大象传媒

Life carried on as usual for a while but things were changing. The phoney war was now becoming a real war. We were now having air-raids day and night and we spent a lot of time in the shelters. Because we had to sleep in the shelters ground rules had to be made. No one was to come into the shelter drunk, all adults had to go outside to urinate, people were asked not to belch or pass wind because it was bad for the children. If anyone kept on offending a voice somewhere down the other end of the shelter would shout out 鈥淚s that pig in again鈥�? It made Bill and I giggle.

Hitler and his storm-troopers were now marching all over Europe and occupying most of the Continent. Everything was in short supply, it was utter chaos. The Germans had reached the Channel Island of Guernsey. Everything pointed to Hitler winning the war and we were expecting to be invaded at any time. Or be gassed. We were not allowed to stray far from our house so mum could find us at a moments notice, should things start moving.

But! Hitler first wanted to break Britain鈥檚 spirit, he wanted to smash London to smithereens. We were now expecting what the Germans called the 鈥淏litzenburge鈥� the Blitz on London.

The children were quickly sent away again, mostly to their former billets. Some would not go away again. Bill and I stayed in London with mum. It wasn鈥檛 long before German Messarsmitts and Luftwaffe bombers were flying over our heads and bombs were raining down on us.

The young children who were not sent away cried themselves into unconscious sleep in the shelters, we older children just hung to our mum. We were frightened and worn out from night after night of the wailing sirens, the droning of the bombers and the exploding of the bombs.

As the bombs dropped and rocked our shelter, the babies cried while others just whimpered. Some neighbours came into the shelter moaning 鈥淣ot another bloody air-raid鈥�, while others came in with their hair in curlers and dressed in their nighties carrying a thermos flask of hot sweet tea and a carrier bag with all their worldly goods inside.
( authors note; carrier bags were not the plastic supermarket type of 2005 but made of other material including paper).

Some people tried to sleep, while others snored their heads off. The shelters were packed every night. It seemed odd to us kids sleeping with all these strangers. But we all tried to cheer each other up with jokes about the Germans, The Fatherland, The Master Race.

When the All-Clear sounded the weary people picked up their kids, their bed clothes and their bits and pieces and went back to their homes: that鈥檚 if they still had one, well at least 鈥渨e鈥� had survived another night.

This story was submitted to the Peoples war site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Rose McNamara - Wright, and has been added to the site with her permission.. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions鈥�

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