Spotlight featureSocial media trailerSaturday 11th NovemberSunday 12th NovemberAnimals in Conflict - They Also Served Today, whilst we all take time to honour and remember those who gave their lives in two world wars and later conflicts, it’s fitting that we also...
World War Two
Bishopsteignton War Memorial
©Jess Gibby 2018
Bishopsteignton and World War II
Read about the people and events connected to Bishopsteignton from World War Two.
Please contact us if you have any memories or artefacts that you would like to share from this era.
Bishopsteignton Bombers – The Lancaster Past and Present
HMS Argonaut
In December 1942 the Argonaut was hit by two torpedoes, launched from an Italian submarine that obliterated her bow and stern sections. Her rudder and two of her four propellers were completely destroyed. In Spring of 1943 Captain Henry Haynes RN, the...
La Roche Maurice – Massacre of Pointois Wood
The sad wartime history of La Roche Maurice is echoed throughout France. 1940 The Pointois Wood Close to the major port of Brest, La Roche-Maurice suffered German occupation from the 19th June 1940. Near this village lies a large manor house with grounds including...
La Roche Maurice in World War Two
Overview The strategic site of La Roche-Maurice in Brittany explains the presence of French Alpine hunters in April 1940, then briefly English troops who were replaced during the Invasion of 1940 by German troops, as well as White Russians (in fact Georgians) of the...
Countdown to VE Day – 1 day to go – PARTY!
Get the Party Started Just because we are in Lockdown does not mean that we can't decorate our homes with flags and bunting, dress ourselves up, party in our homes and gardens and sing along with the music of the 1940s. Over the past 10 days we have been giving you...
Countdown to VE Day – 2 days to go – Heroes
Bishopsteignton Memorial to those who died in WWII There are only two days left until we celebrate VE-Day, when the war in Europe was finally over and servicemen and women could look forward to returning to their loved ones at home. Some were not so lucky and paid the...
Countdown to VE Day – 3 days to go – Dancing
‘It is not proposed to make total war total misery,’ said the Home Secretary Herbert Morrison in 1942, as he announced in the House of Commons that dancing was not to be included in the ‘recreations that are to be restricted to prevent interference with the war...
Countdown to VE Day – 4 days to go – Women at War
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force Mary Overill Mary Overill joined the Royal Air Force as a WAAF. Mary now lives in Fore St. Bishopsteignton. This is the story she has passed on to her great grandchildren. Mary was born, Mary Bovey, in Buckfastleigh, Devon in 1922. By...
Nursing in WWII
Nursing in Bishopsteignton in WWII In the National Register that was taken in 1939 there are several nurses mentioned as living in the village and we can only presume that there continued to be some living and serving the people of the village during the war years –...