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Birmingham Newspapers 1939-1945

Pedrocut said:
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After the 1947 Fire Services Act, when fire brigades were amalgamated into city or county brigades an air raid siren was used to call out retained, often referred to as volunteers, firefighters when they were required for a fire or other contingency. The 'all clear' was the sound (a continuous note) and I am sure that sound would also apply to the factories mentioned in following posts. The sirens were superseded by pagers during the 1970's. Pagers gave firefighters a lot more freedom as they were usually (providing they had kept the batteries charged overnight) to be heard even in noisy environments. Noisy places and some shielded by tall buildings often meant the siren was not heard by some. Often, given strong winds. flat open spaces or coastal shores, it was also possible to hear a neighbouring towns siren.
I remember staying with an aunt and uncle, in The Potteries, for a few days around 1966. We were putting my young son, who was four years old, to bed. My wife, I and the boy heard the siren. My relatives disbelieved us, but I was able to inform them a day or two later that they had two fire engines in the nearby town, where they had lived for a good many years, the first being manned by full time guys the second by the retained. I was so surprised that they had never heard it before.
 
It is not a Birmingham newspaper...... I don't know where else to put it..... but........ we found a 1943 French newspaper which exhists no longer whilst clearing my partner's late mum's cellar over there And an ancient bottle of port We gave the paper to a local history group. It was interesting to me about the allies and the amount of them, a general, the blackout times, horse racing and book reviews proving that life still carried on.
 
Pedro,

Not quite the done thing to state full addresses of owners and drivers these days, but a wonderful example of how useful these newspaper reports are to genealogists and local historians.

Maurice
 
It is an interesting point concerning the quoting of names and addresses in the picture. In general, if I was writing a caption or explanation for the picture I would probably not mention the names. If someone wanted more information, and it being in the public domain, they could find it for themselves. However when lifting a piece from a newspaper, some being quite lengthy, I would not check and redact any info.
 
sospiri said:
Pedro,

Not quite the done thing to state full addresses of owners and drivers these days, but a wonderful example of how useful these newspaper reports are to genealogists and local historians.

Maurice
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Yes. It helped really me in my family research with quoted names. My Great Granny fighting in the street I tried to put it in context to other relatives what life may have been like then. That they shouldn't judge people in the report.
 
Nico said:
It is not a Birmingham newspaper...... I don't know where else to put it..... but........ we found a 1943 French newspaper which exhists no longer whilst clearing my partner's late mum's cellar over there And an ancient bottle of port We gave the paper to a local history group. It was interesting to me about the allies and the amount of them, a general, the blackout times, horse racing and book reviews proving that life still carried on.
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PS It was called Le Matin
 

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Very interesting news articles. Le Matin only had a year to run before closure. The owners death was in 1944. It was a collaborationist, pro-Nazi paper. Strictly speaking I am sure France was not at war at the time. They had surrendered in 1940. Only Charles de Gaulle and his FFI troops were at war, but apart from the resistance movement, they were based in the UK and Overseas France (France d'Outre-Mer).
August 1943 was in the period where the Allies were getting the upper hand, except in the Far East. That was some months ahead. Japanese successes are mentioned. Italy was in political turmoil and had surrendered although the paper makes out he Sicilians were stout of heart. However Italy was soon being taken by the Allies but some bitter battles were ahead. The great battles between Germany and the Soviet Union were happening but again the paper only mentions areas where the German Axis forces made gains. There was an article about laying down arms: I guess they could see which way things were going by this time and as they supported the invaders were keen to to the party line. In Germany there was a campaign against resistance by Germans. The people were getting to find out more I believe. Sweden emphasises its neutrality but maintains it is not isolated from the world.
In a lighter vein the paper mentions a two year old child, that had fallen into a river from a quay, rescued by a German soldier who dived in to save him. (I wonder if the boy is still alive? He would be about 77 now). A few arrests in various parts of France of what I guess were black marketeers. The usual cross word was there and so were the horse racing details. There is episode 31 of a love story - I wonder if it was completed before the demise of the paper.
Bringing Birmingham (well Great Britain) into the frame there is mention that 65% of Britain's workforce were employed in war work. That seems an odd report, front page and at the top. I wonder if here, again, the writing was appearing on the wall and an indirect (not antagonising the Gestapo maybe) report was factual but a hidden meaning might give support to those fighting for a Free France.

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I haven't read all of this thread and I wasn't born until 1972, but just to think of all the planning and execution that went into the war effort, well it must have been amazing.

It is really good to look back and think of what people didn't have and how they survived, not to mention the example that was set from everybody helping each other.
 
paul stacey said:
Thanks for this thread, my mother and my nan, were always talking through out my childhood, about the warning, and all clear, sirens in Birmingham. paul
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My family used to talk about WW2 a lot, but as we moved to Redditch early on in my life, I couldn't place where they were talking about. Today, on this forum is the first time I have seen newspaper clippings of WW2 relating to Birmingham. Lots of the programmes on TV feature London. I have yet to start looking into Birmingham history in WW2. So thanks for this thread from me.:):)
 
A few more from the build up to Xmas 1939, some were calling it "the strangest Xmas"

Lewis's Father Xmas visits the children's hospital.
Police Party for the kiddies.
Birmingham Reply to Lord Haw Haw.
Mrs Elsie Lambourne Christmas Party.



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Kat7272 said:
My family used to talk about WW2 a lot, but as we moved to Redditch early on in my life, I couldn't place where they were talking about. Today, on this forum is the first time I have seen newspaper clippings of WW2 relating to Birmingham. Lots of the programmes on TV feature London. I have yet to start looking into Birmingham history in WW2. So thanks for this thread from me.:):)
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Mine talked about it also especially Nan. I think they were some of her happiest times apart from her childhood.She was a telephonist on night duty in the NFS. And they lived in the country too. But mum was terrified in the air raids.
 
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