Hope this helps extract from Evening Post on a book Battle of the Flames : Back in 1940, it was very much a hit-and-miss tactic, which accounts for the deadly raid on the peaceful Notts hamlet of Laxton.
There wasn't much in the ancient feudal village to worry Hitler, his pilots probably did not know it existed. It was just unlucky.
The theory, explained in David Needham's fascinating book Battle of the Flames, was that a German pilot, searching for the Ransome and Marles ball-bearing factory in Newark, had spotted the headlights of an ambulance – innocently returning from an ARP lecture in Southwell – followed them until he could make out some buildings and then dropped a stick of bombs.
Just before 10.30pm, as searchlights criss-crossed the night sky, villagers heard the whistle of bombs and dived for cover.
Ruth Willis, a 55-year-old first aid worker, was not quick enough. As she stood in her doorway at The Old School House, a bomb exploded in her garden. She was killed instantly by the deadly shrapnel.
No other villagers died that night but the Luftwaffe did manage to kill a few cows and a family's pet dog as the bombs fell across Laxton.
Marjorie Sayer has never forgotten Laxton's ordeal, as she told author David Needham.
"Mrs Dickenson had her hand injured by shrapnel whilst she was protecting her son's head. She was treated by the local first aid party.
"The others that were injured were treated and then taken to Newark Hospital. My husband, Ernest Sayer, was one of the firemen for Laxton and he dealt with Ruth Willis's body, which was very unpleasant. They could not find Ruth's dog, which was called Bunty, but several days later it was found hiding under the bed."
Visit Laxton today and you can still see the shrapnel marks cut into a wall of Top End Farm.
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