London blitzed by German bombers

Introduction

7th December 1940, a date I would never forget. What started as a peaceful morning, considering what had been happening over the last year, soon turned into chaos. Bombs were falling from the sky with crashes as they as they hit the buildings and surroundings. It seemed the whole city was being destroyed. I lived with my mother, father and baby brother at 23 Oakfield Avenue, Ealing, London. We all ran outside, my mother carrying my baby brother. He sky had turned red like blood or fire.

The houses at the end of the street began to catch fire and it was spreading further and further towards us at deathly speed.

The fire had spread to our neighbouring houses

We had to make a quick decision, whether to leave our life long belongings and run for our lives or stay and burn with our possessions. The fire had now spread to our neighbouring houses so we had to run as fast as we could; the decision had been made for us.

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I was running and running as fast as the wind. I heard the crashes of the houses behind me. That was it. Our house and belongings were gone never to be seen again. Further bombs and houses ignited behind me as I was running. The air began to thin and it was getting difficult to breathe.

I just knew that if I carried on moving eventually I would get somewhere safe. Suddenly I heard a blast above my head and what looked like a flying bomb raced towards the centre of the city; when it hit the ground the whole world shook.

I was thrown back into a ditch by the shockwave. After what seemed like an age, I lifted my head up to see an enormous mushroom shaped cloud which must have been 5 miles high and it seemed to travel all the way into space. There was a sudden quietness then an almighty roar. Bangs and pounds came from where it had landed.

Giant planes passed over my head

More giant planes passed over my head and what looked like people were jumping out of them on parachutes just like the bombs were being dropped onto the city. My family and I had been moving now for about 20 minutes when we arrived at a monstrous sized gate with hundreds of people stood waiting in a huge crowd. My mother grabbed my hand tightly and said, "Don't let go". I looked back into her saddened eyes and nodded; I then looked back at the way ahead of us. The city behind us was being ripped to shreds; I hoped again that my friends would be all right.

The barrier that was preventing people from passing through collapsed due to the collective force the crowd had put on it. There was a huge rush to get through like the rush to be the first to the January sales. I was being shoved from one side to another. I would often loose my grip on my mothers hand but I would quickly grab it again and squeeze tighter. Again my hand began to slip away from my mothers hand but when I reached out I grabbed hold of an old mans hand instead. I could not see my mother; just hear her shouting for me. I replied with shouts but I still could not see her anywhere.

I was carried forward by another stampede. I had to hold on for my life onto a railing to get out of the way of the immense force of people. I started to run forward in front of the crowd to try and find my mother. I could see the glaring eyes of people looking at me but I had to ignore them because I had more important things on my mind. I was screaming out to my mum and dad to see where they were but heard no reply. Tears ran down my face and no one stopped to ask if I was alright or why I was on my own, they just stared with their glaring eyes which hurt so much.

I was walking along

Did they notice? I don't think so. I was walking along dragging my feet along the road with my head down; my tears splashing onto the road like millions of crystals. After what seemed like an endless walk I reached a small village and there was a huge sigh of relief that passed throughout the crown but my torment was not over yet as I was still separated from my parents. All the villagers were out greeting the whole crowd. A young man aged around 25 shook my hand and said, "Where are your parents"?

I didn't reply and began to walk away and as I did he asked me if I would like some food at his house and bed for the night and of course I accepted because I was very hungry and tired. It was a short walk from where we met and I was a beautiful traditional cottage, much nicer than my house in the city. It was cozy with a bright green front lawn and inside was just as attractive. The smell of freshly cooked beef stew passed throughout the cottage. My stomach was rumbling, like the rumble of an earthquake, as I was starving after my ordeal. The man lived with his wife and three children aged between 4 and 12.

This reminded me of what I had lost. The food was so good and there was even dessert to follow. The family also offered me a bed for the night and as it had been such an exhausting day, I couldn't decline. I would start to look for my parents again in the morning. Morning came and again this kind family made me a full English breakfast which was astonishingly delicious. The man told me of a war that was going on between Britain and Germany and there was huge plane passing over cities like London and Manchester dropping bombs. I could have stayed and talked to him all day but I had to go out and search for my parents.

I was surprised to see that most of the crowd had moved on already. I sat on the curb and began to cry because I thought that was it, I would not see my parents again, and the fact that I was here alone with no way of getting home. The kind man came over to comfort me but there was nothing he could do. As I was standing outside a siren started to wail and it was so lout I couldn't even hear myself think. I had heard this noise previously and before I knew it, the whole village was running out of their homes and heading for a building at the end of the road. I was being pushed and shoved towards the building.

People on parachutes

As we were running planes came howling over out heads and what looked like people on parachutes were being dropped and were heading towards the village. Once we had entered the building there was a heavy iron door and a staircase leading downwards. We went down these stairs into a dark, secluded room. I was told that it was a bomb shelter that would protect us against explosions. We could hear everything that was going on outside. As I was walking around seeing if I could find any of my family I saw my baby brother being held by a man who was sat in the corner.

I raced over to him and asking him what happened to the baby's parent, me stupidly thinking that they would be alright. He replied that they were taken away by German soldiers and that was the last he saw of them. I took my brother and went and sat in a corner. The air was moist and it smelt terrible down there but we had to live with it. I hear bombs exploding above us and there was so much noise that I couldn't hear the person next to me speaking. There was the noise of a large vehicle. The noise was getting louder and louder. All of a sudden there was an eerie silence outside.

Everyone in the shelter went silent to listen to what was going on outside. The rumbling sound of a truck was right above us. There was a huge gasp from the people in the shelter then the silence returned. The rumbling noise seemed to have gone but then there was the noise of marching feet going from behind us and heading towards the front door. Again there was a silence which was followed by an almighty thump on the front door; again and again the door was hit. There must have been five or six blows before the door gave way. Everyone in the shelter took a glimpse through the shelter door to see German soldier's pouring through the door.

Once we had seen that they knew where we were there was a sudden rush to get to the other side of the shelter. There was nowhere we could go. That was it; we where trapped. The clanging of peoples feet coming down the metal stairs getting closer and closer at astonishing speed. I was at the front of the group still holding my baby brother. I dropped to the floor, closed my eyes and held my brother as tight as I could. Bang! Bang! The door in front of me crashed to the floor. Soldiers came charging in, lifted their guns up, and pointed them towards us. "Rous: Rous: Schnell"! My search was over.