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The Blitz

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
  • Start date Start date
Today I will be in Coventry returning a little small pamphlet of just 15 pages .....but what an impact it had on me when I read it
The Story of the Great Raid November 14th 1940 by the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Coventry
A night that the Germans afterwards claimed they had dropped 500 tons of explosives and 30 thousand incendiaries on a city that contained 244 thousand people
My Mothers sister Marcella's home was burnt out and destroyed and she came to stay with our Ma..........but she had to go back to help defend the city and do what she could to help
If anyone wants a copy I.M. me ..I have scanned it into Word and when I have time I will send it to you
 
Blimey Cromwell, I was only 5 then, but can remember it as though it was last year. All the neighbours in the yard, with the exception of Mr and Mrs Avins were in the shelter, trying not to look frightened in front of the children. The noise was horrendous, and we could hear the drone of the german bombers before the bombs started coming down.

Mr and Mrs Avins were an elderly couple who lived next door to us, they never got out of bed at night for anything, and jerry wasn't going to make them change. :D

Thank you for that info about the date, its very useful.

barrie
 
They surely were a different breed in those days Cromwell weren't they?

Somewhat related.
I have been trying to find information related to the Endwood/Handsworthwood Home Guard.
My dad fought in WW1 and was in the Home Guard during WW2. Apparantly they held concerts at Christmas time and my late mom used to tell me I went to one of these concerts at Endwood Church, must have been right at the end of the war, but I was only a little lad of two then so don't remember. We lived in Leopold Ave Handsworthwood at the time.
I am just starting to look at the family line. My dad was a school teacher at Spon Lane West Bromwich. His dad or my Grandfather, John Hutton, was I believe Principle at Aston Technical college, but when, I don't know.
Any ideas?

Ron
 
If you put home guard in the search box at top of page there are links to home guard sites.
 
Ron Hutton said:
I have been trying to find information related to the Endwood/Handsworthwood Home Guard.
Click to expand...

Ron,

There's a fair amount of material surviving on the Home Guard and one suspects there is a whole lot more buried in people's attics just waiting for the black plastic binliners; but the vast bulk of it is probably lost for ever.

I've put some guidance here on tracing individual members of the Home Guard - some of this is valid in the case of specific units as well.

Let us (and that site) know if you find out more.

Chris
 
My husbands father, Walter Taylor who worked at Bulpitts saved 12 people on two occasions and was awarded with an O.B.E. He was mentioned at an exhibition at the B,ham museum ,which was the first time I new of his bravery he never mentioned it.My parents told me some very sad stories of the blitz,I was born as it all ended but saw for myself the devastation as I grew up in Bell Barn rd.
 
Interesting photo do you have anything about bombing around the Villa Ground and Atkinsons Brewery. I was in an air raid shelter in Gladston Street. Kind regards David Weaver, Australia.
cromwell said:
I sent this air raid map to a member of the forum by E-mail a some time ago ...so as I have it handy and it has not been put on ... here it is
Black dots High Explosive
Red Dots Incendiary Bombs
Blue dots unexploded bombs
Click to expand...
 
How's this for a coincidence. I was in the air raid shelter in Aston and was bombed. We used to listen to the anti aircraft guns trying to shoot down the Germans. I now have a writing group in Australia and interviewed an elderly lady for a profile of her life. I've been teaching her for over a year. Imagine my surprise when she told me she had been in the army and had served time on the anti aircraft guns in Perry Bar. Strange eh. Kind regards David.
barrie said:
Cromwell. Looking through this series of postings about the blitz in Brum got me to thinking (doesn't happen often :)) Have you any idea of the date that Jerry tried to firebomb Lucas's in Gt King St? The night in question they hit Wacaden's Dairy in Farm St, we lived just aroung the corner in Hunters Rd, and I remember hearing the poor horse screaming as they burned.

That was quite a night, there were fire and HE bombs falling all around, and the Ack Ack gun in Elvins yard was working overtime.

barrie.
Click to expand...
 
My Grandad Weaver used to have a farm in Alrewas, we used to drive through Litchfield every week. Do they still have the 'Bower'? Kind regards, David.
mike-g said:
If you put home guard in the search box at top of page there are links to home guard sites.
Click to expand...
 
David,

Is there any chance of getting your elderly gunner's memories written down and posted here? (It sounds as though she is in the right class).

Chris
 
This is for you Chris, while doing a bit of research today at Baddesley I knew that during the war the industry that needed protecting were the coal mines and the area was covered with coal mines which were heavily protected by camouflage and the Ack Ack guns barrage balloons and searchlights batteries this little village was hit by bombs a number of times ...one bomb destroyed two cottages on the common ....but call it a twist of fate but they dug a tunnel into the embankment to be used as air raid shelters.........and on the night a solitary bomb landed right outside the entrance......... the shelter was empty
I took these to snaps of a concrete Searchlight station today which up till a few years ago still had the mountings on the top......
Location on the B4116 at Bentley past the Horse and Jockey Pub 2nd left
Head towards Baddesley and its just off the road on the left
 
David Weaver - yes they still have the Bower in Lichfield. It used to held over the Whitsun Bank Holiday, now it is called the Late Spring Holiday, the last weekend in May.

