大象传媒

We had a few expectant mothers in the shelters and I tried to keep an 鈥渆ye鈥� on them and see that they had a little space around them. I did not have a clue about childbirth as young girls in my days were not told about such things, but I knew that there were quite a few Irish ladies in the shelters who had lots of children and would take over if needed!!

The shelter at the bottom of Wind Street was attached to a huge brewery called 鈥淗ancocks鈥�. It was situated under a stout railway arch. I had to go back up to the top of Wind Street to get the head warden and other wardens down to the shelter as the brewery had a small fire in the roof which was spreading. We all ran back down Wind Street and by that time the wind, which was blowing a gale force because of the huge town fires, had spread the fire along the top floor of the brewery. Now, being a brewery, it had a lot of alcohol within the vats and we knew that we could not stay there.

Scotty called us wardens outside under a bridge, and we reviewed the situation. We could not go towards the town; everything was on fire in that direction. Towards the South Dock there were fires and no shelters. Towards the mouth of the Tawe River there were no shelters and also the Naval Base called 鈥淗.M.S. Lucifer鈥�. So the only way to go was East towards the St. Thomas area, which had also been badly hit. There was a large shelter at a place called the 鈥淢idlands Station鈥� at the entrance to the huge Swansea docks. But we had two long bridges to cross. One bridge over the North Dock and the other bridge over the Tawe River. We did not even know if they were still there, but we had to try.

We divided the people into three 鈥渓ots鈥�. They had to run about three hundred yards to get to the second bridge over the Tawe River. The first bridge was almost part of the road so it was no problem. But the second bridge was larger and the river was wide there. We called for quietness and Scotty and my father took it in turns to quickly explain the difficult situation. Some people started to get upset, but there was no other alternative. We could not stay. We had to go.

Three wardens were given the task of taking the young mums, children and teenagers in the first wave. Scotty told them as they came out of the shelter to 鈥渋gnore the noise. Don鈥檛 look at the fires and run like hell!!鈥� They looked appalled and just stared at us wardens for a few seconds then turned to each other, and running very close together, started on their way.

The next lot to go were the middle-aged and they did not question the decision to move, and so off they went with two wardens.
That left myself and another warden with the older people who would not be running. The idea was to get the ones who could move quickly away, into safety, then the other wardens would come back to help we two who would be slowly making our way over. So off we went. The first two hundred yards were managed quite nicely. There seemed to be a lull in the bombing and although the noise was deafening and the flames were lighting everything up, we kept going. When we were opposite a little house in the shadow of the giant Weaver鈥檚 Mill, the door opened and I saw two well known characters standing there. 鈥淐an we come with you?鈥� they asked in broad Irish accents. The man warden answered that they could! I said 鈥渕ore the merrier鈥�. But the woman said 鈥淚鈥檒l bring my chickens with me鈥�. The other warden thought that she meant her children and told her to hurry but I knew that she meant her chickens, which lived in the house with them. When I explained to all and sundry that could hear me in all that noise that I was not going to take chickens to an air-raid shelter, everyone agreed except Paddy and his wife. Anyway, after a lot of name-calling (I was an unfeeling girl, hard, and no animal lover amongst other insults!!), they joined in our little band after locking the chickens up in their kitchen! I could hear her parting with them and calling the chickens 鈥漢er little darlents鈥�. Ye Gods!! But it gave us a much needed laugh.

When we arrived at the Tawe Bridge, some of the older ladies just could not face crossing it. On the other side of the bridge, the other wardens had their 鈥渉ands full鈥� trying to fit the people into one shelter meant for two hundred people. It was nearly full when our lot from Wind Street arrived, and we were one hundred and thirty, so one can see the problem! I tried all things to get them to move. The Irish pair had gone on and so had a few of the older people but I could not move the last dozen and I could not possibly leave them. They were all lovely old people and I knew them well and that was part of the problem. They had watched me grow up, and my Mother had brought me up to be a helpful, polite little girl. They had watched me in my Girl Guide uniform and now I was an air-warden telling them what to do!! They loved me, but to them, I was still a little Girl Guide in a warden鈥檚 uniform!! In the next few minutes I pushed them, pulled them and shoved them to get them moving and I could see that we were all going to die there if they didn鈥檛 get across that bridge. But they decided to say their prayers in the middle of the road. I was yelling at them that God helps those who help themselves! They did disapprove and I heard a few murmurs of 鈥渢elling my Mother about me!鈥� I felt that we were all set to have a 鈥渇renzy鈥� when I heard the other wardens coming back across the bridge. They summed up the situation at a glance and started shocking the old people with a lot of swearing and pushing. In next to no time the old people started across the bridge. I trailed after them and paused in the middle of the bridge to turn and look at the burning town. It 鈥渟immered鈥� in the heat and the river reflected the massive flames. I could see the tall tower of St. Mary鈥檚 Church with flames shooting out of the top, and I heard the bells go down the tower and hit the walls, all the way down. All the bells were ringing furiously and I watched about a minute and I knew that I would never, ever, forget the scene as long as I lived. I heard my Father calling me through the smoke and I called back to him and ran on across the bridge. I remember very vividly, as I ran to safety, I made a pact with God. I promised that if He would get me through that night, I would never grumble again. Well, I did get through that night, and many nights full of terror, in the next year or two, and since I have tried not to grumble and see the good and bright side of life.

