The London Blitz

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I was wondering if any Brits here have any stories to tell of anyone you know who went through it: relatives, friends, etc. Are there any places in London that still show damage? Are they still finding any bombs when they dig up the streets or excavate for building? I recently read a book about the bomb removal units. Very interesting.

I read where 60,000 were killed and 87,000 were wounded.

[Gainsbarre]

Yes, I have a story. But the BBC website also has a section devoted to people's WW2 stories and some of them are just incredible, so moving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/

Anyway, yeah we have very little understanding of what it was like to live in those times and how deeply affected people must've been but also the fact they never really talked about it.

I'll tell you my story. My Grandmother was Irish, but she moved from Dublin to London during the war to work in an STC factory making communications wiring. She always blamed the war for making her start smoking, because she reckoned during the air raids, they would go down to the shelters and be offered either bromide or cigarettes to calm everyone down.

So anyway it was 1944, and my Grandmother was living in the North east of London, and she was living in this house owned by a middle-aged woman, her name I don't remember. One day, she was getting ready to go to the pictures (as she always called them) with some friends, and she was up in her bedroom putting her make-up on. She was looking into a large mirror, which was facing towards her bedroom window, putting her lipstick on, when all of the sudden she noticed a red flash in the mirror, almost like a big red ball expanding. She turned around to see what it was, and that's when she was hit by the explosion from the V2 rocket. The glass in her bedroom window exploded and her bedroom wall collapsed. After the explosion, she said everything was deathly quiet. She managed to make her way downstairs where she found the woman she lived with hiding under the dining room table (I believe it was one of those tables that also doubled as a sort of shelter). When the woman saw my grandmother she cried out "Oh Martha, look at your face!" My Grandmother hadn't realised that she was bleeding profusely from her face as all the glass from the windows had gone into her cheeks.

My Grandmother's house was the only house left standing in the street where the rocket exploded. She and the woman she lived with the only two people in the street to have survived. Just before the explosion, the milkman had been doing his rounds with his horse and float, and was never found again.

It's incredible what people went through back then, we can only imagine what it must've been like.

[Mangani]

I was wondering if any Brits here have any stories to tell of anyone you know who went through it: relatives, friends, etc. Are there any places in London that still show damage? Are they still finding any bombs when they dig up the streets or excavate for building? I recently read a book about the bomb removal units. Very interesting.

I read where 60,000 were killed and 87,000 were wounded.

I wouldn't think there are too many places that still show noticeable damage (progress an' all) but for sure there are still occasionally unexploded bombs still being found. And not just in London either.

I don't live in London anymore (I live on the south coast) but near where I live on the higher hills there are still craters to be seen that are now overgrown where the Luftwaffe tried to bomb the radar stations.

I read where 60,000 were killed and 87,000 were wounded.

Yes, more British civilians died in bombing in WW2 than American soldiers died in the Vietnam War.

Still, even that pales compared to the bombing of Germany and the civilians who died on the continent.

[Mattmc1973]

That's the biggest difference between the US, and the European participants in the war. While the US suffered a lot of casualties/deaths, to be sure, we were never in any real danger as far as our civilians or our cities and infrastructure. We have no idea what it's like to have cities leveled, civilians killed on a large scale in war, and centuries of history ruined. Europe was devastated, I can't even imagine what that would've been like.

[redrum]

Yes, I have a story. But the BBC website also has a section devoted to people's WW2 stories and some of them are just incredible, so moving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/

Anyway, yeah we have very little understanding of what it was like to live in those times and how deeply affected people must've been but also the fact they never really talked about it.

I'll tell you my story. My Grandmother was Irish, but she moved from Dublin to London during the war to work in an STC factory making communications wiring. She always blamed the war for making her start smoking, because she reckoned during the air raids, they would go down to the shelters and be offered either bromide or cigarettes to calm everyone down.

So anyway it was 1944, and my Grandmother was living in the North east of London, and she was living in this house owned by a middle-aged woman, her name I don't remember. One day, she was getting ready to go to the pictures (as she always called them) with some friends, and she was up in her bedroom putting her make-up on. She was looking into a large mirror, which was facing towards her bedroom window, putting her lipstick on, when all of the sudden she noticed a red flash in the mirror, almost like a big red ball expanding. She turned around to see what it was, and that's when she was hit by the explosion from the V2 rocket. The glass in her bedroom window exploded and her bedroom wall collapsed. After the explosion, she said everything was deathly quiet. She managed to make her way downstairs where she found the woman she lived with hiding under the dining room table (I believe it was one of those tables that also doubled as a sort of shelter). When the woman saw my grandmother she cried out "Oh Martha, look at your face!" My Grandmother hadn't realised that she was bleeding profusely from her face as all the glass from the windows had gone into her cheeks.

