大象传媒

I was thirteen years old in 1939 when our family moved from Jesson Street near the centre of Coventry to Tarlington Road on the outer edge of Coundon district. We moved into a shop with living accommodation, which then cost 拢750.
War was declared in the September of that year and I recall a general sense of foreboding. It was twenty-one years since the 1914-1918 war and the terrible memories that it left behind of trench warfare and the Kitcheners poster 'Your Country Needs You'
Air raid drills were introduced in the schools and many children were evacuated to country districts and I remember many school-aged children being sent to live and continue their education in greater safety at Cleobury Mortimer. Teachers began to disappear either to active service or to teach evacuated children and we were all well aware that one of our regular teachers was in dispute with the head because he did not want to be sent to teach elsewhere. The character of the school changed from that of a thriving busy school as pupil numbers dropped and some of the best teachers went away. This spelt the end of a very worthwhile attempt by the city council and the then head (Philip Lequesne) to provide a grammar school quality of education for those that passed the eleven plus exam but could not afford to attend grammar schools. This condemned many bright and able pupils to years of evening and day release study in an effort to find a decent career and coloured their political thinking for the rest of their lives.
Coventry was full of factories producing phones, radios, motor cycles, aircraft (Armstrong Whitworth), aircraft engines' (Rolls,Daimler,Armstrong Siddeley etc), cars, tanks and armoured vehicles so it was certain to be a target for German air-raids.
Coventry was ringed by barrage balloons, searchlights and anti-aircraft guns. One balloon was stationed within sight of our front windows in Kingsbury Road and we enjoyed watching proceedings as the balloon was winched down by a heavy services lorry and the RAF personnel caught the trailing ropes to bring the balloon to its mooring. Strong winds caused trouble and carried the balloon away laying its cable across
the roofs of the local houses. .
Air raids did begin to intensify and it was a dramatic sight to see the searchlights piercing the night sky, silhouetting the balloons, followed by the rapid fire of the anti-aircraft guns. We got used to the sirens and the throbbing engines of the German planes as compared to the smooth hum of the British aircraft.
Working at the GEC I had to take my turn at fire-watching duties which entailed sleeping in the factory to watch for and report fires during air raids. Membership of the Air Training Corps was aimed at joining the RAF and we learned receiving and sending Morse Code, navigation and aircraft recognition, were taken on flights, practiced parachute landing (indoors) as well as the less popular drill.
As the air raids intensified Anderson shelters were dug into the ground in back gardens and brick anti-blast shelters were built along the roadsides. These brick shelters were a complete failure as they fell down too easily, the theory being that there was less masonry to fall on the occupants than if they were in their own houses. We were not inclined to use these shelters after one of them collapsed without any outside influence. We preferred to sit together in our living room and hope that we would not be hit.
There were two main blitzkrieg raids on Coventry but there were frequent smaller raids as well. My most striking memory of the November 1940 blitz was of going outside during a lull in proceedings to see the huge arc of fire reflected in the night sky as the centre of Coventry burned.
The action did reach as far as Coundon quite often when we could hear the whistle of descending bombs followed by the crump and vibration from the explosion. One night the action was close and heavy and I clearly remember my grandmother praying fervently when after a short silence there was a massive explosion nearby. The house shook violently and soot and debris fell down the chimney.
This was too near for comfort and when the all clear sounded we went outside to find that a land mine had landed in Dallington Road leaving a shallow but very wide crater. These mines descended on parachutes so there was no warning and they exploded on contact just as a sea mine would.
After one raid we were informed that there was a hole in our roof and when we had verified this I fetched the stepladder and went into the loft space carrying a torch. Under the hole was an incendiary bomb that had failed to explode so I brought it downstairs and outside where a discussion ensued as to what to do with it.

Nearly all raids were at night but one day there was a single explosion and on going outside there was the unmistakable sound of German aircraft engines coming nearer and a Junkers 88 appeared low over the houses. At this point we ran for shelter as the gunner machine-gunned the road and then continued on towards Radford. When he had gone we came out of the house to find bullet holes in a car parked just above our house. I have wondered since then what was going through the German crews' minds.

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