Life in Loughton during World War II.

Journal No 76 (June 2020) included transcripts of letters from my mother’s family immediately before and after the Occupation of Jersey by the Germans during the Second World War. These letters gave graphic accounts of what life was like “Under the Jackboot”. The Jersey family expressed their concern about what life had been like for us in Loughton and on May 23rd, 1945 my father wrote about our experiences: -

It has been wonderful hearing from you again after these many years, and particularly to know that you are all fit. The reports which we have had from time to time have been very gloomy, and during this winter we have pictured you in a very bad way. Inez has worried about you a great deal. I have always tried to comfort her by saying that I was sure the British Government knew what the conditions were actually like and if they were as bad as they were painted then obviously we should re-take the Islands by force. Thank God you were spared that ordeal. It is, as I say, a great relief to know how well you have managed, and we feel an unbounded admiration for what you have achieved. Although you have managed to keep yourselves properly fed, we can realise the worries and anxieties with which you have had to contend. Life must have been very grim for you, particularly this last winter. It seemed last autumn that the liberation of the Islands must come almost daily and you must have felt terrible disappointment at the prolongation of the war.

I think probably you will be interested to know how we have fared. Obviously when we meet there will be a tremendous lot to talk about, but in the meantime I thought that I would write you this letter to supplement the information Inez has already given you and to add to the picture of our lives here during the war. We do not think that we have had as bad a time as you have had. In fact if we were given the choice we would certainly choose bombs rather than occupation.

The bombing has certainly been unpleasant. In retrospect, the original 1940/41 Blitz was not as trying as the V Weapon attacks. I think the reason for this may be partly that we were much fresher at that time. Indeed the raids were in some respects stimulating and exciting. Jerry came over regularly every night as soon as it got dark and stayed until it got light the next morning. Before the night raids we had had very heavy day attacks in which, however, Jerry so got the pants taken off him that he had to give up. The bombing was very scattered and latterly the anti-aircraft fire was so terrific that unless a bomb was fairly close you could not distinguish it from the gunfire. There was, too, always the feeling that gradually, and as eventually happened, the defences were getting on top of the attack. People got very used to the bombing and were almost blasé about it. Up to the time in November 1940, when we were “bombed out” at Kettering we were sleeping upstairs in our beds and behaving as far as possible normally. After that we realised very acutely the danger of flying glass. There was glass all over our bed and the ceiling was down in Patrick’s nursery where but for the fact that this was a particularly severe attack he would have been sleeping. The house was uninhabitable and so we had to go home anyway and decided then that in future we would sleep in the cellar. We had a trap door made in the drawing room floor down to the cellar and put Patrick down there every night and ourselves slept there. The night bombing ceased in the spring of 1941, the last really heavy attack being on 10th May. On that particular night I was on night exercise with the Home Guard and so had a grandstand view of the fires which started in London. The City suffered badly in that attack and the top half of Lime Street, where my office is, was completely demolished. In our own building we have throughout been extremely fortunate with only minor damage. We never again had concentrated attacks by aircraft.

We had sporadic attacks from time to time usually in phases and rarely lasting more than a few hours. These were quite exciting in their way.
Air attacks did not really get going again until the Flying Bombs started in June of last year. We saw one of the first of these projectiles which flew over Loughton but fortunately did not stop. The flying bombs were undoubtedly very trying. We returned to sleeping in the cellar, and after a bit Inez decided to keep Patrick away from school. When the attacks persisted, and in fact got rather worse so far as we were concerned, she took Patrick away to Much Hadham to stay with the Wilsons. Even there they got a few over, but not enough to worry about. When we thought the attacks on London were over as a result of the capture of the launching sites we found that they could still send flying bombs apparently launched from aircraft over the sea, and the rocket attacks started. We were in the worst area both for these later flying bomb attacks and also for the rockets. Eventually we decided that Inez must take Patrick away again, and so this time they went to Sussex where they stayed for a couple of months. I think from a general point of view the flying bombs were reckoned more trying than the rockets, but from our point of view having a child to think about the rockets were definitely worse. With the flying bombs you got a warning and you could hear them coming a minute or so before they arrived. You could therefore take measures to get your child to safety. The rockets, however, arrived without warning and at any time. They were very noisy, so much so that I have sat in my office in the City and heard the explosion of rockets which have fallen at home. They did about as much damage as the flying bombs. Patrick was entirely unmoved by the ordinary raids, and in fact appeared rather to enjoy them. Neither did he seem to worry in the least about the rockets. The flying bombs however did affect him, but only for this reason, that when one was heard approaching he had to be sent down to the cellar. In this way he got a sense of apprehension about them and realised that they were dangerous. Inez stood up extremely well to the bombing. Undoubtedly it has been a help having a child about and realising that the last thing to do was to show any sign of fear oneself.