My Grandmother's house was the only house left standing in the street where the rocket exploded. She and the woman she lived with the only two people in the street to have survived. Just before the explosion, the milkman had been doing his rounds with his horse and float, and was never found again.

It's incredible what people went through back then, we can only imagine what it must've been like.

That's sad but a great story. I'd forgotten about the V2 rockets. V2's were also a part of the film 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'.

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I wouldn't think there are too many places that still show noticeable damage (progress an' all) but for sure there are still occasionally unexploded bombs still being found. And not just in London either.

I saw a show on PBS about a woman who tries to get her art accepted there in London (she hasn't made it in yet) but she showed her outside railing that was damaged by a bomb that hit across the street from her.

I don't live in London anymore (I live on the south coast) but near where I live on the higher hills there are still craters to be seen that are now overgrown where the Luftwaffe tried to bomb the radar stations.

Got any pics?

Yes, more British civilians died in bombing in WW2 than American soldiers died in the Vietnam War.

Churchill saw it coming.

Still, even that pales compared to the bombing of Germany and the civilians who died on the continent.

War is hell---Sherman

[JethroTull]

I read somewhere recently that this song by Nick Lowe was about the bombing of London during the war. I never knew that.

I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass

l love the sound of breaking glass

Especially when I'm lonely

l need the noises of destruction

When there's nothing new

Oh nothing new, sound of breaking glass

I love the sound of breaking glass

Deep into the night

l love the sound of its condition

Flying all around

Oh all around, sound of breaking glass

Nothing new, sound of breaking glass

Oh all around, sound of breaking glass

Nothin' new, sound of breakin' glass

Safe at last, sound of breaking glass

I love the sound of breaking glass

Deep into the night

I Iove the work on it can do

Oh a change of mind

Oh change of mind, sound of breaking glass

All around, sound of breaking glass

Nothing new, sound of breaklng glass

Breaking glass, sound of breaking glass

Sound of breaking glass (repeat)

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I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass

Would he feel the same about 'Kristallnacht?'

[Suz]

A long time ago I met a lady who had to hide under the stairs when she was a child, because of the bombs falling in London. It really made me sit back and think about how fortunate I am to not know that feeling.

On 9/11/01, after the towers had been hit, I misunderstood a news anouncement on the radio (due to noise where I was) and thought that the Sears Tower in Chicago and the IDS in Minneapolis had been hit. Turns out they were just evacuating/ taking precautions. But in the few seconds between the time I heard it and the time I understood it, I had my whole plan worked out: I'd take the back way to my daughter's school, break the window, get her out, go home and sit in the basement.

Once I knew what was really going on, I recognized that I had experienced the smallest taste of that fear and wished I was a relgious person so I could pray for everyone feeling it. I feel very spoiled and to be honest, I hate thinking about my country causing that fear in others.

[Mangani]

Got any pics?

Unfortunately, you can't make anything out in these pictures as everything is overgrown with bushes and trees but this is the area I was talking about. A lot of the ditches and depressions on top of the ridge overlooking Ventnor (Isle Of Wight) by the radar station are from bombings during WW2.

[Mangani]

Police blow up unexploded German WW2 bomb in Coventry yesterday:

http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news...-name_page.html

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A long time ago I met a lady who had to hide under the stairs when she was a child, because of the bombs falling in London. It really made me sit back and think about how fortunate I am to not know that feeling.

Most of the English kids were relocated.

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Unfortunately, you can't make anything out in these pictures as everything is overgrown with bushes and trees but this is the area I was talking about. A lot of the ditches and depressions on top of the ridge overlooking Ventnor (Isle Of Wight) by the radar station are from bombings during WW2.

Beautiful country. Kinda looks like the California coast. Thanks.

[redrum]

Police blow up unexploded German WW2 bomb in Coventry yesterday:

http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news...-name_page.html

Amazing!

My sister has lived on Guam for over 50 years and a while back they dug up a Navy shell that hadn't exploded. The battleships really pounded the place in WW2.

[Mangani]

Amazing!

Yeah, but that kind of thing has happened a lot at various places here over the years.

My sister has lived on Guam for over 50 years and a while back they dug up a Navy shell that hadn't exploded. The battleships really pounded the place in WW2.

Interesting. Yes, there must tons of shells and bombs still on those Pacific Islands as well. I.........never really thought about that before.

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Interesting. Yes, there must tons of shells and bombs still on those Pacific Islands as well. I.........never really thought about that before.

I think Iwo Jima was the most heavily bombed island. It did no good either as they were all hiding underground and it became a slaughterhouse.