2025 was the year of the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war…….it is said that in this year only 1% of the population of the United Kingdom was born prior to the outbreak of war.
Young generations today read of the Blitz of our cities; horrific concentration camps; and the flattening of towns as the Allies forced the Nazis into reluctant surrender.
Opinions are often based on romanticised films of wartime heroes when in fact there was little glamour in young men and women giving their lives or being incarcerated in POW camps for year on end.
It is, perhaps, understandable when post war generations have the opinion that rural villages and, in our case, HOOK were remote from the war protected by their rural remoteness.
Actually, that is far from the truth ……………….the village of Hook had a role to play and, in fact, paid a heavy price in defending our country.
I will highlight a few instances which illustrate the villages’ role and how close the villagers of Hook were to the action.
How far is Burton and the river from Hook ……. shall we say four miles or so as the crow flies……well in 1941 a German Junker bomber escorted by two ME109 fighters completely unchallenged attacked the oil storage tanks at Llanion and started a fire that was described as the largest fire this country had experienced since the great fire of London which was in 1666. The attack took place at 3.15 on a Monday August the 19th.
22 fire brigades from literally all over the country fought the blaze. Five Cardiff firemen died and nearly one thousand were treated for injuries some admittedly not too serious but some life changing.
MACHINE GUNNED
In Hook the fumes were stifling and the sky aglow all night. To make matters even worse firemen fought the blaze for 19 days and more than once dived for cover as the German Luftwaffe returned and machine gunned the site.
The Luftwaffe took off from captured airfields in France and a few odd stats of interest…. a time when fuel was at a premium 11 of the 18 tanks on the site were destroyed and it was estimated that 33 million gallons were lost. Nine miles of hoses were used and 2000 gallons of water a minute were poured onto the blazing tanks.
To put the danger into perspective the fire fighters wore boiler suits; tin hats and wellies!!
I spoke to a former Hook resident who all day we could actually taste the fumes and at night the sky glowed red.
RATIONS
Food was immediately rationed which prevented the wealthy and well-connected obtaining more than a fair share. At the outbreak of war Britain was importing 20 million tons of food each year. This is why the Germans swarmed the Atlantic with U-boats in a determined bid to starve the island of Britain into submission. This was and has been described as the Battle of the Atlantic…………….a life and death struggle that cost the lives of thousands of merchant men and an estimated 5,000 supply during the Battle of the Atlantic the Allies lost 147 warships and over 4000 merchant vessels………………..figures which today are unimaginable. It has been reported that over 60,000 sailors, merchantmen and airmen died in what was called the Battle of the Atlantic.
Rationing was very quickly introduced, and each individual had to register with a grocer; butcher and greengrocer………remember in those days there were no sell everything supermarkets and to get ones weekly quota of food it meant calling…and queuing at least three or four shops. Rationing would be a nightmare for little shop owners like the one in Hook.
Actually, rationing was not completely relaxed until 1956….ten years after the war ended in Europe. It is interesting that although bread was not rationed during the war it was rationed in 1946 for a little over two years. The bread during the war was described as the National Loaf………………it was a rather dubious wholemeal mixture which replaced the white loaf which was officially banned.
Coal was rationed from 1940 to 58 and in Hook locals used culm which is a mix of coal dust and mud rolled into balls. I recall the late Hubert Thomas, village milkman, telling me that the stream under Hook bridge ran black with colliery waste and locals would collect the coal saturated mud for culm ball making. That is mixing anthracite dust with the mud to dry out and then burn as coal.
COLLECTED FOXGLOVES
Country folk as in Hook had one advantage and that was, they invariably had large gardens and all members of the Family turned out to grow and harvest the produce,
It is on record that village school children were tasked with collecting foxgloves which provided an ingredient for Digoxin…a heart drug. They collected blackberries in organised harvesting, and these were collected for jam making.
Allotments were created virtually overnight and where the Haverfordwest Police and Fire station is now located provided dozens of allotments many tended by mums whose husbands were in the Forces.
