O/T The Clydebank Blitz
Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:31 pm
Something well off topic for here, but thought I would post it anyway.
This Sunday and Monday marks the 70th anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz in which the Germans bombed our fine wee shipbuilding town. Over 500 died and thousands were seriously injured. Of 12,000 houses, only 7 remained undamaged with 4,000 lost and 35,000 people made homeless.
Clydebank's production of ships and munitions for the Allies made it a target (similar to the Barrow Blitz). A total of 439 bombers dropped over 1,000 bombs. RAF fighters managed to shoot down two aircraft during the raid, but none were brought down by anti-aircraft fire.[1][2]
A war memorial is dedicated to the crew of a Polish destroyer, ORP Piorun, which helped defend the town from the docks of the John Brown & Company shipyard.[3] It is located directly opposite from the Town Hall, which has itself a shrine dedicated to those in Clydebank who died during World War I and World War II. There is another war memorial on Graham Avenue.
I heard this little story today which made me smile. "I'll start the ball rolling with a story about my uncle George.
He was still at school at the time and on one of the nights - my mum's family stayed in the town after the first night's bombing - he and some of his pals went to the High Park. He told me that they saw the planes coming up the Clyde and saw what they thought were paratroopers jumping out and coming down over Dalmuir.
So George and his pals got tooled up with sticks and bottles and headed towards Dalmuir to fight the Germans.
Before long they discovered the incendiary devices the Luftwaffe had droped which he described as like a "parafin lamp with a parachute" and realised that it wasn't paratroopers they had seen.
I love that story because of the idea that these Clydebank schoolboys, armed with nothing more than sticks and bottles, thought they would go and take on German paratroopers."
For me, this typifies the spirit than many of us will know from our own communities when growing up, something I often feel is lost in present day Britain.
I hope some of you will raise a glass with me on Sunday to remember the folk we lost during that time, not just in Clydebank, but the UK.
This Sunday and Monday marks the 70th anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz in which the Germans bombed our fine wee shipbuilding town. Over 500 died and thousands were seriously injured. Of 12,000 houses, only 7 remained undamaged with 4,000 lost and 35,000 people made homeless.
Clydebank's production of ships and munitions for the Allies made it a target (similar to the Barrow Blitz). A total of 439 bombers dropped over 1,000 bombs. RAF fighters managed to shoot down two aircraft during the raid, but none were brought down by anti-aircraft fire.[1][2]
A war memorial is dedicated to the crew of a Polish destroyer, ORP Piorun, which helped defend the town from the docks of the John Brown & Company shipyard.[3] It is located directly opposite from the Town Hall, which has itself a shrine dedicated to those in Clydebank who died during World War I and World War II. There is another war memorial on Graham Avenue.
I heard this little story today which made me smile. "I'll start the ball rolling with a story about my uncle George.
He was still at school at the time and on one of the nights - my mum's family stayed in the town after the first night's bombing - he and some of his pals went to the High Park. He told me that they saw the planes coming up the Clyde and saw what they thought were paratroopers jumping out and coming down over Dalmuir.
So George and his pals got tooled up with sticks and bottles and headed towards Dalmuir to fight the Germans.
Before long they discovered the incendiary devices the Luftwaffe had droped which he described as like a "parafin lamp with a parachute" and realised that it wasn't paratroopers they had seen.
I love that story because of the idea that these Clydebank schoolboys, armed with nothing more than sticks and bottles, thought they would go and take on German paratroopers."
For me, this typifies the spirit than many of us will know from our own communities when growing up, something I often feel is lost in present day Britain.
I hope some of you will raise a glass with me on Sunday to remember the folk we lost during that time, not just in Clydebank, but the UK.
Re: O/T The Clydebank Blitz
Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:19 pm
good post 
Re: O/T The Clydebank Blitz
Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:38 pm
We will remember them, I shall raise a glass in salute to those on Sunday.