Wartime miscellany

Dreamtime, Not your scene, but one of the unsung heroes of D-Day was Lt Colonel J.H. Hackett, a Perth lad, born and bred. He was my Commanding Officer for over twelve months, I had no idea where Perth was in those days. During the 1990s, whilst in Perth, I laid a single flower on his grave.

79 years ago and the phoney war came to an end for Coventry. In the first real raid, 3.7 inch gun in front of the house, a Bofors gun in the field behind and a ring of guns round Coventry, but the 3.7 guns were a new type, never really been tested. We had braced ourselves for noise, but this was something else - the earth shook, and defects in buildings came tumbling down. I was 13 and 13 days before my next birthday, mother bought me long trousers, but that night 13 people died, and worse was to come for Coventry.

1940 and a quartet was giving a lunchtime concert at the National Gallery in London. In the middle came an unexpected crescendo - a delayed bomb exploded. The quartet played on as though nothing had happened but a little old lady said "Sssssssh", as if someone had talked in the slow movement of the music. My aunt boarded a bus in Broadgate to Longford. She went upstairs, there was a man sitting near the front, so she sat near the back. A few moments later the siren sounded, the driver pulled to the kerb and stopped. The man left his seat, walked to the back, sat at the side of my aunt and took her hand in his, without a word. Five minutes later the all-clear sounded - the man got up and walked to the front and regained his original seat. My aunt said "Thank you". 'The Blitz Spirit'.

The war created a sexual revolution. It felt it was an opposition to death. Of all the planning of D-Day the Americans tucked over a million condoms amongst their wants. The night fear and pleasure combined to provoke a mood of wild exhilaration. With most people taking cover, you could dance a polka in Broadgate, or wherever. The belief that death might be imminent was at the root of a great deal of unaccustomed behaviour. Illegitimate births rose from 25,000 to 35,000 in the first two years, and V.D. by 70% in the same period. And the war threw people together in ways that would never occur in normal times. The London Life Magazine pushed the boundaries with sexy stories, and a newspaper created a cartoon strip called Jane, who was always losing her clothes in front of men. Nudity shows became massively popular. They posed nude but were not allowed to move, but at the Coventry Hippodrome the girl was posing in an open robe, and as the lights came down she disposed of the robe and was completely naked. The curtain was always late falling, so... Also you will find, after the blitz, there were a lot of fines for looting in the Coventry blitz. Soldiers sent to help, helped themselves.

Studies have shown that the excitement of meeting someone of the opposite sex, the frisson, rated attractiveness and so on increase dramatically when there is a sense of danger, e.g. walking over a swaying rope bridge above a canyon. It's all to do with propagation and the survival of the species. It's coded into our DNA before we are even born and has been for millions of years - often referred to as "instinct". My parents and uncles/aunts got married during the war because they had no idea if or when the war was going to finish. They might be dead the following day, as had happened to many of the people they knew.

Thanks for your reply, Slim. Instinct, sixth-sense, the adrenaline boost, was with me most days. I do believe that the constant boost to my heart strengthened it. Of course, I could be miles wrong but I loved it. Now I don't wish to offend anyone, we all have our own ideas on life. The Coventry tradition of being shut in a place, working most of your life in a factory or office, was against my urban upbringing. The challenge in my life was there constantly. 25 years of age, could I really lose myself in a foreign country alone? Only one way to find out. 55 years of age, could I really run the streets of Coventry in a full marathon? Only one way to find out. I'm merely trying to explain where my stories came from.

Would the first bank in Coventry have been Woodcock and Son in Smithford Street, around 1810 when the paper money came in. Coventry centre was full of underground cellars. Pearl Hyde ran her 'Devils Kitchen' from deep in the Central Police Station, the morning after the blitz. It became so famous they built a replica in New York, they wanted to run a biblical film feeding of the 75,000 hungry, homeless, hurt and sick. She made a documentary instead. On the open ground they put wooden huts - Co-op, Barclays, Freeman H&W, Boots etc. Smithford Street corner, Weaver to Wearer up and running within a fortnight.

