Bournemouth at War - Eyewitness!

From a rare recording made in the 1980's, Jack Hopkins remembers his role in the rescue crew during the 1943 bombing of the UK town of Bournemouth. The incredible images taken at the time are included by kind permission of the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

[@lynnewilloughby3869]

My Dad was one of the Canadians who helped get people out of the Metropole that day. He said the only place you could stand up was behind the bar and they drank the beer on tap to clear the plaster dust from their throats while they rested up before digging out more of the injured and dead. He met my mother in Bournemouth shortly thereafter. She remembered helping caring for some of the children from the school after the raid. Thanks for sharing this.

[@merlinward1]

A profoundly moving story beautifully recounted by Jack Hopkins. Never again...

[@RadiopodUk]

Using Google 3D streetview I've worked out that the photo which is used quite a lot in this video (e.g. at 0:34) shows the bombed building which stood before Beales was built. Slightly to the right is Lloyds Bank on Old Christchurch Road and the white building near it (opposite corner) is RBS. The flat roofed building in front of shot is the bar "The Mary Shelley" and the photo was probably taken from the back of the graveyard or St Peter's Church itself. The church in the distance is St. Michaels Church at the top of Poole Hill.

[@lampsandamps]

A really interesting video, we are from Bournemouth and can relate to most of the places your father spoke about. Thanks for sharing.

[@RossRossiter]

so lovely to hear Jacks voice

[@Theroslinfiles]

Hi stevobath - Many thanks for watching my film. There were 22 Fw 190 Fighter Bombers on the Bournemouth raid, two of which were shot down. However, my father remembers the raiders coming in over the "Bath Hotel" which is in central Bournemouth. In fact they attacked from the eastern side of the town, and we think he must have mixed this up with the Burlington Hotel at Boscombe which would have been the largest hotel landmark on the eastern side.

[@SallyL.UK.]

My great grandfather was stood outside I think it was Beales and he was blown across the road. I have no dates though. Only a memory of being told the story xxx

[@carolcr4024]

My Uncle Tom from Tottington, Lancashire aged 21 RAF was killed there staying in the hotel. R. I. P. When visiting a couple of years ago Tourist Information had never heard of it. 😔

[@HotSpace2007DaveB]

My parents came from Brighton and I remember my mother telling me that she was in her School Playground which was on a hill with a long straight road called, Elm Grove and the Germans came over and one of the planes started shooting up the school, killing quite a few. She said that Spitfires turned up and picked on that one plane shooting him down over the sea and making sure that the pilot did not survive. A terrible waste of lives on both sides.

[@rabbastern]

I ' m so sorry - Greetings from Germany.

[@arjay1949]

FW190s were fighter bombers --they could (and did!) carry up to 500Kg of bombs, often as just a single bomb... They were used very successfully in a number of so called 'tip and run' raids over various south coast towns in the UK , mainly in 1942 and 1943....

[@arjay1949]

That sounds like the raid of 25th May, 2 days after the Bournemouth raid...

[@stevobath]

Fw 190s are fighters.He seems to say they dropped bombs?

[@HotSpace2007DaveB]

I think it was arjay1949.