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Gun Sites

G

GEFF

Geff
GUN SITE

CAN ANYONE REMEMBER WHERE IN YARDLEY OR STECHFORD AN ANTI -AIRCRAFT GUN SITE WAS IN 42- 44. I SERVED ON IT WHILE IN THE HOME GUARD. I CANNOT PLACE WHERE IT WAS EXACTLY . I WAS SWORN TO KEEP THE SECRET THAT IT WAS A ROCKET SITE. I CAN RECALL CATCHING THE OUTER CIRCLE BUS BACK TO ALUM ROCK.
GEFF.
 
Anti Aircraft

Hi Geff

my dad, Phil Carr served pn the anti-aircraft rockets between 42 and 45 and he reckons they were in Sheldon but can't remember exactly where. Apparently they used to cycle from Bordesley Green East which didn't take too long. They did the nights and the regulars did the daytime.

He does remember tipping all of the officers and seargents out of their beds at the end of the was which sounds about right. Also that the older soldiers did sometimes refuse to do Sunday drilling because they were so tired from work and couldn't see the point of it.

Dave
 
Cocksut Hill sounds right, its on the borders of Stechford and Yardley. the number 11 is a 10 minute walk to the Yew tree.
 
GEFF.. Do what was the name of the Home Guard unit you were in ? then I can see if I have a pic as I have a few.
Newspaper pic of Yardley Territorials in August operating a 3.7 Gun
 
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Geff
I know their was AA site on Spring lane Erdington, Where the School is now, I use to play on the site as a kid. Anyone remember it being used?
 
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I remember an anti aircraft (I think thats what it was) site in Yardley it was on the left hand side of the road that ran between the Yew Tree and going up to Coventry Road.

At Cockshut Hill school there were air raid shelters we went down during air raids
 
AA gun

During the war I lived in Cottesbrook Road next to the infant school. I seem to remember a gun site fairly close by on the left hand side of Yardley Road traveling towards Augusta Road on the left. There were four or five large house between Douglas Road and Agusta Road and I think the gun site was in the grounds of one of these houses. One night towards the end of the war the windows of my parents house and the neighbour were blown out and a small hole appeared in the centre of the road. We were told that a shell from the adjacent gun site had fallen short.

George
 
Home Guard

Thank you all for telling me where the gun site was in Yardley, it was about 10 minutes from the No. 11 bus, and Cockshot Hill jogs the memory, but it was 64 years ago, and I`ve lived in Wales for the last 50+years. your memory plays tricks the older you get.Thanks again, sorry for the delay in replying.
 
The gun sites were located on what are now playing fields in Hob Moor Road, Yardley. The entrance to the sites was in Church Road opposite the end of Harvey Road. The imprint of the gun sites can still be seen on aerial photographs found on https://www.multimap.com/ (search on Hob Moor Road, Yardley, Birmingham). I used to play there as a child in the late 1940's when the old timber guard room was occupied by squatters before they were rehoused by the City. There was a further gun site on the field next to the Municipal Bank, laterTSB, near the Yew Tree.
 
As Geoff has said the gunsite was on the park and the entrance was in Church Rd, Yardley, the park was called Oaklands Recreation Ground, its other entrances were in Hobmoor Rd and Coventry Rd, Hay Mills, i don`t think there was a Rocket Battery on there, they were 3.7in Ack Ack Guns, i lived by the Swan pub island and about 6:30pm we would here the Battery Sergeant Major shout "Take Post!" and the Gunners would man the Guns 30mins later the sirens would wail and it was time for we civvies to head for the Shelters, in Horrel Rd by Cockshut Hill they had a Mobile 3.7 AA Gun which went up and down the road firing when they got a target, the sound of Rockets being fired was very different to a shell being fired from a gun, there could well have been Rockets in the Cockshut Hill area but the bus ended at Cockshut Hill school, i was a pupil there from 1940-1943.
 
GEFF, There is a really interesting paperback book you may be interested in 'Raiders Past' Air Raids on Yardley by John V.Abbott, published 1993 by Brewin Books. The map in the front details the site of the A A gun camp. The write up:

A historic manuscript of World War 11 are raids, as experienced by one Birmingham ARP Post, and written as the events described happened, Life on duty in a warden's post is vividly captured in this important diary of events, which also lists in an appendix details of all 373 air raid warnings in Sector R24A between 25th June 1940 and 4th March 1945....Florence:)
 
I was born after the war, but we lived in Wembley Grove off Hobmoor Road opposite the park where we used to play. At the bottom end of the park, the corner where Hobmoor Road meets Wash Lane and Deakins(?) Rd, there was a deep hollow we called 'the dell'. We used to play in the dell. Someone told my parents it was a bomb crater where an AA gun had been situated. I wonder whether that was true? The lady next door was a widow, her husband was an Air Raid Warden or Firewatcher, he was killed by an exploding incendiary which had fallen through the house we lived in, while he was attempting to put it out. He is remembered in the CWWG website, Frederick Williams.

