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| The St helier Hospital. I recall it being opened by the King & Queen in 1938 and being chased by a soldier because we crossed the road where we shouldn't have been! At the beginning of the war the hospital was still painted white! The story was that Lord Haw Haw, the American/Irish collaborator in one of his broadcasts, apparently said '..thank you to the people of Carshalton for painting their Hospital so white, we shall be able to find it very easy..' Almost immediately workmen were painting camouflage all over it! There used to be a bungalow just inside the main gate and to the right, I suppose it housed some members of the staff. It received a direct hit during a raid and the house was demolished. We went over to the Hospital to watch the wardens clearing the debris . I do remember one of the casualties was a baby. In 1944 when I was ten I was evacuated with my sister who was seven years old to Yorkshire. I can recall going out for the day to Epsom Downs with my youngest sister, it must have been 1945 or thereabouts, it's amazing to think that we could go off on our own in those days but our mum used to work in a munitions factory, which had been a toy factory before the war, anyway we went off on this picnic, and suddenly a whole bunch of german p.o.w's came along with only one guard, they were friendly and called to us and waved, we waved back , I remember we were not frightened of them. They also used p.o.w's to build the pre-fab houses just over the road from our school,and we often went over there to watch them. |
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| The V1 or Doodlebug as it was known by the public was a devastating weapon. The horrible drone was unmistakable, no one would speak as you would hear it drone nearer & nearer, then the sound would stop, and you waited , not knowing whether it was coming straight down on you or not, then the explosion which meant that some poor buggars had copped it, but with relief as you were alright. Croydon which was a few miles south of Rosehill had the largest number of V1's hit them than any other London Borough! We were in a direct line between Croydon and London and just half of those launched each day, reached London, the rest fell elsewhere. 27 fell on Carshalton, full details see the link below V1 & V2 history. One nearly hit our house, it was a very narrow escape, whether it was aimed at the Hospital or not, I don't know but it nearly had a direct hit as it was coming down very close to it. The V1 then hit some power cables causing it to fall short onto some houses in Robertsbridge Road. The next street to us also received a direct hit and two or three houses were demolished. We only had blast damage, plaster and windows etc so we were very lucky. Also we had a brick shelter in our back garden, neighbours on one side had the Anderson shelter so I don't know how it was decided what type you were given. When I returned to the area in 1992 our shelter had been demolished. One vivid memory that I have is one evening, I don't know which year, it was early evening when we heard the throbbing of aircraft. We all rushed upstairs to look out of the rear bedroom window and up at the sky. We were amazed at the sight of hundreds of aircraft flying over us in formation towards the Continent. Wave after wave passed over, I forget how long we watched but it seemed endless, we were cheering and waving, obviously they couldn't see us but what the hell! They were ours on the way to Germany to give them some of what we had had for the past few years. addendum: Research has shown that this sighting had to be the 1000 Bomber raid on Cologne in May 1942. We boys loved to collect shrapnel....these were bits of anti aircraft shells, I had a large box full . We became qiuite expert at the different types of shell and on occasions acted stupidly by staying under the trees over the park if an air rad started so that we could search for shrapnel as soon as the all clear sounded. There were two ack ack batteries over our park so we were lucky sometimes and if we found some it would be too hot to touch. |
| This was the result of a V2 rocket attack in Croydon. The old man in the photo lost everything. Among the civil workers at the bombsite was PC Godwin from Gypsey Hill station. His daughter tells the story: " My father told me that he was trying to console the old man, who was in a state of shock. Apparently he had gone out for a walk to the local with his dog while his wife cooked the midday Sunday dinner. When he returned the whole street had been demolished & most of the people were under the debris including the mans wife. My father had got the man a cup of tea and talked to him while they searched for his wife" Thats a sad story and was repeated many many times. |
| This is a typical scene that I remember seeing many times. The results of an air raid . Click on photo for a detailed history |
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| On Saturday 7th September 1940, the Luftwaffe broke thro' the defences of fighter command and set London alight. Over 635 tonnes of high explosives and at least 800 bombs fell on the capital. Over 400 Londoners were killed, and a further 16,000 were injured. The photo is of a Hospital in south-east London that was hit. |
| Lilli Marlene a German song may seem like a strange choice for this page, but it was adopted by the allies and to me evokes the feeling of those far off days. Click here to read the origins of the song. If you would like to hear different versions of this song click here. |
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| Pathfinders synchronise watches. click on pic |
| A V2 on it's launch pad. The V2 killed 2700 Londoners in the closing months of the war. The last one fell in March 1945. |
| The last three V1's fell on the 29th march 1945. At Hatfield, Sittingbourne & the other fell just off the Suffolk coast. Click on the V1 to hear some sounds from the past. |
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| Put in a new needle and listen to some old 'un's! |
| Some great sounds from the 40's here. |
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| This is an ideal school study site which covers every aspect of life during ww11. |
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| All through the battle of Britain,as aircraft fought overhead and bombs fell, the children of Britain,particularly in the heavily bombarded southeast, learned a new hobby - collecting shrapnel. These boys in the southeast are hunting through a small bomb crater. |
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| My Personal Links |
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| Coventry also suffered during the blitz. The Cathedral was destroyed together with many other historic buildings and houses.. Also there were hundreds of casualties....this site has some good links to Coventry's blitz including some personal stories. CLICK HERE |
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