The Exbury Junkers: A World War II Mystery - Part IV
By: John Stanley
But back to my investigations. As I started to get myself organised, I decided on three main prongs of attack:
Firstly, I investigated all available official records of the incident. This involved me making several trips to the Public Record Office in Kew. I also hired the services of a couple of German researchers to see what they could dredge up at the German equivalent of the PRO, the Bundesarchiv, which has two offices, in Freiburg and in Aachen.
Secondly, I advertised in many newspapers and journals, and even on teletext for eyewitnesses to the Exbury Junkers incident, and that was the point at which a number of you made contact. I have to say I was truly amazed that so many people came forward and had a story to tell about the events of April 18th 1944. Now I hope you won't mind my calling you pieces of a jigsaw, but that's just what you have proved to be. In some cases, I could hardly believe how well those pieces fitted together.
But things weren't always that easy. I hope that all you eyewitnesses will forgive me for suggesting that memory can sometimes play tricks with the passing of time. Just as I found plenty of consistency in the various eyewitness accounts, I also encountered some minor discrepancies. I actually heard from two different people (no-one here I hasten to add) who were convinced that they had seen the Junkers which crashed at Exbury, but the locations and timings they gave for their sightings just didn't tally with the majority of eyewitness accounts. In the end I came to the conclusion that these people were mistaken in some way - their sighting of a German bomber perhaps having been a different occasion. Those pieces of the jigsaw just wouldn't fit, whichever way I turned them round, and so I had to decide to leave them out of the book.
Despite these difficulties, I am satisfied that the reconstruction of events presented in the book with your help is as accurate as it possibly could be after all this time. And in describing what happened on 18 April 1944, I have told much of the story in the words of those of you who actually witnessed a part of this wartime incident. For some of you it was a fleeting glimpse of the German bomber as it flew low over the Isle of Wight or the Hampshire coast. For others it was the dramatic sights and sounds of the Junkers appearing from nowhere with the two RAF fighters on its tail, their cannon-fire ripping into the enemy intruder, and shells flying everywhere. And for a few of you it was the unforgettable scene of total devastation at the crash site in the shallow pond in the corner of the field to the south of Exbury House. Several of you commented that you will never forget the sight of the wrecked bomber and the terribly injured bodies of some of the young men who had perished in the crash.
I would like to thank all of you for coming forward with your recollections. It was absolutely fascinating to hear all your accounts, some of which were extremely vivid indeed. I'm sorry that I can't mention you all individually today, but I can assure you that you are all given a mention in the book.
