Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

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Postby Apollo » Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:07 pm

Although we see most of them free-standing in back gardens nowadays, Anderson shelters weren't supposed to offer protection themselves, and were supposed to buried 4 ft deep and covered with 15 in of earth over the roof.

Shelters were issued free to all householders who earned less than £250 a year, those with higher income were charged £7. 150,000 shelters were distributed from February 1939 to the outbreak of war. During the war another 2.1 million were added. Many were dug up after the war and converted into sheds.
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Postby Sir Roger DeLodgerley » Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:09 pm

you were supposed to dig them into your garden and pile earth and other absorbant materials up against the walls and roof. Not much chance of that if you lived three stories up, but perfectly possible in some of the more well to do suburbs.

Building instructions:
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Postby HollowHorn » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:03 pm

A personal account of the bombing of the Sussex:
http://www.ourglasgowstory.com/story.php?sid=334

Some pics:
Image
Air raid shelters along the in the middle of an unidentified Glasgow street, photographed during the Second World War. A lorry is delivering coal in the right foreground.
Other locations used for air raid shelters included back courts, factories and parks. There was considerable variety in the types of shelter available. Some of the more sophisticated had fittings such as doors, seats, lights and toilets. Unfortunately, vandalism was a problem in some areas and fittings were sometimes damaged or stolen.
The high population density resulting from the predominance of tenement housing in Glasgow made the city more vulnerable to bombing than the spread-out terraced housing more commonly found in English cities. A direct hit from a single bomb could, and sometimes did, cause a large number of casualties.

Image
Air raid shelters (the two structures with the light coloured roofs to the right of the photograph) in an unidentified tenement backcourt during the Second World War. Shelters were built all over the city following the outbreak of war, but provision was patchy. Some shelters built by profiteering building firms were found to be sub-standard.
The shelters proved effective against flying debris, but were vulnerable to direct hits. In March 1941, a landmine exploded on a shelter in a backcourt off Dumbarton Road in Scotstoun. The explosion and subsequent fires devastated the shelter and surrounding buildings and resulted in sixty-six deaths and injuries to sixty others.

A bit of light relief:
http://www.ourglasgowstory.com/story.ph ... 5906393&o=

Lastly, a quote from an article on the Bombing of Belfast:
One humorous incident lightens my memory of that solemn night. In the middle of all the mayhem a young, very drunk sailor came staggering along the dockside with a cigarette in one hand and a bottle in the other, singing "I Belong to Glasgow". He was quite oblivious to what was going on and was miraculously unscathed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yo ... 8554.shtml
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Postby glasgowken » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:19 pm

Apollo wrote:Although we see most of them free-standing in back gardens nowadays, Anderson shelters weren't supposed to offer protection themselves, and were supposed to buried 4 ft deep and covered with 15 in of earth over the roof.

Shelters were issued free to all householders who earned less than £250 a year, those with higher income were charged £7. 150,000 shelters were distributed from February 1939 to the outbreak of war. During the war another 2.1 million were added. Many were dug up after the war and converted into sheds.


I was speaking to my dad about these today, he grew up in Kent during the war, the Kent County Council built one in his family's garden for free.
After the war the council gave my grandad the option of keeping it for £5. He turned it down as his wages were only £3 a week to keep a family of 8.
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Postby Apollo » Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:18 pm

Wonder what they did with the ones that weren't retained... did they have team of council workers (who could presumably have been better empolyed on post-war repair work) ripping them out and storing the materials?

Or did the poor householder have to dig it back out so they could come collect the pieces :roll:

If anyone recalls last year's threads on ROC posts, I met one owner whose rates were increased by £1000 when the land and post were handed to her (no money was involved, in either direction) back around 1991, for the 'asset' the council considered her to have 'acquired'.
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Postby HollowHorn » Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:39 am

I had posted this pic over on the West End site, for obvious reasons.
Image

This vertical aerial photograph of the area around Glasgow University was taken during World War II by the Royal Air Force.
Some of the 19th-century tenements seen in this view have since been demolished.
Vertical air photographs were taken by the RAF during photographic-reconnaissance training. These photographs were used to ascertain the accuracy of the pilot in photographing the target and to aid the skills of photographic interpretation.


One of the members, TOG (The Other Guest) came back with this:
If you look carefully, you can just see the barrage balloon which was stationed in Athole Gardens. I had heard of stories of this but had never really believed them.