When we were all over the bridge and everyone was safe, Scotty called us together outside and told us that we had to go back across the bridges once more, as the bells were ringing and that was a sign of invasion. So we had to go to our post. I turned to say good-bye to my mother, but my father told me, not to as she would try to keep me in the shelter with her with my young sister Glenys. I knew that he was saying the right thing. I had a job to do so we started to trot back over that long bridge. It wasn鈥檛 very long, but it seemed to be that night. I knew that when little boys want to cry, we always say to them 鈥漛ig boys don鈥檛 cry!鈥�. Well, big girls must not either. I was seventeen and learning fast, but I so much wanted my mother to hug me, and tell me that everything would be alright. But, I was a big girl with a job to do and I ran on with the rest of the wardens.

The miracle was that the post telephone was working and they told us that the hot air was making the bells ring and there was no invasion. We all felt better then, as tired as we were, and we dispersed back to our streets to give help. Slowly, the night passed and in the late dawn we drank tea and got down to counting the cost of what the Germans had done to us.

A secretary at the Civic Centre told me, some years later, about a meeting of all the town鈥檚 leaders that was held the morning after the three nights鈥� Blitz on our town.

I quote from that report that was read out to the gathering that morning. Read by Mr. Lang Coath:

鈥淭he air-raid precautions controller reports as follows. The ordeal, I am instructed to make to you and talk to you about, is about the enemy attacks here on the nights of 19th, 20th and 21st of February, 1941.

Swansea was faced with a terrific ordeal on these three I consecutive nights in the heavy enemy attacks with the latest technique of aerial bombardment by way of incendiary and high explosive bombs alternately, accompanied with dazzling, almost stationery flares dangling in the sky. Also land mines were parachuted down.

That ordeal was all the greater when it is realised that the results of the attacks on the first and second nights respectively, had rendered considerable havoc in our midst, and had taxed the energies and resources of those engaged in combating the attacks and dealing with the many difficulties which were left in their wake.

The third night, therefore, found those responsible for the defence of the town at some disadvantage in view of the ceaseless and tiring work they had performed on the two previous nights, when we had all had had little sleep and we were all very weary.
However, the personnel of the Civil Defence Organisation and the populace, I am pleased to say, stood up to that third night鈥檚 ordeal with the same courage and with the same determination, as on the previous nights.

Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, can you just realise the position of affairs here this Saturday morning? We had had three nights of a most terrible ordeal. You should sit in the control room - hear all those reports coming in -hear all the terrible things that are happening. I can assure you it is not a sinecure - it is a very responsible position, and one which I would rather not go through again. I can imagine Swansea falling down, I can鈥檛 go out to see for myself, but I know what is going on. It is a very apprehensive position to be in and one in which you feel your position very acutely.

What did we find on this Saturday morning? Roads damaged and impassable; sewers damaged; electric cables and equipment shattered; fifteen schools destroyed or seriously damaged; telephonic communication cut off; a casualty list, fortunately and providentially not as large as might be expected. Also, over six and a half thousand people without homes and they had to be housed.

The food office, completely demolished, and all papers, books and records destroyed and lost. As a result, thousands of food registrations had gone, concerning consumers, not only in Swansea, but outside of Swansea who were trading in the town. The town鈥檚 shopping centre wiped out, including the market. Shops rendered useless by being destroyed by bombs or being burned out, or by having 鈥渄elayed action鈥� bombs in front of them. 171 food shops gone. 64 grocers, 61 butchers,12 bakeries and 34 hotels. Also restaurants and cafes gone. This figure does not deal with the greengrocers and other stalls in the lost Market, but to illustrate to you from the Market鈥檚 point of view, there were 45 butchers鈥� holdings in the Market and these 45 butchers were supplying no less than 22,000 customers.

Gas and water were cut off, causing lack of cooking arrangements to others in their homes who were not homeless.

St Mary鈥檚 Church and other places of worship destroyed.

Dangerous buildings require immediate attention. The blitzed areas had to be cordoned around. Rescues, unfortunately, had still to be made. The dead had to be identified and they had to be buried. Numerous questions have to be answered. That, gentlemen, is the position when walked into the room at nine o鈥檆lock on this morning after three terrible nights.鈥�

All the next day we worked on to help wherever we could. There were a lot of unexploded bombs to be located and fenced off and somehow we managed to work through the day and not looking forward to the night as everything was still burning. But the bombers did not come that night and we all managed to get some sleep. We were all numb with tiredness and just lay down whenever we could under cover, and slept.

The bombers came back, many times throughout the two following years, but the raids were not as intense as those three nights of what we call now the Blitz.

The last raid on Swansea was two years later on the sixteenth of February nineteen forty-three. The Germans called the raid 鈥淥peration Wasservogal鈥�. It started at nine-thirty in the evening and the target was the docks. But as usual they missed the docks and bombed the next area to our post. It was the first lot of bombs that fell, that wrecked an ancient pub called 鈥淭he Cuba鈥� and then St. Thomas once more had many casualties and wrecked houses. They were only overhead about half an hour but it was enough to bring much heartache to a lovely close and brave community. The 鈥淟uftwaffe鈥� never came again.

Now we know, from German records, that sixty to seventy aircraft took part in our three nights鈥� Blitz. They have on their records that in addition to parachute flares, land mines, they dropped eight hundred high explosives and thirty thousand incendiaries down on our town. The glow of the fires could be seen as far as Devon, and the west part of Wales in Pembrokeshire. Worst of all, for the people was, that two hundred and thirty people were killed, and four hundred and nine people were injured badly enough to go to hospital. The hospitals were鈥� overflowing and many people were treated in the large corridors that were in the old 鈥淪wansea General Hospital鈥�.

There were twelve more attacks in nineteen forty-one alone. These attacks resulted in three hundred and eighty-seven people killed and eight hundred and fifty-one injured. So much of Swansea had been damaged and it was never rebuilt the way it was. The old Victorian and early Edwardian buildings of charm and beauty have all gone, and we seem to have a very ugly 鈥渉otch-potch鈥� of a town centre now.

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