大象传媒

Explore the 大象传媒
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

大象传媒 Homepage
大象传媒 History
WW2 People's War Homepage Archive List Timeline About This Site

Contact Us

1940 Manchester Blitz.Bradfor

by enidbarrow

You are browsing in:

Archive List > The Blitz

Contributed by听
enidbarrow
Location of story:听
Bradford, Manchester.
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A4547991
Contributed on:听
26 July 2005

I lived in Bradford, Manchester at the time of the blitz. The local people had taken over an empty corner shop equipped with stirrup pumps, long-handled shovels, water buckets, etc., for putting out incendiary bombs which were frequently dropped during air-raids. The 'post' was the place where local men met when it was their turn on 'fire-watch' duty for which there was a rota, as the men worked during the day. They patrolled the streets when a raid was in progress, looking out for fires. A tin hat was worn as a protection against falling shrapnel, etc.

On the night in question my dad and a neighbour who lived in one of the terraced houses opposite to ours were on duty. Incidentally, I called this neighbour Uncle George, and they had been patrolling quite a while and decided to go into Uncle George's house to brew up. The kettle was to go on the open fire but as the fire had burned low, they put a shovel and newspaper up in front of the fireplace to create a draught and blow some life into the fire. Older people will recall the practice. Care had to be taken that the paper did not set alight - which it did. With a whoosh the burning paper shot up and set fire to the chimney. The German planes were overhead and might use the burning chimney as a 'marker', so they set to with a stirrup pump which was handy, one pumping the other directing the water up the chimney. They managed to put out the fire but in the process were covered in soot -wet soot. Their faces were black and only the whites of their eyes were visible.

Worn out and still thirsty, they went out into the street and looked up at a fierce
red glow which lit up the sky. The centre of Manchester, about two miles away, had been bombed with incendiaries and many buildings were burning fiercely. My dad looked at Uncle George, shook his head and said "You know, we needn't have bothered - Gerry wouldn't have seen our fire anyway!"

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

Archive List

This story has been placed in the following categories.

The Blitz Category
icon for Story with photoStory with photo

Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the 大象传媒. The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. For any other comments, please Contact Us.



About the 大象传媒 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy