大象传媒

The grassed play area in our garden in Wandsworth was used to site an Anderson Shelter, it was made of heavy corrugated galvanised iron panels bolted together. It was half buried in the ground with the excavated soil placed over the top for additional protection. I was evacuated at the time but was told that soon after installation the shelter filled with water so it was lined with concrete up to ground level. Although I was evacuated from 1939 to 1943 I got home for odd weekends and school holidays (which rather defeated the object ) some times we slept in the shelter, other times we only went to the shelter when the air raid siren sounded, and during very cold weather we stayed in doors sleeping under the kitchen table. After the war we dismantled the shelter and reused the panels to make a garden shed.

Although parts of Wandsworth suffered severe bomb damage we were lucky and the house only had minor blast damage to the odd window and ceiling. Nevertheless the memory of the fear we felt as bombs fell and exploded is still vivid. Very often the bombs came in groups of five and the worst time was when, as each one exploded it seemed to be closer than the one before, we would hold our breath until we heard the fifth one.

Many people have tales to tell of lucky escapes mine was in Nov. 1943. I was taking ballroom dancing lessons at schools in Wandsworth and Balham and went to dances at places like the Hammersmith Palais and the Cinderella Club in a hall above a milk bar in Putney. On the 7th Nov.1943 my sister and I planned to go to the Cinderella but at the last minute decided to go elsewhere. We later heard that a lone plane dropped one 500lb. Bomb on the site causing over 200 casualties.

The memories of the V weapons are very strong-we soon came to recognise the drone of the V1 (doodle bug ) engine and listened until it passed over for if the engine stopped we knew it was about to crash and explode so we looked for cover. They often flew quite low and it was a rather awesome sight at the time
.
The first V2 fell in Chiswick in Sept. 1944, I was in hospital in Chelsea yet we felt the tremor there! This was a more frightening weapon as it arrived without any warning. On the 21stNov. I was on duty at a communication centre in Chelsea for the fire service, I was one of a group whose duty was to carry messages if radio & telephones were out of action. We were put on alert following a V2 falling in Battersea near to a fire station. At that time I had a girl friend who lived just round the corner from the fire station. I had to wait till morning until my duty ended before I could go to her house and was relieved to find that she and her family were uninjured despite every window in the house having been blown out complete with the heavy wood frames.

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