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Bomb damage photos of WW2

Thanks Mike and Old Mohawk - I just did some research on Anderson shelters ...
There were 3-4 million made and distributed. After the war people with Anderson shelters were expected to remove them and the corrogated metal was re-claimed. Apparentely for a nominal fee you could keep it. Many were dug up and converted into storage sheds and used on allotments. I also hadn't realised that they were actually buried in the ground. (excuse my ignorance folks).
 
Hi Folks.

From what I remember not every house was offered a shelter neighbours were expected to share.

I remember were we lived in Sandy Lane, Aston No 2 had the Celler re-inforced and Mom and myself from No.4 and Gran with my aunts from No.6 retreated to this cellar during air raids.

I was evacuated to Hagley before the Corner of Lichfield Road, Victoria Rd and Church Lane flattened, I remember returning with mom to see if my family was safe the morning after the whole area was one massive pile of rubble across the tram tracks.




My Dad was on firewatch duties at the GEC works Electric Av also known as HMS Witton they made most of the electrical equipment for the submarines the Chargehand, in charge was Dudley cannot remember his surname but was awarded the MBE for his services during the war later he was under foreman Freddie Pitt in the Big Shop.

The electric motors had to be water tight and were test in a pit at the bottom of Big shop post war was turned in to an overspeed test bed for the small 3000 rpm turbo alternators till Turbo Shop was built and it ended up a bed for a rotor slotting m/c to large turbo alternators.
 
I've mentoned before that I've still got an Anderson Shelter at the top of my garden. It's totally underground and partly full of rubble left by the previous owner. I did try some years ago to clear it out, but never managed to do it. It runs most of the width of the garden and served this house which used to be a shop, and next-door, as there was a small gate. The steps are dangerous, and we don't use them, but I'm told in an air-raid I would!!
When a bomb landed near Mum's house, all the windows came out and the doors blew the wrong way. The ceilings came down too. As the relatives lived nearby everyone helped.
 
Incredible pictures, and also listening to the stories there ... interesting what you say (Mike) about the air being sucked out due to the blast.
 
That's brought back memories of a story my gran used to tell me about a bomb that hit the house opposite hers. My gran and grandad, mom and dad were sat in the shelter in the back garden when what they reckoned was a stray bomb landed on the house opposite and knocked them all off their seats. When they went out the front to have a look, all that was left was the staircase. Luckily no one was home at the time. It was an end terraced house and if you look carefully at the brickwork today, you can tell it's newer than the adjoining house.
 
has anyone posted a copy of the air raid damage map published by the evening mail several years ago ?
 
There was a map published by the mail in the seventies I think - it covered a larger area.
 
Here are a couple of bomb plot maps, I'm afraid they are very low resolution so you would be unable to enlarge the much bigger than they are, but they give a general idea of how many bombs dropped and where.
 

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A couple of photos of the bomb damage in Vincent Street, Balsall Heath. These bombs dropped only yards away from my grandparents house. I have often looked at then to see if I can recognise anybody, but alas there is nobody who even looks familiar. Save for the one chap who looks like Hitler, perhaps he popped over to see how his bombers were doing.

The modern photo shows the maisonettes that were built in place of the school, but St Paul's School was never rebuilt, I believe that to be the large building that can be seen over the roofline in the one photo.
 

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hi phil
any ideas when tat photograph was taken ;?.
when i was young my first wife lived in the very bottom of the pic the massonete on the left hand side as fa as you can see;
she moved into there when we got divorced she lived there for years ;i was around ther many years ago that far back i cannot recall the year
i still see her from time to time as she lived still around the balsall heath area
i think the avenue as been shortenend now ;its not as long as it was nor as many maisonnettes but her s is still there ;
it was a good picture taken phil ;did you take it your self ;? alan ; astonian;;
 
Astonian I don't think the maisonettes were built until after the end of the war around the time that I was born c1947. In fact the Rose & Crown public house which caught the edge of the blast was still using the bottle stores in the back yard as the pub until at least 1951-2. The photo is taken from Google Earth as would you believe it, although I have some that I have taken I am unable to locate them at the moment. The last time I was down that way Tanworth Grove & Lapworth Grove on the other side of the road looked the same as they have always done.
 
Unlucky in Cateswell Road Acocks Green. I looked at those two houses on GSV, some garden walls same but the trees have grown.
CateswellRroad.jpg
 
hi carolina
just read your thread on the bombing pictuire ; have you got the same book as me ; i was in worcestshire city this morning and i have just picked up
a book full of bombed brum its full of pages of all over a city when it was bombed
Its called birmingham at war a pictorial account by alton douglas and printed in1982 and produced by the birmingham post and mail publication
i shall be taking and down loads of them .
keep them coming carol best wishes astonian;
 
Hi Astonian, I was given photocopies of a lot of photos of Brum which I am as you know downloading to the Forum. I knew some were from that book, but also there are others from different books, but not sure what they are though. Anyway, best wishes to you also. Carol
 
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