Exeter Memories - The story of the Exeter Blitz, May 1942 The 4th May, 1942 - the Raid A small raid in the early morning of the 3rd May was nothing unusual - a few fires and in the scheme of things, annoying but routine. There was nothing to suppose that the Luftwaffe would return in force. At 01.36 the next morning, the 4th May, air raid 'red' was declared and the sirens sounded as 20 Luftwaffe bombers flew up the Exe estuary. The order to despatch the fire services was made. The first bombs fell in Newtown at 01.51, sticks of incendiaries designed to ignite and cause roof fires. Soon after, the Fire Barge that supplied No 6 line was sunk in the River Exe by a direct hit. There were 19 reports of fires at 02.00 and by 02.15 fires were raging in the High Street, Sidwell Street and Fore Street - all available fire pumps were in action fighting to douse the rising inferno. At 02.19 the telephone system and lights failed. The High Street was blocked preventing access to the central area to fight the burning buildings. The fires were spreading from one building to another, despite the heroic efforts of the firewatch who would risk their lives to remove incendiary bombs from the rooftops with special scoops made for the job, before they could ignite and set further buildings on fire. In addition, the attacking planes would fly low, strafing the emergency personnel with machine gun fire. At 02.30 the Telephone Exchange and the Gas Works down at Haven Banks were ablaze - the firefighters were drawing water from the many tanks that had previously been placed around the city, and from pumps at the River Exe. Air raid 'white' was declared at 02.50 as the German bombers turned and headed back to their bases in Northern France after 70 or so minutes of their deadly task. Not all went to plan for the Luftwaffe during the raid. The Polish 307 Lwów Night-fighter squadron based at RAF Clyst Honiton (Exeter Airport) were scrambled and shot down five of the raiders. They only had four serviceable twin-engined Beaufighters equipped with radar, and it was like looking for a needle in the proverbial night sky.
