大象传媒

A Childs war years (continued)

Back home in Ladywood life was never the same again, unusual things were happening, some people were starting to wear arm bands with the letters ARP on them which we learned meant 鈥楢ir Raid Precautions,鈥� and a 鈥榃鈥� on a metal hat which they carried always, strapped to their shoulder along with a haversack that contained a Gas mask and First Aid equipment. These people were Wardens and when an air raid was expected, would direct people into shelters, usually underground for safety against falling bombs.

Some people were issued with 鈥楾in Hats鈥� as these metal hats became known, and would go on the roofs of large buildings to look out for enemy planes, and send a warning for Sirens to be sounded. These people were called鈥� Spotters.鈥� They would also attempt to extinguish incendiary bombs. This was very dangerous work and many were killed. All these people went to work during the day and still carried out their duties should the need arise.

One activity for us children was to collect any metal objects that people did not want such as old bicycles, garden tools, pots and pans etc, these were taken to the playground at the school and from there they were taken to be melted down and made into guns or bombs, the pots and saucepans were mostly made of Aluminium and were used to make Airplanes.

When the bombing started, sirens sounded and we were awoke and hurriedly taken into air raid shelters, our nearest shelter was not under ground but a brick building which had been built near the houses, it held about thirty people when full but everyone did not always go there as they became more used to the situation, mainly believing that they were no more safe than under the stairs in their own home.

The raids were during the winter months mainly, and being in the shelter was dark, cold, damp, and smelly. Some people would take blankets to lie on, but the grownups would mostly stand by the entrance (there were no doors on the shelter). It was difficult to sleep with the noise of bombers going over, Bombs exploding and anti-aircraft guns firing all night, also the people would sing the latest song to keep there spirits up and I expect to help keep us children from being frightened.

The sirens would sound when the planes had gone and everyone would make there way home.

Later in the morning the scenes in the roads were of chaos, buildings were dangerously half standing with their furniture, that was not on the ground, hanging precariously out of the holes in the walls blown out by the explosions of the bombs.
There was rubble all around the streets, firemens hoses lying about, some still being used to damp down burning material.

During the raids we could hear the Shrapnel (pieces of metal from the bombs and shells) falling on the roofs, it was great fun to collect as much as you could and bargain with your friend to 鈥榮wap.鈥� Some pieces were still warm.

One thing of importance was getting water. The mains would be off either by the use needed for the firemen or because they had been damaged and were unsafe to use because dirt getting into the pipes making them unhealthy. At various points in the streets, pipes were connected to the underground mains so that they stood above the ground with a tap on the top, queues of people would form up to fill all kinds of containers, such as buckets, saucepans jars or anything to carry water home. This water was very precious and was very carefully used. Very often the water was a brownish colour so water to drink or used in cooking always had to be boiled first.
When I reached the age of 14 I started work in a factory were a number of munitions were made, there were 25 pounder field guns, mine sinkers along with the usual product of the factory. During one air raid the factory was bombed, the bombers must have had a good idea were they were going as a bomb dropped directly on the department building the Field Guns, (3 Spotters were killed that night) the next morning, when I arrived at the factory for work, there was building rubble and glass from the windows spread all around, before work could continue we had to tidy up the departments and search for our tools which had been scattered about by the explosions.

I was moved to a department that made Smoke guns. These were a devise with a large tube on the end of a metal frame, the frame held a bullet which was fired by a wire cable similar to a bicycle brake cable. This device was attached to the outside of a Tank. Inside the tube was placed a canister (this was a Smoke Bomb).

The cable fed into the inside of the Tank and was activated by one of the soldiers causing the Smoke Bomb to be thrown forward and exploding creating a smoke screen in front of the Tank.

During the years the war was on, the radio (there was no Television then) news broadcasts were used to follow the progress of our fighting men abroard, this could be done by sticking coloured pins into a map, which had been printed by the newspapers.

Eventually the war ended and many parties and much singing and dancing in the street was had.

鈥淎 lot of water has flowed under the bridge鈥�, as they say and the war years have left a lot of memories, some good and some bad, but certainly impressive.

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