Heybridge Basin (Cannibal Island)

The Village Bombing

Lord Haw Haw which was the name given to William Joyce, a German sympathiser, who regularly broadcast propaganda during the war. He joined the Nazi movement in England in 1939 and fled to Germany as war broke out. His intimate knowledge of Essex was rather disconcerting although he made a mistake with the location of the submarine base because it was on Osea Island in the First World War! told us on the radio (as described by 'Darby' Stebbens) that German planes were going to bomb the submarine base at Heybridge Basin. The attack happened several nights later: On the morning of the 11th January 1943 four bombs were dropped on the Basin. One of these landed on the two rows of cottages. Five villagers lost their lives that day and a sixth died in hospital 4 weeks later. All are remembered on the Heybridge War Memorial.

Mary Hume 78 was injured and died three weeks later in St Peters Hospital, Maldon. The five people that were killed were Fred & Sarah Everett 64 and 72 years of age, Rose Wisbey 56, Ida Bailey 47 and Elizabeth Jones 70.

(above) The row of cottages opposite Sam Purkiss Stores, the end two plus two more out of site on the corner were bombed and destroyed.

(above) an unexploded Zepplin bomb droppped on the Basin during WW1