A ‘blue on blue’ disaster

At the outbreak of what would become known as the Second World War on 3^rd September 1939, Harry Collingwood had been the manager of the Wyke House Hotel in the village of Wyke Regis, near Weymouth, in Dorset for seventeen years.  The hotel was a large two-storey Georgian manor house, with beautiful views across to the Isle of Portland, set in 12 acres of its own grounds surrounded by a high wall.  This was a successful family enterprise where he was ably supported by his wife and youngest daughter.  His eldest daughter Elena had some years earlier married the building’s owner, retired Royal Navy Captain Neville Brock, and they also resided in the hotel with their 8yr old son John and 6yr old daughter Elisabeth (later my mother).

The 1939 Register taken later that month was a comprehensive survey of the population of England and Wales and was used to produce identity cards and ration books during the war.  Information collected in the Register was also used to administer conscription and the direction of labour, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation.

The thirty-five occupants of the Wyke House Hotel at the time of the 1939 Register included Harry and his immediate family, Captain Brock and his family, as well as several Army and Navy officer guests – some accompanied by their wives, other boarders, and five live-in staff.  Harry Collingwood gave his occupation in the register as ‘Hotel Owner (Ex-Army Officer)’ suggesting that despite being sixty years old, he believed he might have some military skills to offer in a time of crisis[i].

On 14^th May 1940, the Secretary of State for War, the Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden MP, made an appeal for, ‘men in Great Britain who are British subjects between the ages of 17 and 65 to come forward and offer their service’.  The response was staggering and, in the first few weeks, nearly 1.5 million had men signed up for the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV), nicknamed the ‘Look, Duck and Vanish’ brigade or ‘Dad’s Army’, including Harry who enrolled during the first week[ii]. 

Members were usually men above or below the age of conscription, unfit or ineligible for front line military service and between the ages of 17 and 65, who claimed they had fired a rifle and were ‘capable of free movement’.  At first, uniforms and weapons were in short supply and there were only enough rifles for about a third of volunteers. The rest had to use shotguns, sporting rifles or ‘weapons’ such as golf clubs[iii].

Within months the name of the unit was officially changed to the ‘Home Guard’, and quickly evolved into a well-equipped and well-trained army of 1.7 million men across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.  Although they still carried out their regular jobs and drilled and patrolled in their spare time, they were unpaid volunteers.  Duties included manning observation posts, conducting identity checks, and defending public buildings and munitions factories.

Dorset was organised into seven regular Home Guard Battalions, based in Bridport, Dorchester, Poole, Sherborne, Weymouth, Wimborne and Wareham.  Harry, as Major H.C. Collingwood, was in charge of four platoons: Wyke Regis, Abbotsbury, Chickerell and Portesham making up the Chickerell (No3) Company of 5th (Weymouth) Dorset Home Guard[v].

My great-grandfather was known as ‘Pip’ to all his family, including his wife, daughters, and grandchildren.  Perhaps this was because of his army service during WW1 when had been conscripted into the Royal Army Service Corps as a driver, but subsequently applied and was accepted as an Officer Cadet, eventually gaining the rank of Lieutenant[vi].  Alternatively, the nickname could have evolved from his time in the Second World War as one of the senior officers in the Dorset Home Guard where his official title was Deputy Company Commander, until he was appointed Company Commander in February 1941[vii].

In December 1940, the Wyke House Hotel was requisitioned by the Admiralty[viii], so Pip and his extended family were forced to relocate to the tiny hamlet of Little Waddon, close to the village of Portesham, in one of the most beautiful and historic areas of Dorset.  

Months later, the Portesham platoon under Pip’s command had a very lucky escape when they were guarding a vital railway tunnel close to the village of Upwey and an unexploded bomb fell at the other end of the tunnel.  The Home Guard went to inspect it, reported that it was ticking and returned home.  Some hours later the bomb went off, but fortunately no-one was injured[ix]. 

The 5^th (Weymouth)’s first casualty was Pip’s colleague Major Alfred Frank Jolly, the battalion Adjutant, who was hit and killed by gun fire from a lone Dornier raid on Weymouth town on 3^rd April 1942, while he was going to the aid of a girl who had fallen from her bike[x].  Major Jolly’s funeral with military honours was held at Wyke Church where Pip was one of six Home Guard officers who acted as pall bearers[xi].   

