Wartime miscellany

The three recipes my Mum taught me from the war were for stew, butter hash and corned beef hash, all of which are nice enough to eat today. When I was a kid, crumpets were seasonal and I can remember how excited I was when the bread man started bringing them each winter. These days crumpets are not all the same and the best are Warburtons. Thick and fluffy, not too browned on the flat side and not at all bitter like some of the thinner ones. Mmmm.

I was recently looking on the British archive newspaper site for anything about my uncle Eric Linforth, who was my dad's sister's husband. Eric was a Warrant Officer in the RAF and a rear gunner on Wellingtons. Although off duty he was called out on a night raid of Tobruk. His plane got into trouble and they had to bail out. Because he was not due to go out Eric did not have his flying boots on and when he landed he broke his ankle. The rest of the crew managed to walk back to the base but Eric was captured by the Italians and handed over to the Germans. He subsequently spent the rest of the war in Stalag IVB. Searching on the newspaper site I came across this article. I wonder if anyone knows if they managed to do any of the plans they discussed or if any one has any connections with other prisoners of war in Stalag IVB

Many of our younger members are going to see and hear a lot about Dunkirk in the next few weeks, and many have posted what was it like during the bombing, but for Coventry people in those days one followed the other and the people were caught up in both. So try to imagine you have a husband or son or relative in the forces somewhere in France, and France is collapsing, thousands are dying, soldiers are being pushed back to the sea, you're wringing your hands and praying, but all you know are snippets from the news, but the days go by, and the tragic story unfolds, and you find your answer. A tragic loss turned into a heroic story. But to Coventry people, like the rest of the UK, we wait through the fear of invasion, a real fear as soldiers bring back brutal stories of the SS. But the days go by - at the end of June we begin to ease and regain a little confidence and the phoney war of waiting goes on. Then wham, we get the Blitz - how much more can people take? Then, again in the spring, the bombers come back in full force. But a few rebel fighter pilots defy the top brass and win the Battle of Britain and we get the first real big win in this battle of heroes. And the tide turns for the better. (Through the eyes of a child).

The first 'military attrocity' conducted by the the Waffen SS affected Coventry and Warwickshire particularly as the Royal Warwicks rearguard among others like the Cheshires were left to defend a lot of French and British Troops retreating towards the evacuation port of Dunkirk. Those captured after surrendering following running out of ammunition were corralled into a barn and subsequently massacred, although some escaped and lived to tell the tale for later post war investigations.

At the outbreak of war the gov't imposed a ban on the assembly of big crowds at sports events. The West Indies cancelled their tour and went home. First class cricket season stuttered to a close until 1946, brought an end to many celebrated players. Hedley Verity, Yorkshire slow left-arm spinner, in his last game against Sussex, took 7 wickets for nine runs. He died from wounds as a prisoner in Italy in 1943. Denis Compton, outstanding, spent the war abroad but came back to play in the Test Match 1946/7, scoring a century in each innings. The Oval was to be a POW camp (didn't happen) but lines of wooden poles were set in concrete in the ground, took 45,000 rolls of turf to put it right.

