Coventry & Warwickshire in WWII

My husband, his brother and mother were machine gunned by German bombers as they ran between Rollason Road and Catesby Road. An ARP warden pushed them to the ground and lay on top of them. My husband said that you could see the bullet holes in the wall surrounding the Pilot pub for a long time.

Interesting bit of information - thanks. There's a lot on the forum, and for someone only recently becoming active in it, a lot to trawl through to find specific things, especially just by titles. On the Coventry Messaging Board I saw some comment about the raid - in fact, raids - of 8 and 10 April 41, saying that they were mainly HE bombs dropped. I'd like to dispute that (not that I was there!) In the book "Coventry Under Fire" those raids are described as "Showers of Incendiaries". I don't know if anyone on the forum has a copy of that book other than me; someone I know spotted it on a stall at an antique fair and got it for me, but I'd never seen it before. It was written by the Rev Clitheroe, vicar of Holy Trinity, published by British Publishing Company, Gloucester, and was sold for 2/6d, in order to make a profit to be donated to the restoration fund for Holy Trinity. The first edition was November 1941, the second (as mine is) "The Feast of the Epiphany 1942"). Actually, without the evidence of this book, it is hard to see why the 41 raids would have been HE, because that was dropped first (both we and the Germans did it) to burst gas mains and blow roofs off, preparatory to dropping incendiaries; since there were plenty of damaged properties from 1940, it wouldn't be logical to use much HE in 41 as a follow-up.

Almost all the photos I've seen of the 1941 raids show HE damage, the Rex cinema, the Plough Hotel, Greyfriars church, Fords Hospital, Rialto cinema, etc. The targets were much more scattered than on November 14th 1940. I can think of two good reasons why mainly HE was used: 1) There wasn't much left to burn in the city centre. 2) The primary target was probably Clydeside, which had been pounded earlier that week but was obscured by cloud cover on those particular nights, to the great relief of its surviving inhabitants.

I'm not sure what those kind of bombs are but perhaps this might help, my mother said that bombs came down on like paracutes which would explode, it blew a little boy to pieces as he jumped up to catch it on the centre of Jubilee Crescent, she also said there was one hanging off St Francis church which didn't explode.

Hi morgana There were two types of parachute bomb, the "landmine" and the "butterfly bomb". The "landmine" was a large cylinder, which was filled with RDX explosive and oil. The idea was that the bomb exploded before hitting the ground, when the explosive ignited the oil and flung it over quite a wide area, as well as the blast blowing in windows, roof tiles off, and other blast damage, so as to make maximum use of the burning oil. Quite nasty things, and if you read my entry under "Happy", I tell the story of a friend of my father's who was killed by one. Two sizes, 500 and 1000 kg; the former about the height of a man, the latter about 3 feet longer. They were certainly used in 1941 (Al Bowlly was killed by one, that year). Butterfly bombs were in use in 1940, the most famous raid using them being on Grimsby. They were small, only about 2 kg, and were intended to explode if picked up. Sounds to me that the one you talk about was one of these. As I understand it, in 1941, the raid was a lot less concentrated than the 1940 raid. In which case there would still have been plenty to burn, since the most intense fire damage was close to and in the city centre. Yes, some HE would have been dropped, that was the norm, but descriptions that I heard were that it was more incendiaries. Also that Hitler (via Lord Haw-Haw, I presume) commented after the 41 raids that,despite the huge damage of 1940, not everything had been destroyed, and the 41 raids were to "finish the job". (I understand that in 41, there were two raids, with a night without a raid in between. We did this too - it was a significant feature in the Dresden raids - so as to hit the emergency services when they were out endeavouring to repair damage, get people out, etc.) War is an unpleasant business at best. For the last two years of my career, I had to do a great deal of research,having been tasked with coming up with ideas for military research projects, including one to improve the method of clearing mines and IEDs in front of moving convoys in Afghanistan. I learned an awful lot about explosives and how they are deployed; anti-personnel and anti-vehicle devices, and of course, IEDs. A horribly fascinating business.

