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January 27th, 2004, 06:34 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: cheshire UK
Posts: 48
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is information available anywhere, on dates of air raids/bomb damage etc etc in local areas ? eg could i find out the dates of air raids/bomb damage/siren soundings/ AA gun action, in my home town it would be fascinating to know this sort of info,I live 20 - 30 miles away from liverpool docks and my local area was home to several AA batterys, one of which still exists today(without the 3.7" guns of course)
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January 27th, 2004, 07:08 PM
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Acting Wg. Cdr.  |
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: London
Posts: 9,081
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A good starting point is the the three-volume 'The Blitz : Then & Now ' series of books from After The Battle .
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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson
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January 27th, 2004, 07:40 PM
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Alte Hase |
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Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,080
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accessing PRO possibly ? make sure your wallet is full of dosh and you can spend many an hour there. Someday I'm coming over and getting completly lost.....
much success !
~E
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January 27th, 2004, 07:43 PM
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WW2F Veteran
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: The Library
Posts: 3,064
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Steven,
If you go to your local library or local authority archives they SHOULD have copies of your local paper going back to the year dot.
Not only will this record any bomb damage/attacks, but if you check the immediate prewar issues, they will usually give details of local ARP organisation and the location of air raid shelters, first aid posts etc.
If you ask your local authority archaeology officer, or planning department, they should have a hard copy of the Defence of Britain database for England and Wales. This will list ALL AA sites, gun operations rooms and decoy sites in your local area, as well as telling which AA Division the troops manning these gunsites belonged to. Later in the war, these sites were usually manned by Home Guard detachments who also manned sites called hedgehogs-batteries of UP launchers(Unrotated Projectile, or rockets to you and me)which were clustered in batteries of 64, and look like modern free range pig farms.I have a lot of data for AA regiments in Scotland, and also ROC organisation, but none for England.
You could try and get copy of The Defence of the United Kingdom by Basil Collier. If you can't get this through an inter-library loan, the IWM sell them.
For the record, I think you said you were in Cheshire, and I believe this came under the army's Western Command during the war. Not a lot of this command's records survive, but you might get lucky.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Gordon
[ 27. January 2004, 03:02 PM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]
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January 27th, 2004, 07:53 PM
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Alte Hase |
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Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,080
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Gordon, can you order items from the IWM on-line ? thought they had a web-addy somewhere ?
didn't they have a major fire not too long ago ?
~E
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January 27th, 2004, 07:58 PM
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WW2F Veteran
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: The Library
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Erich,
Websites at www.iwm.org.uk/. Have a browse round their bookshop etc.
Didn't know they had a fire-was it bad? 
Regards,
Gordon |
January 27th, 2004, 08:01 PM
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Alte Hase |
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Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,080
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vielen Dank mate ! There ya go two cross cultures for ya 
Gordon, not sure when it was, but did here back in the 1960's or early 70's a major fire and come through several buildings created by arsonists.....maybe Martin or other English friends can help us out here ? Thought there ws one much more recent.
thanks for their web-addy
~Erich |
January 27th, 2004, 08:07 PM
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WW2F Veteran
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: The Library
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Erich,
My pleasure mate No idea you were multi-lingual! [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Think you're right about the fire in the sixties, but can't remember how bad it was. Haven't heard about one more recently there, but was there one at the RAF Museum Hendon recently, anyone?
Regards,
Gordon |
January 28th, 2004, 06:06 AM
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Acting Wg. Cdr. |
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: London
Posts: 9,081
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No fires or accidents, gents, - I hope !
The IWM did indeed suffer a disastrous arson fire in the late 60s ( 1968 I think ) but all is now OK. No problems at Hendon which is now very much a 'state of the art' museum.....
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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson
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January 28th, 2004, 10:24 AM
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WW2F Veteran
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 2,838
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Another source, though time-comsuming, is going through local papers of the time. Normally this wouldn't be my first source to go to, if it weren't for the fact that I did just so recently for my research into Amsterdam in WW2. I was amazed by the leads it gave me. Things I never heard about, but which really need some cross-referencing with other sources.
We all know what mess journalists can make of the truth, right....?? 
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January 28th, 2004, 10:47 PM
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Veteran
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: England
Posts: 1,398
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You're not having a go at the BBC by any chance Stev?  
No.9 |
January 28th, 2004, 10:53 PM
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WW2F Veteran
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: The Library
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arf! |
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