I have some questions about London during the opening years of WWII (1939-1942, mostly). I found this forum while hunting for answers to those questions, so perhaps you fellows might be able to help me.

- When did England start making preparations for war?

- What was rationed in England, in terms of -

- Consumer-goods.
- Food.
- Fuel.
- etc (anything else you can think of).

- What was the timeline of the Blitz and major bombing-incidents on London?

- Where might I be able to find recordings of air-raid sirens (for "raid" and "all clear" etc).

**More questions may follow in days to come**

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WWII-era pen-advertisement
P-51 Mustang fighter-plane.
Parker '51' fountain pen.

Hi Shangas

I've been looking at your "shopping list" of WW2 interests and you could have done a lot worse than land on World War II Forums

There is an huge amount of fascinating stuff to be found here and I urge you to use the SEARCH facility to find the info you are seeking.

When you have a few hours/days/weeks to spare also go take a look at the BBC WW2 Archives (the link below will take you to my personal page there) and use the search facility (top right) to take you to such items as BLITZ.
When the BBC site became a "sealed" archive and would accept no further postings I found this site and have never regretted it.
BBC - WW2 People's War - Ron Goldstein's War

Welcome aboard !

Ron

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During the period October 1942 to January 1947 my wartime "Cook's Tour" took me to the following places:
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Egypt & Germany.
My units were the: 49th Light Ack Ack Rgt.RA and
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

Hahahaha. Shopping list...

Thanks for the link, Ron, I'll have a peek at that and see what I can find.

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WWII-era pen-advertisement
P-51 Mustang fighter-plane.
Parker '51' fountain pen.

World War II Police Air Raid Siren - 1939 to 1945

There's your air raid siren !

Ron

__________________
During the period October 1942 to January 1947 my wartime "Cook's Tour" took me to the following places:
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Egypt & Germany.
My units were the: 49th Light Ack Ack Rgt.RA and
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

Ah wonderful! I've tried various sites, but none of them have any reliable recordings.

__________________


WWII-era pen-advertisement
P-51 Mustang fighter-plane.
Parker '51' fountain pen.

I don't know if this will interest you but my Grandmother was a little girl during the battle of britain in london and she talked about here father being an ARP(Air Raid Precautions) here is a site if you are interested.

APR Wardens during World War 2

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They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. Lest We Forget

Thanks for the link Tomcat. This helped me reconnect with a research site that I was using, but had lost.

Michelle

Shangas,

You might be interested in this site The Battle of Britain - Home Page It describes itself as
"The Battle of Britain History Site

These pages catalogue the official reports of the most important event in Royal Air Force history, the Battle fought over Britain between the 10th July and 31st October 1940. For the first time, the complete Fighter Command Operational Diaries for the period have been published in full, day by day over the whole period the Battle. Supporting this official text are a series of pages detailing such facets of the Battle as the Commanders, the Aircraft and the changes in Tactics on both sides as the situation developed. "

It has records of some of the bombing in England.

This site has a timeline of the Blitz. The Blitz world war 2

Michelle

Michelle

Just had a look at the excellent Blitz Timeline you recommended and noticed the significant date of October 1940.

This rang bells for me and I went back to a story I had posted (on behalf of my wife) on the BBC WW2 Archives:
BBC - WW2 People's War - The night our house was sliced in half

Regards

Ron

__________________
During the period October 1942 to January 1947 my wartime "Cook's Tour" took me to the following places:
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Egypt & Germany.
My units were the: 49th Light Ack Ack Rgt.RA and
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

Thanks for the link to the story, Ron. Reading it reminded me of a story of my Mum's. She was at her sister's visiting when my eldest brother was an infant - some time between Nov 1944 and May 1945. A bomb or rocket (sorry cannot recall exactly) - fortunately a dud - came through the roof of the house landing in the lowest level. Whilst debris and glass flew, no one was injured. The netting over the bassinette, in which my brother was sleeping, was covered in shattered glass.

When visiting us in Canada, during a horrific Prairie thunderstorm, another of her cousin's told me that she and her husband had been married on a Saturday, and on the day his marriage leave ended their home was destroyed by a bomb. They were standing in the reinforced entryway kissing goodbye. She said while it was a miracle that they survived, she was always afraid of the sounds of thunder and lightning afterwards, as they reminded her of the sounds and feelings from that day.

