HASTINGS IN WWII
Not only did Hastings Old Town suffer during World War II, but also Hastings
Town Centre suffered badly from the bombing and blast damage.
 The Town's first air – raid was at 7:15am on the 26 July 1940, when a single
aircraft dropped 11 explosive bombs, several of which fell on the Cricket
Ground, now Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. One would not have thought that this
would have been regarded as a very strategic target but the German High Command
apparently had access to some very old maps because the claim was made that
there had been a successful raid on Hastings Harbour! Later more damage was
done to the Cricket Ground when the railings surrounding it were taken as scrap
to help the war effort. The first lone raid presaged four years of aerial
onslaught with the month of September 1940 being particularly disastrous as far
as the Town Centre was concerned. On the 14th, Linton Crescent, then on the
26th, two raids which resulted in a total of forty high explosive bombs being
dropped in Queens Road, Nelson Road, Milward Road, and St Mary's Terrace. Three
people were killed and there was widespread destruction.
 On the 30th September, a bomb hit the coping of the Plaza Cinema, today Yates
Bar, and exploded in mid – air. It was the most devastating incident of the war
in the Memorial area. People had been watching the aerial battle raging
overhead and eight people were killed outright, and another six died later from
their injuries. Many others received injuries of varying degrees of severity.
Amongst those who had been standing at the Memorial and who was killed was
Norman Kemp. He had been home on compassionate leave from the RAF to attend the
funeral of his brother, who had been killed in the previous raid, when his
Queens Road shop had received a direct hit.  The blast from the bomb caused an
extensive damage to properties in the town centre and the explosion blew out
all four dials of the Memorial clock.
The bombing continued. At the beginning of October more bombs were dropped in
this area, one of them a direct hit on the Bedford public house in Queens Road
and another destroying the WVS headquarters in Havelock Road. In the latter
incident there were three fatalities, one of them a young girl whose body was
found in the ruins of a Havelock Road office several days later.
CLICK HERE FOR A MAP OF HIGH EXPLOSIVE BOMBS THAT FELL ON HASTINGS DURING WORLD WAR TWO
There was also widespread devastation in Middle Street, Castle Street and on
the sea front. In one of the more bizarre incidents, a bomb hit the roof of the
Queens Hotel but bounced from there to the Albany Hotel before exploding
killing Canadian soldiers. The Albany was completely destroyed, on the site are
now flats and a Debenhams department store.
The unmanned flying bombs, or doodelbugs, flew right over Hastings as it was on
the direct flight path and its been calculated that 50% of all those launched
against England passed over the Town. Not many were brought down in Hastings
but the final piece of town damage was caused in June 1944 when a doodlebug
went into the sea off Carlisle Parade. The blast caused damage to shops and
offices in White Rock and the town centre and staff were kept busy all morning
sweeping away broken glass.
The bombing produced heroes as well as victims. One of the former was a nurse
named Dorothy Gardner, working at the Royal East Sussex Hospital. The hospital
had been damaged in 1940. A bomb dropped in White Rock Gardens had sent debris
crashing through the roof of the children's ward. Fortunately, no – one was
injured but the following year another bomb fell on the hospital. A woman
patient would certainly been killed had Dorothy Gardner not flung herself
across the woman's bed, shielding her with her own body. Dorothy Gardner
received severe head injuries but was awarded the George Medal for her courage.
There were also incidents that in retrospect – after the danger was over –
brought smiles to people's faces. For example Edith Skilton, was working at her
desk in the Borough Engineers town centre offices when she saw a Messerschmitt
109 flying past so low that she could even see the pilot was smiling. She
called out to her boss, who was not impressed and replied to her " Nonsense
girl – you wouldn't know an ME109 if it hit you ", whereupon the plane returned
to machine-gun the building.
Even though the two World wars had dramatic effect over the whole of Hastings
and its people the town did survive and today the lives lost are still
remembered.
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