The Allied bombing of St Peter Port

Mr Donald Board interviewed by Margaret le Cras.
Edited transcript of tape recording of the interview

Mr Board. When our planes would come over, and they’d attack Fort George where the radio masts were and all that, and the airport, that was the two main objectives, when they’d come away, because Brehon Tower was away from the civilian population, they’d always give them a burst, so one day, there was one of, I always say our battery, this was the last battery, there was one came along by the kitchen door — they weren’t allowed in the kitchen, you see, they had to stay outside. - He had his arm in a sling, and I said to Theo “He’s had a packet” or something to that effect, “oh yes”, he said, in German, “en turm” in the tower.
I………. No joke, though, if he was stuck out there.
Would you have travelled, would you have gone to other batteries, or were you stuck there? You had to stay there?
Mr Board. I’ve never been on any of them. That’s why I don’t know what went on… the only ones I know where they were exactly was Clarence battery, because this old lady who knew me gave me a photo of one of them behind a gun, at the Clarence battery, and at the Salerie they had one, what they called ein fierlieger, a four barrel gun. Now that brings into my mind, one morning we had to look over to the north, and the Sun was from that direction, we used to start about eight o’clock, and there were three planes coming, quite low, and as they came, before they got to the harbour, we saw the bombs come out of them and go ahead of the planes, and then from in the harbour, up went [ ] and they bombed a ship that was against the New Jetty, and there were some foreign labourers killed, they were unloading bags of cement from that ship, and there wasn’t a shot fired, and apparently the lot at the Salerie battery, they got into hot water over that, because there were two things, the Sun was in their eyes, the other thing is the planes came in so low, they came down just above the cranes in the harbour, the gun wouldn’t go down that low.
I………. What year would that have been, do you think?
Mr Board. I don’t know, So many things happened. I mean one morning we heard a big explosion, and we ran outside, looked towards St Sampson’s, saw the smoke going up, that was the monument, they’d blown it up, because it was in the way of the guns. And then the other thing was some bombs in the Old Harbour that our planes had planted, I don’t know whether they dropped one there or whether it was blown up accidentally, but that’s when all the shop windows from the front and to the other side of High Street, all the glass was blown out, and the Town Church window, the one facing the harbour, the stained glass window, that was blown out, that was from…
I………. The bomb that was in the harbour.
Mr Board. Our planes had dropped quite a lot of parachute, quite a lot of bombs, they were like, they were quite long, a yard or more long, they dropped some outside the Harbour, there was one in the Harbour, they thought there was a submarine in the Old Harbour, that’s right, they thought there was a submarine in there, and these parachute bombs, there was one over the wall opposite the kitchen, I went down and looked at it, and the parachute was attached to it, and there was another one on the bend at the Longstore, which had come down, and the actual bomb had gone under the sea wall, it hadn’t gone off, they were timed bombs, because, well, anyhow, one morning, when I was cycling to work, there was a lorry with ropes attached over the sea wall, and they were going to pull it out, but the one on the beach they got up to the slip, and we went over, Theo and my workmate and myself, we went over and we saw them take it to pieces, there was a clock in it, in fact Theo asked for the clock, and I had a piece of the gelignite which I kept, well, until a few years ago…
I………. Oh, my goodness. There was that woman in Sark… It wouldn’t have gone off?
Mr Board. Well, it only burns,

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