大象传媒

鈥楾his story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Lynne Kuschel for Three Counties Action on behalf of Thomas Martin and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions鈥�

This is Tom's impression of what happened at the beginning of the war and up to the Blitz on London and is written in his own words

The Beginning鈥︹��
I had been evacuated but was actually at home when it started and up until then it had been a piece of cake, exciting even. Time had passed from the declaration in 39 and, as a 13 year old, I wasn鈥檛 reading between the lines and seeing how my folks were reacting to all this. I also didn鈥檛 see the worry lines growing on Mum鈥檚 face.

You see, everything up to now had been quiet, just the tests and gas practice in the city, and to us younger generation it seemed a very comfortable and peaceful period. Thinking back, it now seems to have been an unusual time for us, not really understanding what was happening, even though there was this thing called WAR going on. We read the news and heard the reports on the wireless, it even seemed exciting to us. We used to see this kind of thing at the Saturday morning rush, down at the Granada, all for threepence a seat. It all seemed far away from us and not like the horrible thing it was supposed to be. All this stuff around the coast and ships getting bombed, well that was only on the radio and anyway we had seen it last Saturday, for threepence, and they were all ok.

But then it all changed. We put away our childish toys and鈥︹�t wasn鈥檛 far away anymore, it was right here in our front garden. Suddenly the morning rush wasn鈥檛 the same kind of fun.

鈥楤litz鈥�. The Real One is Here
For on the 7th September 1940, one Saturday afternoon about 5pm, the sirens went. This was no test; this was the real thing. I didn鈥檛 know that at first, but very soon I understood and the first sign was a loud humming, pulsing sound. I could not quite make out what it was. I heard the noise and went out the front door to see.

Our house was at the bottom of Westcombe Hill, Greenwich, and standing at the front gate I looked up to the sky above. There were three big black clouds coming toward me, one behind the other. And the three big clouds were bombers.

As far as I can remember, it was a fairly good day and the sun was shining. I could see little silver dots dashing in and out of the packs and realised that it was the sun shining on our fighters: and the 鈥榬at-a-tat鈥� sounds I could hear were the machine guns. This was the start of the raid - the start of the Blitz - and the start of the War proper for us. No more tests or 鈥榤aybe鈥�. It was here and that starting raid, with a short break in between, lasted right through until the next morning.
They bombed the Docks, right up the river and through the city. Late that night, in our garden, we could have read a book by the light of the flames. And our house was about a half-mile from the river.

The first raid of that night ended, I suppose, somewhere about 8pm (pure guesswork on my part) and during this quiet time, my Uncle Dick walked home from Woolwich, no buses, and came in to see how we were. The trams were not running either. He worked in the Woolwich Arsenal and the bombers had practically flattened where he was, but he had come up from the shelter at the 鈥楢ll Clear鈥欌��. and walked. Pop suggested that he went home, pick up my Aunt Connie and come back to stay the night, which he did. Actually, at a later date, they had some bombs dropped on their house and lost everything, as did a lot more people.

Later, the sirens went again and the second raid started and continued right through the night. The following morning, the 鈥楢ll-Clear鈥� went and we could come up from the shelter and get the tea ready, and it was lovely. I went round the corner with Pop to the butchers and got some sausages and a large tin of tomatoes. And we had breakfast.

Of course, work was still being done on the fires and the bombed houses elsewhere. Everybody had to carry on the next day as usual. You could see lots of 鈥楤usiness as Usual鈥� signs that had been put up and this seemed to be the reaction. This same spirit went right through the rest of the Blitz.

鈥淲e mustn鈥檛 let the Blitz beat us鈥� was the main theme for this 鈥榮pirit,鈥� and it seemed to do the trick. Suffice to say, it all turned out the right way for us, but whatever is now, in hindsight, being said or written about that period of our history, it was part of my history, my future, and there are a few certain individuals that I will always thank for it.

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