The SCARS of One winter’s morning in December 1942 the war suddenly and violently visited the sleepy little village of Westfield in Sussex. As Andy Saunders observes, the visible evidence of that shocking day is still to be seen.
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he village of Westfield in East Sussex on the northern outskirts of Hastings was one of those places that the war had, so far, pretty much passed by. During the Battle of Britain there had, of course, been frequent air battles overhead and several aircraft had been brought down nearby. There had also been one or two random bombs, but mostly these had all fallen in open country and done little damage and caused no casualties. However, all of that was to change with a vengeance on the morning of 7 December 1942. * Like any class of children, the minutes leading up to lunchtime were spent in restless anticipation of the looming break time at Westfield School, but 12-year-old Ken Munday suddenly had his attention attracted by the noise of approaching aero-engines, low and fast. He knew the sound. They were Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, and although he could not see the aircraft now approaching the village he had seen and heard others as they had bombed nearby Hastings and Battle on previous occasions. However, and before he had a chance to look for them, or even to take stock of the direction they were coming from, there was the unmistakable rattle of firing; bursts of machine-gun and cannon fire. The sound of exploding cannon shells, ricochets, and breaking glass lasted but
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ABOVE: The village war memorial in Westfield bears the names of military and civilian casualties from both wars, although because little Joyce Lewry was from Brede, the neighbouring parish, she is not commemorated in the village where she lost her life. The war memorial in her home parish of Brede only carries the names of service casualties, and thus she is not commemorated there either. The author has been unable to locate a grave for her. (Courtesy of Robyn Saunders)
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seconds and then, just as suddenly as the noise and the gunfire had been on top of the village, so it was gone. So quickly was it all over that the startled class teacher had no chance to tell his children to take cover. Indeed, by the time Mr Hinge had gathered his wits the raiders were already past, although most of the children had by now taken cover under their desks. Distantly, there was another rattle of gunfire against the rapidly receding sound of BMW engines. Outside in the village people were suddenly emerging from buildings and doorways to see what had just happened. Already, there were some people on the streets and there were a few who had just got off a bus. Unfortunately, some of the pedestrians had been hit. Elsewhere in the village, several houses had been struck too. BELOW FAR LEFT: Typical of an East Sussex
country village scene, the normality of this view belies the wartime horror once visited on this spot by a strafing Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It was on this stretch of roadway in front of this brick wall at Cottage Lane, Westfield, that 14-month-old Joyce Elizabeth Lewry was killed by cannon fire whilst being cradled in her mother’s arms. Her mother, Violet Lewry, lost an arm in the attack whilst Nellie Croft was badly injured. The village school, where 12-year-old Ken Munday had thrown himself under his desk, is diagonally across the junction from this wall and is situated immediately behind the photographer. (Courtesy of Robyn Saunders)
BELOW: Ken Munday, a life-long resident of Westfield, points out the spot where part of the tragedy of the attack that day actually occurred. The testimonies of witnesses like Ken Munday remain an important link to the past and, in the case of the Westfield attack, provide an accurate record of events that day. In fact, the Air Raid Incident Reports in the East Sussex Record Office imply that the Cottage Lane casualties were injured or killed at either Sedlescombe or Hare Farm at Brede, although those two locations were the home addresses of the casualties and there is no mention of any incident in Cottage Lane. (Courtesy of Robyn Saunders)
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The time was shortly after quarterto-twelve, although piecing together the exact sequence of attacks and the route taken after the German aircraft had crossed the coast at Dungeness and headed westwards is unclear. What we do know is that the raiding force, consisting of four Fw 190 aircraft of I Staffel/JG 26, crossed the coast some time just after 11.30 hours. We also know that the schwarm encountered bad weather and was split up, although the route had generally taken the aircraft westwards along the East Sussex coastline with, it is believed, the intention of crossing the coast on the way out somewhere around Beachy Head. On the ground in Westfield and the surrounding area there were a number of incidents that day, all of them logged between 11.45 and 12.05 hours, although in truth the timings might be the times the incidents were called-in and reported rather than the times they actually occurred. According to Luftwaffe records the four aircraft had taken part in a lowlevel Stoerangriff, or nuisance raid, using gunfire to attack what were described as “barracks” and also shooting up Rye Railway Station. From “near Rye” light flak was also reported by the raiders, and it is almost certain that this was gunfire put up by
ABOVE: Focke-Wulf Fw 190 pilots resting between missions. (Courtesy of Chris Goss) BELOW: This brick wall surrounding the garden of “Crossways” (now “The Old Surgery”) still bears visible evidence of bullet and cannon shell strikes, although much of the damage has been repaired over the last sixty-nine years. Any casual observer would merely take these chips and holes to be ageing and weathering – if they noticed them at all. (Courtesy of Robyn Saunders) 278th Battery (Light Anti-Aircraft), 71st Anti-Aircraft Brigade, which had a position at St Thomas the Apostle, Winchelsea. So far is known, the gunners scored no hits on the low-flying aircraft, although return fire from the Focke-Wulfs did hit the gun position, injuring two of the gun crew. Moments later the aircraft were still sweeping westwards in a wide open grouping, spread-out in a line-abreast formation. One aircraft next fired on Hastings as it flashed past, and then Bexhill-on-Sea where it hit the Froebel School, raking the building with machinegun and cannon fire and causing minor damage to walls, windows and the furniture. The four aircraft then careered on towards Herstmonceux. They soon found other targets; machine-gun and cannon fire damaged roofs, windows and
