大象传媒

Leicester A Prime Bombing Target
One night, 19 / 11/ 40. Mam went into the garden to bring in the washing, and said to dad. 鈥� The moons bright tonight鈥�. Dad went to look. 鈥淕et in the shelter, quick鈥�.
We hadn鈥檛 had a warning, but there was a great flare hanging over Leicester, then the siren sounded. A little later, dad took me to the hill behind our house to see the fires which were already burning in Leicester, and could also be seen as far away as Coventry.
During this same night, the nearest bomb to us, landed in Sudely Avenue off Abbey Lane, approximately three quarters of a mile away, some people were killed, although I can鈥檛 remember how many.
This particular bomb was a so called Land Mine. These things were about the biggest high explosive devices available at this time. They were dropped under a parachute, in order to slow the descent and allow the thing to explode above ground, which would cause more damage. This particular one shook the ground, and at that time, we didn鈥檛 know how near it really was.
While still on the subject of the Blackout. At one time a travelling steam fair came to town and set up in what is now called (2005) Lee Circle. All the rides, side shows, and generators, were completely covered with tarpaulins which allowed no light to escape.
I have in recent years, seen pre-war German aerial maps of Leicester, showing all the important buildings and railway sidings.
So Leicester had always been an intended target, and was not found by accident, as some accounts would have us believe.
It seemed the sky was never empty. All through the war, there were always Tiger Moths and later Harvard trainers flying mainly from Desford air field with young men learning to fly. Later when I had joined the A.T.C. air training corp, I was lucky enough to get a flight in a Tiger .
In the latter years of the war, Bombers became more plentiful and in many of the summer evenings, hundreds of these aircraft would be seen flying in formations of three, on their perilous way to attack Germany.
In the morning when these same planes, or the remaining ones, were returning, some would be trailing smoke, and some with damage clearly visible. The missing ones were the gaps in the formation.
Looking back on these dark and worrying days, I think that people generally were more friendly and helpful, it was a fact that we could, and very often did, leave our doors unlocked, but of course most people had nothing much for burglars to steal anyway.

鈥楾his story was submitted to the Peoples war site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Keith Marsden and has been added to the site with his permission.. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions鈥�.

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