The Railway In World War Two
The Home Front
The Leominster to Kington line played a vital role in World War II. It enabled fruit, vegetables, milk, and meat to be transported to the towns and cities to feed the civilian population. The Nazis tried to starve Britain out of the war, so a good supply of healthy food was vital to our success.
It also brought evacuees from Liverpool and London to the relative safety of Pembridge. One unfortunate evacuee in Wapley found himself under his bed and on the ground floor of the house when the Luftwaffe mistook Pembridge for Presteigne. Miraculously no one was killed or seriously injured despite over 50 bombs having been released.
Did your family house evacuees during the war? Were you or a family member evacuated to Pembridge? If so, we’d love to hear from you.
With most men of fighting age away at the front, farmers relied on the Women’s Land Army to help tend the animals and bring home the harvest. The railways bought the “land girls” to Pembridge to play their part in the war effort. Was someone in your family in the Women’s Land Army?
Glider Pilots Heroism
Between 1942 and 1945 RAF Shobdon was No 5 Glider Training School. The railway bought airmen and supplies to Shobdon with a siding built next to the air base. Some 1,345 glider pilots, together with 291 instructors and 218 tug pilots were trained there.
Their missions were extraordinarily brave. It involved crash landing in the middle of a battlefield, where, if they survived the crash, they and their passengers became fighting soldiers.
Pembridge and Shobdon Royal British Legion recently visited the town in Normandy where the glider pilots landed, on a thin strip of land between a river and canal. The taking of Pegasus Bridge marked the beginning of the liberation of France.
Hergest Hospital Camp
In 1944/45 thousands of injured American troops travelled on the line to Kington. There they were transported by ambulance to Hergest Camp. Here were stationed the 107thand 122nd US military hospitals, forerunners of M.A.S.H. Survivors of the Battle of Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge, they recuperated in the peace and quiet of Herefordshire.
The camp later became a resettlement centre for Polish troops and once the war was over, the huts housed homeless British families, whose city homes had been destroyed in bombing raids.
All that remains now of the camp are the ruins of the brick and cement huts on the Hergest road. The Kington Museum hosts an exhibition about the camp and the many people who were treated and worked there. www.kingtonmuseum.com.
