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On This Day in Wembury — 1 June 1939

Villagers at Wembury, Down Thomas, Brixton, Elburton and beyond found themselves drawn into a massive air raid precautions exercise last night, with Plymstock as the hub. Over 250 volunteers took part, joined by police, the Special Constabulary, and Plymouth’s St. John Ambulance.

Sirens sounded at eight o’clock to signal the start. Ambulances from the Plymstock Senior School gymnasium rushed “casualties” from simulated bomb sites at Turnchapel, Goosewell, Radford Park Road, Oreston, and Elburton. Wembury and Down Thomas also reported incidents, with wardens sending messengers by bicycle to the control centre at Plymstock Club.

Decontamination squads in full kit dealt with “gas attacks,” while women drivers ferried stretchers, and rescue parties dug survivors out of rubble. The exercise tested every aspect of organisation: from first aid, to communications, to the willingness of volunteers to actually use their respirators. A second wave of “attacks” later extended to Knighton, Staddiscombe, Brixton, and Renny.

Source: Western Morning News, 1 June 1939

Exercises like these show how seriously the South Hams villages took the looming threat of war. For Wembury folk it meant standing in the dark, listening to sirens, and imagining bombs falling on their own fields and cottages. Within months those drills would feel less like practice and more like preparation for very real danger.