Hitler’s Littleham victim - Granny the grazing cow

Littleham’s Reg Hill has just turned 100. In a series of articles he gives his memories of life in the village. David Beasley reports.

THIS week marks the 64th anniversary of the “Littleham Blitz”, when Adolf Hitler bombed the village.

It was April 1942 and Hitler was sitting in his Bavarian bunker, still stewing after the RAF's impetuous raid on the ancient German cathedral city of Lubeck the previous month.

He ordered Luftwaffe boss Hermann Goering into his wolf's layer, demanding reprisals.

The RAF had picked the target primarily because the town held one of the major supply depots vital to Operation Barborossa, Hitler's stalled attempt at annexing the-then Soviet Union.

Who would have thought that this series of events would result in the Littleham Blitz which led to a single, infamous casualty?

Hitler, as is well documented, had a penchant for getting a little stroppy when things didn't go his way and letting his emotions cloud tactical decisions. And things really weren't going his way.

It is reputed that he decided to launch a series of reprisal attacks on some of England's most beautiful but strategically unimportant towns by using the Baedeker tourist guide to pick targets. On April 23 and 25 the Luftwaffe struck.

The story goes that, after bombing Exeter, a stray Junkers bomber crew, running out of fuel with a full payload, circled over the Exe Estuary a few times, watched their fuel gauges go into the red and blindly dumped their bombs into the night.

Five or six bombs landed in a circle around the village, creating several hefty craters, but thankfully nobody was hurt. Nobody, that is, except an old cow called Granny who, at the time, was merrily munching away on cud in a field owned by Farmer Lindsey at Munday's Farm.

As the bomb exploded, sending mud and cowpats flying in all directions, a piece of shrapnel flew through the air and cut off the poor cow’s tail.

Reg Hill, who was 36 at the time, remembers: "She was quite upset. One minute she had a tail, the next she didn't.

“I think the noise scared her more than anything. But at least she survived the blast."

Granny wasn't the only resident to have had her tranquil village life rudely interrupted.

A London family, the Browns, who had made the acquaintance of Reg's parents, had left the capital for a few weeks – ironically to avoid the Blitz.

Their boys, Rolf and Tony, had been staying as evacuees in the village’s Mews Houses.

Reg said: "It’s an odd thing that they left London to avoid the bombs and, as soon as they come to Littleham, the first night, they get bombed."

Reg added that his mother had warned Mr Brown, a Metropolitan police inspector, that Reg's dad was strict.

"She warned him and he replied: 'Good it will knock some sense into them'.
“I bet he regretted that decision!"

One evening, Mr and Mrs Brown, who were staying at Kolora, the house Reg still lives in today, had gone to bed in the back room.

Reg said: "I heard this almighty sound. The whole village seemed to shake, and then I heard a crash, then there was what sounded like a shout and then just silence."

He remembers his parents going into the room to see if the Browns were okay.

What they found was the sight of a stunned and bemused Mr and Mrs Brown, bespectacled, with books in their hands, nightcaps on, with most of the ceiling on top of them and on the floor.

"They weren't hurt, just a little shell-shocked. Plaster was everywhere, and the lampshade with a bit of ceiling attached to it was on the bed.

"They left soon after that," added Reg. "I think they had enough of the quiet life and were eager to get back to London!"

Rolf, Tony and Reg are still friends who keep in regular contact.