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Bomb damage photos of WW2

P

philbee

birmingham born and bred
bomb damage long acre cromton road 29th july 1942.jpgbomb damage long acre nechells 29th july 1942.jpghighgate road bomb damage 29th july 1942.jpgbomb damage highgate road sparkbrook 29th july 1942.jpg

These are four photos that i found on the english heritage site they were taken on 29th july 1942 the first two are of long acre nechells at the junction of long acre/crompton road , the second two are recorded as highgate road sparkbrook looking at the damage the bombing was extensive there is no mention of casualties the second one of long acre says the bomb crater exposed the river below (the rea perhaps?) .
The photos were taken by a James Nelson

Phil
 
The damage is incredible isnt it. I am so lucky that I didnt have to live through that time. And to think we think todays days are stressfull. Oh my !
 
Thanks Phil, will show mom the Highgate Road ones, she was born in that area, in Rose Cottages on Ladypool Road, but had moved to Tyseley, where they also got bombed.
Sue
 
Thanks for those images, Phil.

The damage shown in Long Acre may have have occurred on the night of 9/10th April 1941. I have a bit of information on it here- this covers mainly the damage to the Newton factory around the corner in Thimble Mill Lane and includes a first-hand reminiscence from someone who survived that night as a young child in Long Acre. Associated website pages deal with more about the blitz in Nechells.

Chris
 
Chris, that is a great link thanks for posting it. I can remember the Newton works bus running from Tamworth, one of the shifts must have been shortly after school finishing time, as it used to go when we were waiting for the bus home, on wet days we used to moan about the fact that it was empty and could have taken us as it went the same way!
Sue
 
thanks for posting those pics phil..i will have to get me map out later as my sister lives on the corner of holborn hill and longacre..will see if i can work out where she lives in relation to the pic...

cheers...

lyn
 
I have seen all those photos before obviously on another site, unmarked where no mention of copyright was made. I think I even have a couple of them. Here are a couple more of the Highgate Rd Sparkbrook bomb damage.
 

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Here are a couple more.

1st is Corner of Highgate Road and Queen Street
2nd is Argyle Street, Nechells

Highgate Road and Queen Street 1940.jpgArgyle Street Nechells.jpg
 
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Carolina

Looking at the argyle street one it is just down from the long acre/ crompton road photo that i posted the area looks as though it was severely damaged by the bombing , as i have mentioned on the swanhurst school thread i had a relative that was killed in the 9th/10th april 1941 i should imagine this was possibly the same air raid.
A story that was told in our house was that a bomb hit the gas holder at nechells bounced off it and hit nearby houses i dont know if this is true , but dangerous and worrying times.
phil
 
thanks for the pics phil and carolina...i was in arygle st last week...seeing it as it is now who would have thought that such devastation was caused there during the war..looking at that pic i thought there must have been folk who lost lives but ive just looked on the BARRA site and according to that thankfully there was only on person injured at number 44..

lyn
 
Thanks for this thread, I remember mom and dad telling me about the horror and damage, but these photo's really bring it home. I think the one with the damaged "Anderson Shelter" in the fore ground is the most poignant one.
paul
 
Paul I agree with you there - one of nans friends was badly injured when a bomb fell on the garden and part of their Anderson shelter, their house was untouched and her dad apparently never forgave himself for making the family go into the shelter a place of safety.
Sue
 
I too, was told similar stories Sue, especially the one, I think it was Lozells, where a land mine killed all in the Public shelter, some 90 people I believe, very tragic.
paul
 
Qu. Generally, was the Anderson shelter the safest place to be ? providing there wasn't a direct hit ?

I noticed 1 or 2 Anderson shelters were left in gardens down our road but not all houses seemed to have them.
But maybe they had been taken down by the time I was born (mid 50's). So just wondering if everyone had 1 ?
 
My grandmother built the air raid shelter in her garden but I don't know if it was an Anderson type.
She had her elderly father living with her during the war but he refused to go in there - said he would rather die in his own bed!
 
channell 4 did a program a while ago where a street of houses was built like those around in 1940, and bombs were set off nearby to see the effect. As I remember it remember that they studied the effect, using instruments and some models , and concluded that for those in the shelter (I think it was an Anderson) might well of died from having air sucked out of their lungs, even without a direct hit. Someone more knowledgable please correct me if I'm wrong. My grandfather had an Anderson shelter. I don't remember it, but do remember that after the war the corrugated iron was used for other purposes around the garden. I think many will have been dismantled , and so Stephen's missing ones may have been also
 
At the age of five I spent many a night in next door's Anderson Shelter. I remember candles, musty dampness, listening to the drone of bombers above, the explosions of bombs, and the AA guns firing in the nearby park. One night, my sister and me for some reason slept in the house under the pantry slab, and a bomb dropped on us. I remember the neighbour dragging us out, running up to the shelter, my sister under one arm, me under the other, my sister carried facing backward saw the flames, me facing forward did not as we were rushed into the Anderson.
Our neighbours used their Andersons as garden sheds after the war as can be seen in photos below....a link to other glimpses of Andersons click here
 

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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 ?
 
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