The Hidden Glasgow Forums

Pripyat wrote:Rostov on the Don, in the North Caucasus region is twinned
with Glasgow


More info http://tinyurl.com/7myub

Yeah, some of my friends from school who took Russian went there on an exchange visit. And some of the Russian kids came here afterwards.

AlanM wrote:Not really surprising though, an industrial city surrounded by all of that military hardware would be very high upon anyones list of targets. Taking out the enemy's weapons and the means to manufacture more. i'm sure that near the top of our list of targets would have been Soviet cities of similar stature.

A lot of the key targets for NATO were in Southern Russia. Cities such as Rostov - on - Don, which was surrounded by satellite industrial closed towns building military hardware were targets high on the NATO list.

A bit ironic then that Glasgow is twinned with Rostov - on - Don, given that as Escotregen says that Glasgow was high up in the Soviet list.

Since were going off on a tangent, Escoty might be interested to know that it was the Scotland - USSR Society who kick started the whole Glasgow / Rostov - on - Don town twinning thing and got the Council to sign up to it (Another "chapter" in the website i'm penning). Oh and Mrs Roo is from the old USSR and worked in Rostov - on - Don.

Taking the thread back to Glasgow in the forties before i go off in a complete tangerine.



Decontamination squads practice cleaning up in the streets of Glasgow in 1939. In 1939 there was concern that the Luftwaffe would drop chemical and gas weapons on Glasgow.

Nazi leaders had made key note speeches at the outset of the war saying that such action would be justified on industrial cities in Britain to bring the war in Europe to a swift conclusion. They mentioned Glasgow by name. Why has everyone got it in for us?

I wonder what effect a hose and some basic protective clothing would have if the Luftwaffe did drop chemical and gas weapons? - That's it Boaby jist wash that poison stuff straight doon the drain.

A bit ironic then that Glasgow is twinned with Rostov - on - Don, given that as Escotregen says that Glasgow was high up in the Soviet list.

No it wasn't. See previous correspondence.

Kind of off topic a little, but does anyone have a letter, or card, from a relative who was a WWII POW ?
My dad still has a postcard from his brother, who was one of the many soldiers left behind to protect the rear flanks at Dunkirk. He was captured and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.
The rear of the card is marked with the camp censor markings, and the Stalag number.

Dexter St. Clair wrote:

A bit ironic then that Glasgow is twinned with Rostov - on - Don, given that as Escotregen says that Glasgow was high up in the Soviet list.

No it wasn't. See previous correspondence.

Ahh, we expected it to be high on the USSR target list.

But if we regarded Glasgow as a prime target you can be pretty sure the USSR did too.

It would be nice to think we have been taken off the list of places for thermonuclear redevelopment.

Do you think we have been?

Do you think we are on any one elses list?

Aye, G W Bush's list. Everyone else is.

A wee bit off topic but hopefully of interest to readers of this thread.

Whilst taking a walk through Eastwood Cemetary in Thornliebank a few weeks ago I came across the grave of a Pilot Officer Douglas William Hogg. He died on September the third 1940 which was at the height of the Battle of Britain so I decided to see what I could find out about him.
He flew a twin engine Blenheim bomber L1512 with No25 Squadron and was a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. What was particularly tragic about P/O Hogg's death was that he was a victim of friendly fire.
At 11.15am on the 3rd of September he was returning to his home base of North Weald with another Blenheim when both were attacked and shot down by Hurricane fighters mistaking them for German fighter-bombers. The two man crew of the other Blenheim and P/O Hogg's gunner/radio operator baled out and survived, P/O Hogg went down with his aircraft.
He was only 23 when he died and as far as I know an only child, he is buried alongside his mother and father, Thomas and Helen who both died in the fifties.

Socceroo wrote:That's it Boaby jist wash that poison stuff straight doon the drain.

Pettigrew and Stephens Store in Glasgow at the outset of the Second World War taped up to prevent flying glass



Window shoppers outside the taped up windows of a tobacconists in Glasgow, again at the start of the war. It looks a bit like the shop that was / is? on St Vincent Street / Place.

I wonder what the window shoppers would have thought about the impending smoking ban. Probably they had other things to worry about than cigarette smoke, such as bombs falling on them.

Well, if I'm right about the evidence in your photograph of the tobacconists, maybe the shoppers were thinking of the toxic effects of passive smoking. After all, couldn't that lady's fetching wee shoulder bag, in fact be holding a gas mask?

Found the following "Home Security Reports" from the summer of 1940 on the RAF website.
Date: 17 July 1940
Four raids were plotted off the Scottish Coast and Orkneys. One crossed from Peterhead to the west Coast and dropped bombs at Ardeer ICI factory doing little damage. Of the remainder two carried out a reconnaissance of the Orkneys at 0721 hours and were intercepted but without successful results.

Considerable damage was done to the ICI works at Ardeer (Ayrshire) but there is no serious interference with production.

Date: 19 July 1940
One raid of two Do17s crossed the coast north of Aberdeen and bombed Glasgow at 1013 hours. 42 people were injured.

Several raids appeared north of Harwich as far as Aberdeen and minelaying is suspected at various places along the coast including the Hull area, Firth of Forth and a number of aircraft crossed to the Firth of Clyde, presumably minelaying. Bombs are reported dropped north west of Kilmarnock and Abbotsinch.

At about 1040 hours on the 19th July, 8 HE were dropped in the Govan and Scotstoun areas of Glasgow. Tenements were seriously damaged and an occupied communal shelter was blown up. Windows of the Royal Ordnance Factory, Cardonald, were broken by splinters and blast, but the factory was not otherwise damaged.

At 0120 hours on July 20th bombs were dropped at Abbotsinch Aerodrome (Renfrew).

Date: 24 July 1940
At 0630 hours, hostile aircraft appeared over Glasgow and bombed the Hillington district where a printing works was seriously damaged. Some windows of the Rolls Royce factory were broken and a few minor casualties are reported. This aircraft was intercepted and it is reported that the rear gunner was killed and one engine put out of action. The enemy aircraft dived into clouds and was lost but it is doubtful if it will reach home. In the afternoon, several reconnaissances were plotted in the Aberdeen area.

At 0640 hours, an attack was made by a single enemy aircraft on the Scottish Industrial Estate, Hillington, Glasgow, where 4 HE and 40 Ibs did considerable damage. A small printing and stationary factory was almost destroyed and a sugar and oilcake factory was damaged. Many windows were broken. Casualties were confined to 18 injured, one seriously.

With reference to the report of 24th July, it is now reported that a further six HE bombs one unexploded were dropped in the Glasgow area in open fields by an aircraft which had arrived without being plotted. This was at 0640 hours on the 24th July. On the previous day an unidentified aircraft was over Glasgow and not plotted until over the city.

Fascinating posting Joeycape, i had a wee look at that RAF website before, a lot of interesting reading in it.

It is certainly surprising when you read about the amount of Luftwaffe Aircraft activity over Britain during the war. Pretty non stop for a long time.

The damage caused at Abbotsinch isn't mentioned but for the next few weeks it was unusable at night so I guess the runway/taxiway may have been cratered. I checked through the next few months reports and although a few raids over Glasgow are mentioned, no details are given as the main focus at this time was London.