With the allies planning to invade France in the future, the troops needed realistic training, and in August 1943, ships of the Royal Navy put American troops on Slapton Sands in Devon. The landings went well in fine weather, the G'Is making many friends with the Navy and civilians in the country pubs. But then in November the people of Slapton and surrounding villages received notice from the Admiralty that they had to move furniture, animals, everything, within the next six weeks - no reason was given. That they did not know because there was a tight security cloaking the event. Slapton Sands in Start Bay had a resemblance to Utah Beach in Normandy. 750 from 180 farms and hamlets were ordered out of 9 parishes. But it was the old folk that suffered most, some had never left their homes before. In one of the fields black GIs built a large camp, the first black people Devon had ever seen. Soon the place was awash with Americans, military vehicles growled along the country lanes. Eisenhower considered it essential to accustom the men to the noise and fury of battle. April 44 - the first flotilla of slow moving LSTs set out from Plymouth the night before. The first landing was planned at 7.30 next morning, but right from the start things went seriously wrong. A British cruiser was to lay down a bombardment for thirty minutes, at the same time troops on land were to fire live rounds over their heads. But several of the LSTs were delayed, the officer in charge ordered the whole thing a delay of 1 hr - but some of the LSTs didn't receive the message, and went ashore during the bombardment and were killed by friendly fire. But worse was to follow the next day. Another group left Plymouth that night, should have had two destroyers as escort. One was damaged in a collision, the other was left behind because of bad communication, leaving the LSTs without protection. German E-boats, fast moving craft, were regularly patrolling the Channel, based in Cherbourg - the LSTs were sitting ducks. That night 749 American soldiers and sailors died. Altogether 946 US servicemen died. A lot of them drowned, they had their life jackets on wrongly. Survivors were sworn to secrecy. On land in Devon, the disaster was suppressed for 9 months, then reporters were allowed to visit - they found black US troops clearing the area, but their reports were censored.

Another reason for the high death toll of U.S. troops was the fact that when the soldiers jumped into the water, their steel helmets jerked upwards with the force of impact, and the firmly attached chinstraps effectively garrotted the wearer.

pageb45, I have never heard that before, I heard most of them drowned because they had mistakenly fastened their life-jackets round their waists, rather than under their arms, with the result they turned turtle in the cold water, weighed down by their equipment. I can fully understand what you're saying, for the airbourne had the same problem in a reverse way. I had twists once, meaning the two lift webs wound round each other, pressing the helmet over the eyes, the straps cutting into my throat (like turning a piece string round your finger). I dared not press my head back for if the twists ran up the lift webs then your chute collapsed. What we were taught to do was wait, find out which way they turned and kick your twists out, all this with your head bent into your chest, your breathing cut off, and little time before you hit the deck. Although this happened often I never heard of anyone dying this way. But thank you for your reply. My regards, Kaga.

Yesterday's Southern News did a small piece on the 70th anniversary of the Palestine trouble. Plenty of Coventry kids in that.

This last message is quite poignant in its content, and it would be fantastic if members could help Hans in his quest. Here's hoping!

This forum helps to fill in a few gaps in my boyhood. The Saturday after the blitz, my dad wanted to check on two of his sisters in Courthouse Green, so I cycled with him to Roses Garage. His sisters being ok we walked into town from there, mesmerized by the devastation. We collected bits of wood from the Cathedral, dad would make a cross. We saw or heard nothing of the King's visit. Next morning my brother wanted to go to the house we had been evacuated to, to collect something. We cycled there, then to the farm to see a boy we had made friends with. His two aunts were about to take him to see the crashed German bomber. We dived into the back of the car. The bomber was spread over two fields, the engines seemed to be deep in the ground - we found a 'thumb' in a hedgerow, our friend then dropped it with fright, my brother (10) picked it up and put in my palm, a strange and uncomfortable feeling. I took it to an RAF Reg't guy on duty there. We came back to the farm and cycled home. I thought the bomber had a larger crew, but this forum says just four and were correct.

From the date you suggest, this would probably the Heinkel He 111 which was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed at Withybrook on 19 November 1940. The pilot, Oberleutnant Hans Glawe was killed, and observer Wilhelm Gutekunst, wireless operator Rudolf Zeiss and air gunner Xavier Hirshel were all taken POW.

Midland Red, We have discussed this in a different topic, and a lady member said the official document it was a Junkers 88 aircraft.

According to my sources, the Ju 88 went down on 16 September 1940, not the week after the blitz On 16th September 1940, a Junkers Ju 88 of Luftwaffe bomber wing KG54 hit a balloon cable over Coventry and crashed at Withybrook. Hauptmann (captain) Henke and Unteroffizier Rattay were killed, and Feldwebels (field ushers [NCOs]) Baur and Perleberg baled out and were both taken POW.

Midland Red, then your saying that two German bombers crashed at Withybrook, never heard that before, hard to believe, same little village, I think someone has made a mistake. No there was not two crashed in or near that village.