Dover ARP Wardens Shell Fire Corner Dover Kent

“Three Dover A.R.P. wardens, who man the nearest post to the enemy, have had more H.E. dropped near them than any other Civil Defence workers in Britain. Last war veterans, Ernest Smith, Albert Decort and ‘Dusty’ Miller man a post on the town’s sea front twenty miles from German long-range guns. Scores of shells, between 11 in. and 14 in. calibre, and a large number of bombs have fallen within a radius of a few hundred yards of their post. As many as forty shells have burst at close range in a day. One dropped into an excavated space two or three paces away. But the post has never been damaged, and the three men
have escaped injury. “Smith and Miller are full-time wardens. Decort, a volunteer, keeps a shop in Dover’s main street. During the Battle of Britain he had to close his shop as often as eleven times daily to go on duty while dog- fights raged overhead and machine-gun bullets and cannon shells spattered the town.

The 'Evening News 1942'

Dover Warden Ladywell 1940

“Three Dover A.R.P. wardens, who man the nearest post to the enemy, have had more H.E. dropped near them than any other Civil Defence workers in Britain. Last war veterans, Ernest Smith, Albert Decort and ‘Dusty’ Miller man a post on the town’s sea front twenty miles from German long-range guns. Scores of shells, between 11 in. and 14 in. calibre, and a large number of bombs have fallen within a radius of a few hundred yards of their post. As many as forty shells have burst at close range in a day. One dropped into an excavated space two or three paces away. But the post has never been damaged, and the three men
have escaped injury. “Smith and Miller are full-time wardens. Decort, a volunteer, keeps a shop in Dover’s main street. During the Battle of Britain he had to close his shop as often as eleven times daily to go on duty while dog- fights raged overhead and machine-gun bullets and cannon shells spattered the town.


Dover A.R.P. Wardens Shell Fire Corner Carries On