On Friday 10th May the long-awaited German invasion of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands finally began. By that evening Neville Chamberlain had resigned as Prime Minister and Winston Churchill had been sworn in as his successor. By the end of the week German forces had overrun Luxembourg and were attacking through the supposedly impassable Ardennes Forest in southeast Belgium, reaching as far as the east bank of the Meuse River near Sedan.
This week the county’s Director of Education wrote a dramatic letter summarising the events of the war in Caithness to the BBC which was interested in interviewing residents for a broadcast: “Survivors and prisoners of all kinds landing at Thurso; machinegun bullets rattling over Duncansby and Noss lighthouses; blazing tanker floating up and down off Wick for three days, belching black smoke with an occasional flash of internal explosion; thousands of birds dead and dying all round oil clogged coast; the lifeboat in continuous state of activity; house wardrobes reduced to minimum by depletion due to the clothing of survivors; the daily roar of aeroplane engines over and around Wick; an occasional brilliant pyrotechnic display in Orkney as seen from Newton Hill, Wick, are all part and partial [sic] of the Hitlerian method of life as practiced in Caithness”
The Northern Constabulary records trace the course of one air raid on Wick on Thursday 9 May. “We received a “Yellow” Message here today at 11.15 hours and the “White” Message at 11.53 hours. Aerial activity was observed over Wick and Wick Bay and our fighter aircraft were seen chasing and firing at what was taken to be an enemy ‘plane, and shortly afterwards the latter was seen climbing into the clouds with black smoke pouring from it. It is now rumoured that one, and probably two, enemy ‘planes were shot down into the sea just off Wick.” Later that evening another report on the incident added, “I have now to inform you that the dead body of a German airman and parts of a German aeroplane have been brought in from the sea to Wick”.
The John O’Groat Journal reported this week on the numbers of German prisoners passing through “a North of Scotland town” (the usual way of describing Wick because of wartime secrecy), mostly seamen and airmen en route for an internment camp. “When the prisoners were put aboard the train a great deal of interest was taken in them by the people gathered at the station,” the reporter said. Other German prisoners arriving by sea “seemed in happy mood and smiled to spectators on the quayside”.
Meanwhile, schools were still being encouraged to take part in the “Dig For Victory” campaign: Bilbster school recorded in its log book on 10th May: “Mr Longmore visited the school on Thursday and suggested that the pupils should bring seed potatoes for a piece of ground reclaimed in the school house garden.”
