Kemp Town Cinema bombed in the war

[Dave the OAP]

I was talking with the parents in law last night and they recalled a terrible event in Kemp Town where a group of schoolkids were killed at a Saturday morning matinee.

I found this on the= BBC site

On Saturday September 14 1940 a German Dornier bomber had been separated from the rest of its squadron and was being chased by a Spitfire fighter plane. The German pilot dropped his entire payload in a bid to gain more speed over his pursuer and 20 100-pound bombs fell on the Edward Street and Upper Rock Gardens area, two of which hit the busy Odeon Cinema. A total of 52 people, including many children, were killed.

They said that a friends brother was killed in the raid.

Does anyone else's parents or grandparents ever talk about this and did they know anyone who died.

It seems a realy tragic event

 

[skipper734]

Log into, http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk There is tons of stuff on here and links to James Grey site for the photo's.

 

[Weatherman]

My Dad has spoken about this, he was going to the pictures with his older brother, they were going to the Odean but it was full or didnt fancy queuing so they went somewhere else.

If you go to http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk and stick in a search Odean bomb there are loads of hits.

 

[Laughing Gravy]

Two of my mums friends were killed in the cinema that day.

 

[Dave the OAP]

That is a really interestinmg site.

My Mother in Law said they used to live in Queens Park Road and one morning her mum, and her were sat in the back garden ( this was in 1942/3) having their breakfast when they heard an aircraft engine, they rushed to the anderson shelter and before they got there, the aircraft shot its machine guns toward them and the bullets ripped into the side of their house......up till a few years ago, the house which was by the Pepper Pot still had the holes visble when the rendering was wearing away.

You couldn't believe that these pilots would shoot at civilans in their back gardens....

My grandmother lived in a place called Primrose Hill in Huddersfield, which was a high piece of ground to the Northj east......in Huddersfield there was a huge ICI factory, whic the only way the German Bombers cound get to was over the houses where she lived and then down the valley ( over where the Galpharm is now). There was an Ack Ack battery on the end of her street and peversly they used to pray that they were not too accurate and shoot the bombers down on top of their houses!......

 

[IKDRF]

It took place on Saturday the 14th of September 1940 at about 3.30pm. A Spitfire fighter plane was pursuing a German Dornier bomber that had lost its squadroun. The German pilot decided to release all the onboard bombs, to gain speed. In this case the bomber did not escape and was later shot down. Twenty five bombs hit St James and Kemptown area, 52 died

My Dad usually went to the cinema but wasnt allowed to go that day!

In that raid it is reckoned that about a quarter of all the wartime Brighton deaths occurred. It is a myth however that all were at the cinema. I think between 3 and 5 died at, or as a result of the 2 cinema bombs

Further reading:

David Rowland has written a book called 'Target Brighton' which details all the attacks on Brighton. He was a school friend of my parents and his research is very comprehensive.

 

[Brovion]

That is a really interestinmg site.

My Mother in Law said they used to live in Queens Park Road and one morning her mum, and her were sat in the back garden ( this was in 1942/3) having their breakfast when they heard an aircraft engine, they rushed to the anderson shelter and before they got there, the aircraft shot its machine guns toward them and the bullets ripped into the side of their house......up till a few years ago, the house which was by the Pepper Pot still had the holes visble when the rendering was wearing away.

........

My mum has a similar story. She was indoors (in Selsden, near Croydon), when she heard an areoplane, some other strange sounds, (turned out to be bullets whistling and richoetting), people shouting and a horse neighing. Her Nan then came into the house with a similar story to yours; they'd heard no siren but a German plane, maybe a lone raider, had machine-gunned the street despite the fact it was a residential area with no military presence. My great-nan, rather than being scared was livid. My mum said she came in, red faced and steaming with rage. She threw her hat in the corner and said: "An aeroplane has just fired its guns at me. The noise startled the milkman's horse and the poor thing bolted. These damn Germans! They've got no consideration!" My mum was shocked as she'd never heard her Nan swear before! [Editor's note: in the 1940s 'damn' was still considered unacceptable swearing by some]

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

My Grandparents and Mum lived in Woodingdean, during the war, and some German pilot dropped his bombs, killing a donkey in a nearby field

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

My Grandparents and Mum lived in Woodingdean, during the war, and some German pilot dropped his bombs, killing a donkey in a nearby field

And what exactly was Kurt Nogan doing in aforementioned field? Trying to sniff out truffles with his outsized beak?!?!

 

[glasfryn]

My Mum and her Sister were walking along the cliff road and had German plane shooting at them and then came back to look and she swears the pilot waved at them and flew off over the Channel.
my Mum came back to Brighton to live with her Sister and married my old Dad who came from the west country like her and settled in Brighton,hence my love for both places.

 

[Mackenzie]

My grandad was the skipper of one of the 'little boats' which set off from Brighton to take the soldiers off of the beaches in Dunkirk (St Valery in his case). I think there is some stuff about him in the Brighton fishermans museum.

