"My word we did have a time of it and poor old Exeter is in a sorry state."
The city of Exeter was severely bombed on the night of 3rd/4th May 1942, one-third of the centre was destroyed. “Exeter is a jewel, we have destroyed it” claimed a German radio announcer that morning.
This letter describing the events of that night was written by my Grandmother, Winifred Coles, to my Grandfather’s cousin (Glen) and his wife (Em) shortly afterwards.
The postscript was added by my great Grandmother Florence Blanchard (known as Gran Dawlish), they evacuated to her house in Dawlish following the blitz.
Win – Winifred Coles, my Grandmother
My father found the letter amongst many documents he kept and included it in family history album he made for my son, Mark, born in 1992
Transcript:
Dawlish, Wednesday
Dear Emmie and Glen,
I expect you have been waiting to hear from us after our hectic weekend. My word we did have a time of it and poor old Exeter is in a sorry state. We felt that we couldn't stay there any longer, so came down here by train Monday morning - Jean, Gran and I. The ceiling in Gran's front bedroom came down but luckily we had got downstairs & were sheltering underneath the stairs, or we would have had it all on us. We felt so alone up there as every night practically everyone used to go up over the fields to sleep. We haven't heard anything about any of the other people except Chas & Elsie & they are OK so hope everyone else is, but the casualties are very heavy. The whole city was blazing, I should think they must have dropped thousands of incendiaries & the dive bombing was terrible. Gran stuck it very well & Jean was a perfect little brick, but we all felt we must get away. We were ever so lucky to have got a train as everyone was trying but Stan Andrews was here for the weekend and went out early & got us a friend of his. The trains arent running as there are live bombs on the line. They run [unclear] to & from Exminster [?] & connect up with the trains [unclear] you have to queue up & it takes an awful time so Gran couldn't have done that. Chas & Elsie came down to sleep on Monday. They left home at 6 & didn't get here until 9.30 they were looking terrible when they arrived, but were better after a nights rest. Gran wrote to Uncle Will [unclear] so we hope to hear something about there [unclear]. Do you remember [unclear] that used to live in the [unclear] house in the Square. He was killed in a shelter at St Davids Station & Mrs Mead next door had a son killed in the same one. All the big shops have gone, Bobbys, Colson's, Dellers, Devon & Somerset, all the Arcade, Co-op, [unclear], Eastmans, Marks & Spencers & South St is flat. St Sidwells Church is gone & the City Hospital is gone altogether now. Dr Barnados, St Lukes College & several schools had direct hits & the gas place on the [unclear] burnt out, so we won't have any gas up there for a long time. The electric was alright so we were able to have a cup of tea with our electric kettle. About 4 o'clock in the morning, the girl who is sleeping next door & I went up over the hill & the fires were raging from one and of the city to the other. Red Cow had it terribly bad - a land mine dropped on the middle of it. The Cathedral wasn't damaged a lot - just one corner of it & all the windows smashed. Topsham Barracks had it & the Deaf & Dumb Institute had a direct hit. They brought 200 of the homeless down here last night & put them in the schools to sleep. Southernhay is knocked about a lot. I expect Don was in an awful state about it, but I managed to get a wire off from him, so hope he had got it O.K. The G.P.O. at Exeter was gone so it was impossible to get anything off up there. Don came home last Wed for 48 hours to see how we all were after the first blitz, so won't be able to get off again for a bit. Mum was ever so worried about us all & thankful to see us arrive. Nell & I are going up tomorrow to pick up some things as we came off in such a hurry that we didn't bring half we wanted. I am enclosing last nights paper & perhaps you will sent it on for Uncle Alf to see. Gran is going to write him some time today. We haven't heard from them for ages, are they alright. We had a lovely quiet night last night - no sirens at all - so we are feeling better for the rest. Gran likes it down here there is a lot more company for her. Jean has started school here. We hope you are all fit & thank you for your letter. The weather is grand isn't it - just right for the seaside. Gran won't be able to write a lot to Uncle Alf so perhaps you would send him on this letter when you are writing & then we would see the news. Well dear I must finish up now, as I have a lot of writing to do, so bye bye.
With best love from us all
Dear Glen & Emmie
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