大象传媒

Local Targets.
The adults in our two houses talked of the First War as if it was yesterday but maybe we are not to go into that here, save to say that they recalled Zeppelins coming over the valley My mother, a girl in the First War, remembered the entry between the two houses being filled with people terrified of a Zeppelin hovering over the viaduct. The Germans were attempting to bring down the viaduct, carrying the LNER railway line, on to the LMS line and the canal to Nottingham which passed beneath.

.(The photo shows the train behind a steam locomotive - here passing Bennerley signal box on its way North on the LMS line. The LNER line on the viaduct is above).

THE LNER viaduct crosses the Erewash Valley. It was a target for Germans in both wars.
As they threw their bombs over the side the people in the entry screamed in absolute terror. The war with all its horrors had been far away - now it was here. The bombs missed the viaduct but hit the signal box on the LMS line, near to the still existing foot bridge. The Signal Man was up the line attending to detonators on the track. He looked back and saw what had happened and went mad.
A Zeppelin flew slowly over what is now Granby Park and most of Lower Norman Street turned out. Dad, a very young lad at the time, remembered next door neighbour Mr. Bailey waving his fist and telling everyone, "If I still had my shotgun I could fetch him down".

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