DOVER LICKS HER WOUNDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5293, 4 January 1947, Page 2

DOVER LICKS HER WOUNDS

PREFABRICATED HOJSES RISE AT MUCH-BOMMED PORT Doyer. Here where Hitler's shadow fell friends that remains. In their new housing estate at it is the memory of American Buckland, the people of war-batter-ed Do-ver have taken American names for their peaceful new streets. They live in Maine Crescent, Washington Way, Boston Rise, Oregon Path, Tennessee Yale, Delaware Dell, and other similar avenues. And because they hold a special place in their hearts for an American President and his Ambassador. they have given two of the new streets the names of people instead of states — Roosevelt Road and Winant Way. More than one fourth of Dover'e new tdmporary houses have been provided by the United States. But that is not the reason for the new street names. As the borough en-

gmeer, Mr. Phihp V. Marchant, puts it, "It is an appreciation of the generosity of people of the States in coming to the aid of the people of Dover. And it is a memory of D-Day and of American gunners on the cliffs shooting down robot bombs^ Cinque Port's Special War Dover's was a "special kind of war. Pirst, there were bombs, then there were shells, and then there were shells and bombs and buzzbombs. Shopkeepers used to . keep a tally of "alerts" in chalk on blackboards, and eventually they marked up the 3,059th, which happened to be the last. The first shells fell on August 12. 1940. tAnd they kept on coming. heavy-calibre explosives that fell in ones or twos or threes as spasmodic intervals until 2,284 had been counted. The first shells of each day exploded without warning. They just came. And the people of Dover carried on somehow without heroics. One young Doverian complained

bitterly that he had been unable to see a movie through for three weeks because every time he went to the pictures there was a bang when the main feature was half-way througt and the warning sounded, and he had to go home. And it got worse before it got better. Dover was on the main route of robot bombs directed at London, and the gunners on the cliffs got better at shooting them down. These were the bombs London knew nothing about, and London's. quiet times were- often Dover's hours»of suspense. Then after D-Day German gun- j

ners seemed to get worried lest they should have ammunition left when the Allies came for them, and the pace of the shelling increased. Until on September 27, 1944, loudspeakers in the town announced that the shelling officially was all over, and local shop-keepers quickly produced flags they had been storing for this occasion. Every residential property within the central area of Dover, comprising 270 acres, was damaged at least once. Many were hit on 12 separate occasions, and some as many as 26 times.

Nearly 1000 houses were totally . destroyed, 900 too heavily damaged for occupatio,n rafore than 1C00 left only in part fit for occupation, and 6,700 were damaged "but fit for occupation with some discomfort." Dover wasted no time. Within ?. year of that September day, 6500 of these damaged houses had been made reasonably fit for occupation. Since then 170 new temporary and permanent houses have been built and many hundreds more soon will be begun. It will be a new Dover with new housing estates set in open spaces on the hillside overlooking the town and harbour. In- the biggest job of reconstruction, the centre of the town, one of Great Britain's foremost planners, Sir Patrick Abercrombie, has co-op-erated with local authorities to plan the most modern town in Britain, which also will be one of the most ancient and historic. No Memorials Needed Here, where heroism was a commonplace through four long years, they don't need ordinary war memorials. There is a Wesleyan chapel here which incorporates a stone on which is engraved : Built 1910, bombed 19,17, rebuilt 1920. Now the chapel is in ruins for the second time. But that stone soon will be back in place, with a couple of new engravings.