Month: June 2007

Under The Stairs As far as I was concerned I could never be bothered to get out of bed unless the bombing was so heavy my mother insisted and then she and I sat in the cupboard under the stairs. It was there that I witnessed real fear, almost to the point of terror for… Continue reading WW2, 1940 to ’41, in order,The Blitz, Balham Tube Station

I was asleep in bed when my mother woke me. She told me that the house opposite had been hit by an incendiary. These were silver coloured, probably of aluminium, tubes about nine inches to a foot long which were dropped in bunches and scattered on their way down, bursting on impact and setting fire… Continue reading WW2, 1940 to ’41,in order, Incendiaries and Fire-warching

The Guns I came home from evacuation in time for the blitz on London, so all the hassle of evacuation was totally negated, except it had been an incredible experience and I had learned more about life in one year than I would have in three or four, at home. At the time, among the… Continue reading WW2, 1940 to ’41, in order, The London Blitz.

I’ll describe the marvellous institution of Cluttons of 1940 in detail elsewhere, but refer to it here to set the scene of the Westminster Home Guard. Someone misguidedly told me that going to university during the war was a waste of time, with evacuation the degree would be worthless and I would probably be called… Continue reading WW2,1940 to ’41, in order, Cluttons, Part 1 of 3

The LDV, Railings And Carrots. This is the first in a series about The LDV, Home Guard and London 1940 ‘Stratagems’ Chambers Dictionary, offers terms to apply to Government chicanery, most of them apply at times of crisis, and never more than in 1940, when the LDV, the Local Defence Volunteers, was inaugurated. I believe… Continue reading WW2, 1940 to 41, in order, Stratagems

Lewes – A Place Apart In retrospect there was something almost magical about the months I spent there. I was not aware of this at the time, I was often unhappy, but who is sublimely happy all the time, contrast gives colour. Lewes, the Town, was the hub, but it was really the district which… Continue reading WW2, 1939 to ’40, in order, Evacuation Part 2

Encyclopaedia, make no mention of Evacuation, which affected 5 million children, in June ’39, disrupted families whose children were dragged off into the depths of the country, but also the poor devils who had to look after them. Evacuation is a sort of two way mirror, showing each group how the other lived. Not all… Continue reading WW2, 1939 to ’40. in order, Evacuation Part 1