大象传媒

During the early days of the war. we were living in Bexleyheath in North Kent. We were directly under the flight path of the German bombers coming to bomb London. Ours was a fairly new estate and behind the houses on the other side of the road was a railway with a bridge over it. It was a busy commuter line to London.
We had an air raid shelter in the garden,built of heavy gauge steel which my Father got from the firm he worked for. It was much stronger than the standard Anderson shelter which the Government issued. We sprnt night after night in the shelter listening to the bombers passing overhead aand much later, we heard them returning. In addition, we had an anti aircraft baattery not far away, so the nights were very noisy. We also saw the searchlights sweeping the skies for planes.
We dreaded bright moonlight nights because the railway lines shone in the moonlight, making an easy target for the bombers. Sometimes they were targeted deliberately and sometimes returning bombers with bombs left, unloaded them at random. We got used to the sound of explosions. A house in the next road got a direct hit. Everybody was killed.
The shelter was as comfortable as my parents could make it. We had bunks with blankets, but even so it was cold. We piled on as many clothes as possible. The shelter suffered from condensation which made it very unpleasant at times.
One night, we had endured a particularly heavy raid. Finally things had quietened down.Suddenly there was a hammering on thr door of the shelter. My Father opened the door and was confronted by an Air Raid Warden with his hooded torch. He told us that there was an unexploded land mine by the side of the railway aaand we must leave and go to a large public shelter some distance away. A land mine was capable of causing devestation over a wide area because it did not bury itself like an ordinary bomb. We gathered up our clothes and joined all the people streaming out of the estate. The shelter was crowded and the rest of the night was an uncomfortable squash, listening all the time for an explosion.
In the morning, the Air Raid Warden said we could not go home, but must make other arrangements. We decided to go to an Aunt and her daughter at Eltham, some miles away. She only had a small flat so it would be a squash. But first, my Father asked if he could go back to the house to get some essentials. The Warden said he could, but it was at his own risk. We waited in great anxiety until he returned with two suitcases.
We stayed two nights with my Aunt on makeshift beds on the floor, until we were informed that the mine had been disarmed and removed. Thankfully, we returned home. The next day, the mine was blown up on the marshes at Erith. In spite of it being some miles away, we heard the explosion.
I shall always be grateful to those unknown, brave men of the Bomb Disposal Unit who disarmed that Land Mine so that it coild be moved.

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