A year above the age to be called up for military service at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he became a part-time fireman in Bath, dealing with the Baedeker raids.

Canterbury had been badly damaged by Luftwaffe bombing including the Baedeker raids in May and June 1942.

The raid took less than five minutes, but the damage suffered by Exeter was greater than it had suffered in the Baedeker raids, and there was greater loss of life, over 250 people being killed.

In May 1942 Exeter was heavily bombed in the Baedeker raids of the Second World War.

It was the time of the Baedeker raids, when German bombers struck cathedral towns, and some of the guests who stayed in York the night before had sleepless hours.

KG 2's Dorniers were heavily deployed during the Baedeker raids, against British provincial cities which were less heavily defended than London, which continued until July that year.

In 2001 the museum held an exhibition on the Baedeker raids of World War II.

The Baedeker raids were conducted by the German Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 3 in two periods between April and June 1942.

The station was badly bombed in the Baedeker raids of 1942 when the main building was largely destroyed and thereafter the station operated from "temporary" buildings constructed on the site.