Anniversary sparks memories of Forth attack

Yesterday’s 80th anniversary of the German air raid on the Forth and the bombing by the Luftwaffe of Royal Navy ships at Rosyth, has rekindled vivid memories for a Courier reader who witnessed the attack.

Edward Thompson, who today lives in Glamis, was just nine years old at the time and travelling across the Forth Bridge back to his home in Wormit in Fife when he witnessed the audacious attack by German bomber planes on HMS Edinburgh and HMS Sheffield docked at Rosyth.

“There was a tradition of throwing a penny out of the window into the sea for good luck whenever you travelled across the Forth Bridge so I pulled down the window only to immediately be splashed by water from the explosion of the German bombs,” he recalls.

“I was on the left side of the train looking down on to the naval dockyard at Rosyth and witnessed the raid right before my eyes.

“I wasn’t frightened, it was more of a surprise really.

“When the train pulled into Dundee station I remember newspaper reporters from The Courier and others, looking to interview anyone who had witnessed the raid.

“However, nobody was interested in a nine-year-old, yet I had the best account of all.

“Even after all this length of time the memories are still as vivid as if it was yesterday.

“It was a significant moment in the Second World War as it was the first air raid by the Germans on Britain, the first shots fired in anger by the RAF, saw the first German plane shot down and it represents the first moment of combat involving the Spitfire.”