No doubt Pip and his fellow officers and men would have been deeply shocked by this terrible incident, but nothing could have prepared them for the accident which occurred within days of Major Jolly’s funeral during a battle exercise between the Army and the Royal Air Force on Imber Down, on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.

On 13^th April 1942, many officers from Home Guard Southern Command, including five from the Weymouth Battalion, were amongst 2,000 invited guests at a tactical air demonstration planned to show how Hurricane aircraft could make low-level attacks on armoured vehicles on the ground using dummy soldiers and mock tanks as targets.  This was to be a preliminary practice before a visit by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, scheduled for a few days later.  

Unfortunately, the target area and spectator area had not been properly identified with white tape and the weather over the target that day was fine but hazy, making visibility poor when looking into the sun[xii]. 

The exercise began with a group of Spitfires which made their pass without firing.  They were followed by the Hurricanes who were to use live ammunition to launch an attack on mock tanks, armoured vehicles and dummies.  The first three Hurricanes engaged the target area as planned but, after the fourth missed the target completely, the RAF controller transmitted the fateful message, ‘If you cannot see the target fire anyway, but before reaching the spectators’ [xiii].

The fifth pilot made a successful attack, and another message ‘Good show aircraft that has just passed’ was transmitted just as the sixth aircraft, flown by an inexperienced Royal Canadian Air Force pilot was making its approach[xiv]. 

Tragically, the pilot was on the wrong course and, as he let off two short bursts of machine gun fire, he realised the error when the ‘dummies’ started to scatter, but it was too late.  Twenty-five spectators were killed instantly and seventy-one wounded[xv]. 

Fifty-four of the casualties were rushed to the Military Hospital in Shaftesbury with gunshot wounds of varying severity but, of those casualties, at least five officers and three ordinary ranks had died before they reached hospital or shortly after arrival. 

A joint War Office/Air Ministry statement the following day stated: ‘During combined exercises to-day in Southern England there was an unfortunate accident in which a number of soldiers, including some members of the Home Guard, were killed and other injured. The next-of-kin have been informed.’[xvii] 

Two of Dorset Home Guard officers, Captain James Rowland West from the Radipole platoon of the 5^th (Weymouth) and Captain Frederick Joseph Willy from Poole, were dead and at least five others were wounded.

Churchill was told of the tragedy, but he and General Marshall still made the visit a few days later after changes has been made to spectator safety, and the actual visit passed without incident.   He stood with a group of officers that may include Major Collingwood on the left of the photo looking towards the camera.

The final official death toll from the ‘Imber Incident’ was twenty-seven, with sixty-nine wounded.

A subsequent Court of Inquiry concluded that the pilot of the Hurricane, 20-year-old Sergeant-Pilot William McLachlan, was guilty of making an error of judgement and that the weather at the time contributed to the incident.  He had misidentified the spectators as dummies, thinking that they were part of the demonstration when he opened fire. Sgt. McLachlan was not court martialled.

An inquest held on 26^th June 1942 at Warminster into the twenty-seven killed recorded that their deaths were caused by gunshot wounds and attributed to misadventure. Sgt. McLachlan, the pilot, told the inquest he lost sight of the aeroplane he was following because of a haze across the target and a cross wind.  He realised he had made a mistake after he fired.[xix]

The coroner commented, ‘So far as one can see these mistakes are bound to arise in times of war, because war is dangerous and will always be dangerous.  Mistakes are not only made by pilots, unfortunately they are made probably by those in High Commands.  I don’t think we ought to feel that this young pilot is any different from the hundreds of young pilots who today are doing such a good service for our country.  They too have probably made mistakes.  This young pilot must feel very much anguish that the results of his action has caused so many casualties, but I hope that he will continue to do good work for our country.  I should like on behalf of our country to express regret that so many senior officers, officers and men of all ranks should have unfortunately lost their lives in this way.’[xx]

Sgt. McLachlan continued to fly after the tragedy, and took credit for an ME109 shot down over Weymouth Harbour.  But sadly he too was killed within days of the inquest when his aircraft was shot down over Cherbourg, France, during a night raid on 28^th June 1942.   

Major Collingwood remained as Commanding Officer of the 5^th (Weymouth) Battalion until he was discharged on 31^st December 1945, when the Home Guard was disbanded[xxi].

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