´óÏó´«Ã½

The Anderson Shelter
( The thoughts of a boy in the war years ) Age 6 to 11. 1939 to 1945

Are we going to get good nights sleep? No! Any time during the night and through the day a siren would wail and that was a warning to be up and down to the shelter.

The Anderson Shelter or Dug Out as it was lovingly called, was delivered M.F.I. style and put together by the family with nuts and bolts provided. This corrugated iron bunker would then have to be placed into the ground at the bottom of the garden to protect us from the German Luftwaffe bombs and our own shells which when exploded rained down as shrapnel.

A hole would be dug about 6 feet and about 10 feet square, all the family doing their bit. One end would have an entrance, when placed into the ground would have the top level exposed to the open, steps would be placed from the ground level down to gain entrance. Earth would then be placed over the top and around to leave just the entrance showing. The shelter when completed would be half submerged into the ground. Bunk beds on either side would be placed, oil lamps for light and heating and in our case, old calendars were placed around the walls and ceiling for comfort, also this helped to keep the place dry, many spiders found this a wonderful home.

1am, 2am, 3am any time during the night or at times, all night your sleep would be disturbed and sirens would go off. A rush would be made to the shelter. I remember the drone of the Heinkel HE 111 German Bombers overhead. As we went down the garden, looking over towards the London Docks, the sky would be lit up with a red glow. At night we had complete Black-out which made it more spectacular. The docks being a target every night during the ‘Blitz’.

The shelter had a musty smell a mixture of oil lamps and earth, the noise of gunfire very loud and the search lights scanned the sky. We had a search light battery just half a mile away. A powerful gun nicknamed ‘Big Berther’ roamed the streets on a steel platform, when fired would rock the whole ground.

Shrapnel rained down through the night and early morning, when the all — clear sounded I would go out and collect pieces of which were jagged and around 2 to 6 inches long, some larger. I would then place them in a biscuit tin to show off to friends.

One period of time when ill, I could not get out of bed. The raids still went on of course. The German bombers overhead were scary but to a young boy exciting, the noise used to be so loud. Eric my brother used to stay with me and the rest of the family would go down to the shelter. My elder brother Raymond went into the Royal Navy at this time, on Destroyers and served in the Battles of the Atlantic. Eric went into the Tank Corps crossing the River Rhine in the later stages of the war.

Later in the war I was asleep in our small box room when a ‘land-mine’ came down in Willow Road not far from the house, they were sent down by parachute so could drop anywhere, it flattened around 400 yards either side of the road, being a massive explosion the wall cracked and I was tipped out of bed..

Towards the end of the war we had V1 Buzz Bombs ( flying bombs ) and V2 rockets to contend with. The V2 could be seen in the clear blue sky, when a vapour trail would be left. By then it would be too late, causing massive carnage, where-ever it came down. I used to place myself on top of the shelter and ring a bell when I saw this warning, for the neighbours. It was a game to me, the buzz bombs made a rasping noise then just stopped and dropped, demolishing all in it’s path, sometimes schools and hospitals, they had no sense of direction when shut off.

I once stood at the back door and through the mist I saw a V1 Buzz Bomb, silent, coming down, it seemed to skim the trees at the bottom of the garden. Very Ghostly, was lucky this time, coming down in Epping Forest. Maybe I was the only person to witness that moment. The ‘Flying Bomb’ was dubbed ‘Doodlebug’ by a gun crew, the name stuck. It’s true description of course was; a pilotless aerial torpedo, jet propelled, with a ton of explosive in it’s warhead, which rushed through the air at 6 ½ miles per minute. The noise ceased, there was an uncomfortable silence of several seconds, then an explosion.

Quite exciting times for a young boy. Just a moment in time for what was a very long conflict. One memory I will always have is a ‘Spitfire’ just clearing the roof tops at the start of the war just before the ‘Battle of Britain’. I witnessed many ‘Dog-Fights’ in the sky after that. You see along with Jean my wife we were not evacuated, what those children missed!

The Callcuts contribution to the war being a Father who after serving as a regular soldier in the First World War in the trenches became a sergeant in the Home Guard. His experience helped with training men in small arms use and unarmed combat. My two brothers served in the forces and Mother, like countless others kept things going at home with rationing and all the problems associated with all out war.

This story was submitted to the “Peoples War Site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Maurice David Callcut and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

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