Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Doorstop » Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:17 pm

It's things like this that bring home the horror of the thing. These stories should be told more often, not so much as an 'anti-war' tub thumping exercise, but more to show exactly what folks were forced to do to keep the moral of a battered populace afloat.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby munroman » Wed Mar 09, 2011 7:19 pm

She apparently also said that they had been called out to Clydebank, where a tenement had been bombed, all that was left standing was the gable end.

They were about to knock the gable down when crying was heard, it was a baby who had been put in the cupboard beside the fireplace and had somehow escaped injury, even though the rest of the tenement had been destroyed.

My sisters father in law worked at the farm beside the Stables near Kirkintilloch on the Forth and Clyde canal, and he remembers a German plane screaming overhead heading east, followed a few minutes later by a Spitfire. I think this might have been what he saw:

'On 28th October 1939, 602 and 603 Squadrons were scrambled to intercept another HeIII returning from a reconnaissance mission over the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. Spotted over the island of Inchkeith in the Forth, the HeIII was riddled with .303 bullets and chased inland. Two of the four crew were killed, leaving the pilot and navigator uninjured. The pilot showed remarkable airmanship by crash-landing the stricken plane on an East Lothian hillside with very little airspeed. Unfortunately, the pilot fractured his spine in the impact - an injury not known until later. The dead crewmen were buried with full military honours. The HeIII was the first German aircraft to be taken more or less intact, and provided much intelligence value.'
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby banjo » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:22 am

just seen the clydebank post special edition.theres a wartime photo in it [1942] where a platoon is marching down kilbowie rd passing the kinema picture house,what was showing?....the wreckin crew.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby HollowHorn » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:15 am

First hand account of the Clydebank bombings:
"Too young, but you don't realise you were getting bombed at the time, and the noise was deafening, hard to describe, terrible wasn't it, like steel girders dropping and banging together."


"My mammy started smoking then, her nerves were that bad. She had a couple of cigarettes off somebody. I canny remember if the sirens went off again. We went upstairs, but I know we were banged off quick enough, and back on the tram to Ayr."

http://www.myclydebankphotos.co.uk/page39.htm
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Socceroo » Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:57 pm

The First Air Raid over Glasgow

From “This Time of Crisis” by Andrew Jeffrey :

“The first raid on Glasgow took place in blustery, showery conditions at 1020 hours on the morning of 19 July 1940. One bomber appeared over the city from the north – west and dropped four 250kg bombs beside Dumbarton Road. The first exploded in the garden at the rear of 34 Langholm Street, where it demolished a newly built air–raid shelter and seriously damaged the adjacent tenement. The second fell two feet from the end gable of 26 Blawarthill Street. The end of the tenement was completely demolished. The other two bombs fell into a chicken run and close to Blawarthill Farm but did no serious structural damage. Three people were killed including the mother of two-year-old Eleanor Dick. She was dressing her daughter at the time of the blast. Eighteen people were injured.

This bomber dropped its remaining four bombs at Tinto Park football ground in Govan. There, 13 people were injured, including eight in the nearby Ordnance factory. An air-raid shelter was demolished, a newsagent’s shop wrecked and 21 families made homeless. Despite the fact that the bomber had been tracked since it crossed the Scottish coast near Peterhead, no alert had been sounded. This was fortuitous as it meant that neither of the demolished shelters was occupied.”
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby alcon » Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:28 pm

Socceroo....after reading this entire thread and seeing your reference to the book 'This Time Of Crisis' by Andrew Jeffrey, I managed to obtain a copy as I am very interested in finding out more information regarding the bomb/mine that was dropped on Morrison Street following the bombing of Nelson Street. My grandfather was one of the firewatch men working that night in the SCWS warehouse that got hit in Morrison Street and the details over the last 70 years have been quite sketchy to say the least. My mother seldom talked about it simply because her mother never spoke about it (my Mum was only 11 months old when she lost her father). Anyway, I read in the book that five men lost their lives that night and that no bodies were ever recovered.....but that's not quite true. I have here a copy of his death certificate and it confirms he was killed at 12.00 on 13th March 1941 and his body was recovered on the 18th March. I also know his body was taken to Titwood Road mortuary where it was later identified by his wife (my grandmother). As grisly as this sounds, i'm presuming that for her to identify the body, he must have been pretty much 'in one piece' as it were. The death certificate also states his death was caused by 'falling masonry' as a result of 'war operations'. I guess we'll never know the exact circumstances ie. death from blast, fire, crushing or suffocation, but its comforting to know his body was actually recovered unlike so many other poor souls.

