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The Blitz

Freer Road Aston
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Not Birmingham but a scene that was replicated many times over in a lot of cities.
Mrs, S. Manson looking at the wreckage of her home following a night time raid on Liverpool. Her four grandchildren (rescued after the raid are with her). 1941.
 
A Different World - Birmingham in WW2 – Taking Some Damage.
A click on the image will put a pdf file on screen.
It can be used online here or saved to any computer.

 
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Old Mohawk. What a lot of insight to the devastation that was caused. Although i wasn,t born at the time my mom told us when dad was abroad she lost everything. She was only 20 herself at the time with 2 children under 3 . I can,t even begin to imagine how she coped like thousands of others ,but at least they survived.
 
Thanks Mohawk, I sat through the thirteen hour raid in 1940 and often wondered why it seemed so long, now I know. The Queens Road bombing was also a reminder because Ansell's Brewery was behind our coal yard. My kids and grandkids are gobsmacked at the photo's, thanks agai. Regards, David
 
Hi David - The Aston district seemed to have received very heavy bombing in WWII, perhaps the Luftwaffe were aiming for Kynochs and missed.
I remember a very long raid, got home from school and eating my tea when about 5.00pm sirens went and it was off to the shelter until 6.00am.
The twisted remains of Anderson shelters in some photos makes one think !
oldmohawk
 
A CLIPPING FROM THE BHAM MAIL. ALFRED Smith Stafford had joined the Special Constabulary in February 1941 and was attached to Acocks Green police station, serving with the warrant number 5474 and collar number E53.
The 36-year-old was off duty when he was killed during an air raid in the early hours of July 30, 1942 when his home in Malvern Road, Acocks Green, was hit by a bomb. He is buried in Yardley Cemetery.
Special constable Ralph Henry Corfield, aged 41, was killed by a German bomb which landed near his home in Lozells Road, Lozells, in July 1942. He was buried at Handsworth New Cemetery.
Special constable William Dalgetty, aged 47, died of his wounds when his house in Hazelwood Road, Acocks Green, was hit by a bomb. He was one of 450 people killed in the raids on November 19 1940. He was buried at Yardley Cemetery alongside his wife Henrietta who had died in 1928.
Special constable Eustace Lionel Speller, aged 43, died when a bomb hit his home in Albert Road, Handsworth, in December 1940. He is buried at Handsworth New Cemetery


Read More https://www.birminghammail.net/news...-in-the-blitz-97319-29672744/2/#ixzz1o32n2nFm
 
TOPSYTURVEY said:
A CLIPPING FROM THE BHAM MAIL. ALFRED Smith Stafford had joined the Special Constabulary in February 1941 and was attached to Acocks Green police station, serving with the warrant number 5474 and collar number E53.
The 36-year-old was off duty when he was killed during an air raid in the early hours of July 30, 1942 when his home in Malvern Road, Acocks Green, was hit by a bomb. He is buried in Yardley Cemetery.
Special constable Ralph Henry Corfield, aged 41, was killed by a German bomb which landed near his home in Lozells Road, Lozells, in July 1942. He was buried at Handsworth New Cemetery.
Special constable William Dalgetty, aged 47, died of his wounds when his house in Hazelwood Road, Acocks Green, was hit by a bomb. He was one of 450 people killed in the raids on November 19 1940. He was buried at Yardley Cemetery alongside his wife Henrietta who had died in 1928.
Special constable Eustace Lionel Speller, aged 43, died when a bomb hit his home in Albert Road, Handsworth, in December 1940. He is buried at Handsworth New Cemetery


Read More https://www.birminghammail.net/news...-in-the-blitz-97319-29672744/2/#ixzz1o32n2nFm
Click to expand...

I believe that this constable was the man who owned the tobacconists shop near the Lozells Cinema.

Barrie
 
Thanks for that link Viv, had not seen it before. I will have a good look through it later.
My Mum and Dad found the 'fin' of the incendiary bomb which landed on our house, and kept it for years. It got lost later in house moves.
oldmohawk
 
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In 1939 there were thousands of gas-masks in stores like this one awating distribution.
 
Stamped on the back of my birth certificate is "City of Birmingham A.R.P. Dept. One Baby Helmet Issued".

It has also been stamped, in 1947, by the Birmingham Municipal Bank. Do they still exist ?
 
Thanks, Stitcher. I still have one. Can't remember if it was my father's (Home Guard) or my father-in-law's (Walsall ARP warden).

Horrible things and thank goodness, never used in anger. Still remember mine being put on - ghastly feeling of suffocation and smell of rubber. I was four and mine was a child's, coloured version, red and blue I think. Didn't make it any more acceptable.

Chris
 
Hello Chris, I had a brother now passed on, was born in !942 and I can remeber his was like a small pram type of thing without wheels. As you so rightly say they were never really needed, thank God.
 
Thanks Lloyd, I had a feeling it had been swallowed up.

The branch at the Maypole was in a big wooden building, I recall.
 
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November raids 1940
I hope these pics are not on thread already.I know the site was hacked a while ago,so i thought the following may be of interest.
I am not old enough to rememnber these terrible times,but old enough to have used these bombed sites as a playground as a child,unaware of the stories behind them.
 
It does make you wonder how people kept their sanity throughout the war what with the sirens, gunfire, lack of sleep, rationing, being bombed out .... how very, very fortunate we are today. Viv.
 
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