大象传媒

The missing bomb

It was June 1940 in Liverpool and it could not be doubted that the phoney war was finished. Jim Beech and his team waited in a local school gym, where they had been billeted for their present tour of duty. As he listened to the crump of exploding bombs and the sharper crack of anti-aircraft guns Jim found himself reflecting on how he had managed to find himself involved in his present, extremely hazardous, occupation.

For some years before war was declared he had been a regular member of the Territorial Army Branch of the Royal Engineers. He had always been interested in military matters and his father had been in the TA before him. He enjoyed the technical side of the job and the money came in very useful as well. Annual camps were great fun and were never too far from home. Often wives and children were able to visit on the middle weekend.
The training covered a wide range of subjects but he found bridging, whether Bailey bridges built under simulated battle conditions or more permanent constructions, particularly fascinating. By 1939, at the age of thirty he had reached the rank of corporal and the storm clouds of war began to gather. He and his fellow NCO鈥檚 were told that if hostilities were declared and they were called to the colours they would all be promoted and used as training instructors to the millions of civilians who would be conscripted.
About the third week in August a brown envelope slipped through the letterbox ominously headed O.H.M.S. Jim had a wife and three children and as he opened the envelope to find his call up papers his feelings were decidedly mixed. There was a feeling of excitement engendered by the prospect of a great adventure but tempered by the realisation that he would have to leave his family for the duration. He was not a particularly heroic person and was mainly interested in the technical engineering work, although he realised that Royal Engineers were often required in front line situations.
His instructions were to report to the Duke of Yorks HQ at Sloane Square and his wife, Alice went with him as far as the gate. The Duke of Yorks fronted onto the Kings Road and encompassed a large number of grey brick buildings surrounding an extensive oval shaped green. There were hundreds of men milling around, mostly in uniform, with NCO鈥檚 trying to create some sort of order. He managed to find a sergeant major he knew who told him that they would be staying for at least one night and probably more. He went to the entrance to say goodbye to Alice but the gate was closed and nobody was allowed out. They said their rather sad farewells through the railings and she went home to the children not knowing when she would see him again. In the event he was allowed home for the following weekend while waiting for a permanent posting.
There was an air of tension throughout the country until it all came to a head when the German Army invaded Poland and Britain issued an ultimatum asking them to withdraw. This was ignored and on the 3rd September a state of war was declared between this country and Germany. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was quickly formed and sent to France ready to take on the victorious German Army. Jim鈥檚 Regiment went in the first wave but his Company were kept behind. Jim was thirty years old and mature enough to take it in his stride but there was much grumbling from the younger elements eager to get into action before it all finished and unable to understand why they had been kept back.
A couple of days later the mystery was resolved when they were told that they were to form the nucleus of a squad to deal with the unexploded bombs expected once the anticipated air raids started. Jim was promoted to Sergeant and, along with an officer, soon got involved in getting a team together. As far as actually dealing with bombs was concerned they were faced with a wall of ignorance. The idea seemed to be that they should wait until they found one and learn by experience, which didn鈥檛 sound too promising.
At first nothing happened at home and peace continued as before. However, in France the BEF was soon fighting for its very existence and, at the end of May, began the famous evacuation from Dunkirk. Many of Jim鈥檚 friends from his old TA Regiment were amongst the troops brought home but some remained behind forever.
Soon after this the first air raids began and the Bomb Disposal teams went into action. It was very much a case as 鈥渓earn as you go鈥� and casualty rates were very high. There were no wounded but at one stage the death rate ran as high as eighty percent. Liverpool, with its important docks, was high on Goering鈥檚 list for destruction and was bombed mercilessly. The destruction and loss of life was great and there were many unexploded bombs to be dealt with. Jim and his crew were posted to the city along with several other groups and were soon in the thick of it.

As they sat in the gym relaxing with a cup of tea they were suddenly jolted by the strident sound of the telephone. Jim felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck as he picked up the receiver. The caller was from the local ARP unit and he said that several bombs had fallen in the Ellesmere Port area and that some had failed to explode. They scrambled aboard their truck and headed for the address given, ignoring speed limits and traffic lights, rather like the fire brigade. By now the all clear had sounded so at least they would be able to concentrate on the job and not have to worry about falling bombs.
The scene at their destination was one of devastation. At least half the houses had been turned into heaps of rubble. There were rescue workers digging frantically at the bricks and masonry and numbers of civilians, mainly women, wandering around in a daze. The grey salvation Army food van was there already, dispensing tea and sandwiches to both survivors and helpers. These vehicles became a familiar sight in all the cities during and after air raids. There was a pall of dust overlaying the scene which cast an air of gloom and gave an almost surreal aspect to the street.
Jim quickly located the Civil Defence man in command and was given directions to where the suspected UXBs were thought to be. It was not always easy to detect these devices because they hit the ground at high speed and often burrowed quite some distance under the surface before coming to rest.
The residents had already been evacuated and, provided the BD crew were successful, had the satisfaction of knowing that there houses were, at least for the moment, undamaged. Happily the entrance holes were immediately obvious so, after some hard and careful digging, the bombs were exposed. This, of course, was the easy bit. The next job was to make them safe by neutralising the fuses. The fuse was hidden behind a circular cover a couple of inches across and this had to be unscrewed to gain access. As time went by these fuses became more sophisticated and were fitted with tremblers specifically designed to kill BD men.
Just as Jim and his officer were about to start work the wail of the air raid siren filled the air. They decided to carry on working but very soon it became obvious that they were in the target area. The sound of explosions was deafening and the ground was shaking as if from an earthquake. They then decided that discretion was the better part of valour so, after warning the authorities, they headed back to their billet.
The raids went on for most of the night so it was the following morning before they were able to return to the job. When they arrived Jim looked into the first hole and did a quick double take. The hole was empty. His first thought was that perhaps it had sunk further into the mud so he got a couple of his sappers to excavate several feet deeper. However there was no sign of the bomb. As they were all standing scratching their heads the officer turned up but he had no answers. Eventually they notified the police and continued work on the other two. These were successfully defused and taken away and they all returned to their billet for a much deserved rest. The strain of this type of work went far beyond the physical and after a job they were always entirely drained.
A few days later they received a call from the local police to say that the bomb had been found and still needed defusing. It appeared that some local children had slipped through the security cordon with an old pram and some rope and hauled the bomb, which weighed about one and a half hundredweight ( 76 kilos), out of the crater. They then exhibited it on a street corner charging one halfpenny a look to get money for the local spitfire fund. They were severely reprimanded with, probably, a clip round the ear and given a lecture on the dangers of touching anything that fell from the sky. Although the result could have been tragedy the situation was so farcical that they had no choice but to laugh.
In all Jim survived two years of this work in Liverpool and London before being sent abroad. He landed in Algeria and fought with the first army across North Africa and up through Sicily and Italy before finishing up in Milan when the Germans surrendered in 1945.

* * * *

This story was developed from a typed sheet I discovered amongst my Father鈥檚 effects after his death in 1987. His description was purely about the missing bomb and what happened to it. The rest of it came from remembered conversations over the years and my own personal experience of the London blitz as a schoolboy.

J.W.Beech
June 1997

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