Sheffield Blitz

[Cynthia 10]

Sarajo.

I have brought forward the thread- 'Sheffield blitz information' as the answers may be of interest to you.

 

Cynthia. Canada.

[cartav 10]

Ref.private message response to my #624 from Ralph.

 

Regret recent mild heart condition prevents me driving for a month, & accessing area of concern. Have some pics of sparse remains of Starfish control post foundations etc. on Houndkirk moor if these are of interest, & some of houses which were built after originals were destroyed by a bomb. Need your e.mail detail to send these.

 

If you've not seen it already, you could look on the outside of the City Hall and in particular, on the stone columns to the entrance portico. Inserts on the face of these & on some of the steps are repairs to the structure which was damaged by nearby bombs on the night of the Blitz. More likely this surface marking was from masonry from bombed buildings rather than bomb splinters.

[galena 10]

The original book 'Sheffield at War' was published in 1948 by the Sheffield Telegraph and Star and publication was only 'delayed' due to the paper shortage. Not only does it contain a map of where the bombs fell there are also references to wartime efforts and involvment not found in any later publications. The paper also produced facimiles of the issues of the time 25 years later. Perhaps the library or the offices of the Telegraph have copies of these. Many of the results from 'googling' come from these publications.

 

My grandfather was the Inspector for Sheffield Transport on duty in Fitzalan Square when Marples collapsed and my mother was on duty as a VAD. Like one of your other contributors has said, at the end of her life she suffered from dementia which took the form of 'seeing' the images of that disaster. She continually repeated ' we musn't go in there, there are only bodies behind the wall, there is nothing we can do', she also saw 'doodlebugs flying over' and she would save things 'in case' as if rationing was still operating; all this over sixty later, this impact was so etched on her mind.

[gales 10]

Hi, My grandparents house was bombed it was 168 Ecclesall Rd next to the Star Cinema they then moved into no 160.

[DiamondGirl 10]

Didnt a bomb go through the bridge on the wicker, im sure someone told me it did? you can see different bricks in sort of a circular shape if you look up?

[cartav 10]

Don't think anyone could answer this one for certain........ They were still being dug up on building sites occasionally not so long ago. And the map in "Sheffield At War" is only an indication & not totally accurate. The stick that dropped across me when I was nobbut a kid isn't shown precisely & there must be other areas where the reports recorded by Civil Defence are only indicative of an explosion & not necessarily an exact

indication of how many bombs might have gone off at the same time...... There were five seperate explosions in the event that nearly got me, but only three are on the map. And the black blobs on the map only record HE....... None of the hundreds of incendiaries is shown as far as I know......

[mick851 10]

a book called, then & now the sheffield blitz, the back page has a map of sheffield and its marked on where the bombs fell

[algy 11]

Local authorities are supposed to have a record of where bombs fell, and suspected unexploded bombs, but apparently Sheffield can't remember where they put it!

[Floridablade 11]

Some time after the Blitz there was a land mine hanging from a tree by the cottages near Southey green bus terminus. It never exploded, rumours were it was a dud. The reason a lot of the records or info is lost is because it was a something we all just wanted to forget. Governments start these conflicts knowing they'll be safe but have little sympathy for the young lads who get killed in the process. Chamberlain was ousted because he tried to talk to Hitler, perhaps in vain but we should have kept our troops at home for our own defence and built up our air force but no Churchill wanted war and he got it and so did we. Suffice to say the same Churchill was about to scarper to Canada if the Germans had landed.

[Jabberwocky 46]

If you go to 90 Holgate avenue on Parson cross and look at the wall about 10 feet from the front door youll see a patch where the wall was repaired after being damaged by shrapnel from a bomb that dropped in ww2.

[algy 11]

Some time after the Blitz there was a land mine hanging from a tree by the cottages near Southey green bus terminus. It never exploded, rumours were it was a dud. The reason a lot of the records or info is lost is because it was a something we all just wanted to forget. Governments start these conflicts knowing they'll be safe but have little sympathy for the young lads who get killed in the process. Chamberlain was ousted because he tried to talk to Hitler, perhaps in vain but we should have kept our troops at home for our own defence and built up our air force but no Churchill wanted war and he got it and so did we. Suffice to say the same Churchill was about to scarper to Canada if the Germans had landed.

 

What a convenient memory you have, as well as a Tony Blair grasp of history. So we should have stayed at home? Our troops weren't at 'home', unless you count the whole empire as 'home'. Like it or not we did have an empire to defend, and don't forget the thousands of troops from the empire who fought for us in both world wars. Should we have abandoned them and their families to their fate, so we could be comfy and safe at home? As for Europe, like the USA, we were able to fight the war on someone else's territory. The damage and casualties we took from bombing would have been a pinprick compared with what would have happened if the Germans had invaded. Or should we have stayed at home and let them get on with it? Either way we would have ended up as part of the 3rd Reich, either as a subject country or a puppet state, and might well be one now, you couldn't launch an invasion of Europe from North America, assuming the USA would have joined in, which is by no means certain..

[cartav 10]

You're wrong, Algy! Floridablade doesn't rely on memory, he makes it up. If you want another laugh, go to the Starfish thread and read his thoughts on the Second Front & how his beloved Churchill fooled the Luftwaffe duringthe Battle of Britain. But give him some credit....... he's got a fertile imagination!