大象传媒

I was only about 3 years old when the war started, but can remember hiding under the stairs when the siren sounded - before Dad built the Anderson shelter into the garden.

Although there were quite a few air raid warnings, Salisbury was spared too many bombs because the Cathedral Spire at 404 feet tall was a valuable navigation aid to the bombers. But Salisbury was also an important railway junction, with lines from the south west (the old LSWR) and west (the old GWR) coming together for the main route to London. In addition there were major marshalling yards and a motive power depot where the steam engines were kept.

Our house was at the western edge of the city, and no more than 100 metres from the LSWR and GWR tracks, and the engine sheds were perhaps 200 metres away.

On top of the engine sheds was an enormous water tank, to provide supplies for the many engines that were prepared daily. Of course these were a magnet to small boys, and I can remember going up the steps one day and looking through the door of the shed. It was so dark, a smoke filled hell lit only by the cinders cleared from the engines.

Anyway, during one raid a bomber flew in from the west and started dropping bombs too early, leaving just craters in the fields - but in a direct line with our house! The last crater was only a few hundred metres away. The pilot dropped one more bomb which fell in the railway workers' allotments close to the engine sheds. The explosion shattered windows in the area, but I don't think anyone was hurt. However shrapnell from the bomb peppered the tank on the engine sheds and water poured out into the road. When I got there with my mates, the road was flooded to about 35cms.

For years afterwards, you could see the 'potmender' patches on that tank.

Sadly, the whole area has been cleared away now.

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