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In September 1939 I lived with my parents and sister in Sanderstead which was about 4 miles south of Croydon. Soon after Chamberlain announced on the radio we were at war the sirens went. None of us new what was going to happen so we crammed into a small store cupboard at the corner of our house. 20 minutes later — the All Clear. A stray British bomber had triggered a false alarm.

Yet by mid-1940 all this had changed. The daytime bombers came and inflicted damage but many never reached London because our fighters did a good job. Thankfully Churchill had foreseen the war (while others in power hadn’t) and we were prepared to some extent. Spitfires and Hurricanes massacred the daytime German bombers.

By September Hitler resorted to night-time bombing and this took a heavy toll on our towns. Joan, now my wife, also lived near Croydon and her home lost all its doors and windows when they were bombed out. For my part our home was spared but we saw much damage around us.

My father and I were regularly on duty as ‘fire fighters’ against the incendiary bombs. I recall as a schoolboy collecting these bombs (about 15 inches long with an explosive cap one end and a fin the other). I learnt how to defuse them but I was very foolish because the Germans later added explosive charges if you undid them. But I was spared that and I used to quietly sell incendiary bombs at school for 2/6d each! Of course I’d removed the detonator. But one chap didn’t believe me and reckoned they were harmless. He bought a bomb and then thought he’d be clever. , he put the detonator back and dropped it from his landing window. His mother was furious because it burnt down their back door.

On another occasion walking to get a bus to school I noticed everywhere — road, pavements, gardens — there were thin strips of metal foil laying about. We learned that there were dropped by the Germans to confuse our radar systems which plotted the bombers’ arrival.

As time passed, war debris was everywhere. Crashed planes in woods or fields with dazed pilots spared death and walking for sanctuary. I remember walking a normal local road and seeing a large round hole in the middle of the road. I peered down to see the large fin of what was probably a 500 Kg unexploded bomb. I didn’t hang around. But many such bombs never did explode since workers on the continent forced into armaments made bombs that wouldn’t go off.

Our most anxious moments were the Flying Bombs (V1s) and then the dreaded V2s which were massive and gave no warning of their arrival. You could hear a V1 because it droned across the sky and when the engine stopped you took cover. Many fell wide of London and in this way the Croydon area where we lived suffered very badly with many falling short of their target.

It’s a marvel we won the war since conditions through the bombing were absolutely appalling and rationing of food was very tight.

I missed the V2s since they were Hitler’s last fling before the end of it all but by then I was with the 4th Royal Tank Regiment training at Catterick.

Leslie Oppitz

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