St George's News

LOOKING BACK ON EIGHTY YEARS

RUBY'S MEMOIRS, PART 6 - OUTBREAK OF WAR

PART 1 - THE EARLY YEARS
PART 2 - THE GREAT WAR
PART 3 - THE TWENTIES
PART 4 - FROM GENERAL STRIKE TO WORLD WAR 2
PART 5 -MARRIED LIFE AND THE CLOUDS OF WAR
PART 7 - THE HEIGHT OF WAR
PART 8 - 1942-44: AMERICA DECLARES WAR
PART 9 - POST-WAR 1945-1950: RUNNING THE PUB
PART 10 - THE AFTERMATH OF WAR
PART 11: THE HOME COMING
PART 12: THE SIXTIES
PART 13: FROM HILDENBOROUGH TO DENMEAD
PART 14: TRAVELLING THROUGH LIFE AND DEATH
PART 15: THE LAST 25 YEARS

Part 6. Outbreak of War

FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE NOVEMBER 1996 ISSUE OF ST GEORGE'S NEWS

So war became a reality. I think few people realized what it would really mean at the time, surely anything would be better than the uncertainty of recent times. After the shock, recruitment for everything went on. Now there was work for all and so much work to be done. More and more people wore uniform of some sort; air raid shelters were specially built for civilians, factories sprang up overnight for engineering, munitions for war, materials for clothing for the three forces, fighter planes, bombers. Large air-ship type of balloons without engines were fixed to the ground by cables around all large cities to prevent landing and low flying of enemy planes. The whole of the British Isles had to be blacked out at night immediately, and no light was allowed to be seen after dusk. Gasometers of which there were many at that time were camouflaged. We were all issued with gas masks which had to be carried at all times as air raids were expected immediately and there was always the threat of an attempted invasion. What had we got to stop Hitler? There was a rush to "join up", and friends disappeared, a few weeks later reappeared in uniform only to be off again to training camps. The skies were alive with the sound of trainer aircraft learning the art of flying, and so apart from the regular forces we did produce a kind of "Fred Karno's" army but with so much courage.

Everybody wanted to learn to fly. Some women learnt but were not used in combat. One girl, Amy Johnson, who in the 20's flew solo to Australia in The Gypsy Moth a fragile biplane and she made history, was their ideal, and a select few followed her, later they formed a team that was used in the war for ferrying war planes of all types from America. Amy herself was killed as well as some others during this dangerous work. I didn't learn to fly but I did learn to drive a car, which I found to be so necessary during the war. There were few garages open as petrol was short and eventually rationed, so if you broke down or had a puncture it was up to you to get it moving as there was no AA or RAC as far as I can remember, but I know they were operating soon after the war. It was amazing how altered the country became. Women were used in all war work except actual fighting. They were bus clippies, station porters, I believe they were even dustmen in the industrial north. They also became land girls and were a great help on the land, where I had dealings with them on the farm. These were a bunch who lived in the farm house or were billeted out in nearby houses so they could put in the long hours of work without any waste of time. They were up at 5.30.am to do early milking, back to breakfast and then get ready for the first milk round at 8.am. This round was done by pony and milk chariot. Back to the farm to sterilize milk bottles and clean out cow sheds, back to lunch then on to the afternoon milking, and bottling up and out again to finish off any deliveries and back to the farm, rub down the pony and feed, clean the chariot, usually with a hose, sterilize bottles and back to dinner. And an evening for whatever they could keep awake for. I know all about this as I had three of them living in for the last three years of the war. They were the worst paid army of all time I should think and at the end of the war when they were no longer wanted they were demobbed with nothing but allowed to keep their trousers and their shoes which was a great joke at the time as they said they were "dismissed and suitably clad" with trousers and shoes. Their humour during their long working hours was unrivalled. I kept in touch for some years, two married and one came back and worked for me again as she couldn't settle down in London with her family.

While all this preparation was going on war still seemed phoney as far as the population was concerned as news was scarce, there was only the radio, the news in the Cinema, Pathé's Gazette for information, and the newspapers didn't print the kind of news one gets today. I went to see my parents about this time as there was talk of evacuation of all south coastal towns and as they had retired to the South Downs at the back of Lancing I was anxious about moving them again, but I was amazed at the transformation of the coast line. Landing traps all along the coast and aircraft entrenchments were being built into the Downs and signs of Defence everywhere. My father had been approached about leaving, but true to his Yorkshire doggedness he said he had only moved once in his married life and he wasn't doing it again for any d-d Hun; he had lived through the Boer War and the First World War so he thought he could manage and he did - just.