A nice little book to have on the shelf. I've got a family copy which was handed down to me.

Thank you KeithLeslie for explaining the difference between bombs which they released, I find all aspects of learning about these things fascinating to me as must it you too when you were requested to help with the land mines etc, here is a photo you also might be interested in my daughter in laws father who was bought out of the Army by the Air Force to work for them on the cameras of the V Bomber delta for Avro, later to help design the Black Bird Areoplane also the Black Box which all planes now are fitted with. In the photo he is the man on the left Mr R Howard

Hi morgana Yes, very interesting photo! I was able to get on board a Vulcan last June at Newark air museum. I definitely WOULDN'T have wanted to serve on one. The way the Vulcan was designed, if there was an emergency necessitating a bail out, the two pilots had ejector seats, but the rest of the crew were effectively abandoned to their fate. We were told that in 34 crashes, there were only a handful where the whole crew got out. Here two photographs that I took inside the Vulcan, sitting in the right hand plotter's seat (in which you would face backwards in flight.) The bomb - the Bomb! - was dropped by radar. The 'toilet' is hanging under the guy's elbow. I've been on board a Lancaster too, and I wouldn't have wanted to be in one of those whilst being shot at. Just thin aluminium and perspex between you and whatever was coming your way. And the front gunner/bomb aimer, well, he was effectively trapped in there for the duration. Looks as if he couldn't even get out for the loo! (In the Vulcan the loo was a rubber bag, but at least anyone could use it) I was amazed how small the Lanc is; the pilot and flight engineer couldn't even sit side-by-side, they had to be staggered. When the front gunner got into the nose, the FE's seat was hinged down over the step into the nose (almost 4 feet down!), and that was it. I got into the nose, and had a devil of a job to get out again. I wouldn't attempt the rear gunner's position, you had to slide down an 8 foot long sort of tunnel, and to get out, somehow drag yourself back up out of it. Lovely! If you see a Lanc right by a Dakota, there's not much difference in size; the Lanc is little more than a flying bomb bay, with just enough room for the 7 crew, mostly above the bomb bay, which is 33 feet long. I found the anti-IED work fascinating. Among other things, I had to gen up on IRA stuff, and one of my colleagues had been an EOD man in Northern Ireland in the 70s - he'd help arrest, among others, Martin McGuinness, and also told me that he'd been spat on by Bernadette Devlin (remember her?) whilst trying to do his job. At one point he and a friend had been half-sitting on a car bonnet chatting for 3/4 hour, then stood up and say goodbye and walked away. A few minutes later, it exploded. Do you remember when the IRA bombed Coventry telephone exchange in 1974? I started at Jag in Jan 75, and we were given ID cards. Why? Well, there was this Riley 1.5 that stood on the Engineering forecourt for three weeks until Security got interested and checked it out. It belonged to one of the 5 people arrested and in prison for the bombing. Sharp intake of breath!! All a matter of luck.... Cheers Keith

Hi Keith lovely photos you've put on so clear too, I don't think I would want to serve on any of them what peril our airmen had to endure is unbelievable. Last night I watched how they tried to re-enact the bouncing bomb target in a small light weight aircraft with a top qualified pilot, which they found impossible, they both said how they ever achieved it they never know bombing the dams at the angle and with such heavy aircraft having to get so low then raise so high to miss the mountains. My brother in law was an officer with the RAF and he used to be the navigator on them he said they give you a crash helmet as they don't fly high enough to parachute out safely, I recall that was a joke with my mum how careing they were towards their own men. All the planes you fly on now are made of aluminium, and have to be cleaned throughly outside especially as the dirt does affect flight and in before take off my son worked at Cov airport. I do recall the IRA also Bernadette Devlin, a few years ago she was interviewed and regretted what she had done. I too recall the bombing down the town being a young teenager at the time, as my dad was having the water tank upstairs changed, I thought it was the tank exploding. I hadn't heard of the Jag with the Riley 1.5 belonging to them or even being found there. Your friend and yourself were very lucky but I think Riley is a bit of a giveaway don't you lol I do recall one of the wives of the bombers the one who got killed I think said if they ever bombed Coventry again she would reveal all the ones who were involved in Coventry, even though in history it isn't the first time Coventry has been bombed by the IRA.

