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The blitz in exeter

Posted by Cprowse on 23/7/2021, 1:01 pm

Can anyone suggest where we can find information about the bombing in st Thomas, in particular queens road, during WW2?

Re: The blitz in exeter

Posted by Cecilia Lister on 3/9/2024, 3:29 pm, in reply to "The blitz in exeter"

I have only just come across this message thread, and wondered if my memory of the war (I was born in 1940)might be of some interest. In 1942 after the 2 bombings of Exeter, my grandmother's brother in law who was a builder, was convinced that there would be a third bombing, so he rounded up all the family, of whom there were quite a lot, and loaded us all into his flat bed lorry. I remember being wrapped in a blanket and handed up into waiting relatives arms and we were all driven out onto the moors overlooking Exeter. There was no more bombing so we all went home again. I don't remember this but my mother told me about an incendiary bomb which came down a chimney into a bedroom, which was "fizzing all over the place". She had to extinguish it with the help of neighbours and a stirrup pump.

Re: The blitz in exeter

Posted by Roger Donne on 8/8/2021, 8:51 am, in reply to "The blitz in exeter"

There doesn't seem to be much detail available online about the Exeter blitz. Historic England publishes an aerial photograph of the damage in Exeter (though confusingly it seems to be presented with North at the bottom) at https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/bomb-damage-exeter-10242 .

However, the official records are available at The National Archives - see the TNA research guide at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/bomb-census-survey-records-1940-1945/ - though unfortunately these records haven't been digitised for download. A freely downloadable dataset listing the 32,000 bombing raids on Britain in WW2 compiled from intelligence reports in The National Archives is available at http://www.warstateandsociety.com/Bombing-Britain. According to this dataset, raids on Exeter St. Thomas which caused the most casualties occurred on the nights of 23/24 April and 24/25 April 1942 and TNA's Discovery catalogue lists reference HO 192/868 as providing details of the damage caused.

If you can obtain a copy, I understand that the HMSO publication "The Defence of the United Kingdom", by Basil Collier, HMSO, London 1957, is meant to provide a good account of the so-called 'Baedeker raids' on Britain. A contents list is available at https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-Defence-UK/index.html from which it would appear that the Baedeker raids are described in Appendix XXXVI (The Führer's Order for the 'Baedeker' Offensive) and a bomb map for the Exeter raid of 3 May 1942 appears as Map 28 (The Bombing of Exeter, Night of 3rd May, 1942).

Re: The blitz in exeter

Posted by Cprowse on 24/8/2021, 6:53 am, in reply to "Re: The blitz in exeter"

Thank you for all the suggestions

Re: The blitz in exeter

Posted by Ann on 25/7/2021, 12:02 pm, in reply to "The blitz in exeter"

There might be something in this book. Should be available from local libraries if you're local.
https://stevensbooks.co.uk/product/exeter-in-the-1940s/

Re: The blitz in exeter

Posted by Karen Newman on 24/7/2021, 3:13 pm, in reply to "The blitz in exeter"

Try the Exeter Memories website:

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/exeterblitz.php

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/blitzcasualties.php

Queens Road is not specifically mentioned, though.

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