Remembered at last: The Manchester 'ATS girl' killed by the Nazis in a devastating attack
21.05.2023 - 17:07
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Britain was at war and at the age of 22, she had answered her country's call to defend it. Private Bernadette Bell, from Moston, Manchester, was serving with the Army's Auxiliary Territorial Service.
On the morning of May 11th 1943, she and other newly recruited members of the 103rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade were in their billet on North Drive in Great Yarmouth. But, emerging through mists over the sea were 15 to 20 Focke-Wulf 190 Nazi planes.
The pilots began dropping their deadly cargo of bombs and, due to the hazy weather conditions, men of the Royal Observer Corps on Gorleston Cliffs only had 30 seconds to warn their HQ of an imminent strike. The bombs hit the Norfolk town before the air raid siren could be sounded.
The attack claimed the lives of 26 young women - aged between 18 and 32 - including Bernadette, who had joined the ATS only a few months earlier.
In total, the raid claimed the lives of a total of 49 service personnel and civilians. Only one ATS girl survived, Doreen Chappell, 18, from Gloucestershire, was pulled from the rubble with severe injuries. She died in Wales in 1989.
Most of the ATS victims were in their early twenties and it was the biggest single loss of female life in the British Army. The Women's Royal Army Corps Association (WRAC) - which is the only charity to support women who served - has led the campaign to fully honour the women who died that day, many of whom are missing from official war memorials.
In honour of their sacrifice, many of the home towns of those who died staged commemorative services to mark the 80th anniversary of the tragedy. At St Joseph's RC Cemetery in Moston, a service was held for Bernadette next to her grave.
It was attended by parishioners from St Dunstan's RC