Spooner
 
spooner, I was told one of the Guns on Oaklands Rec took a direct hit from a bomb, but it was not allowed to be reported, so i don`t know if it was true.
 
Florence. That sounds interesting. Perhaps I will get to find out which bomb ballooned out the leaded light next to the front door of my parents house in Yew Tree Avenue! Geoff.
 
From wimbush of Yardley. The gun site was on the Oaklands half way between the Yew tree and the Swan, right opposite harvey Rd.the sweet shop on the corner was Mrs Grindley and she made a great pop. Just outside the camp was a static water tank about twenty yards wide. also a barrage ballonn site just up the road on the post and mail cricket ground,there was never a gun site by the bank at the Yew tree- thats were we played cricket and football ! Ken
 
Wimbush Yardley. Ken, I think we know each other. You have been in touch with my brother Michael lately and we were in George Bott's night school photo class together.
I recall that 'the field' was used by a mobile gun battery which did not require a permanent gun emplacement and it was located near (later) Jacksons mens outfitters. Perhaps someone will tell me I'm wrong.
Mrs. Grindley's pop! To die for at 1d. a bottle after school at Church Road. A positive mecca for sweets, rationing permitting, and sherbert dabs.
Regards, Geoff.
 
Hi Geoff, I asked friends who lived around the C/Hill school during the war ( i lived by the Swan) and they can`t remember any rocket firing, on my N/S (1947- 49) i trained as an RA Gunfitter, and so i did learn about ant-aircraft rockets which i think were more danger to the Home Guard than enemy aircraft!, they were usually mounted on a trailer, after they had fired you had to wait for the tubes to cool before reloading, they were electrickly fired by a 4.5 volt battery, Mrs.Grindley was a friend of my sister, i remember the block were you pushed out a tightly rolled paper and you won or not! sweets which cost more than the 1/2d you paid for a chance but you always got a few sweets for having a go. Len
 
lencops,

I wonder if you could kindly post (or IM) the link to the interesting information you provided about RA gun sites. I should like to have a closer look at it but haven't so far tracked it down.

Thanks.

Chris
 
brummie nick, I posted that photo of a 3.7in calbre Anti- Aircraft Gun on an ex-services site, that photo was taken pre WW2 at Stockfield Rd Brks now demolished and the site has the Gala Bingo Hall on it, the Gunners on Oaklands Rec were nearly all Londoners because we kids would go and talk to them and run errands for them, the Terrier Gunners are wearing best uniform, my uniform on a Gun was denim boiler suit, no gaiters, no webbing belt and did you know, no studs in my boots so you did`nt slip on the metal base of the Gun, they would be wearing steel helmets while firing, you may have noticed that i always give Gun an uppercase "G" that is because the Guns are the Royal Artillery`s Colours so you rally around them and protect in battle, if you called your rifle a Gun the N/C/O`S would give you a ripe lot of swear words!.
 
Hi Geoff/
I am sure we must know each other,I spent the war years in church rd. in the yew tree shops area. remember the large public shelter between the bank and the yew tree shops ? I spent many many nights in this. the land mine outside the shops in Hobmoor rd.
the shops in church rd were Wrights greengrocer. Wimbush baker. Greenwood chemist Wrensons grocers(Mr Austin) Lythalls sweet shop the millinery shop Mr Izon butcher. Smiths the Ironmonger. local friends included John Shaw John Light tony riley Bill greenwood stuart griffiths tony sweetman(HarveyRd.) The field behind the bank was known as "Prescotts field" I was in George Botts evening class great times I am still in touch with Ray Ward who has been a lifelong friend and we were also in Small Heath Photographic Society a great club with a long long history (Just like Yardley through the war years! )
Regards Ken (Wimbush of Yardley)
 
Birmingham and Coventry AA Guns were in 11 AA Division, 34 AA Brigade, the regiment who fired rockets was the 10 Anti Aircraft Z Regiment, all rocket regiments were disbanded in 1945.
 
Two Guns which formed part of Anti Aircraft defence of Birmingham & Coventry, a Bofors Light AA Gun and a 3.7in Calibre Heavy AA Mobile Gun these Guns were used in the Sheldon & district area, the Guns on Oaklands Rec were bolted to concrete & steel base.
 
My mother was stationed at Park Hall Castle Bromwich where they had a big Gun emplacement, she came from Grimsby with her unit of ATS, the Guns were used to protect both the Shadow Factory and Hams Hall, the placement was right opposite Park Hall School. From what she said about it and seeing the Concrete placements left afterwards it was a big site and being on a hill had commanding views for miles around, It was at a Dance at the Victory Hall Castle Bromwich where she met my Dad home on leave before he went off to the Jamaca to train troops for North Africa in 1940. Why is there no mention of the great work done by the Women during WW1 and WW2 who were the backbone of the home front and actually fighting there to ensure the safety of the Home Front.
 
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Regarding whether one of the Guns on Oaklands Rec was hit by a bomb, my Brother has told me it was`nt one of the Guns that was hit by a bomb but one of the Gunners huts they lived by the entrance to the Rec in Church Rd and sadly several died in the hut who were off duty at the time.
 
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