Any other information would be much appreciated.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby bobmcw » Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:36 pm

[quote="Socceroo"]
From various sources i am aware of bombs in Kelvinside, Hyndland, Kelvinway on the bridge, Govan Docks, Plantation, Govan Road near Southern General, St Anthonys FC near Ibrox, Queens Park Church and Barrowland.

And you have my profound thanks for posting the details of my Mother, who lived for 5 days under the debris at Craigiehall and Plantation Street. I hadn't seen this one before.

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Re:

Postby bobmcw » Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:25 pm

Socceroo wrote:
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.



Mrs McGeehan (nee McWhinnie), my Mother, husband Den(n)is, and 11mth old daughter had gone across the street - from Plantation to Craigiehall street - to see my aunt Meg who was expecting her 4th baby. With exception of my Mother (Elizabeth), who died about 5 days later, her husband, daughter Margaret, Meg's 3 children - John, David and Elizabeth - all died that night.

I was told, by a now deceased aunt, that Mother had been down in Greenock on a weekly visit a couple of days earlier, making arrangements for me to be adopted and live with them in Glasgow when my school term finished. I have no childhood memories until the Greenock blitz a couple of months later.

bob(mc)

My grandmother and eldest daughter Jean came up from Greenock in time to see her die at the Southern General.

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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Socceroo » Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:59 pm

bob(mc) many thanks for sharing your family recollections of the events surrounding the very sad events involving your mother. As a child of the 60's I have nothing but admiration for those who lived through and suffered from the terror of the air raids of the second world war.

My mothers family, including my mother who was a baby at the time were sheltering in Plantation Street during the same air raid. I did not know the whereabouts of the building that your mother was trapped in until you clarified it in your post. I had assumed (wrongly) that it was somewhere in the west end near Clydebank.

Posts such as yours bring a very personal touch to this thread, which remind us all and bring home to us the true cost of mans inhumanity to man
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby Socceroo » Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:16 pm

alcon, many thanks for the insight into some of the events surrounding the terrible events following the dropping of the Luftmine in Nelson Street and the bombing of Morrison Street.

I know that many of the members on here really appreciate it when those whose families were personally affected by the air raids over Glasgow and the West of Scotland offer their families personal recollections of what are very sad events.

As per my response to bobmc, the events recalled from a family perspective really add a very important aspect to this thread, that being the true horror and cost of war.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby HollowHorn » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:37 pm

The 'Clydebank Blitz' documentary is still available on 'Catch-up TV'. I cannot recommend it highly enough, it is a giant leap forward from most historical TV docs that repeat the same scene / commentary over and over. It has humour, pathos, superb graphics & high quality photographs. The main point that comes across is that the people of Clydebank had no idea of what was coming, there were 40 or so false alarms in the preceding months, so when the sirens went off on the 13th, most folk ignored them. So sad to see the photographs of wee Tommy Rocks & to hear the story of his father running up from the yards & swimming the canal to get home to find 13 members of his family had perished. The story of what occured in Jellicoe Street alone sums up the sheer horror of those two nights. If the closing scene does not move you to tears, I don't know what will.

We’d all been out playing over in Castle Square and we came back and it was time for to go in. We always used to sit at the close and Tommy Rocks – one of the Family Rocks that was killed – I still see Tommy yet, sitting beside me to this day. And I remember looking up at the sky. We were talking “Do you think the Germans will be over tonight?” Tommy looked up. He said, “If the Jerries come across tonight,” he says, “They cannae fail!” He says, “Look at that moon.” By this time, the moon was starting to get up. And I remember that – I’ll never forget that.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby banjo » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:52 pm

i walked past the exact spot where that bomb landed yesterday.i was on my way to the dalmuir library where there is a small clydebank blitz exhibition on display.tommy rocks nephew is a mate of mine.the programme was very well made and i think it should be shown annually to p7 pupils.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby john_haughey » Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:40 pm

Re: Robertpool.

Robertpool mentioned Sarah McClory and her five children. This was my Auntie Sadie my grandfather's sister. As a footnote, there was one more child, the baby Joseph. He survived the bombs when his pram overturned and covered him saving his life.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby banjo » Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:56 pm

that same joe mclory was in clydebank last week ,i saw him with his cousin gerry whom i know.joe lives in wolverhampton these days.
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Re: Bombs over Glasgow in WW2

Postby HollowHorn » Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:43 pm

8O Brilliant!
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