Tangmere Talks

The Hidden Story of a German Raid on RAF St Lawrence

On Saturday 4th April, we are delighted to welcome researcher Paul Thompson to share the extraordinary results of his eight‑year investigation into a long‑denied episode of the Second World War: a German Kommando raid on the RAF radar station at St Lawrence, on the Isle of Wight, in August 1943.

Official records insist the raid never happened—but Paul’s work tells a very different story. Through detailed archaeological study, forensic analysis of ammunition, and comparison with British, American, and German archives, his team has uncovered compelling physical evidence that the operation did take place. Their most significant find—three Austrian‑made 9mm cartridge cases fired from a German Walther P38 pistol—now stands as the first hard proof of a German raid on British soil during the war.

The talk will explore how the landscape itself became a “third witness,” preserving artefacts in remarkable condition and allowing researchers to reconstruct movements, sightlines, and events on that moonlit night in 1943. Paul will also discuss newly uncovered documentary inconsistencies and deliberate wartime cover‑ups that kept this story hidden for decades.

This is a rare opportunity to hear the emerging narrative of a remarkable local wartime event—one that is only now being brought into the light.