Before the war, Mayfair in London was the aristocrats' playground. The Cafe de Paris, the most glamorous night club in the world, huge chandelier above the dance floor, dimmed, all glitter, a world of fantasy for the rich. It had as resident the most foremost jazz band of the day, led by a West Indian. The band was way out above any other band in the country at the time. Jazz musicians, singers, fought to get a showing with this band. But in 1941 it had a direct hit that killed most of the band and a number of high ranking wartime officers. It didn't open again till well after the war. This was about three weeks before Coventry had its second most serious raid.

When we pulled out of Dunkirk in May 1940 it was a massive defeat. That spring and summer of 1940 the public's fears of invasion was high, possibly to the invasion leaflets and to Churchill's denial that the bombing had moved the invasion focus. Around the time of the Coventry blitz a de-coded message was passed to Winston saying Hitler had ordered the dismantling of air loading bays in Holland. It meant the operation 'Sea Lion' invasion of Britain was almost certainly postponed if not called off altogether. No wonder then when Churchill visited Coventry, saw the workers and people's response to the blitz, he smiled and took out his largest cigar. But the bow was kept taut until about Christmas I believe before we thought the danger was over.

I do not remember a floral clock in Coventry but Hove, Sussex had a famous one, but Annewiggy mentioned Toc H. I was in a bar in London with a friend - it was full of commandos, airborne and such. He started to take the micky out of them, he was drunk. The guys started getting edgy. I grabbed him by the shoulder, dragged him outside. "You trying to get us lynched?" We stumbled across the road and I booked us in the Toc H for the night. It was similar to the YMCA as I recall.

Not sure if anyone's interested. Now in the village of Sherbourne, Warwickshire, there was a family named Maudslay. They founded the Maudslay motor company, their cousin founded Standard Motors. There are graves in the village churchyard of some of the Maudslays. Here is were I found out, got interested. Their son was one of the crew of the great 617 Squadron (Dambusters) and was killed aged 21. His plane had been hit with flak, came down in Holland. The pilot that actually breeched the Moyne Dam was named Maltby - he went on a further mission to the Dortmund canal, but for some reason it was aborted. Maltby turned over the North Sea, his wing tip touched the water and the plane cartwheeled into the sea.

Hi Kaga, I worked out from some of your posts (Coventry Blitz) when you mention how old you were when experiencing the blitz. My wife Anne who lived in Prince of Wales Rd remembers it well as several houses were destroyed and were still in that state when I came to live close to her in '49. The locals were of the opinion that the Alvis Factory at the Coundon end of Four Pounds Avenue was the end marker after the bombers had made their run over the city when the planes turned left and jettisoned their remaining bombs as the flew off home. While I am on a post, maybe you can answer a question about something I saw a few years after the war that nobody from Coventry seems to remember. One day at school (time 12 ish I think) I was high up in my form room overlooking Warwick Rd, when with a gigantic roar a large number of Lancaster Bombers began to pass our window and carry on down the hill towards the city. They were quite low and so many they did block out much of the sky as they passed over us. It was a tremendous display and unforgettable to me. Was it some kind of RAF tribute to the damage Coventry suffered in Moonlight Sonata? Could it be that there are very few people in this forum who did not see this as they were too young to be present on this occasion? I don't know but I suspect it might be the case. Regards, Dr Phil

Dr Phil, If it was between the start of 45 to early 48 I wasn't in Coventry so can't help you, I never heard of such. I flew over Coventry in one of three Lancasters about Sept 45, sort of friends between RAF and airborne trip. But someone on here may help you. Good luck, Kaga.

A YouTube download that people may like to look at. Please have a look, it only takes 4.30 minutes - I've put the short version on. A most moving piece of British TV history.

3spires, Yes the glider pilot regt was stationed at Larkhill, Salisbury Plain. How apt, giant gliders hanging in the air like larks on the wing, what a beautiful sight, but that was as near as you wanted to get. When the war depleted the numbers of the 6th, by the time of Market Garden only the 1st were up to strength, later when amalgamated, we had a c.o. from the 1st who was actually from Perth, Oz.