I have read the secondary sources relating to the above air raid that resulted in one of the biggest fires in the UK during WW 2. Has anyone come across first hand accounts of the raid, or indeed any other raids on Pembroke Dock, during their researches? Best wishes Adrian (Born and bred in PD)
The bombing of the Pembroke Dock oil tanks Seventy years ago this week, on 19 August 1940, three German Junkers bombers, escorted by twoME109 fighters, flew in over the Pembrokeshire coast and dropped their bombs onto the oil tanks high above the west Wales town of Pembroke Dock. The tanks contained thousands of gallons of vitally important fuel oil and when one of the bombs hit its target it started a fire, the like of which had never been seen in Wales before. A sheet of flame leapt into the air and the noise of the explosion echoed around the town. Then a huge column of smoke began to billow out of the stricken tank and climb like the sword of Damocles into the sky. The smoke hung there, above the town and the desperate Civil Defence workers who fought to quell the blaze for the next 18 days. The Pembroke Dock oil tank fire was the largest fire that Britain had seen since the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the resources to fight it were pitifully few. Initially just one tank had been hit but despite the heroic efforts of Pembroke Dock fire chief Arthur Morris and his team of part-time firemen the flames soon began to spread from one tank to the next. Hurried appeals were sent out to fire brigades all across the country, asking for men and fire fighting appliances. Help came from all quarters, from Milford Haven and Narberth and from places as far afield as Swansea and Cardiff. But, at this early stage, nobody quite realised what was facing them. As one Cardiff fireman later said: "We'd got as far as St Clears when we noticed the cloud. We didn't realise what was going on until we got a bit further and by then, of course, we were right in the middle of it." In the end 22 brigades were involved, over 500 men, from places as far away as Birmingham and Cardiff. The blaze raged for 18 days and, eventually, 11 of the 18 tanks were destroyed, their valuable contents just burning, vanishing into the ether or running in a great black river down the road towards the town. For a while there was a very real possibility that the fire would spread even further than the tank farm and citizens of Pembroke Dock lived in constant fear that the burning oil would set all of their houses alight. Dozens of firemen were injured and overcome with exhaustion. Tragically, five Cardiff firemen were killed when the wall of one burning tank just splintered or ruptured and a sea of burning oil engulfed them. Their names are still remembered in Pembroke Dock - Frederick George Davies, Clifford Miles, Ivor John Kilby, Trevor Charles Morgan and John Frederick Thomas - and on a memorial at the site of the inferno. Molten oil ran out of the tanks, coating the firemen who, in those days, had no specialised equipment or clothing. Sometimes it seemed as if it was raining oil. The men who fought the fire never forgot it: "Oh, the flames, they were 30 or 40 feet up in the air and you wouldn't believe the width of them. And then the smoke. And oil dropping down. You couldn't go too close because it was so hot. "What we were doing was cooling the unaffected tanks and the ones on fire. But as one tank seemed to empty another would catch fire." When the fire was eventually extinguished controversy erupted. Arthur Morris, hero of the hour, a man who did not leave the scene of the blaze and had slept only in snatches - at the side of his Merryweather Fire Engine - for 18 days, was passed over in the awards so liberally given out to others - several of whom spent virtually no time at all at the scene of the disaster. Arthur Morris was never a "yes man," always being regarded as a fireman's fireman. But if he had been critical of the operation then no one ever knew. He remained tight-lipped and took the secret - if secret there was - with him to his grave. The Pembroke Dock fire was soon to be eclipsed by other fires in London, Coventry and Birmingham as the German bombing offensive gathered momentum. http://www.pembrokedock.org/h_war_4.htm http://www.memories.thepenvro.com/Memories8A.html
Memory of Pembroke Dock’s biggest oil fire lives on 19 Aug 2010 00:00 It was an attack that has been long-forgotten by the rest of Wales. It was an attack that has been long-forgotten by the rest of Wales. But Rachael Misstear discovers how a World War II bombing of Wales’ most important docks has lived on in the memory for some Wyndham FOR the people caught up in one bombing, it was a “hell on earth”. Seventy years ago today, a West Wales community was hit by a bombing causing one of the biggest oil fires in history. On August 19, 1940, three Junkers 88s set an oil tank alight at the Llanreath Admiralty depot. It was the biggest blaze in the UK since the Great Fire of London and took the lives of five men and severely injured 28. The blaze was also responsible for the destruction of more than 1,000 homes in Pembroke Dock. During the war, the dock, with its air station, barracks and naval oil depot, had come within easy range of German bombers based in France – a vulnerable target, suffering repeated air raids. Firemen, soon on the scene, found jet black smoke churning across the carriageway in such dense clouds it was impossible to see. The blaze was creating a deafening roaring noise and fire fighters had to shield their faces from the scorching heat. For the next fortnight the huge column of smoke, described as a “a sombre and awe-inspiring spectacle”, was visible from a hundred miles around. The spreading blaze destroyed 11 of the 17 oil tanks. Brigades from across the country quickly joined local fire fighters – a final total of around 650 men. Many were injured, and were tended to near by. Five Cardiff firemen died when a collapsing tank erupted. Wyndham Scourfield, 87, is believed to be the last