You refer to the bombings near Atkinsons Brewery - my in-laws lived in Queens Road, and were all sheltering in the cellars there the night Queens Road took a massive pounding, all that is except for their second eldest son who was on leave from the RAF recovering from injuries, he refused to go and was blown from his bed right through the bedroom window and survived, only to be killed over Cologne in March 1945. I have seen old newspaper cuttings and photos reprinted when the King came to inspect the damage a few days later. Perhaps someone else has copies and can post them.
 
Thanks for the interesting Baddesley pics, Cromwell. The Defence of Britain website https://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/index.html has a searchable database which was the fruit of long research and attempts to record all the surviving wartime structures, big and small, throughout the UK. It very much looks as though they have missed your searchlight base, or at least I have failed to find a mention of it.

In case anyone has missed it Beryl M has started an interesting thread on WW2 Birmingham evacuees. It's in the History section although could have been just as well in this one. https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12598 I have noted in this thread on the Blitz mention of children surviving the bombing in wartime shelters within the inner city areas. It would be interesting to hear the circumstances whereby those children who were probably eligible for the Government sponsored evacuation scheme in fact stayed in Birmingham.

Chris
 
I was one of the children who was eligible for evacuation, Chris but my mother said no. Just a simple as that really. I had friends who went and others who stayed.

I can't help recalling what the then Queen Elizabeth said about evacuation, when it was being discussed about the young princess's Elizabeth and Margaret. 'The King will never leave London, I couldn't go without him and the girls won't leave without me.'
 
I was never evacuated, I can remember having the labels to wear and a large bag for my belongings issued, but my Mother must have had a change of heart, and I stayed in Brum all through the bombing.
 
Need an air raid shelter?

The chance of a lifetime. You never know when you might need one. Buyer collects but at least it's in Brum. View it here.

Chris
 
Re: Brick Air Raid Shelter

There was a bigger one in the garden of my neighbour's house when I was a boy, 2 large rooms and a central passageway with doors at each end. The son of the family who owned it (but didn't live there - it was a hotel) had had a model railway in one of the rooms. The shelter is still there, I can see it on Google Earth. The house had been a hostel for bombed-out families during the war, so I assume the council owned it then and built the shelter. The roof is concrete, about 5-6" thick.
 
I'm looking for a map of bombs dropped in the Blitz. I've seen one somewhere but can't find it!

My parents were married on November 2nd 1940 at St Pauls Balsall Heath (on the Moseley Road). On on the night of the 1st both the Church and the Moseley Road and Balsall Heath was hit. They were married in rubble, the power and water were off and the place for the reception with the food and drink put aside was also destroyed.

Would like to get an indication of the bombing pattern.

Thanks for any help
 
Followed the link and been through the whole thread again but no luck.

(Picked up Cromwells ref to the Moseley Road being called Bomb Ally but can't find a Bomb map of Moseley Road/High Gate/Balsall Heath.)

The full map of Birmingham bomb strikes doesn't have enough pixels to enlarge.

Is there an original out there with enough detail to show the Moseley Road?

Thanks
 
Re Wartime weddings if my memory is good the Government gave extra rations. sugar, currants and other ingrediants for a cake, and clothing coupons.
 
jennyann said:
Similar to Sylvia, I remember my Mother telling me about a bomb killing a lot of
people in Johnson Street or Road during the war. Also, there were a few deaths in the Goosemoor Lane, Erdington area. Can you please confirm this Cromwell. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Jennyann, Logon to https://www.swanshurst.org/barra clickon to casualitys by location, submit Goosemoor Lane and you will get details of the casualitys.
 
I will update my Blitz map but you might have to wait a bit ...
As I am elsewhere...
 
The Memorial to the Citizens of Birmingham, killed in the Blitz, located in the Bull Ring.
 
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cromwell said:
The United States of America came into the war on Dec.8th 1941
Click to expand...

re the usa -Germany declarded war on the usa NOT the other wayround the usa did declare war on JAPAN -they were to busy screwing GB.as they sat ready to see the uk go under the jackboot.it must have upset a lot in us.when we did not fall.
 
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Lencops: Thank you for the thread to the Swanshurst site. I had missed coming back to this until today. I will have a look at the site and thank you again.
 
RobertS I will post the section of the map you want regarding Bomb Alley but you will have to wait a couple of weeks
rupertbri I have sent you a I.M. regarding what you wanted.........
 
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