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THE SCARS OF WAR telephone wires at Mill Farm, Boreham Street, before causing “material damage” to the roof and windows at Herstmonceux Castle. In each attack, the raider was gone before he was seen; just a growl of engines and an accompanying short rattle of gunfire, and that was it. It was a dangerous game, though, for the pilots were flying in poor visibility over undulating countryside and sometimes, literally, just above the ground to the extent that they had to lift up to clear trees and buildings. Further to the north-east, but at around the same time that Wartling and Herstmonceux were fired on, one of the raiders targeted Westfield. The gunfire that Ken Munday had heard from his classroom had ripped across the tiny village, smashing roof tiles and windows and kicking up spouts of dirt, tarmac and brick dust as machine-gun and cannon fire hosed the group of huddled buildings with devastating consequences. White streaks of tracer smoke curled viciously across the roof tops, accompanied by the sharp “crack” and dancing flashes of exploding 20mm cannon shells, some of them hitting a house called Kutelamara in Cottage Lane. Here, the back door was blown clean off its hinges and a garden shed left holed like a colander. The occupant of the house, just getting in her washing, had had a very lucky escape from death or injury. Not so lucky were the three pedestrians in the lane outside. * Having just got off the bus, Vi Lewry
was walking up Cottage Lane from Main Road, Westfield, holding her 14-monthold daughter, Joyce Elizabeth, in her arms. With Vi was her best friend, 34-yearold Nellie Gladys Croft. The three had barely walked some fifty or so yards into the lane and were passing the high brick wall that bounded a house called Crossways (now The Old Surgery) when cannon shells and bullets raked the road and slammed into the brick wall. Unfortunately, little Joyce and her mother were in the path of the lethal gunfire. Joyce was hit and critically injured by a cannon shell which had struck Vi in the arm as she cradled her daughter. Tragically, Joyce Lewry died later that day in Hastings’ Buchannan Hospital, whilst
ABOVE: No.2 Plumtree Cottages in Sprays Lane, Westfield (the middle cottage of the three) was the scene of one of the tragedies that befell the community on 7 December 1942. Twenty-eight-year-old Joan Primrose Beeching was standing at her kitchen sink when she was struck by gunfire and hit in the head by a 20mm cannon shell. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Civilian War Dead Register incorrectly states that Joan was injured and died later that day in the Buchanan Hospital, Hastings. (Courtesy of Robyn Saunders) BELOW LEFT: Focke-Wulf Fw 190s lined up, almost certainly for an inspection. It was at the end of March 1942 that a specialist fighter bomber Staffel was created; 10.(Jabo)/ JG 26. Others followed. Often operating in small numbers at high speed and low altitude, these raids were difficult for the anti-aircraft batteries and RAF fighters to defend against. On 31 October 1942, Canterbury was attacked in the largest daylight raid mounted by the Luftwaffe since the Battle of Britain, with some sixty Fw 190s attacking the city, killing thirty-two people and injuring a further 116. It was just over five weeks later that disaster struck the village of Westfield, albeit on a much smaller scale. (Courtesy of Chris Goss) BELOW: The plaque commemorating the Second World War casualties that can be seen on the war memorial in Westfield. Joyce Beeching’s name is recorded along with that of Doris Linch who died of injuries sustained during a V-1 flying bomb incident in the village during July 1944 – one of an astonishing thirteen V-1 incidents in the parish. (Courtesy of Robyn Saunders)
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her mother, Vi, lost an arm as the result of terrible injuries caused by the shell. Nellie Croft was also hit and seriously wounded in the right arm by splinters from the cannon shells as they exploded on the wall and roadway. Today, marks from the hits in the high brick wall in Cottage Lane can still be seen. Across the other side of the village, 5-year-old Basil Beeching was not at school but was ill and in bed with Scarlet Fever at his home, 2 Plum Tree Cottages in Sprays Lane. Another deadly hail of gunfire had hit the cottages. Shells and bullets struck Basil’s 28-eight-year-old mother, Joan Primrose Beeching, in the head, arms and legs as she worked downstairs in the kitchen. As Basil slept upstairs, completely unaware, his mother fell to the ground mortally wounded. Across the road, William Harthill had a lucky escape when shells tore into his house; some entered through one wall, passed through the house, and exited out of the far wall. Barely moments before, William had left his bedroom and gone downstairs. When he later went back to investigate he found the room, and his bed, completely riddled with bullet holes. In seconds, death and destruction had
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arrived without any warning in this tiny Sussex village. Meanwhile, the raiders swept westwards and continued to randomly and indiscriminately empty their guns at farm buildings and dwellings on their route. There were no more civilian casualties, although the drama of JG 26’s brief visit was not quite over just yet. One other young life would be lost. In increasingly difficult flying conditions of rain and poor visibility (Luftwaffe records reported a “rain storm”) the four fighters then turned south towards the sea and headed for home across the general area of Eastbourne. However, the South Downs to the west of the town rise up 500 feet above sea level towards Beachy Head. One of the fleeing German fighters failed to spot the hazard. Almost blind in the poor visibility, and still hedgehopping, one of the Fw 190s aircraft flew headlong into the chalk hills at Oxendean, near Jevington to the west of Eastbourne, and exploded violently. The impact killed the pilot outright and scattered the mangled wreckage over a wide area of open farmland. * Of course, it is not possible to say whether this Focke-Wulf was the aircraft responsible for the attack on Westfield, but it was certainly one of the four in that striking force that had been involved in
ABOVE FAR LEFT: Five-year-old Basil
Beeching had a remarkable escape when a cannon shell went through the bedroom wall just inches away from him as he cowered under his bed covers. He was unaware that his mother lay dead downstairs and was taken to safety by a neighbour. His father, William Beeching, also had a lucky escape that day when he was machine-gunned whilst working with a tractor and trailer on the opposite side of the village.
