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'This story was submitted to the People's War site by Rick Allden of the CSV 麻豆官网首页入口 Coventry and Warwickshire Action Desk on behalf of M. R. Spurgeon and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions'.

Hedge-hopping in Sussex

During the early days of the war it seemed that a favorite past-time of the German fighter pilots was to make short raids over the south coast of England, flying very low and machine-gunning anything that looked interesting.

Win Hills experienced this numerous times. She lived in the village of Ninfield a few miles inland from Bexhill. Her husband was with the British Expeditionary Force in France but at home were her mother and three children Jean, Margaret and baby Patricia. Her mother, whom everyone called 鈥淕ran鈥�, suffered from an enlarged heart but was enlarged in every way, in her gruff kindness, her buxom bosom and her ample behind. She really was a big lady, born and bred in the Kent countryside. The relevance of this will become apparent.

They soon became accustomed to the air attacks, when the planes (usually singly) would suddenly appear flying low over a nearby wood and skimming the hedges before banking sharply to avoid the roofs of houses. Often there was no siren to give the alert.

Such was the case one morning while Gran and Win were cooking in the kitchen and the baby, Pat, was in her pram in the back garden. The familiar rat-a-tat-tat of machine-gun fire and howl of an approaching plane came without warning. Instantly Win and Gran made a dash for the garden, their one thought: the baby. They reached the open doorway simultaneously and found themselves wedged there, unable to extricate themselves and reach the pram before the plane swooped over the garden and up over the house, bullets hitting the tiles. It flew so low that the pilot鈥檚 face was clearly visible.

For that split second, stuck in the doorway and feeling helpless, Gran raised the only weapon she had, already in her hand, and shook the carving knife at the pilot. If he saw her I am sure he was glad to be soaring toward the sky and not standing in the garden to face the wrath of that woman, formidable when roused to protect her family.

M. R. Spurgeon

This story was donated to the People鈥檚 War website by M. R. Spurgeon, of the Leam Writers. If you would like to find out more about Leam Writers call 0845 900 5 300.

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