ix) VILLAGE NOTES
Bridge and the Wars
The recent discovery of anti—tank mines in
Bifrons brings to light oncce again how near the
village was to the front line in the second world
war; even in the first war the glow of the artil—
lery barrage on June 18th 1916 at the Eattle of
Somme could be seen from the top of Eridge Hill and
there were complaints from several villagers on the
state of the roads caused by tanks on the way to
France. In earlier times Barham Downs was a favour-
ite place for the assembly of the assembly
of the troops before embarkation at Dover: over 30
‘housand were reported at the beginning of the Seven
fears War and troops were also stationed there before
the Battle of Agincourt in 1485. Luckily the village
escaped any major disaster (unlike Sturry) from 1939
to 19h5 but if the invasion had taken place,
Operation Sealion as planned on the Romney Marsh by
the German 20th Army Group under General Brausitch
and a landing of a parachute regiment on Charing
Downs then there would have been an encircling action
to capture Canterbury before setting off to Bridge
in order to take Dover. On the old Folkestone to
Canterbury railway was stationed a platoon of the
Polish Army Corps shelling France and although there
was a section of the Home Guard in Bridge, there
were also several platoons under the command of
Captain Peter Fleming (brother of Ian Flemming who
lived at the Old Palace, BeKesbourne) who were to
take direct charge in the event of an invasion;
Renvills Farm was a huge food store; the potato
field at the back of Bridge Railway Station was laid
out as a false aerodrome to deceive the Luftwaffe
and two enemy aircraft were shot down at Bekesbourne
and the bodies of the two airmen lay for many years
in Bridge Church Yard; now they have been re-
buried in the German war Cemetry at Cannock Chase.
Sir Winston Churchill in his memoirs, p. 270 gives a
vivid description of his journey to Dover just after
Dunkirk and a piece of his cigar was preserved for
many years at the Red Lion; a year later too,
Eleanor Roosevelt passed through Bridge to address
the women's Institute at Barham. But for many
with all its privations, life went on just the same
as for example on the same day that Runstedt's
troops passed through Sedan, Bridge Women's Institute
270 miles away was celebrating its 21st birthday;
who could have foretold the horror if invasion had
come ~ some did like Mr. John Baker-White, former
Tory M.P. for Canterbury, high on the Gestapo list
at Street End in the next parish; some fought and
all three parishes near witness to the valour of
troops who did not return - the most moving of
which is in Bekesbourne Church with the single
inscription: "Precious pieces in the Mosaic of
Victory".
J. J. Williamson.
Sources: Imperial War Uuseum.
Lamps ~ The British Resistance.