大象传媒

Soon the war came with a vengeance, we had a false alarm on the first day of the war, the sirens sounded throwing people into a panic. There was such a furore over this that the air raid wardens gave people a warning if it was an exercise. People carried on after this as if it was nothing to do with them although people began to disappear. Even my two brothers Joe and Jack had gone, both to join the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Of course, what had happened was that most eligible males were called up for training. I remember dad saying how sorry he was for them, he had been in the Great War and had caught a whiff of the gas so he knew what was to come, as did many about his age, that war had never been forgotten.

One night it the sirens were for real, people rushed to the shelters, I was out playing and they were on us before we really knew it. We could hear the explosions, we could see fires in the centre of Birmingham, me being a little inquisitive so and so thought I could see better if I stayed at the top of Camden Street. Oh yes, I could see all right, suddenly Bulpitts went up in a big blaze. It was a clear and moonlit night. I happened to look up into the sky and lo and behold there was a bomber going overhead. I ran home as fast as my little legs could carry me. Lily chastised me for being out saying that she was worried as to where I was. We went down into the cellar for a while but as it got a little quieter we came back up and decided to go to bed to get warm.

The next night we went down to George Street West as soon as the sirens sounded, we had heard that St. Peter鈥檚 Church, had had its underground part changed into a shelter, they wouldn鈥檛 bomb a church would they? But there is no discrimination as far as bombs go. The church had this underground part especially prepared with bunk beds, lighting and heat. Nothing seemed to be happening although, as I said, the sirens had gone, we were all talking, laughing or singing. One lad my age said he was going to get some chips, would anyone like to go with him? I鈥檓 not sure if anyone did, the chippy was just across the road and up Spring Hill, towards Dudley Road way, only a couple of minutes away. Next thing we knew the bombs were coming down and although we could only hear the THWUMP, THWUMP of the explosions. Next thing was this lad came running back in screaming his head off, the grownups had a job to quieten him. Just as they had there was this almighty load THWUMP, the ground and building shook, the lights went out and people were shouting and screaming. After a few minutes emergency lighting came on, people were clasped in each other鈥檚 arms crying and sobbing. Eventually it quieted down and after what seems an eternity we were told that the All Clear had gone and that we could go home if we wished but be very careful when you go outside.

Lily and I came out of the shelter and onto the footpath. It was a good job that it was a moonlit night again because as we stepped onto the street we saw this massive big hole in the road, full of water. It stretched from the footpath, the bomb had missed the church by just a few feet away.

This was the first of many nights and encounters with bombs, obviously one cannot recount every night of the bombing but it did seem that everywhere we went, bombs dropped just outside or very close to where we were sheltering. Dad took us to the railway station in Pitsford Street where they had reinforced the premises. The bombers always seems to come around 6:00-6:30p.m. until they eased off towards dawn. Being down at the railway station we had a better idea as to when they were near, the station had an early warning system when the bombers were on their way.

A light was given in the shelter, Green for all clear, Orange for near Birmingham, and Red for all the workers not on essential work to go to their shelters. Dad would pop down to see us when he could, to check if we were all right, but this one night it was again very severe. We heard this terrific explosion which seemed just near where we were. Dad came in a little later and told us that a land mine had hit Elle Street School. He said that there were many killed and injured and many trapped.

The very next day we heard that an unexploded (UXB) Land mine that had landed in a house in Lodge Road opposite and just below Scribbans the Bakery. We went down there and heard that if we paid we could go inside the house to view it, a halfpenny for children and a penny or twopence for grownups. This was after the bomb had been diffused, of course, and the money was to help towards the war effort. I paid my half penny and went in, there was a massive large canister, similar to a metal oil barrel hanging by its parachute. We were very glad that this one had not gone off otherwise half of Lodge Road would have been blown up, at least the bottom half of Lodge Road.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Norman Bailey and has been added to the site with his permission. Norman Bailey fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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