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Birmingham Air Raids

S

shadowrichards

proper brummie kid
It is 75 years ago this month that Birmingham's experience of the blitz started. This was a month ahead of the start of the London blitz. Although for Birmingham September was relatively quiet, things were to greatly intensify during October and November. This month there is a new book called 'the Luftwaffe over Brum - Birmingham's Blitz from a Military Perspective'. It has 144 pages and nearly 200 illustrations.
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this looks like a cracking book and i shall be putting it on my would like for christmas list.....also moving this thread to the recommended books section where it will be noticed more

lyn
 
I note that BBC television has a 45 minute programme each morning next week (9.15am) covering cities which suffered from the Blitz. Friday is about Birmingham's ordeal.
 
They had an exert on the Today program a few days ago with an actor who was born in Brum going round to speak to people about it. don't remember his name, but he was in "Homeland"
 
This is the link to the BBC programme presented by David Harewood

https://bbc.in/1F0UEMB

In this programme actor David Harewood travels back to the midlands to met with everyday people who lived and worked though the WWII Birmingham blitz. This is a remarkable story of courage and unbelievable hardship that Brummies endured during the war.

Listening to the stories told by one of the people who lived thought this nightmare, Barbara Johnson, it reminded me of what a remarkable woman my mother was.
Born in 1932, she too not only witnessed but was in fact part of thi...s black period in our history. She was evacuated for her safety and wellbeing, only to be mistreated by the family she was forced to live with to such a degree, her mother bought her home to live out the rest of the war back in Birmingham.

Both my mom and dad told me stories of the bombing. My mom would play on the bombe pecks collecting shrapnel; she recalled the German marking on the shattered bomb casings. My dad as a fourteen year old boy who wet himself when a bomb landed and exploded in his own back garden, severely damaging his home and several other buildings.

David Harewood does a remarkable job, taking us on a forty five minute emotional rollercoaster ride that will make you think about Birmingham in a very different way; great work.

The programme will only be available for 26 days.
 
thanks mort i will watch that....i have always had great respect and admiration for those who lived through the wars be in in a fighting capacity or those back home who also had to endure such horrors..by the way barbara johnson (chair of the BARRA site) was at our summer meet up...such a remarkable and lovely lady

lyn
 
HI FRIENDS
I CAN RECOMEND A Book to you its a very good book on our Air raids topic which seems alot of our members are intrested
IT CONTAINS ALOT OF Bombing of our dear old brum
the sighting is endless and gives alot of memories from the people whom was in action and survived
along with war medals and pictures of discription and also endless names of the people and there picture of the actual persons
There is umpteen streets and house numbers and of the city factories and all the home gauirds aroundbrum during that period ,includes police officiers
fire services air raid wardend ,s and battelions all from over birmingham
The book is called HEROS , OF THE BIRMINGHAM , AIR RAIDS , BY MICHAEL MINTON , its a glossie book cover and the pages as well
jammed packed with hundreds of family names and addresss along with soldiers and squandrens of men
it is unfortuneately brand new price at 10 pounds,95 pence printed by Brewin Books
If anyone would like this book I will give it to them Free of charge as i no longer want it
i will not charge any postal cost either in sending it to them, so if anyone wants it and may i had its still in prestigeist condindition
you can contact me through the forum I,M MESSAGESANGING SERVICE WE HAVE ON THE FORUM where all messages are cofidential
best wishes Astonian,,,,,, ALAN,,,,
 
Astonian, I would be very interested in the book. I believe that my wife's Uncle is mentioned in it, his name was William Saragine who was in the home Guard and awarded the British Empire Medal for his actions during the air raid on the BSA.

Reddi
 
Late November 1940 saw heavy bombing in Birmingham. The Birmingham Gazette reports How the Germans were portraying it…

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I popped out to the Jewellery Quarter today and noticed this damaged fence on the Thomas Fattorini factory on Regent Street.

This damage is a legacy of the WWII Blitz shrapnel damage. There are a few other marks on the fence, but this one a sliced straight through a one inch square wrought iron fence rail. Wrought iron is quite tough stuff, they make Irn Bru from it. There is more evidence of WWII Blitz shrapnel damage one a few grave markers in the nearby Warstone Cemetery.

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