大象传媒

My mother was not called up into the services in WW2, but had to register as a "mobile worker". She worked in the Standard Telephone Company factory at New Southgate, Greater London. This is taken from notes she has written about when a V1 dropped on the factory. It was originally written in response to a request by an author for people's experiences of V1/V2 bombs. She sent a piece in but it wasn't used.

My mother worked at the New Southgate factory of Standard Telephone Company. This was a large factory complex consisting of several 3 storey buildings - some were used for the assembly of radios - others were offices , and there was a single storey building, known as the "Wood Shop". The ground floor of the nearest building to the gates was used for such machinery as lathes, drilling and milling machines,bench work and presses. In the grounds of the factory there was also a large canteen and a First Aid building.

My mother's work was operating the multi-spindle drilling machines - including one which was nicknamed "Big Bertha", drilling parts for telephone relays etc. It was a very noisy place to work and conversation was nigh impossible. As they were unable to hear the air raid sirens, the workers relied on a look-out on the roof. A yellow alert was announced over the tannoy if there was a raid - they would just carry on working. If there was a red alert, this meant danger was quite close and the workers would all lie down on the floor next to the machines as there was no time to get to the air raid shelters.

On the day in question - 23rd August 1944 - a dull misty morning - my mother was on the day shift which started at 7.30 p.m. It was about two minutes to eight when they heard a voice over the tannoy shouting "Lie down! Lie down!" They all knew by the urgency in the voice that danger was very, very near. They all got down on the floor, admidst the sawdust and oil that was there, and waited for the explosion. When it came, it could be heard over the sound of the machines, which they hadn't had time to switch off - and the sound reverberated through the dust extractors. The next voice they heard was a shaky voice which said "Switch off the machines, take your handbags and go down to the shelters". These air raid shelters were on the other side of the roadway from their building (building 3635). The volunteer firemen and rescue people were asked to report for duty. Guessing thet the incident had been quite close, they made their way out. As she went , my mother glanced towards the Radio building and was horrified to see that the camaflage netting (which covered the building) was burning fiercely and many windows were broken.The escalators had also stopped running and the "Wood shop" was non-existent. It had taken the brunt of the blast. A V1 had fallen between the Radio Building and the Wood Shop.

There were a number of people about, stunned by what had happened. As they were unable to help, my mother and her colleagues went on to the shelters. Some people, out of curiosity, went to look at the damaged buildings. Some people who had been affected by the blast came into the shelters, some with minor injuries, some had lost clothing, all were in a state of shock and had been deafened by the blast.

People who had arrived late for their shift were unaware of what had happened - including an old schoolfriend of my mothers - who, by being late,had saved her life. Another friend lost her leg in the incident. After a while my mother and a friend left the shelter to get some fresh air before they would be allowed back to their building. They found that the fires had been put out and the rescue workers were busy. The building where my mother worked was some distance from the blast and had suffered minor damage - the shutters on the windows were still in place from the night before. They were not allowed into the building then, so they carried on walking to the main gates of the factory grounds (Oakleigh Road South) by the bridge. Here the Security staff had closed the gates and were only letting people in on "essential business" - fire brigade, ambulances etc. There was a crowd of people there trying to find out about friends and relations who worked at the factory. Passing the First Aid building, near the gates, there were already dead bodies on stretchers in front of the building. It was then that they realised the seriousness of the situation.

Eventually they were allowed back into their building and they carried on working until dinnertime, when they were offered the choice of staying, or going home. My uncle, who worked in the same building as my mother, and had been on duty as a volunteer firemen, advised my mother to go home. She was to take messages to relations of some of the other workers and to reassure them that they were safe.

In less than an hour she was back home (Edgware,Middlesex - a suburb of London). My grandmother was not surprised to see her as my mother had not felt very fit that morning and she thought she would come home early. After a cup of tea, and feeling less shocked, my mother finally told her what had happened, but reassured her that my uncle and his wife were safe. After a meal, my mother went out to take messages to the other people. It was only then that she realised her ears were aching - due to the effects of the V1 blast.It was a week before her ears stopped hurting. Her brother slept badly for weeks after and never spoke of the sights he had seen.

The night shift were unable to work , but the day shift reported for work as normal the following day.

At the time, my mother did not know how many casualties there had been - after the war a newspaper said that "there had been an incident" and a low number of casualties was quoted. In fact there were 33 dead and 200 injured (see Norman Longmate's book "The Doodlebugs". This incident is covered in some detail in this book.

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