大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Ian Hayes of the CSV 大象传媒 GMR Action Desk on behalf of Bobby Pettener and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My dad, a Sergeant in the R.A.S.C.was thankfully home from France via Dunkirk.
We were visiting grandparents in Hulme, finishing at Grandma and Grandad Pettener's in City Road, next to the Cheshire Cheese pub.
Came the dark,came the sirens,no way were we sheltering in the cellar, so our little family started a walk home to Benchill, nine miles! But didn't everyone walk in those days? Most people then were used to it.
We got as far as Whalley Range when we first heard the German planes and then the roar of the local "ack-ack" batteries 4.5 and 3.7 plus machine guns stationed in Hough End Fields.
By the time we reached Nell Lane the first bombs were being dropped and fortunate we were that they were in the middle of Manchester. Shortly after this the sound of police cars, ambulances etc. were racing to the conflagration.
Yes,it was dangerous for them but the prompt action minimised further destruction and saved many lives.
When we finally and thankfully arrived in Wythenshawe unscathed, pausing to look back, the whole of the night sky was bathed in a lurid red and orange glow, the cacophony of the bombing being replaced by the muted sounds of the rescue vehicles.
It was a frightening, yet at that time an exciting and exhilarating experience;Mum and Dad were overjoyed at arriving home unscathed but at the same time concerned over the fate of relatives in the city.We did, however, learn that despite destruction to Hulme Town Hall, Leaf Street and Mayfield Baths, the major damage was confined to the city cenre, thirty thousand homes being destroyed, with hundreds of offices, warehouses and factories being damaged.
The Manchester Emergency Committee issued the following statement:-

"We are extremely grateful to the citizens and rescue services for their fortitude and determination of the highest character, with no suggestion of panic, when this aggression was overcome".

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