The Blitz - 14th November 1940

Wearethemods, the story I was told that all the bodies not recovered was during 1942-3 period, after that with the deep excavations for rebuilding it was clear they would be found and placed in graves. And yes Owens did provide a shelter, so did a lot of places not mentioned here. Those first two years would be hard to describe, no matter where you were you dived in the first shelter or covered way, people opened their doors to anyone for shelter or rest, there was a great feeling of we are in this together, although we were rationed cups of tea would appear for wardens, fire crews and anywhere it was needed. In 1939 very few people had seen an aircraft or knew about bombs or read about their power so this was a new and uncalled for experience for everyone. Most people thought the war was going to be like the 1914-18 war in another country, never thought planes would reach the Midlands, that was the kind of talk then. Few people took notice of the Spanish Civil War. Most people had no idea where Poland was until the war began. So we got hit by something no one could ever have imagined happening in Coventry. Coventry in the thirties was as peaceful, quiet, friendly a place as anyone could have wished to lived in.

Thank you dougie for sharing, 350 parts I would have given up lol but also found the yearly wage interesting too, wonder how many would survive on that nowadays.

Hi Morgana. As I mentioned in an earlier post we had a Morrison shelter. Its assembly was simple and it was only 350 parts if every nut, bolt and washer was counted.

Now I was under the impression that the Morrison shelter did not appear at the beginning of the war like the Anderson did, but came about because of the very fact we talked about earlier of people hiding under the stairs. The Morrison was more solid for in the house than the stairs afforded, also for people who had no garden, or people that could not get to a shelter outside the house, I could be wrong. There were a couple of nights when bombs fell before we reached our shelter and my elder sister pushed me to the ground and fell on top of me. Two years ago I came to Coventry to my sister's funeral (91) and absolutely broke down, something I have never done before, because of those wartime memories.

Did they come in a flat pack like IKEA? That would have been a nightmare.

There were several raids where the sirens sounded well after the first bombs fell. We lived in Old Church Rd, the first house next to the Bell Hotel so we were hardly a prime target for Hermann. Except for one occasion when we had a near miss, if you can call about 100 yards away near, the nearest serious destruction was the area where the police station now stands on Stoney Stanton Rd.. That whole area was destroyed. Yes Dreamtime the shelter did come as a sort of flat pack but I think the assembly was quite easy. Kaga I don't recall there were any raids after we had our Morrison shelter. We certainly never used it.

Just to let you all know that we hosted Northleigh pupils and staff here yesterday morning. We have a number of residents who lived through Coventry's blitz so they were able to film and record their memories. We are hoping to establish an ongoing relationship with the school. Our residents are looking forward to the next academic year. One of our lady residents worked in the Owen Owen store prior to WWII and I have made a start establishing the shop's internal layout. I have also started an internal Coventry History Group where some residents get together to discuss the layout of the city over the years. If any members here wish to come and tell the group about their knowledge of Coventry then please make contact. It is not a formal lecture situation, more an informal get-together.

I bet the pupils enjoyed it I hope they learned what people went through no doubt some thing they will never experience. What a wonderful idea of yours.

On This Day: Coventry obliterated by worst Nazi air raid of WWII

Norman Conquest, are you saying that because you bought a Morrison shelter Jerry ceased the bombing. lol Although you say Bell Green only got one bomb and there was no targets, Bell Green had a very big T-junction, and troops passed through, and there were many cases where he made T-junctions targets, could it not have been possible he was aiming for the junction? I never really found out if it was possible for an aircraft to drop a single bomb, thought they were always in 'sticks' unless he had a faulty release. Remember a report in the paper once that one of our fighters shot himself down, dived got in front of his own bullets, 'don't ask me', but I distinctly remember a wartime daily paper reporting something along those lines. Should have put that in 'What do you believe'.

My mum was coming from visiting my cousins still in Dudley Street caught the bus on Bell Green Rd and a German plane starting shooting all down the Bell Green Rd.

Yes Kaga. Buying the shelter certainly put Hermann off. There wasn't a raid on Coventry after that. As I said in an earlier post, it wasn't a single bomb, it was just the one bomb of a stick that fell nearest our house. That was during one of the earlier April raids. I remember that it was dark and the guns on Deedmore Rd and barrage balloon and searchlight in the Dudley St area kept the enemy aircraft high, possibly over 30,000 ft, so it's doubtful that the bomb aimer could have seen the Bell Green junction from that height. The probability is that Morris Engines was the intended target. It was not unusual for British aircraft to miss a target by several miles.

Link to "Imperial War Museum"

The students have been here this morning to show us oldies the finished film. It is fantastic! So professional that I wish I had been part of the production team. There was many a tearful eye in the audience remembering their loved ones.