Danger UXB - Hursley's part in Post War Bomb Disposal
Hursley had escaped the horrors of the bombing raids that had devastated nearby Southampton along with many other towns and cities across the country, throughout the course of Second World War yet bombs were still to play an important role in Hursley's Post War history.
As the Allies geared up for D Day and the invasion of Normandy plans were also being formulated to deal with the number of unexploded bombs (UXBs) that had be left in the aftermath of the German raids. Alongside five Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal Companies allocated for the liberation of Europe an additional sixteen remained to to oversee Bomb Disposal across the United Kingdom. Initially after the end of the War, this organisation remained little changed other than a few changes in location. One of these, No. 16 Company had originally been located in Cardiff but by May 1946 and after a short stay near Salisbury, it had been moved to the, now largely vacated, Hursley Park Army Camp around Merdon Castle.
The Hursley Bomb Disposal Company had responsibility for all bomb disposal in the Hampshire and Wiltshire area, although this gradually extended as the number of Bomb Disposal units shrank. In charge of the Hursley Company was Major Hartley. He was later to become famous when his memoirs "Unexploded Bomb: The Story of Bomb Disposal", published in 1958, became a popular television drama "Danger UXB" in the late 1970s.
What is perhaps surprising today is that many of the men involved in Bomb Disposal were actually German Prisoners Of War. Although the most dangerous work of defusing the bombs was carried by the Royal Engineer officers at Hursley up to ninety low risk prisoners were recruited to perform much of the preparatory clearing of the site. For the prisoners the dangers involved appears to have been largely outweighed by the trust and respect with which they were treated by their British captors receiving both careful instruction and a large amount of freedom.
One ex-prisoner Johannes Paprotski, originally from Namslav in Silesia which although now part of Poland had been part of Germany until the end of the War, fondly remembered his time as a Prisioner Of War in the Bomb Disposal team. Having grown up under the Nazi regime and in 1948 been repatriated back to Communist East Germany he recalled with a degree of irony, that he had experienced more freedom as a POW in England than at either time before or after until the collapse of the East German state in the 1980s. One of those freedoms had been to play with other POWs for the Hursley Village team, under strict instructions not to speak and give away their 'non-local' identity, against the Supermarine team in Hursley Park.
Over the following years, as the need for Bomb Disposal diminished, the number of Companies (renamed to Squadrons by 1949) had been steadily reduced and the area for which the remainder were responsible increased. HQ No 16 Bomb Disposal Squadron, Royal Engineers Hursley Park was now one of only four Squadrons, the others being located in London, Bristol and near Horsham in West Sussex (although they had additional detachments at other locations across Great Britain).
In January 1950 Bomb Disposal was again reorganised, with a central London HQ and a total of five units across the country, now named "Troops", of these No 2 Bomb Disposal Troop, Royal Engineers remained under it's new designation at Hursley until it was finally moved to Fort Widley on Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth in August, ending Hursley's link with Bomb Disposal.