Left hand edge of the pic, halfway up. 8O
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Postby Socceroo » Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:57 am

Interesting stuff Hollowhorn, you can see another Balloon in the bottom right of the photograph also.
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Postby Alycidon » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:26 pm

This has been a very interesting thread, does anyone have any information regarding bombing and bomb damage to other large towns in Lanarkshire (especially Airdrie and Coatbridge). Another thing I have never come accross (probably due to censorship at the time) is damage/disruption to the railways
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Postby Socceroo » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:01 pm

Alycidon, i have not seen much on damage to railways other than the references in various books that both Clydebank and Greenock services were disrupted by bomb damage to lines which was quickly repaired.

I think Greenock Railway station took a few hits during the raids over that town.
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Postby Socceroo » Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:56 pm

Socceroo wrote:Rescue workers preparing to rescue young woman trapped in tenement in Glasgow for six days following Air Raid. Glasgow 1941.

Image



Following a wee bit of detective work searching through the newspaper archives i found the following sad story of the young woman rescued as per the above photograph that i posted earlier in this thread.

The true horrors of air raids.......

From the 20th March 1941 :

WOMAN EXTRICATED AFTER FIVE DAYS BUT DIES IN HOSPITAL

Trapped for more than five days under the debris of a three-storey tenement building which was struck by a bomb during the first of the two raids on Clydeside last week, a young woman, Mrs. McGeehan, was brought out alive from the wreckage yesterday. She was seriously injured and despite heroic efforts to save her life, died some time later after admission to hospital.

The rescue of the woman was due largely to the heroism of a local doctor, who crawled into a narrow tunnel dug through the mass of debris, and gave her injections. Police and Civil Defence workers toiled ceaselessly at the shattered remains of the building in order to extricate her, paid unstinting tribute to the gallantry of the doctor. One man said he had done a “marvellous job”.

Early yesterday, when faint moaning sounds were heard, work on the hauling away of the debris was suspended and a search was made. It was confirmed that Mrs. McGeehan was alive. A mobile medical unit was summoned and squads of men on the spot were organised to dig a tunnel to the trapped woman. In the thin light of torches the wreckage was shored up with props improvised from fallen timber beams and a narrow tunnel was cut through the piled up debris.

The doctor, nurses and an ambulance stood by as the work proceeded. Soon a hand was uncovered by the tunnellers. It was warm. The doctor crawled into the tunnel which was about 20 feet long, found that the woman was conscious and gave her an injection. Across her was a heavy beam, which had protected her from the weight of the masonry piled above. The doctor lying on his side in the tunnel kept giving her injections as the rescue squad slowly cleared away the debris. It took them close on five hours to finish the dangerous task.

When sufficient space had been cleared, Mrs. McGeehan was slowly drawn from the tunnel and into the street. She was taken to a nearby building, wrapped in warm blankets and rushed to hospital. On arrival there she was immediately given a blood transfusion, but she died some time later.

Mrs. McGeehan, it is understood, lived in another block of flats. When the raid started, she left with other members of the family, and went to shelter with relatives in the building in which she was eventually trapped. It was struck by a heavy bomb. It is feared that other members of the family also perished. Her own home, though it suffered from blast, is still standing.

Workers were still searching the debris yesterday for other victims.
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Postby Socceroo » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:08 am

Image

Clydebank ablaze as viewed from the Boulevard looking south - March 1941
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Postby Socceroo » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:13 am

Image

Singer's Timber Yard in Clydebank ablaze March 1941 following Luftwaffe Pathfinder Bombers dropping incendiary bombs
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Postby Socceroo » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:19 am

Image

Singer's blackened Factory Clock Tower viewed through the bombed out windows of a tenement in Clydebank's "Holy City" - March 1941
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Postby glasgowken » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:55 am

Socceroo wrote:Image

Clydebank ablaze as viewed from the Boulevard looking south - March 1941


That's a chilling photo.
Any idea of the exact location it was taken from ? I assume that's the Singer clock tower in the centre.
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Postby Socceroo » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:44 am

Glasgowken, i don't have an exact location for the position where the is the photograph was taken from other than it was taken from the Boulevard looking due south.

I would reckon that it is the Singer's clock in the centre of the photograph surrounded by flames and bomb blasts going up.

Yes, really chilling photographs, hell on earth.
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