Quite hard to believe that for example in the blackberry season the family turned out; carefully squirreled away sugar was used for jam making; apples wrapped in tissue paper and stored; hazel nuts carefully put aside and stored for Christmas. All houses were heated by a coal fire and one never missed the opportunity to carry home a bit of wood for the fire.
With coal rationing it must be remembered that the overwhelming number of homes of the day depended on a coal fire for heating the house and cooking in a fireside oven.
As soon as war became inevitable work was started on air raid shelters,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,massive concrete block buildings with a solid concrete roof. Every school in urban area had a shelter; there was one on the Bank in Dew Street; St Thomas Green and Prendergast for example and Haverfordwest Grammar School had two or maybe it was three.
I am sure many Hook grammarians will recall that after the war one became the smoke shed and we would cram in there for a crafty woodbine during the break.
Actually, the shelters were not popular as there was a storey sweeping the country of as the result of a bomb blast the concrete roof of one collapsed and killed many of those sheltering within.
In Hook locals will recall the coal industry linked tunnel at Lower Quay Road ..this was converted into a shelter and available to families in that area. Others, it is recalled, built Anderson style shelters in their gardens but in real emergencies some locals hid under the bridge near Greenway.
THE BLITZ
We have all seen newsreel style film of the blitz of London; Coventry and such cities……………..but would it surprise you to know that Pembroke Dock a mere handful of miles from Hook was in relation to population one of the heaviest blitzed towns in the UK.
I am sure you have all scenes of roads in France crowded with people trying to evade advancing enemy. In May 1942 the scene was replicated in Pembroke Dock each evening.
On May the 11th that year German bombers sent two waves of destruction over the town, 30 civilians were killed in one night plus a number of service men. As many as 30 high explosive bombs fell on the town that night
They were to return night after night and as soon as evening approached townspeople staged a mass exodus………to stay with family and friends in outlying villages but most to sleep in outlying fields and woods. Children: pets and even cage birds were in the pathetic procession.
Servicemen stationed locally were also ordered to leave town at night and report back at first light. The Americans dubbed Pem Dock BLITZVILLE and there are reports that over the town and surrounding area nearly 2000 buildings were destroyed or damaged to some degree.
Hook miners offered use of the Tute as Army transport ferried citizens to safe spots each night, but the offer had to be refused as the Hobbs Point crossing had to be mine swept sometimes twice a day before the ferry could sail.
It is surprising that Milford Haven largely escaped bombing although the fishing fleet paid a high price in lives and vessels. Nine Milford trawlers were lost at sea ….torpedoed; bombed or raked with machine gun fire.
DADS ARMY
In the very early days of the war the local Defence Force was formed when volunteers mainly those too old for call up or having civilian jobs that were vital for the war effort. I have to admit initially it was rather akin to the Dads Army image that is portrayed in the hugely popular television comedy. But when an invasion became imminent as the Germans massed by their thousand a mere 20 or so miles from Dover the newly named Home Guard became a serious fighting force.
Hook had its own platoon as did Llangwm; Freystrop; and Rosemarket. A lot of these men were WW1 veterans …getting on a bit… but well-armed and a good knowledge of the territory they were to defend.
MINERS DUG 2O,000 TONS A YEAR
Hook, of course, was a mining village. The last coalfield in Pembrokeshire and coal was a vital commodity in the war effort……………it was the prime producer of energy and without the proverbial black diamond this country would have been virtually without power.
Let’s be honest conditions in Hook colliery were dire…………….men often worked knee deep in water hacking coal from ever narrowing seams.
The colliery produced a little over 20,000 tons a year which equates at about 60 tons a day.
Coal production was so important that a large number of young men who were called up were trained not as soldiers but miners…….. They were called the Bevin Boys after the minister who dreamed up the idea……Ernest Bevin.
A recent speaker told us of the plethora of aerodromes that were hastily built in Pembrokeshire.
