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Significance of Location

What happened to Whitstable in the war, dad?

It's the sort of question that you might be asked and the answer is perhaps a little more complicated than you might imagine. 

The town was fortified to a considerable extent.... but perhaps not as extensively as neighbouring communities to the south and east. It witnessed much of the wider activity around and above it.... but without being a major target itself. It suffered a significant number of attacks, incurred damage and, sadly, sustained loss of life.... but not as great as London or other major cities.

But, why was a sleepy fishing port involved even to this extent. After all, it had little "large scale" industry and no great military presence in peace time?

Well, if you are a visitor who has stumbled across these pages without knowing much about the town, a short explanation may be in order.... because most of the answers stem from the town's location. 

Let's take a look at the scene in the dark days of 1940..... 

At that time, the German army was amassed on the coastline of Northern France. An invasion attempt was imminent and Kent's lengthy coastline was vulnerable. Although Whitstable was not the most likely landing site, it's beaches needed to be fortified along with those of the rest of the county. Some military presence was also needed within the town and surrounding areas. After all, Whitstable was one of the seaside towns closest to London.

The Channel ports had been thrust into a front line that edged the important sea route through the Straits of Dover. They were within easy reach of enemy aircraft and within shelling range of big guns located on the coastal fringes of France. 

By contrast, Whitstable held a more sheltered position on the North Kent waterfront - some 30 miles behind the main lines of confrontation. This, combined with the town's lack of industrial or military significance, meant that it was not the prime target that Dover and Folkestone presented.  

Nevertheless, it did attract some interest from the enemy. For a start, it overlooked the Thames estuary. This placed it alongside the vital sea lane into London and Medway docks.... and beneath the air routes that many enemy aircraft would use to strike at the capital. It also had a small but useful harbour, a smattering of boatyards and a wartime military presence. This was sufficient encouragement for an occasional Luftwaffe bomber with spare explosives, a Stuka roaming the Kent countryside or a  fighter plane with time and fuel to spare. 

As a precursor to invasion, the Luftwaffe began to strike at RAF sites in an attempt to destroy Britain's air defences. Serious damage to the country's permanent air bases led to air force high command creating a myriad of makeshift and easily repaired air fields across the south east. Kent airfields used during the course of World War II are shown in red on the map below....

Some of these airfields were designated "Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs)" and were only populated with planes at key times of the day. For protection, the aircraft were withdrawn to larger bases further back from the main battle zone when large scale enemy attacks were less likely. 

As we all know, this initial struggle for air supremacy became The Battle of Britain and much of it took place in the skies of Kent including those of Whitstable. It was a short but critical time.... lasting between 10th July and 31st October 1940.

Eventually and somewhat unbelievably, Hitler became frustrated and changed tactic.... by switching the main focus of bomb attacks onto cities (particularly London) in an attempt to undermine the morale and will of the people. The Battle of Britain had been won... or, perhaps more important, it hadn't been lost. The RAF now had breathing space to strengthen its resources. 

An enemy invasion had become less likely given Britain's massive naval power and the Luftwaffe's failure to achieve air supremacy. Moreover, Hitler's attention and many of his resources would soon be diverted eastward..... towards Russia.

However, Whitstable continued to witness the massive bombing raids that passed overhead en route to London and it suffered occasional bomb strikes itself. It also became a spectator in the dogfights between RAF fighters and enemy bombers and their escorts. In fact, a number of aircraft were brought down off the town's beaches and amidst the surrounding countryside.

Form a distance, Whitstable also viewed and heard devastating attacks on more strategically significant towns such as Dover. And, of course, it watched in horror when, just seven miles to the south, a large section of Canterbury was demolished by the Luftwaffe on the night between 31st May and 1st of June 1942. This raid was believed to have been a reprisal for a massive allied air raid on the German cathedral city of Clogne just 24 hours earlier. Much of the southern area of Canterbury city centre was destroyed.    

Of course, technology moved on and, from 13th June 1944, a new and more sinister form of weapon was directed at London in the form of the unmanned V1 - the "doodlebug" low flying bomb. Many passed over Whitstable and were viewed by Natives. A very high proportion fell short of their intended targets or were brought down by anti-aircraft fire, barrage balloons and RAF fighters. As a result, many plummeted into Kent with a handful dipping into our town.

Hitler's final weapon of terror was practically "invisible" due to its speed and high trajectory. This was the V2 rocket that was introduced on 8 September 1944. Mercifully, Whitstable suffered very few strikes. In fact, we know of only two hits by a V2 within the borders of the town.

The V2 was introduced towards the end of the war and, by then, Whitstable people were viewing the massive flights of allied bombers heading eastward and some of the air based activities that supported the push through Europe following the Normandy landings. They also spotted new types of aircraft from across the Atlantic and welcomed American air force personnel based at nearby airfield such as Manston. Some Natives now live in the US after marrying American citizens.

This is the background to Whitstable in wartime. Now, it is time to look at our "detail" pages to see the human side of it all - through the quotes, stories and anecdotes of our Native contributors.

The Simply Whitstable Web Site