大象传媒

I think it was during the summer of 1944 that the raids on Germany became more frequent and were carried out by masses of bombers. The RAF seemed to taken on the night raids whilst the Americans mostly carried out daytime raids.
It was during this time that I was working close to home and had a memorable sight of the sky being peppered with bombers that were on their way to designated targets in Germany. They were not flying in formation, just trailing after each other, seeming to stretch from horizon to horizon.
There was every certainty that some of the aircraft and crews would not return, being shot down by anti-aircraft fire or defence fighter attacks.
Come 1947, I was posted into Germany as part of the forces of occupation and was able to pass through some of the cities that had been on the receiving end of the 1,000 plus bomber raids, some cities being obliterated and finishing up as just piles of rubble. Those who still seemed to be living in the shells of the buildings were engaged in working on recovering bricks and timber so as to rebuild where they could. Most of those labouring away were women.
To me, it seemed the air raid damage to some of our cities fell far short of that which Germany suffered.
During my tour of duty in Germany I was also able to walk on the Mohne See dam that was attacked by the R.A.F. with the Barnes Wallace鈥檚 Bouncing Bomb, the dam having been repaired and the face protected by steel netting to prevent any repeat damage by bombs.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.