大象传媒

Although I was evacuated during the war to Wigton,near Silloth in Cumbria, I was too young to remember this. My two brothers , both older than me,also were evacuated. My first memory of the war was being woken up during the night and being taken to the Anderson shelter in the garden. I thought it was fun and had no real conception of the dangers or what the war was about. My father(Ted) worked at Vickers Armstrongs at the Scotswood works where they manufactured armaments for the war. Therefore he was exempt from being called up to fight.

But he did fight-fires! I can remember vividly the sirens when an attack by German planes was imminent, the searchlights and the sound of guns even from 10 miles away at the coast. This is when my father would go out to join his colleagues to fight the fires from the German bombs. But I also remember that one of the targets of the bombers was the armaments factory that my father worked in! Now that did worry me. But were they ever hit by bombs? No, but they were mighty close or so the Germans thought!

One night, the German bombers got through the artillary barriers and had decided that this was the opportunity to bomb Vickers. It was a moonlit night which should have made it easier for them. I can actually remember hearing bombs drop just to the north of our house. But Vickers was alongside the River Tyne about one mile south of our house! When my father (Ted) came home that night, we told him about hearing the bombs landing fairly close to our house(actually about half a mile away)

It was then that he gave us his explanation which later was verified in the local paper(
(there might be a record of this in the local Newcastle Chronicle). Because it was
a moonlit night the German bombers that got through the artillary fire could easily follow the course of the Tyne which stood out like as silver ribbon. Except it wasn't the river Tyne they were following!
It was in fact the West Road (now the A69) which was also illuminated by the moon!

Later my dad took us to the West Road where the bombs had fallen. By the side of the road some houses had been destroyed. This was bad enough, but Vickers armaments works ,it was not!

Call it bad judgement by the Germans, call it an act of nature. But now that I look back at that episode I am sure that it was an act of God, perhaps similar to the calm English Channel crossings associated with the D-Day landings.

Sorry I haven't a picture to add. The picture of this event is in my memory and has never left me.

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