Blitz Diary: Life Under Fire in World War II

by adminWorld War 2

Blitz Diary: Life Under Fire in World War II

Carol Harris

Language: English

Pages: 192

ISBN: 0752451723

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Firsthand accounts of the experiences of ordinary people during the Second World War
 
Historian Carol Harris has collected a remarkable series of accounts from the war's darkest days, with heartwarming stories of survival, perseverance, solidarity, and bravery, the preservation of which becomes increasingly important as the Blitz fades from living memory. As World War II loomed, everyone expected it would bring a new kind of conflict to Britain. Raids by airships in World War I and the attack on Guernica in the Spanish Civil War had given a terrifying taste of what was to come, so when war was declared in September 1939, massive air raids against civilians were anticipated. London was a major target throughout the war, but it was not only the capital that suffered: on November 8, 1940, 30,000 incendiary bombs rained down on Coventry, laying waste to the city, including, famously, its cathedral. Port cities such as Plymouth, Bristol, and Liverpool also suffered especially badly. Highlighting the effects of the Blitz outside of London, this anthology of excerpts from letters, memoirs, and diaries tells the story of the bombing as a chronological narrative, until the very end of the war.

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Ready to tackle any incendiaries. A stirrup pump was a hand operated pump that delivered a jet or spray of water. It took three persons to operate, one to pump, one to direct the jet or spray and one to replenish the water in the bucket. If the bomb was in an open area a bucket of soil on it usually did the trick. Bombs that failed to explode were another hazard. They could be defective or they could be one with a delayed fuse. These could explode unexpectedly up to three or four days later, and.

Succeeding buildings were fired. The raid then became more widespread and a serious fire situation developed. In the early stages of the raid, the water mains were so badly damaged as to be useless for the larger areas of fire and it was necessary to relay water from the harbours and from aqueducts at the back of the town … … The telephone service was of negligible value during the raid. Telephonic communication with the auxiliary station nearest to the main fire area failed completely at about.

Say … Haw-Haw’s mother used to live in [the] Fishponds area of the city and he knew the city very well … I remember him telling us ‘the Luftwaffe would be visiting Bristol before very long’ and naming all the streets – Castle Street, Mary le Port, Denmark Street, you name them he had them. And he said, ‘Bristol you will be losing your famous …’ whatever and lo and behold on the first blitz the very centre of Bristol was taken out, it was as accurate as that. We knew a great deal of it was false.

Distinctly frightened: guns are terrific, incendiaries spatter down in the square, a bomb which fortunately doesn’t explode whistles down on to no 17. We stand about in the hall while the fire guards rush about with buckets and cluster on the steps outside ready for a call from Mrs P who is on duty on the roof. I move a few buckets vaguely and get rather in the way. I look out of the front door to find fires all around, the post office sorting office is burnt out, so is Stewarts hotel behind.

Do. I have nothing. Despite the warning which sounded in the south-east almost as soon as the declaration of war had been broadcast, the mass raids that everyone had feared would arrive almost immediately did not come. The Merchant Navy suffered huge losses as German U-boats and the Luftwaffe attacked ships carrying food and other vital supplies to Britain, but at home nothing happened and in the Phoney War, as it was called, people soon became bored by the Air Raid Precautions which.

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