Speaking generally Loughton has been extremely fortunate, having had quite its share of bombs. I read in the local paper the other day that up to last October, that is to say before the rockets started, there had fallen in the area of the Urban District Council approximately 800 high explosive bombs of all sorts and 14,000 incendiaries. With all this I think there were only 80 casualties in Loughton. The forest and the surrounding fields are full of holes and a great many houses have been damaged but very few destroyed. Our house has come out of it very well. We had the front door blown in in 1940 and more recently the roof appears to have been lifted by blast. Fortunately it went back in the right place. The only present visible signs of damage are various cracks in roof and walls. My father’s house has not been so fortunate, as apart from the damage in 1940 it has since sustained various minor damages and generally is a bit dilapidated.

I think that is a general picture of the bombing so far as we are concerned, although there are many minor incidents which will in due course be amusing to recall. I should perhaps say this, that once or twice we were without gas, water and electricity for short periods, but the repair organisations in regard to these services and also the railways have worked magnificently.

The next thing that will interest you probably is the subject of food. We have always had enough to eat, and the management of the food situation has been magnificent. We have always been able to get our rations, although I should think when the full story is told it has probably been touch and go from time to time. As Inez has told you, we have kept chickens and rabbits and have found them a great standby. Inez has made the best of whatever food was available, and certainly I do not think that we have suffered from any shortage.

About people, my father is very well, although he is suffering from trouble with one of his legs which makes it difficult for him to walk. He had a duodenal ulcer I think it was in 1941, and was in hospital for 6 weeks, but he seems quite to have recovered from that. He has apparently been quite unmoved by the bombing and has gone up to bed at his usual time and as far as I know has slept soundly every night throughout the war. I do not think there are many people who have equalled his record in this respect. For the last year Aunt Ethel has been living with him. Her house was very badly damaged by a flying bomb in the early days of the attack and made uninhabitable. The bomb actually fell on a house two or three doors away where she had been in the habit of sleeping regularly. The occupants of course were killed. Aunt Ethel just happened not to be sleeping there that night.

Molly and Nancy are both in the WAAF, Molly being a Senior Officer and having a very interesting war. Nancy is at an R.A.F. hospital in Wales as a Sergeant Masseuse. Peggy is a Captain A.T.S. at S.H.A.E.F. and is now in Paris. Kittyis a Lieut. in the A.T.S. and does catering.

Michael was taken prisoner at Tobruk and recently returned from Germany in a somewhat rocky state. He had lost three stone and seemed somewhat unbalanced. He has gone up to Scotland and I hear that he is better.
Tony has only just gone into the Army, having been deferred as a student.

Dick Stevens was very badly wounded in the head at Anzio and has been discharged from the army as a result. He was commanding a Battalion at the time and so has done very well. He is trying to get back to work but is finding concentration very difficult.

You might be interested in my activities as a part time soldier in the Home Guard! At the time when the Home Guard was formed we were staying in Theydon Bois and so I joined there. It was great fun in the early days. We used to do dawn and dusk patrols and got a lot of amusement out of it. The original force in Theydon was about 100 strong and we only had 10 rifles and 10 uniforms. Whoever was on duty therefore, had to have what was going. The weather was very hot at the time, and you can imagine the uniforms were not fit to wear for very long. In due course, however, proper clothing and equipment came through, and in the end the Home Guard was well armed and in fact became as it was, a very efficient force. When we returned to Loughton I stayed with the Theydon Bois Platoon. Our headquarters there were the local pub which appealed to me, and I have spent many nights in the Bull sleeping in the Public Bar when off duty. I was first a Corporal, then Sergeant and then a Sergeant Major. This latter was by far the best rank I ever held. In 1942 I was commissioned and given a specialist job on the Battalion staff at Harlow. I did this for a year and was then transferred to Epping where I commanded a Platoon and subsequently a Battle Company. In this latter respect I was very lucky because I had all the young men in the Company. In fact I think I was about the oldest member. About half the young men were agricultural labourers and the other half factory workers. I got on very well with them and enjoyed a great deal of it. It was, however, really a whole time job which one tried to do in one’s spare time, with the result that I very nearly knocked myself up last summer. Before D-Day I took a contingent down to the coast for a week for patrol duties, and we had a very good time although it was somewhat strenuous.

We are longing to see you again, but present information is that ordinary passenger services will not be resumed for some time.

However, it is possible that I shall be able to make arrangements to come over myself in a few weeks’ time, and if it can be managed I will certainly do so. I am afraid there is not much chance of Inez and Patrick being able to get over just yet.

This is a long letter, and I hope you will excuse it being type-written, but I should not have time to write it out by hand.