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Air Raid Shelter
shelter2

Dad's Dugout


It is Autumn 1943, and this evening we have yet again trudged down the garden path to our Air Raid Shelter. It is now a matter of routine, as over the past few evenings the air raids have become more frequent, and now we have the added threat of Hitler’s latest ‘Terror Weapon’, the V1 rockets or ‘Buzz Bombs’ as we have named them.

We have settled into the shelter for less than half an hour when, as anticipated, we hear…
First, the local Air Raid Sirens wail, warning of an imminent air raid. This is followed by the sounds of bombs exploding, seemingly frighteningly near. Then, the sound we all dread, the distinctive roar of an approaching V1, its jet engine throbbing and dominating all other sounds, only to cut out, followed by silence and the heart-stopping wait for the explosion as the rocket dives and crashes to claim its target. But no explosion, we were lucky, this was one of the V1’s that failed to explode on impact.
Anderson Shelter

Once again our local Air Raid Sirens wail, and once again the ominous throbbing pujse of a V1 rocket’s jet motor can be heard ... it seems right over us this time ... again the abrupt jet motor cut out followed by silence ... but this time followed by a massive explosion ... It sounds like our house or the neighbours’ has been hit. We dare not venture out to investigate the damage, then we hear the siren wail the ‘All Clear’.

We can still hear, in the distance Anti-Aircraft Guns firing when we cautiously leave the ‘safety’ of our Anderson shelter to find…