大象传媒

I was 8 years old, and living in Winson Green, Birmingham. Squadrons of German aircraft used the Bristol Channel and River Severn as beacons to reach Birmingham. Night and/or day raids often targeted Winson Green due to the surrounding munitions factories, other industries, railways, etc. I was often up the coal chute leading from the cellar my dad had made into an air raid shelter, my head through the grille to watch the planes with Swastikas on tails thunder overhead. They dropped "Butterfly" incendiaries to start roof and bedroom fires, followed by bombs and parachuted land mines. On release from the aircraft, the bombs plummeted to earth with high-pitched strident shrills; the resounding detonations made ears ache and the cellar floor vibrate.

Luftwaffe bomb aimers were only short distances from their intended munitions and industrial targets, and the vast amount of bomb damage was evident in residential areas around. My father told us a bomb had fallen into the canal water but hadn't exploded, but two had just totally destroyed the children's swings and helter-skelter in Summerfield Park play area. I went there in the light of the morning sun to see two huge bomb craters, and around was scattered bomb shrapnel which was already showing signs of rust. One huge piece I kept until 1957 when I lost it while moving house. In another night raid, when my baby brother Robert was in his mother's arms above her sister on the cellar steps, a land mine fell, destroying St. Cuthbert's Church in Winson Green Road and its surrounding buildings. The tremor shook Robert out of his place and into my aunt's lap. Robert always slept through the raids.

One late dark winter evening with snow on the ground, Ann (my sister) and I left home with mother holding Robert. We were by the steps of Heath Street's corner shop underground shelter when the siren started its wail. The shop owner rushed to unlock the shelter door. Inside, the floor was clean and dry, but its pale green distempered walls were cold and the place reeked of disinfectant. The man lit some candles and started up his tobacco pipe as others joined us. The white-painted ceiling was cracked, there was no electric light bulb, and the seating secured to the walls was sparse. The notice board had signs made from lined pages torn from a school book - "No Spitting" - "No Swearing" - "Do not urinate in the corners" - "No Smoking" - "No Animals" - "Let Pregnant Women Sit" - and many more. From walls hung official posters such as the Union Flag waistcoated Chruchill with his bulldog, "Walls Have Ears", "Carelss Talk Costs Lives", and Chad with his "Wot no..." and whatever was the slogan of the day.

In the distance a faint familiar hum coupled to bangs could be heard. As they increased, a woman lit a cigarette, paced the floor and muttered, "The German swine planes have arrived." As the noise and bangs grew nearer, talk stopped and people looked upwards. The din grew into a surging deafening crescendo, a frightening reverberation to the ears; it seemed as if the whole of the German air force was over head and one could almost feel the pain of the plane's engines as they groaned under the weight of the bomb loads. Sudden jarring explosions were above, the floor beneath our feet shook and plaster fell from the ceiling. Men swore, women trembled and moaned, children screamed, babies cried in their mothers' arms, and I was no exception to fear. I pressed my head to my mum's back, squeezed my eyes shut, gripped my hands tight, then wet my short trousers. I got a slap across the ear from an elderly woman behind me for it.

As the planes flew around and dropped more bombs here and there, a defiant man began to play "Land of Hope and Glory" on his mouth organ, and others started to sing to it. After what seemed like hours, the aircraft left, followed by the siren's welcoming "All Clear" sound.

The night sky was lit up with fires, smoke filled the air, the acrid spent-cordite smell caught the breath, gas leaked from severed piping and water gushed from ruptured water mains as Police, Fire and Ambulance crews attened to incidents, accidents and fires. The canal was tapped into for water. On reaching home we discovered that our house had received some minor damage to the slated roof.

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