www.dartfordarchive.org.uk
My grandfather, Charles Ernest East, had a hearing impairment and was assigned to the Home Guard during WWII in Dartford, England. I have been researching to learn more about his life, so I decided to read about the local military efforts. My finds have been quite interesting.
https://www.dartfordarchive.org.uk/20th_century/military_ww2.shtml
My mother and grandmother had told me that Dartford was a target for air raids by German bombers. Dartford was on the flight path to London and the pilots often deposited their bomb loads on Dartford.
Charles worked in the local armaments factory and this was a target for the bombs. My mother told me that a bomb landed in the factory one night, but since the factory was built on a peat bog, the bomb failed to explode. She indicated that they roped off the area and continued manufacturing armaments.
The above mentioned site contained pictures and details that helped me to understand the stories that I had been told. I can see the uniform hat like my grandfather would have worn.
My grandfather used to dismantle bombs that landed in his neighborhood. Over 13,000 houses in the Dartford area were damaged during the raids. This sister reported that local officials included 6,000 high explosive bombs, twenty-three land mines, 200 oil bombs, seventy-three phosphorous bombs and an estimated 200,000 incendiary bombs. were found in Dartford. 150 local people were killed in the air raids and another 700 injured.
Details are given about how the families used gas masks, blackened their windows, and where they could seek shelter. I have found information that will be very useful in writing my family history. I have limited details from my family and my family members that could tell the story have passed away. I will be using the information and photos from this site to help me share my family history.
Do you know of any other sites that provide information like this?
@British Isles Family History Research
@England Genealogy Research
Comments
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VERY interesting! We lived in England for 3 years, and I heard these kinds of stories, and was amazed. In the U.S. we have been so well-protected from attacks, except for Pearl Harbor and 9/11. That may not be the case in future wars, though.
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My grandfather dismantled bombs in the garden shed that was just a few feet behind their home. My grandmother nervously watched out the window from her "safe location" just inside the house.
My mother told me stories of walking to school with a gas mask in one hand and her little brother's hand in the other.
Did you know that there are maps that show where bombs landed in England?
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I did not know that!
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There are Bomb Damage Maps held in many, but not all, Local Archives in England. For "London" there is a book "The London County Council - Bomb Damage Maps - 1939-1945" by Laurence Ward [2015, Thames & Hudson Ltd. London.] From personal experience I also know that there are bomb damage maps held in German archives/local authorities. It would be an interesting exercise for research to be undertaken to determine the extent of the survival of bomb damage maps throughout war-torn countries in World War 2.
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