On the bright, sunny Sunday afternoon of 18th August 1940, eight people lost their lives in Redhill during a day of heavy German air raids. The Royal Air Force later named this historic conflict ‘The Hardest Day’ - the largest single air battle fought in the skies over Surrey during the Battle of Britain, and a crucial prelude to the London Blitz which began on 7 September.
As the RAF fought the Luftwaffe over Surrey to prevent a German invasion, losses were catastrophic on both sides. Together, the RAF and Fleet Air Arm lost 68 aircraft (31 in direct air combat). The Germans suffered equally heavy losses, with 69 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Yet, of all the German bombs dropped that day, only a few reached their intended military targets; many fell instead on the surrounding civilian towns.
Between lunchtime and teatime, the Luftwaffe launched three massive raids deploying a mixture of Dorniers, Junkers and Heinkels. A vital sector station, Kenley airfield near Coulsdon, bore the brunt of a devastating low-level attack.
The raid itself lasted no more than five minutes - striking between 1.22pm and 1.27pm - but left 11 dead and caused major infrastructure damage. British defences retaliated fiercely. Of the nine low-flying Dornier Do 17s that initiated the assault on Kenley, four were shot down or crashed, and the remainder limped back to France heavily damaged, leaving behind five German prisoners of war.
The chaos spilled into neighbouring boroughs. A stick of roughly 14 bombs fell in a direct line stretching from Church Street in Reigate to Hatchlands Road in Redhill. Given the time of approximately 1pm they were almost certainly dropped by one of the inbound Dorniers heading to Kenley.
Some of the bombs fell on Reigate Grammar School and the parish church was slightly damaged. The Foresters Arms (now the Hatch) and a number of private houses were also hit. Shrapnel chipped the town's World War I memorial at Shaw’s Corner.
The most significant explosion occurred at Shaw’s Corner in Redhill, killing eight people with many more injured and taken to Redhill hospital. Five people passed away at the scene including a member of the Rescue Party Service. Another three people died later from their injuries after being taken to Redhill Hospital. Flying glass from shattered windows slightly injured several passengers aboard a local bus.
The Human Cost
The victims of the Shaw’s Corner and Hatchlands Road bombings were a cross-section of the local community and civil defence forces:
Joseph Giles (63): A lifelong local resident and husband to Elizabeth Giles of 88 Ladbroke Road. Baptised at Reigate St Mary’s in 1877, he was a father of four who died at the scene while serving his community as a member of the local ARP Rescue Service.
Emily Florence Bryant (80): A widow originally from Brockley in South London who had been living in Worthing with her daughter, Ivy at the start of the war. it is not known why she was in Redhill, perhaps visiting friends, her address was given as 2 Devon Flats, Devon Crescent, Redhill.
Three men drinking inside the Foresters Arms were killed instantly by the blast.
Robert Holt (41): Husband of Ada Holt, visiting from 1 Hannell Road, Fulham.
Philip Lewis Pinch (53): Local resident and husband of Katie Pinch of 41 Albion Road, Redhill.
William Robert Sharp (42): Visiting from 90 South Worple Way, Mortlake.
Alfred Edward Phillips (41): The publican of the Foresters Arms. He had taken over the tenancy in February 1938 and died at Redhill Hospital on the day of the raid. His widow maintained the tenancy, later marrying to become Mrs. Meadows, and continued running the pub until 1967.
James Charles Woodards (18): A young fruiterer’s assistant who lived at 1 Spring Copse Road with his parents and five siblings. He was walking past the pub when the bomb struck and died from his wounds two days later on 20 August.
Gertrude Emily Foster (65): Injured at her home in nearby Hatchlands Road, she died the same day at Redhill Hospital. Born in Northamptonshire, Gertrude attended Fulneck Ladies School, a well-known Protestant school founded by the Moravian Church of Bohemia. She married the Reverend Arthur Thompson Foster, a missionary in Madras. The couple later returned to England, where Arthur became the Pastor at Redhill. Gertrude's husband and daughters survived her, living in the same Hatchlands Road home until his death on Christmas Eve, 1952.
Why were the bombs dropped here?
The seemingly random bombing in Redhill and Reigate was directly connected to the Luftwaffe’s failed low-level attack plan.
The German plan was for a ‘pincer’ movement of high-altitude bombers combined with a specialized, low-flying unit of Dornier Do17s. Nicknamed the "Flying Pencil," these Dorniers specialized in "hedge-hopping" tactics. They crossed the south coast at Beachy Head and flew a mere 50 feet above the ground, using the contours of the Surrey landscape to slip underneath British radar and anti-aircraft coverage.
Because Redhill and Reigate sat directly inside this flight corridor just south of Kenley, they caught the overflow of the battle for two distinct reasons:
Premature Jettisoning Under Fire: The low-flying Dorniers were quickly spotted by local Observer Corps posts and engaged by intense ground fire from ground defences and RAF Hurricanes. Because they were heavily underpowered compared to British fighters and had severe defensive blind spots, carrying heavy bombs was a death sentence. To gain the speed and manoeuvrability required to evade the RAF and clear the rising terrain, several pilots dumped some of their payload early.
The Nature of the Payload: Dorniers typically carried their 1,000kg payload divided into 20 small 50kg (110lb) bombs rather than a single large explosive. When a panicked pilot yanked the emergency release lever or a mechanical linkage was severed by gunfire, it created a long, trailing line of explosions cutting right across the towns.
While there was no deliberate German strategy to target the civilian populations of Redhill and Reigate, the tragic loss of life at Shaw's Corner and Hatchlands Road remains a stark, enduring reminder of the true human cost of the war in Surrey.
Surrey Mirror - Friday 02 September 1949
https://www.surrey-constabulary.com/uploads/1/1/2/9/11293584/war_torn_skies_over_surrey_1940.pdf
Royal Airforce Museum