surviving firefighter drafted in as he was one of the youngest to tackle the blaze. The bombing happened a week after his 17th birthday – the day he was eligible to join the Auxiliary Fire Service. “It was my first ever firefighting job as I had only been with the service for a matter of weeks,” said Mr Scourfield, who has lived in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, all his life. pembroke dock The AFS was first formed in 1938 as part of Civil Defence air-raid precautions - next page He was one of hundreds of young men across the UK who joined up as a volunteer for the AFS as part of the war effort. The AFS was first formed in 1938 as part of Civil Defence air-raid precautions. Its role was to supplement the work of brigades at local level. But its job was hampered severely by incompatibility of equipment used by the different brigades – most importantly the lack of a standard size of hydrant valve. “The day that bomb dropped on one of the tanks was terrifying for all of us,” said Mr Scourfield. “But because we were among some of the nearest crews in Pembrokeshire, we were among the first to get there. “There were 650 firemen in total who helped tackle the blaze. “At that time I had just been recruited with the AFS because you had to be 17. I joined in June and I was due to turn 17 on August 12, seven days before the fire. It was quite a start to the job.” He was one of thousands of British young men who were expected to sign up as Local Defence Volunteers (or LDVs) but had a fast and steep learning curve. “The experience was out of this world. The grime and the smoke was dreadful. “The noise, flames and smoke was something never to be forgotten and it really was hell on earth. “Everyone coming out of there was covered in oil and black with smoke, it was absolutely filthy stuff.” Mr Scourfield said the three- week battle to quash the flames was an exhausting process, with men working 15- hour shifts to tackle the flames. “The fire engines remained in place while shifts swapped over and men went to rest before returning to the blaze. “It was absolute bedlam. You just couldn’t see what was going on. Everyone was battling trying to contain the oily blaze, but when the tide went out things just got worse and worse. “As the water went away the flames really roared up. “I think as a youngster I was very well looked after, but most of the men there were much older and had families. They must have been terrified.” “It was a case of trying to contain the fuel and the billowing oil to one tank by putting a screen around it. “As the AFS we didn’t really have the equipment to do it, by the time the firefighters came from across Wales the fire had spread over such a vast area. “The heat was stifling and lots of the boys were using zinc or timber sheets to shield their faces from the biting heat.” Mr Scourfield, who has kept a memoir of the events that unfolded in August 1940, said much of what happened has been forgotten by younger generations. “I don’t think people realise what devastation had hit Pembroke Dock all those years ago and how everyone pulled together to deal with it.” He has recently lent his scrapbook, which includes all the names of the firefighters he worked with, to the Welsh Area Fire Engine Restoration Society (Wafers) and museum in Skewen near Neath. Ray Evans of Wafers, a retired firefighter, said the fire in 1940 was one of the worst in Welsh history. The late Pembrokeshire historian Vernon Scott, who wrote two books about the attacks on Pembroke Dock, said people in the town have never had the credit they deserved for enduring such hardship during the war. “For a town of its size – it had a population of 10,000 – Pembroke Dock was one of the most heavily bombed communities in the British Isles during World War II.” http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/memory-pembroke-docks-biggest-oil-1903841
Its certainly not forgotten, its very well known about across South Wales - and the subject of a number of jokes to those who work there now. The Sunderland Trust would be your best bet for information as they deal with much history in PD.
I take it you mean by 'secondary sources' these books? If not, I recommend them: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pembrokeshire-Under-Fire-Bill-Richards/dp/1870745051/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386166065&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harms-Way-Vernon-Scott/dp/1870745108/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386166282&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=in+harm%27s+way+pembrokeshire+vernon
Is that true? Where was the raid mounted from and by which L:uftwaffe unit? Was there really an me109 escort?
From The Blitz Then and Now Vol 1 page 218 19 August 1940 Llanheath oil tanks at Pembroke Dock were attacked by two aircraft at 1515 hrs .Eigth of the 15 tanks,each containing 12000 tons were involved. on the same page "Reflecting on the results of their attacks over the last week,Luftwaffe High Command now made far reaching changes to their overall strategy.Henceforth they ordered their Bf 109s be redeployed ,charging them to act as close escort to bombers and Bf 110s alike.
I think there's been a misunderstanding - Me109s would never have got that far. They could barely get to London.
Looking at the Luftwaffe Battle Order of August 1940,the raid would be have been mounted from a forward base in Brittany and the most likely airfield would be Guipavas in the Finistere Department close to Brest and now Brest civil airport. Guipavas already had a JU 88 unit (Kampfgeschwader 40, although a L R Reconnaissance unit) and BF109 unit (Jaddeschwader 53) based on the airfield. As to the question of the range of the BF 109,the version used would have to be the BF109E-7 which had the provision for a 300 litre (66 gal) drop tank which increased the aircraft's range from about 600kms to 1000kms. About this time Goering had given an instruction that bombers should have escorts,presumably on daylight raids.