With so much air traffic crashes were inevitable, and it is recorded that a Spitfire crash landed between Woodbine and Little Milford and a Martinet crash landed at Freystrop’s Cranham Moor.
There are also crashes recorded nearby at Boulston; Uzmaston; Haverfordwest ; Hayscastle and Burton.
Between 1939 and 1942 Fowborough played a key role in the war effort as it was here that pilots stationed at Lawrenny practised landing and take-off of Walrus seaplanes……….the Walrus was the forerunner of the giant and dependable Sunderland, . At one time there were 99 Sunderlands stationed at Pem Dock The area around Sprinkle was also used for bombing practice…..A Walrus crashed at HHook Farm……………….no record can be found but at least two locals I spoke to recall a recovery low loader getting stuck at LQR corner.
Incidentally there was a searchlight based near Freystrop cemetery.
I have deliberately left un virtually the end of my talk reference to the young men from the village who paid the supreme sacrifice or spent years in a German prisoner of war camp………………….and everyone I have spoken to dispels the somewhat romantic image often illustrated by the film industry. Cold; hunger and deprivation always come to the fore in the notorious P.O.W, camps.
I have left these aspects late as I often worry that in post war generations, they have just become names on a granite plate and we forget how these young men died to protect our futures. Those who paid the supreme sacrifice are;
REFUGEE CHILDREN
In May 1941 the authorities were preparing for a blitz of major cities so an order was made to evacuate children to safe area. In three days one and a half million children were evacuated to the countryside. Hook played its part and about 30 youngsters arrived in the village. They were housed with local families in Hook and Freystrop and the Miners Welfare Hall was used as extra class rooms.
The shock for these poor kids must have been enormous…apart from missing their families they were townies and used to electricity; flush toilets, running water and all the trappings of town life…..still to arrive in remote villages such as Hook.
RICHARD HOWELLS (2025)
Other speakers have included:
S.S. GREAT EASTERN
Dr Simon Hancock took as his subject the history of S.S. Great Eastern and her association with Neyland and rather sad retirement at Milford Haven. The Great Eastern was the brainchild of Isambard Brunel and at almost 700 feet in length and displacing 22,000 tons she was the biggest vessel afloat and attracted worldwide attention. Powered by sail and screw when the vessel was berthed at Neyland for repairs she attracted huge crowds of visitors and for two months or so provided work for 200. For more information the Hook Society recommends an article by Dr Hancock online under the heading of Pembrokeshire Historical Society.
PEMBROKESHIRE AIRFIELDS
The plethora of airfields hurriedly constructed in Pembrokeshire to combat the threat of the Hitler led Nazi Germany was the subject of a talk by aviation historian, John Evans.
The first was at Carew Cheriton soon to be followed by Withybush; Dale; St Davids; Angle; Brawdy and Talbenny. The range of the aircraft using these airfields was really wide. The speaker referred to the much-loved Sunderland of which nearly 100 were stationed at Pembroke Dock during the war and before that the Walrus dominated R.N.A.S. Lawrenny. Pilots of the Walrus practised landing and take-off at Fowborough Point which is where the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers merge. He also spoke of several plane crashes in the area including a Spitfire near Woodbine.
Also of interest was that the first crossing of the Irish sea by air was carried out by Corbett-Wilson who departed from Fishguard and landed unceremoniously near Enniscorthy in County Wexford.
FERRIES AND FERRRYMEN
For centuries men and women have crossed the river Cleddau for work and trade and in his talk to the Society former journalist and author of several local history books, Keith Johnson, recalled several crossing points were for a few coppers one could be rowed across the river. When the Royal Naval Dockyard was in full swing men from Hook and neighbouring Llangwm paid to be rowed across to work in the dockyard having cycled in all weathers from the twin villages. There were tragedies too and an incident when up to eight, mainly women, drown when a ferry overturned. During WW2 a minesweeper based at Milford Haven swept the channel twice a day to clear German dropped mines and ensure the safety of the Hobbs Point ferry service.