Eyewitness account of the bombing of Crawley Post Office in 1943

It was the day a lone German pilot dropped three clusters of bombs on the town centre. Two fell on the West Green Church of England School, one on the Westminster Bank and four on the Post Office.

Two people died in the attack – a figure that could have been much higher had it not happened at 8.30am.

One of the witnesses to the Post Office bombing was teenager Yvonne Peters. Her son, Ewan Green, found her handwritten account of that morning while going through her effects shortly after she died. He has been kind enough to share it.

This is Yvonne’s account of that morning.

“It was a very overcast early Monday morning in 1943. The air raid siren had just sounded as I made my way to catch a bus to work.

“Walking down the deserted High Street, I heard four thumps and simultaneously the roar of an aircraft.

“Looking up, I saw the plane skimming the roof of the George Hotel and with another crunch the engine sound faded.

“It all happened so quickly but the plane was so incredibly low that I could see the features of the pilot and all the aircraft markings – swastika, iron cross numbers and his ‘kill’ markings (about five).

“I dived into a shop doorway on the corner of Ifield Road until the all clear sounded. I decided to return home, walking on broken glass and rubble, to report to my mother in West Street.

“A bomb had sliced at an angle through the Post Office, leaving offices and rest rooms exposed for all to see, with boiling water from ruptured radiators cascading down three flights of stairs. Luckily it was early morning and no one was injured.