 

[Seagull's Return]

My dad was living in Egremont Place and was bombed out, he thinks in this raid (their flat wasn't hit but the house it was in was damaged); he and his brother returned from the cinema (another one, obviously) and found the place trashed, apparently. There's a modern building on the corner of Edward St and Upper Rock Gardens which is where the bomb actually hit. His mother used to say the family were moving every time a bomb dropped nearby, as Hitler was after her (her having produced three serving sons, you see, Hitler and Goering must've identified her as a major threat to the Reich); turned out it was more to do with non-payment of rent...

Also, my old man was "colaterally" machine-gunned (not hit, thankfully, but crossing the road when the bugger opened fire) by a German plane having a go at a train on the Viaduct over London Rd at some point, too - he thinks this might've been the 1941 tip-and-run raid where FW190s bombed and strafed the place, and managed to bounce a bomb off the ground to hit the viaduct and explode.

 

[Hove Old Fart]

My aunt - I thnink she was about 8 (I am now 68) was one of the children killed in the Odeon

 

[fire&skill]

Check out 'The Brighton Blitz' by David Rowland. A great read. Should be available in Sussex Stationers.

Kids getting shot at on Albion Hill by a Stuka, anti-aircraft guns causing a German fighter to divert west and strafe people walking at the front of St Dunstans, Marine Gate being the 'most bombed building in Brighton' and a Messerschmitt crashing on St Nicholas's graveyard.

And we get p*ssed off because an online ticketing service doesn't work very well!

 

[Emily's Mum]

My dad was shot at in May 1943 as he ran home from school up the Lewes Road. I think it was the sme day that the Franklin Arms took a direct hit. David Rowland's books are excellent.
You've just missed an excellent exhibition at Hove Museum containing lots of photos of Brighton at war. There was a photo, taken by the Argus, of a VE Day street party in St Paul's Street. It contained one very young, angelic looking boy - my Dad!

 

[IKDRF]

My dad was living in Egremont Place and was bombed out, he thinks in this raid (their flat wasn't hit but the house it was in was damaged); he and his brother returned from the cinema (another one, obviously) and found the place trashed, apparently. There's a modern building on the corner of Edward St and Upper Rock Gardens which is where the bomb actually hit. His mother used to say the family were moving every time a bomb dropped nearby, as Hitler was after her (her having produced three serving sons, you see, Hitler and Goering must've identified her as a major threat to the Reich); turned out it was more to do with non-payment of rent...

Also, my old man was "colaterally" machine-gunned (not hit, thankfully, but crossing the road when the bugger opened fire) by a German plane having a go at a train on the Viaduct over London Rd at some point, too - he thinks this might've been the 1941 tip-and-run raid where FW190s bombed and strafed the place, and managed to bounce a bomb off the ground to hit the viaduct and explode.

I dont think the raid you are referring to is the same one but certainly if you look about half way up Egremont Place you will see two very new houses. I suspect this is where your family lived. When Egremont Place was bombed my Uncle, on Army leave, was comming round the corner and almost lost his life to shrapnel. Certainly your family were fortunate!

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

My dad was shot at in May 1943 as he ran home from school up the Lewes Road. I think it was the sme day that the Franklin Arms took a direct hit. David Rowland's books are excellent.
You've just missed an excellent exhibition at Hove Museum containing lots of photos of Brighton at war. There was a photo, taken by the Argus, of a VE Day street party in St Paul's Street. It contained one very young, angelic looking boy - my Dad!

My dad's family lived in St Paul's Street! Obviously my dad would have been older than yours as he was serving, but he came from a large family (as so many were) and they all used the local St Martins school & church.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

When I lived in Italy in the early seventies, I was a regular visitor to a friend of mine who lived in a place called Pienza. The locals talked a lot about a bombing raid towards the end of the war that destroyed a few houses, a medieval city gate and killed a few local residents. More than a quarter of a century after the event, it was obvious that there was still a lot of anger about it - particularly since the target had no military significance whatsoever.

The interesting thing is that it was always described to me as an American attack. I found out only a few weeks ago that it was actually the British who bombed the place and the story had been "doctored" because the locals didn't want to upset their English friends.

 

[coventrygull]

My fathers aunt was one of those killed in the cinema

 

[Gwylan]

I
In that raid it is reckoned that about a quarter of all the wartime Brighton deaths occurred. It is a myth however that all were at the cinema. I think between 3 and 5 died at, or as a result of the 2 cinema bombs

... and four were known to NSC posters.

Either there were more than this number of deaths or by some coincidence all the deaths were relatives or friends of relatives of future NSC members (or some of these people are one and the same - Coventrygull's great-aunt could have been a friend of Laughing Gravy's mum for example).

My dad used to tell me about this and I got confused and thought that he'd been in the cinema when it was bombed. It was clearly something that had a shocking effect on the whole of Brighton though - it was a vivid memory for my dad right up until he died.