Voderup under 2. Verdenskrig - bomber over Ærø

On April 9, 1940 a large number of German aeroplanes flew over the island. The germans had started the invasion of Denmark. I and other school children were ordered to leave our classrooms, as the teachers were busy listening to the radio. It was strange to see so many different aoeroplanes over the island, especially since many of them flew very low.

In the evening all the windows of all the houses had to be darkened. Most of us used wooden frames with heavy multilayered paper or plywood cut to fit the windows.

At the beginning of the war we did not experiance many changes to our life, except that many things could not be bought without food stamps. Coffee was not available and many of us roasted rye grain, which was grinded into a powder and used as a coffee substitute.

During the winter 1941/42 there were many planes flying over the island, when german figther planes would meet the allied bombers over the island. One evening towards the end of february 1942, I was in my bed when I heard german figther planes shooting at another plane. Suddenly there was a loud explosion followed by a sudden quietness. A moment later my father came into the bedroom and asked whether I was still alive. Several bombs had been dropped in the fields behind our house, and it had sounded as if someone had thrown a cartful of dirt over the roof. In the morning we could see all the damages. Many window panes were broken and bombsplinters were scattered all over the yard. Those we would continue to find for sevaral years after. Many large stones had been thrown around and one of them had been thrown over our house and into the field in front of the house.

The bomb craters were not as large as other bomb craters I had seen some months earlier in Borgnaes 3 km. away, possibly because the ground was frozen solid in the cold winter, which was the coldest for many years. Fortunately nobody was hurt by the bombs, but it had been a close call.

My mother and I at a bomb crater.

My father at a bomb crater.

7 bombs had been dropped, of which one was a dude. Guards were soon posted around the dude and it was prohibited to come close. We were even forbidden to stay in the rooms which were located on the north side of the houses, which was impossible. Even to use the road was forbidden and people were told to walk behind the houses.

Many tons of sandbags were deposited around the dude, as it was judged too dangerous to move the bomb due to the frozen ground. Later in April a trench was dug in the field and the bomb was placed on a sledge and dragged northwards away from the houses, where it was later exploded, at a safe distance.

On September 19, 1944 the Germans imprisoned the Danish police, or at least the police officers that had not already gone into hiding. Also on Aero island the police went into hiding, and one of the officers found a safe hiding place on a farm in Voderup at Hegnegaard, land register no. 5. We did not find out of this until after the war, but we had been wondering why the farmer Christen Jensen Nielsen and his family, kept to themselves during the last year of the war.

On May 1, 1944 I started to work as a housemaid at the parsonage in Tranderup, Aero. During the autumn of 1944 there were many gatherings in the parsonage in the everning, but I was never told who the visitors were, so for a while I thought it was the boyscouts. One night I heard the parsons wife walk past my bedroom while telling someone, that this was the door to the maids room. Later I was told to clean the guestroom without seing any guests, and I then found several illegitimate magazines like "Frit Danmark" (A Free Denmark). I red the magazines but never told anyone about it.

On May 4, 1945 the Germans capitulated in Denmark and it was announced that the church bells would ring the following morning on May 5th. On May 5, my father Jens Chr. Jensen and a neighbour Christen Thomsen Christensen set up a wooden pole in our apple tree in the front of the house, since we did not have a flagpole, and tied the Danish flag to the top. My father used my grandfathers old flag from Als, which had been used during the german occupation of North Schleswig between 1864 to 1920, wherefore it was most appropriate that it was used on this occation as well.

On June 5, 1945 there was a celebration in Tranderup and someone had the idea to invite some english soldiers. The englishmen arrived in a tank and a speach was given in english by Christen Madsen Christensen from Vindeballe. He had been in USA for some years and knew the language. After the speech everybody sang, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary", upon which people yelled and screamed. Everybody wanted to touch the english soldiers and a girl climbed up onto the tank and kissed some of the soldiers. In the evening there was a dinner and dance for invited guests at Vindeballe Inn.

Usually it is quite peaceful in Voderup, but as you can see from the above, Voderup was bombed by 7 bombs dropped by allied bomber planes trying to escape from German fighter planes, during the 2. World War. Fortunately nobody was hurt during this episode.