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The True Horrors Of Ww2

very close old brit...ive read a lot of peoples memories about the bombs dropping and most of them said the most scary thing was not knowng just where they would land...it was a lottery really

lyn
 
Well obviously the Luftwaffe, like the RAF had specific preplanned targets but bombing accuracy was far from a fine art in the early days and the blackout made it even more difficult to spot the target, hence landing on peoples houses. We had one damage our house and we lived in Shirley considered a fairly safe place to be, lived in a Romany caravan in Earlswood whilst our windows and slates replaced and chimney repaired. My sisters and I thought it a great adventure, still had to go to school though. Eric
 
Astoness said:
very close old brit...ive read a lot of peoples memories about the bombs dropping and most of them said the most scary thing was not knowng just where they would land...it was a lottery really

lyn
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It is interesting that as children we did not have the worry that our parents, or parent, as a lot of us had a Dad away 'at the war' had, and of course we did not really know what that meant, we saw and heard the bombing, we went to the shelters, we saw the damage, but we did not or were not aware of the grief and the worry that the older people felt or thought about. Mum always said thank goodness that was not us as she discussed the latest raid with a neighbour and the closest we got to a bomb was the UXB that fell in Oscott cemetery and the house that was bombed in Goosemoor Lane. It was only as I grew older 1942 onwards that I began to realise what everyone was talking about, I firstly thought that when the raids stopped it was all over, but Dad did not come home, because he was still out there. Parents of teenagers would begin to worry that their son would be called up and of course many of them were, I think the only time when I realised how serious it all was, was when a brother and sister did not come into school one morning and next day as we gathered in the school hall for assembly, the headmistress told us that they would not be in for the rest of the week because their father had been killed in the war and we had to pray for them. Of course as children we knew we would win the war.
Thank goodness we are all still here to be able remember it and talk about it.
Bob
 
One memory, was going to school on the bus from Yardley to Moseley School of art and seeing all the building bombed out the night and day before. One bomb hit the church, next to the school and we all said why could it have not hit the school instead!!!
 
So my pop to this day swears the Government lied about the death tolls, he was at the Austin's and America sent over engines in crates along with a set of tools, one time when unpacking a crate he came across a US news paper the head line THOUSANDS KILLED IN COVENTRY BOMBINGS he says the deaths we're under reported all over he said the newspapers used for packing told a different story and after a while they stopped use newspapers for packing
 
Of course facts and figures were either distorted or under-estimated here. The Government had a duty to keep up peoples morale. Compare aircraft losses on both sides which were quoted at the time. History has changed to to a more realistic figure. I am sure fairly accurate figures are now known, which contrasts to Eastern Europe where such vast numbers of deaths, from very many reasons, are only guesswork even now.
Nothing has changed even after this time. All politicians manipulate facts and figures for various reasons.
 
Radiorails, I am in complete agreement with you but as a Brit I would like to believe those in charge, this whole Nazi deal was one of the best propaganda exercise ever, I have read some numbers for Russian loses and it's incredible how Starlin sacrificed his own people the defense of Starlingrad what a waste of life, if some of the numbers are to be believed he sacrificed more people than Jews murdered by the Nazis
 
Whilst some folk have commented that V1s never reached as far as the Midlands, that is not quite true. There are the remains of one such missile at RAF Cosford, which landed just outside Newport, on the Staffs / Shropshire border. This was one of the air launched versions fired against Manchester in December 1944. Birmingham was fortunately spared.
 
From earlier in the thread and mentions Newport ... :)
oldMohawk said:
Some information about V1 attacks outside the London area and the map shows that because they were air launched the impact sites were not accurate.

index.php

On Christmas Eve, 1944. 45 missiles air-launched from He-111s of KG53 approximately 40 miles off the east coast between Hornsea and Mablethorpe between 0500 and 0600 aiming at Manchester. A V1 flying bomb struck near the corner of Abbey Hills Road and Warren Lane and 27 people were killed and a further 49 people were injured.
See http://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-raid...e-v1-attack-on-manchester-christmas-eve-1944/

There is an account of the V1 which impacted near Newport in Shropshire.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2005/05/27/history_bomb_on_newport_feature.shtml
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Thank you and welcome Illstonandrobson. We always welcome photographs from private collections to add to our understanding of a locality’s history. Do you know anymore about the bombing ? Presumably it’s WW2, but any idea of a date ? Do you know if there were fatalities ? Hopefully not.

Are you a descendant of the company ?

Many thanks. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Thank you and welcome Illstonandrobson. We always welcome photographs from private collections to add to our understanding of a locality’s history. Do you know anymore about the bombing ? Presumably it’s WW2, but any idea of a date ? Do you know if there were fatalities ? Hopefully not.

Are you a descendant of the company ?

Many thanks. Viv.
Click to expand...
Hi
the last Robson left in 2003 when the company was bought by Mr & Mrs Reid, the company is still in the ownership of that family now. Someone has already posted the link to our history page, sorry I don't know anything beyond this.
Thanks
Neil
 
mike reading that article the hopkins family lived in priory road aston where the uxb was found in 2017 on the below thread is a clip of when the army detinated the bomb..bought the area to a standstill and caused chaos on the roads

Priory Road Uxb May 2017

UXB discoverd in priory road aston https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/live-updates-second-world-war-13036192 https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/live-updates-second-world-war-13036192
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
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