nothing of what they had done and the engineers that had built it blew up their wartime OB. It is only in the last few years that the Auxiliaries have had any recognition and Mr Dymott proudly displays the Defence Medal that he has had to wait fifty years for.
Ref: Mr M Dymott 149 Pinkerton Road, Basingstoke. RG22 6RX Tel: 01256 816376
This story was possibly concocted between the secret auxiliary unit and decoy site staff, to protect the integrity of the decoy because it had worked, and the rumour that the houses had been destroyed on the 22nd June 1941 was the work of the Home Guard, was spread around.
Ray Cobern, Aug 25th 2009
During the “Battle of Britain” and the ensuing main night Blitz period – July 1940 to May 1941, hundreds of evacuees and bombed out families were lodged with families, and in the worst period were put up for nights at the school.
The School Log for Jan 10th 1941 states—
The number on the combined roll of seniors, juniors and infants for weeks is 304, this includes-
63 Gosport evacuees, 39 Southampton, 1 Portsmouth, 4 London
Feb 21st 1941 the roll is now 318, including the following:-
58 Gosport evacuees, 52 Southampton, 2 Portsmouth, 4 London, 2 Bristol
45 of the evacuees were boys from Newton Junior Boys School, Gosport, who came with their teacher Mr Smith on June 27th 1940.
How the head mistress Annie Mc Coll and her 4 teachers taught about 60 children each was a major miracle, but they did this and looked after the school dwellers at night.
Soon after the main blitz period ended, North Baddesley suffered the worst time in its history. Beginning at 2am on the night of the 22nd June 1941, about 60 Luftwaffe bombers attacked the Southampton area, and of course the Starfish (fire) Decoy Site on Baddesley Common and others in surrounding villages were lit to serve their purpose of decoying the planes from the city. The first phase was hundreds of incendiary bombs. Many fell harmlessly in the fields surrounding the sites, but some hit buildings, most were put out, but the roof of Doonbank Kennels, at the top of Scragg Hill owned then by Mr and Mrs Barr, was soon completely ablaze. Then a very violent, noisy and terrifying two hours commenced as bomber after bomber came over dropping 1000kg parachute mines. The 3.7inch mobile heavy anti-aircraft guns which were positioned along the Scragg Hill end of Rownhams Lane as part of the box barrage surrounding Southampton were blasting away.
About 5mins after the planes had gone and the guns stopped firing there would be a vivid violet flash and terrific explosion as the mines contacted earth. As there were 8 or 9 of these on Baddesley alone, the waiting for the next explosion was very trying on the nerves. The fortunate residents only had a few windows blown in, or shrapnel or an incendiary through their roof, but 39 dwellings were completely destroyed or made totally uninhabitable.
By some miracle only one person was seriously injured – this in spite of the fact that no personal or public shelters had been provided, except at the school. After this raid and within a few months everyone had one. Of course the residents had to suffer in silence, - the authorities could hardly announce that the decoys had worked, and Baddesley, Chilworth and Rownhams had received 30 of the mines and Southampton only 19. We are still looking for photos of the damage after 66 years.
After the raid, in which 5,000 Canadian troops took part, with 60% being killed or wounded with 2,000 taken prisoner by the Germans, their aircraft came over and dropped bundles of leaflets showing the aftermath of the battle on Dieppe Beach with the same tanks we had seen in Baddesley strewn around smashed and disabled – this time the propaganda was TRUE.
In the run up to “D” Day 6th June 1944 and after, civilians in the village paid a price. At this time, one sand pit in Hoe Lane was still active, but the one to the right of the entrance track was worked out and used by the Army & Home Guard as a firing range for small automatic weapons & anti tank projectors. Two 12 year olds, Ralph Potter and Kenny Brompton were walking along the Lane when, what is thought to be a practice Piat missile, hit Kenny in the chest. He did not survive. Ralph still lives here.
One of the many convoys of American troops who poured through our village after “D” Day came along Rownhams Lane. At Scragg Hill a very young boy called Morgan ran excitedly into the road but was hit by a half track personnel carrier and was also killed.
At the time these two tragic accidents cast a deep gloom over the families and residents in our then small village.
Most of the older boys at this time played with ammunition and explosives left lying about or acquired, and there were quite a few minor accidents, the worst of which was Derek Rogers losing an eye when he hit a detonator with an axe in Castle Lane woods.
In the months before “D” Day a live firing mortar range was set up on Baddesley Common with the firing point where Baddesley Close now stands and the target area near the lower end of the “Double Bank”. A very noisy time was had by one and all.
From just before “D” Day 1944 and through June, July and August the main A27 Botley Road was filled with an almost continuous stream of military vehicles embarking at Southampton docks; these included tank transporters, tanks of all types, artillery pieces from small to huge, DUKWS, bulldozers, ambulances, bailey bridges, pontoon bridges. In the fourteen months from “D” Day to the war’s end, three and a half million British, Canadian and American troops with a quarter of a million vehicles passed through the docks to the Continent.
This of course was the largest seaborne invasion in history and a sight never to be repeated or forgotten by anyone at that time privileged to witness any part of it, which included the airborne part on the evening of “D” Day when hundreds of troop carrying gliders were seen being towed over our area on their way to France.
The war in Europe and the Far East went on for about another year, but was a bit of an anti-climax for everyone after the victory celebrations—some badly traumatised prisoners-of-war of the Japanese came home, never to be quite the men they were.
Rationing of food and other scarce commodities went on for another decade, the Cold War started and the older village boys were called for National Service, again for another decade. The person who said “to the victor the spoils” must have been joking.
To sum up—Baddesley had more than its share of excitement during the war—its proximity to Southampton with it’s 1600 air raid warnings and 57 actual air raids—evacuations and military movements saw to that, but most of the then residents of all ages stood the test well, stuck together, helped others and worked all hours to get the job done.