WW2 & Hooe – Air Raid Incidents

(Sussex Police Authority. Schedule of Air Raid Incidents – May 1940 – March 1944)

INTRODUCTION

This book is arranged by parish, in alphabetical and, then, date order. Each schedule, in the book, gives the date, time, type and number of bombs, and the number of casualties killed and injured. The bombs referred to are those dropped by enemy aircraft and not "Flying Bombs", which has a separate link, in this section.

Also, in the schedule, "HE" stands for "High Explosive" and "UXB" for "Unexploded Bomb". The letter "K", in the UXB column, I believe, stands for the size of the bomb, in other words, in the case below, it was a 2,000 pound bomb.

Unfortunately, The schedule doesn′t give the location where the bombs fell or were found, which would have been interesting to know. It, also, only covers those bombs found in 1940, so doesn't mention the four that my grandfather said were dropped on Hooe, on Thursday 20th March 1941 (See below).

There is only one foolscap sheet (the old, imperial paper size - 8.5 × 13.5 inches (216 × 343 mm)), in the book, on Hooe, and that lists the incidents as follows: –

Sussex Police Force — Parish: Hooe

AIR RAID INCIDENTS

Though the official reporting of incidents was banned, so as to avoid any useful information being passed on to the enemy, occasionally, word got out, as it did in a letter, written on 27th March, 1941, by my grandfather, in his capacity as Clerk to the Parish Council, to the Assistant District Auditor, regarding an audit carried out the previous Thursday; it contained the following paragraph.

"Last Thursday afternoon, at this time I was suffering from "bomb–shock" – four explosive bombs having been dropped sufficiently near my residence that neighbours′ windows were broken; my front door was blown open. Where the bombs fell, two cottages were badly damaged (one is beyond repair), a horse was killed, and several persons miraculously escaped also being killed."