Yes, morgana, we're pretty cheapskate in the way we treat our armed forces. PoWs were urged to escape, risking their lives, and the moment they escaped, their pay was stopped, until they either got back or were captured. Really generous... not! Bernadette Devlin: easy to say you regretted something at a later date. Coventry was bombed by hte IRA in 1939, a bicycle with a bomb in the saddlebag or basket, as I recall. I think a policeman was killed, and about 50 injured. I well remember the news bulletins in the 50s, when the IRA was forever bombing the Belfast-Dublin railway line, and attacking police stations in the North. Can't remember them planting any bombs in Coventry between the one in '39 and the telephone exchange in '74, can you? I don't think the old Riley parked inside the Browns Lane plant was ever made public, but that's what they told us when they issued, for the first time, ID cards (I still have mine, too!) And in the almost 10 years I worked there, I was never once asked to show it.... We occasionally went to Daimler Road, and the gatemen just waved us through, even they didn't know any of us from Adam! Par for the course, I suppose. I tend to maintain that there's nothing so secret as the obvious, perhaps that worked!

Yes Keith I quite agree I always thought we were supose to be GREAT Britain and civilised, I do notice no government children go to fight though, James Wales on talk sport radio once asked an MP why do they send the youngesters to the front line, not the older experienced ones, the MP replied because they think they are infallible, James Wales a ex-UK spy himself went mad. Society and government condem our young men when they fight at footy matches etc yet they are good enough to be sent to the front line and fight. I also am ashamed to say I'm British on how they treat the wounded soldiers too. I haven't known any other bombings other than those two, only knew about the other one because it was on Yesterday a programme. I'm pleased you still have your ID card a keepsake worth keeping. I suppose they didn't ask for ID it probably was just a deterrent or like you say nothing so secret as the obvious.

I have read many war diaries and have just started reading one entitled 'Mrs Milburn's Diaries'. Mrs Milburn was born in Coventry in 1883. The Milburn family lived on Kenilworth Road and then moved to Balsall Common. However, there are many references to wartime in and around Coventry, with frequent mentions of Fillongley, Berkswell, Kenilworth amongst others. The diaries are very detailed and mention lots of Coventry specific details from the second world war. I got my copy from ebay for a couple of pounds, well worth a read.

During the April blitz, at about 1 am, my grandfather came in from firewatching on Elkington Street, Bell Green, and told my gran and my mother, aged 12, that the bombing was particularly bad and they should go to the shelter. (Mum's older brother, aged 15, was firewatching at Alfred Herbert's.) The shelter in their garden was full of water so they set off for the public shelter. They had only passed seven houses when an ARP warden told them and some other people to get into a covered entry (between the Johnsons' and the Simons' houses). The entry was open to the street at the front. Anyway, once they were all in there, they couldn't come out on account of all the shrapnel (??) flying around and stood there until 6 30 or so in the morning.

K. If I remember correctly my identity number was QEAP212-5. I was born 1932 but that number has been in my memory all my life. Does that look like the correct format for an ID number? On the other hand it could have been our Co-op divi number.

K. Hi, still trawling through this forum, how I wish this had all happened about sixty years ago so much info, gone to waste for me, firstly I said about a month ago on Baginton thread I spent a fifty min joy-ride in a Lancaster way back in late 45 time, but no way could I have explained the layout of a Lanc like you have, as far as I remember you got it spot on for being uncomfortable, but a joy to ride in. I cannot think how the army never found how to deal with anti-personnel, mines etc. in all these years, without putting you guys in danger. But then we had so many accidents you wouldn't believe. But back to the air-raids, I was told, the incendiary was not a bomb as such just a giant firelighter, mainly used by the pathfinders. Have no idea of my I.D but still know my army number from 70 years ago. Kaga.