大象传媒

SOME WW2 MEMORIES OF A CARDIFF SCHOOLBOY

Preparations for War

鈥淚 remember the construction of the army camp in Heath Park in 1939 which later became the first site of Cardiff Teacher Training College. The first occupants were the soldiers who had been evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940. I remember the children gathering outside the camp and asking the soldiers for souvenirs 鈥� Belgian matches, French coins and so on. Later the occupants of the camp included soldiers from Cyprus and America. The latter came to take part in the Normandy landings where so many of them were to die.

I also the remember the painting of the lamp-posts with a substance which would change colour in the event of a German gas attack and so give some warning; the issuing of gas masks to everyone, with special ones for very young children; the issuing, too, of identity cards; the criss-cross and other patterns of adhesive taping of windows to limit the shattering of glass in the event of bomb blast 鈥� the sheer variety of these patterns seeming to express the triumph of the individual in what was becoming a uniform, regulated existence; the black-out preparations; the brilliance of the night sky no longer dimmed by street lighting; the ghostly, almost threatening, blue of the dim interior lighting of the city trams and buses; the building of air raid shelters.鈥�

Air Raids

鈥淚 remember the first 鈥楤litz鈥� of Cardiff. It took place on the night of January 2/3, 1941. The sky, looking towards Grangetown, was a colour which I shall not forget 鈥� an eerie, evil shade of green into which drifted flares of various hues. I remember my parents wondering whether to take the family to the pantomime the next night, for seats had been reserved; we did go. Further memories I have are of the peculiar drone of the German aeroplanes 鈥� a seemingly uneven throb of the engines; of the terrifying sound in one raid of the shrieking of the Stuka aircraft on an occasion when Cardiff seemed to have no anti-aircraft barrage; the noise of the guns on other occasions 鈥� especially the one on a carriage on the railway line near Heath Halt station, which was nearby; the sound of bombs whining their way down to earth, the frightening explosions when they arrived; the swish of the parachute carrying a landmine as it travelled over our roof top and the explosion a few seconds later when it landed at the junction of Wedal and Allensbank roads; the damage done at the bottom of Allensbank Road caused by another bomb 鈥� the effects of which can still be seen in the way the re-built cemetery wall has sunk; the hunting for souvenirs on the morning after 鈥� shrapnel of various kinds and the silk of the parachute; the large barrage balloons hanging in the air; the sound of the sirens and the relief on hearing the one signalling 鈥榓ll clear鈥�, when we would come out from under the stairs where we had huddled during the raid and, sleep-disturbed, make ready for the school day to follow.鈥�

School Days

鈥淚 remember the head-on-desk routine in the junior school on the morning after long air raids, the purpose of which was to allow pupils to make up for lost sleep. I remember how boring this was and how uncomfortably hard was the desk lid. I remember, too, when the teacher told us to put on our gas masks so that we could get used to them and the constricting smell of rubber which was so unpleasant. I also remember when the air raid warning went and the reluctant return to school when the raid was over. I remember the excitement when, on a games afternoon in Heath Park, the teacher told us to take cover in a ditch at the edge of the woods when a German reconnaissance aircraft flew low over us, with the puffs of the anti-aircraft shells vainly chasing it. Amongst other memories are the changing of the staff as teachers in Cardiff High School were called up; the announcing of the names of those old boys who had been killed in battle; the incongruity of reading about the various sieges in 鈥楥aesar鈥檚 Gallic Wars鈥� during Latin lessons at a time when the current war was so mobile after the break-out of the Allied armies in Normandy; the visits to the Burmese jungle as re-created on the site of what is now the new part of the Welsh Office in Cathays Park; to the submarine which once came into the docks as part of 鈥榃arship Week鈥� 鈥� an event, like many others, designed to encourage savings to finance the war effort; the whole form going on a potato-picking expedition after the examinations were over so as to help relieve the labour shortage on the farms; the rare pleasure of eating an orange; the singing of marching British soldiers returning to Heath camp; and later, much later, the contrasting songs of the American troops with a different, even amusing, rhythm to their steps; the long summer evenings when double summertime was introduced; the holiday on V.E. day, the celebrations then and later, in August, on V. J. day; the joy, which was almost tangible at the realisation that the war was finally over.鈥�

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