‘News of the disaster was suppressed to avoid hurting morale’

Reader Richard Lukehurst from Stodmarsh wrote in to say how much he enjoyed our Doodlebug Summer pull-out earlier this year

The supplement traced the course of the German’s V1 flying bomb campaign against Britain in 1944 - 75 years on from the terrifying and often deadly attacks.

But Mr Lukehurst said: “I am surprised no one mentioned the terrible tragedy at Newlands Stud Farm at Charing Heath - which was then being using by The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) as a tank repair depot for the 6th Guards Tank Brigade.

“There, at 6am on the morning of Saturday, June 24, a V1 rocket being pursued by a British fighter came down on a Nissen hut which was the sleeping quarters of the unit.

“Of the 244 men stationed there, 46 were killed outright and 80 seriously wounded, of whom six more subsequently died.

“This was just one mile from where I was living at the time, so I had first-hand information.

“Forty-six of the victims were buried in their blankets because insufficient coffins were available in a communal grave in Lenham Cemetery beside the A20 Ashford Road.

“The remaining six were returned to their home towns for burial.

“News of the disaster was suppressed at the time, partly for security reasons and partly to avoid a dent in morale.”

Mr Lukehurst is absolutely right. A further reason perhaps for suppressing the news was that the doodlebug was actually brought down by the chasing Spitfire, though accounts differ, some saying it was shot down, others that the pilot tipped the rocket’s wing.

It has been suggested the pilot was Flt Lt Ivor Watson, of 165 Squadron, flying Spitfire MK811.

A first- hand account was later written by Brigadier Cliff Gough, who - a Captain at the time - was put in charge of the burial detail.

He said: “It was a beautiful sunny morning and there was no need for us to jump out of bed on Reveille.

“I was in the stables, used as a wash-room, shaving, when I heard a noise, looked up and saw a doodlebug coming towards us.

“It was being shot at from behind by a fighter-bomber. I started shouting: ‘Take cover, take cover’.

“Then it hit the camp. The bomb struck the corner of a Nissen hut housing the soldiers. The blast took me off my feet.

“I picked myself up and wandered round to where the camp was and it had all disappeared.

“The huts were all mangled together. There were blokes bombed to pieces, ripped apart.

“For security reasons it was decreed that it should be an active service burial in a mass grave in the cemetery of the nearby village of Lenham.

“The grave was dug during the day by Scots, Grenadiers and Coldstream Guardsmen. The burial took place at night by lantern light.

“Each soldier was wrapped in their blanket. “Those who could be identified had a label attached, with their number, rank and name.

“The names were recorded and placed in a sealed bottle which was placed under a wooden cross.”

Other accounts record that seven Nissen huts were destroyed and 14 vehicles and 16 motorcycles damaged.

A burial service was held on June 25, with a separate Jewish service the day after for Craftsman Lewis Lazarus, conducted by a local rabbi.

The unit was preparing to deploy to Normandy, and those that survived the attack did indeed leave for the invasion of Europe on July 17.

In 1964, Lenham Parish Council erected a pair of memorial gates to the fallen, where a bronze plaque was put on the brick pillars.

Memorial gates remember the fallen at Lenham Cemetery, where 46 of the victims were buried in a communal grave

Stock picture Seven Nissen huts were wiped out