Air Raids

• Many parts of Britain suffered attacks from the air by German bomber and fighter planes
in the Second World War. Some places were devastated.
• The Blitz on London was by far the worst campaign of sustained air raids. In the nights of
continuous bombing that started on 7th September 1940 and lasted beyond New Year’s
Day 1941, at least 13,339 Londoners were killed and 17,937 seriously injured. 100,000
homes were destroyed. The centre of Coventry was almost completely destroyed in one
raid on the night of November 14th 1940. The raid lasted for ten hours and killed 554
people. Among other German targets were important industrial towns and ports such as
Birmingham, Hull, Bristol, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton, Manchester, Merseyside,
Sheffield, Portsmouth, and Leicester. No part of Britain was safe from the bombers.
• The case study in this section looks at two raids on East Grinstead. The first raid, on
Friday 9th July 1943, was by a fighter-bomber and resulted in nearly 200 deaths. The
second raid, on 11th July 1944, was by a V1 flying bomb. The V1 was a pilotless plane
launched from German or occupied territory that carried an explosive warhead. It flew until
its engine ran out of fuel and then crashed to earth, destroying all that lay beneath it. The
V stood for Vergeltungswaffe or ‘Reprisal Weapon’.
• East Grinstead, like other areas of Britain, had an experienced and well-organised ARP
(air raid precaution) team that swung into action as soon as a bombing incident took
place. The first people on the scene would be the Heavy Rescue Team, most of them
former builders, who would use their building skills to make sure that the buildings were
safe to enter and who would try to bring out casualties. Alongside them would be the
emergency services – fire, police and ambulance – doing all they could to rescue people
from the wreckage.
East Grinstead, like many other towns, suffered damage from enemy action. The events
of Friday 9 July 1943, resulted in one of the worst cases of civilian loss of life.
Late that afternoon, about ten German aircraft crossed the Sussex coast at Hastings
heading for London. One of the planes detached from the main group and headed for
East Grinstead. It was later thought that he had spotted a convoy of army trucks parked
in the main car park just off the High Street. Circling the town twice, he released the
bombs into this area at about 5pm. He then circled and approached once more, lower
this time and opened fire.
At the local Whitehall cinema, close to the car park, 184 people were watching a cowboy
film. Suddenly, an air raid warning flashed up on the screen. Having previously
experienced false alarms very few people got up to leave.
Suddenly the roof exploded as a bomb struck. It split in two and the entire structure
caved in. Adults and children died instantly in their seats.
A bomb from the German plane fell onto A & C Bridgeland, an ironmonger's shop. 500
gallons of paraffin were stored in Bridgeland's basement.
The fuel exploded.
The blast swept through the parade of shops, destroying Bridgeland's and Rice Bros
next door and causing the rear of Sainsbury's branch at 37-39 London Road to collapse.
Fire quickly swept through the area. Eventually a fire crew arrived and got to work
putting out the fires.
Fire crews at work on the ironmongers. Sainsbu
 • By the time the emergency services arrived many buildings including the cinema
were burning furiously.
• The Civil Defence and Heavy Rescue teams together with servicemen and civilians
began to dig away at the rubble in the hope of finding survivors.
• Laurie lay buried under the rear of the shop. Although badly damaged, this part of the
building remained standing.
• The final casualties numbered 108 killed and 235 injured, one of the highest civilian
losses in the country.

Surveying the damage. Image courtesy of West Sussex County Council Library Service
• After the bombing Sainsbury's moved into a disused Methodist
Church at 19 London Road, and remained there while the original
branch was re-built.
• Considering the damage suffered by neighbouring shops,
Sainsbury's had survived remarkably unscathed. However because
the building above the shop was unsafe it was removed and a false
ceiling installed.

Interior and Exterior of the Methodist Church

• A year and three days later, on Wednesday 12 July 1944, a flying
bomb fell onto the rubble of the London Road shop.
• It landed at 7.30am and caused widespread damage to 400 houses,
shops and offices. A number were completely destroyed, including
Sainsbury's shop.
• Three people died and 41 were injured. Casualties would have been
much greater if the raid had been later in the day.

View of the area before the1944 bomb View of the bomb damage to
Sainsbury's
• The complete destruction of the shop required emergency measures to get food to the
people of East Grinstead.
• So Sainsbury's sent an emergency van from its Blackfriars headquarters, which parked
near to the original shop, by the ruin of Caffyn's garage. The van was fitted out like a
travelling shop, complete with weights, scales and counters. The emergency shop served
shoppers until the Methodist Church could be refitted as a Sainsbury's shop. The 'shop in a
church' continued to trade until 1951 when a new shop was opened.
• Sainsbury's once again moved into the Methodist Church and remained there until 1951
when a new shop was opened.

Sainsbury’s emergency van Back in the Methodist Church