Michelle

Hi everyone,

Thanks very much for the stories. They're very interesting to read. I'm reminded of one I read on another site. It was about fountain pens during wartime (WWI & WWII, specifically) and in the article, the author stated how his aunt (An Englishwoman who immigrated to the 'States after the War) was one day unable to get down to a bomb-shelter when a V-1 rocket came flying through. The rocket exploded and blew apart the building she was hiding in and actually threw her body across the room against a wall. Somehow, she managed to survive what was quite possibly a direct hit.

----------

Here it is: From the article "War and the Fountain Pen - Some intersections of pen history and real life."


...Back in London, the Irish girl was ironing one evening when the air raid sirens wailed. She kept on ironing her uniform for the next day. Then she heard the “buzz” of a V-1 rocket’s pulse jet engine. The V-1 was a hit or miss affair: the Germans put in just enough fuel to deliver the bomb to a general target area, and when the fuel ran out, the bomb fell to the ground--somewhere. You were safe if you heard the jet pulsing directly overhead. The Irish girl had learned to count the seconds of silence after a V-1 engine stopped and gauge when and how far away the explosion would be. This evening the pulse jet cut off at the wrong distance: the Irish girl, counting seconds at her ironing board, suddenly wished she were down in the tubes.


She came to on the floor, her anxious roommates bending over her. The rocket had exploded close by. The Irish girl was dazed and bruised, but otherwise unhurt. On the wall behind where she had stood ironing, she saw indented in lath and plaster the perfect outline of her flying body. My uncle, an American serviceman, married that Irish girl in England during the war, and in 1946 she came to the States on the Queen Mary, which had been converted to a troopship at the start of the war and now was making “Bride and Baby Voyages.” The Irish girl would swing me, a small child, upon her shoulders, demonstrating the “fireman’s lift” with which she had carried grown men out of bombed buildings...

__________________


WWII-era pen-advertisement
P-51 Mustang fighter-plane.
Parker '51' fountain pen.

Hey everyone,

Have you seen this video on Youtube?
YouTube - NationalArchives08's Channel

They're pretty cool. Can't imagine what Londoners were going through, the video's paints pretty grim picture!

Shuadam

As one who personally experienced the Blitz, I have often thought that films like this should be made compulsory viewing before any views were put forward on the ethics of the bombing of German cities.

Ron

__________________
During the period October 1942 to January 1947 my wartime "Cook's Tour" took me to the following places:
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Egypt & Germany.
My units were the: 49th Light Ack Ack Rgt.RA and
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

Hey Tomcat do you know where in london your Grandmother lived during the war? my mum lived through the blitz living with her Grandmother in Lewisham celebrating her 10th birthday on 8 may 1945! Jason

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WHEN YOU GO HOME, TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW,WE GAVE OUR TODAY. Epitaph on the Kohima memorial .

Hi wtid45,

My Mum and her family lived in Edgeware. She turned 18, Sept 1939.

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

I could not agree more!!

A quote from that film, "...unconquerable spirit of the people of London...".
Well said.

Michelle, I would love to hear more of those stories!!

Tomcat, wtid45, I would love to hear more stories of your Grandmothers as well!

thanks to all!

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Members of the Dutch Resistance with 101st AB, Eindhoven. Operation Market Garden.

Scott

Hi michelle sep 39 and may 45 two months and two years hard to forget when you have a birthday fall in those months.And another reason i have the intrest in ww2 that i do.

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WHEN YOU GO HOME, TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW,WE GAVE OUR TODAY. Epitaph on the Kohima memorial .

Just started a book called Wartime Britain 1939 - 1945 by Juliet Gardiner. It looks like it is going to be an amazing reference as to what life was like. It has an extensive bibliography. If you are interested in London during WWII this book may be a good book to get.

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

Michelle

I can also recommend this book.

As someone who "was there" I use this as a reference book albeit one that is very readable as a mirror of the times.

Enjoy

Ron

__________________
During the period October 1942 to January 1947 my wartime "Cook's Tour" took me to the following places:
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Egypt & Germany.
My units were the: 49th Light Ack Ack Rgt.RA and
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

One things for sure folk were fitter back then. Maybe we should try the Home Front diet?

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Regards, Richard


"Open channel D"

Michelle, Ron thanks will look out for a copy

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WHEN YOU GO HOME, TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW,WE GAVE OUR TODAY. Epitaph on the Kohima memorial .