ABOVE and BELOW LEFT: Two images that show just how low the Fw 190s could fly during their Stoerangriff attacks. The target in this case was the town of Worthing, located further west along the Sussex coast, on 9 March 1943. The attackers on this occasion were from 10/JG 2. Note the rounds striking the gas holder. Despite the best efforts of pilots from 486 and 610 squadrons, the raiders escaped unscathed. (Both courtesy of Chris Goss) BELOW: A photograph of Joan Beeching who was killed in her home at No.2 Plumtree Cottages in Sprays Lane, Westfield. the shooting up of buildings ranging from Dungeness to Bexhill and beyond. The crashed aircraft was actually a Fw 190A-4 (werke number 5609, White ‘7’) of 1./JG 26. The pilot was 20-year-old Obergefreiter Willi Muskatewitz. Almost certainly unaware of their
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comrade’s fate, the three other fighters headed south, and, singly, outwards across the Channel towards France, probably gaining a little altitude in the worsening murky weather as they went. In a matter of minutes they were back across the French coast, although one of the three surviving pilots, Obergefreiter Horst Gauss, was not out of trouble yet.
Having become lost in the bad weather he was now running low on fuel. So low were his reserves that he was finally forced to crash-land his aircraft (werke number 7042) some five miles to the east of Berck. In the course of this he was injured. For the Luftwaffe pilots, this time the weather had been the enemy. The British anti-aircraft fire had been light and ineffectual, and the RAF had not got off the ground. The surviving German pilots were probably back in France before the RAF even knew they had been. * Picking through the wreckage at the Jevington crash site, RAF Intelligence Officers were able to assemble some detail out of the widely scattered and 46
fragmented debris of the Focke-Wulf. In the subsequent report, the following comments were made: “The aircraft flew into the side of a hill in conditions of low visibility, hitting the ground at a fine angle. It broke up and was scattered over a wide area and some portions caught fire. A ‘7’ in white, outlined in black, was traced on a portion of the wreckage but this was very indistinct and may be incorrect. The usual grey camouflage was present and the rudder, elevators and under-side of the cowling were yellow. The spinner was dark green. The werke number which was painted on the fin and on the engine data card was 5609. “The BMW 801-D engine was entirely wrecked and beyond the fact that a VDM metal propeller was fitted, no details can be obtained. Two MG 151 of 20mm calibre were fitted in the wing roots, and two MG 17 of 7.9 calibre were mounted over the engine. “About one hundred rounds of 20mm ammunition were scattered round the crash, some of which were High Explosive/Incendiary. It is believed they contain a larger proportion of incendiary compound that the usual HE/I ammunition.” * Today, the crash site is part of the South Downs National Park and, although cultivated and farmed, it has never been subject to any form of significant investigation, though it is understood that small parts of the aircraft are, from time to time, brought to the surface by the plough. Thus, there is nothing tangible today to mark the passing of this aircraft or its young pilot. In Westfield village, some fifteen miles to the east of the crash site, the visible scars of
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The Police “Crashed Aircraft Report” form containing some information on the crash of Obergefreiter Willi Muskatewitz’s Fw 190 near Jevington, East Sussex.
LEFT: PC William Watts, the Police Constable in neighbouring Brede, had the unenviable task of informing Robert Lewry that his baby daughter had been killed and his wife seriously injured. It seems he may have also dealt with the actual incidents in Westfield that day, although the regular village policeman there was PC Archie Russell.
BELOW: The remains of Obergefreiter Willi Muskatewitz’s burnt identity card that was recovered from the crash site of his Fw 190 on 7 December 1942. the attack are fading with time, although the memories of this wartime event still linger on with a number of older residents including, of course, Ken Munday. Basil Beeching, too, has a lasting and indelibly haunting recall of that awful December day; a day when as a young boy he lost his mother. It had also been a day when a mother lost her daughter and a day when another mother, far away and in another country, had lost a son. n
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