Historian Roger Leivers explores stories of Godmanchester during World War II
Godmanchester resident Roger Leivers is a local historian and speaker who has documented fascinating aspects of the town’s history related to the Second World War in two books.
The first, Stirling to Essen: The Godmanchester Stirling: A Bomber Command Story of Courage and Tragedy, was published in 2017.
It tells the story of how, on 11 April, 1942, a stricken Short Stirling Royal Air Force bomber crashed into fields to the east of Godmanchester.
“It all started way back in 2012,” says Roger, who used to work in sales before retiring a few years ago, of how the book came to be written.
“Because up to that point, I was doing Second World War history walks around Godmanchester, and the money I raised went to the museum in Godmanchester, which I volunteer at. So it was just a little fundraiser for them really.
“Then an email dropped into the town from a gentleman who lived in Surrey, and he was asking a question about the bomber crash in 1942.
“It got passed to me because I was doing these walks, and I got it confirmed from some of the old guys that were here that it had happened.”
Roger was curious as to why the man who sent the email was interested in the crash, as he wasn’t local to the area. The answer surprised him.
“He actually owned the 1930s sports car that belonged to the pilot that was killed in the crash,” notes Roger, who is originally from Mansfield and moved to Godmanchester in 1989.
“It was a Squire Supercharger – only seven of these were made before the company went bust – and they’re worth about two-thirds to three-quarters of a million pounds each.
“So we got in touch, we brought the car to Godmanchester on a gala day – it’s a superb, roaring little sports car.
“He came along with it and he was already in touch with the son of the squadron leader that was killed in the crash…
“He came down from Scotland with his family, and we put the car outside the Queen Elizabeth School in Godmanchester and people were throwing money in the bucket.
“And as it disappeared up the road that day, I thought to myself ‘I wonder if I could trace any of the crew?’ and then five years later, my first book, Stirling to Essen, came out, which is the story of that captain from his birth to the crash.”
Roger notes that the book has been very successful. “I’ve lost count but I think we’re round about two-and-a-half to three thousand copies [sold] worldwide on it.
“It’s been a very successful book because it’s a story of people, but also it’s the story of a bomber that’s been sort of forgotten.
“The Short Stirling bomber was our first four-engine bomber of the war, so it’s not an area that people have necessarily delved into that much.
“It was an honour to write it, and it continues to help raise money now. And everything else – my talks, my events, my signings – has all come from that.”
His signings have been held at, among other places, the Grand Arcade in Cambridge (where I met him), Scotsdales, the Serpentine Green shopping centre in Peterborough, and Baytree Garden Centre in Spalding.
He says that he and his team have donated around £40,000 “in memory of the people whose stories we’ve told” to various charities since 2012.
Roger’s second book came out in 2021.
“It sounds quite parochial because it’s called Godmanchester at War,” he says, “so it sounds like it’s just about the town – but there’s a lot to it.
“It initially honours the fallen of the town in the Second World War, so the first chapter covers how they lost their lives, it’s a tribute to them.
“We have children’s memories of growing up during the war in Godmanchester, and it is obviously fascinating to find out what their memories are.
“They all remember the V-1 attack we had. I was quite astounded to find that out, but they all remembered that in January ’45, one of the last V-1s that was launched came down close to Godmanchester.
“Then we have the evacuees’ stories, we have Dad’s Army and the ARP, which is quite humorous in its own way, we have the local politics between Huntington and Godmanchester…
“It sounds boring but it’s quite funny actually – it ought to be a Dad’s Army script!
“Then we go on to a love story of a Godmanchester girl with a New Zealand airman, through letters that he sent her that were found in the loft of a house, which are quite moving.”
Roger says that “about half the book” is dedicated to Farm Hall, where 10 German atomic scientists, who were thought to have worked on Nazi Germany’s nuclear programme, were detained and interrogated, as part of Operation Epsilon.
He concludes: “It [Godmanchester at War] sounds, as I say, parochial because it’s about a small town, but actually so much happened there and so much that’s in the book corresponds to every other town and village in the country.
“It’s a lovely overall snapshot of an ‘ordinary town’ during the war.”
What is Roger up to at the moment?
“During the Great War anniversaries, from 2014 to 2018, I visited Hunts Archives on a regular basis and extracted all the Godmanchester stories from the Hunts Post from 1914 to 1918,” he explains.
“With the help of a guy called Steve Bengree, who’s an absolute whizz kid on computers, we put them into a format of a Godmanchester newspaper called The Godmanchester Bugle.
“We put those out on Facebook every month so people could read them and then took them down again so they couldn’t be downloaded long-term.
“At the end of the war, we were left with this massive record of the town during the First World War – how it affected it and how life went in the town during the war – and so we created this booklet which covers all of the true stories of Godmanchester.
“In amongst that of course is news from the front and also information on any of our fallen. So it covers every part of the war, and that was launched in November 2023.
“We ordered just a hundred copies and we sold those in three weeks. They’re back in stock again now.
“There are other thoughts of [writing] books, but at the moment I’ve got a lot of other projects on the go.
“I’m organising talks for this year and then we’ve got a big project which will be coming to fruition later in the year which is under wraps at the moment. So a lot going on!”
To find out more about Roger and to buy copies of his books, email him at rogerleivers@yahoo.co.uk. For more on the story of the Short Stirling bomber crash, go to facebook.com/p/The-Godmanchester-Stirling-100064881962184/.