However, people began to think that it would never develop, and Hitler would go away, even Chamberlain our Prime Minister said "Hitler had missed the Bus", and really I suppose he had as he could have walked all over us in the previous year. As it was we were being sadly beaten on the seas as the U-Boats took on our merchant navy and many a ship with its crew and cargo and passengers if any were sent to the bottom. America tried to remain out of it but was helping by sending food and equipment across the Atlantic. This was good for their economy as Roosevelt pulled her out of the slump. We were trading heavily with her as our colonies were in the war with us, and had their own problems fitting out their armies for war. Rationing here was being tightened. I remember the cheese ration of this time was 2 oz. per person per week, one bite half was gone, another bite the week's ration. I used to make cream cheese with churns of milk which managed to go sour at times. It was really quite tasty with pepper and salt and a few chopped chives from the garden. I think you'd pay quite a lot from a delicatessen these days for exactly the same thing.

Meanwhile the news got worse, we all carried a torch at night as it was pitch dark, street lights were few and masked cars lights were only side and back lights, these also were masked, as were bicycle lights. How we got around I don't know, if you were on a main road you followed the car in front until he turned off somewhere, and you didn't know where, as all sign posts had been taken down, so you drove on until you found out at last your location. This was usually in a pub so very often you didn't get much further.

The evacuation of the children from the big cities to the country seemed to be a good thing at the time but few of the children appreciated it as they were away from their parents with strangers, also they were afraid of the country, some had never seen a blade of grass or a cow or sheep and were terrified when they baa-aed or moo-ed, so after the excitement of the evacuation many returned to their London homes with their parents and the bombing which was to come.

On the home front we had the Local Defence Corps later called The Home Guard. I won't go into this, but I assume you saw the television programme, it is so like the original I never grow tired of looking at their out of date antics. The real thing was made up of all ages with a captain in charge who had had experience of war and was either too old or unfit for the forces. There was also The Red Cross, St John's Ambulance, Womens Voluntary Service, Air Raid Wardens and other organisations you could join if you had two arms, two legs and a head. It was just a few months packed with preparation for what we did not know but all gave willingly of their time and expertise.

The Government didn't want a war not a long war anyway and Chamberlain was a reluctant war leader, his idea was of a limited war with perhaps some compromise. Churchill backed Chamberlain as much as he could as he needed the time to prepare for war whenever it came, and it did. Suddenly Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, an expeditionary force was sent from England but was swiftly overwhelmed by German air power, this I'm afraid led to the overthrow of Chamberlain who was a fine Englishman but no match for Hitler. On May 10th, 1940, the National Government that was in power voted Chamberlain out and Churchill in, and he, helped by Atlee, formed a truly National Government made up from men from all parties with the one idea of winning this war.

Things had been going badly for our British Expeditionary Force in France and they were beaten back to the French coast and then followed the great evacuation from Dunkirk. Up to now there had been little good news from the war zone, but so glad were we to get so many men back who had made up our small army that it was treated as a victory especially for the armada of little boats sailed, often by their civilian owners, who only sailed for pleasure but at the call that went out to the nation for help dropped everything and sailed their small crafts with the larger vessels to evacuate every man they could from the beaches. Now the nation was really aroused and stood firmly behind Churchill, he was our hero and in the future the whole country followed him. His oratory stood him in good stead. There was a long tunnel of defeat in front of us still, but he was our inspiration, and the hope of most of Europe as well. Roosevelt withdrew his Ambassador who had told him England had had it and was not worth helping, and sent a new one here to find out just what was going on. Soon America promised ships to help in convoying merchants ships, foodstuffs and materials for war, which was their first step towards their full participation.

In September 1940 at the end of one of the best summers for many years the blitz on London began and we learned the lesson of Total War, nothing was sacrosanct, churches, hospitals, urban districts of large Towns as well as London, where closely packed housing of the suburbs made them vulnerable were bombed mercilessly and many civilians were killed. Air raid shelters were hastily built in gardens, and women now were accepted for work everywhere to take the place of the ones that were now being "called up" especially in factories. V.A.D's worked in hospitals, drivers were needed for ambulances for the civil population. Demolition squads were formed to clear the debris from the bombed sites and rescue those who had been trapped in the wreckage, and I think it was at this time that the NAFFI or something like it was formed to bring succour to the victims of these horrific raids. The air raid wardens helped with these disasters and also anyone who happened to be at hand. Overhead the Spitfire came into operation and the Battle of Britain began. Later with the Hurricane they fought battles of the skies against the whole German Air Force which was thrown against us. While the towns burned day and night and the population stood against this appalling onslaught, these "few" somehow gained the upper hand just before we ran out of men and planes and so we had our first Big Victory.

Now we knew what we were up against all sharing in the same risks and misfortune. There were few dissenters, everyone took the same risk. One London Correspondent of the New York Herald Tribune reported: "Hitler is doing what centuries of English history have not accomplished — 'The breaking down of the class structure of England,'" - which was quite true. On a visit to London after one of these raids I saw the devastation of a vast area but St Paul's Cathedral stood out like a beacon, with no evidence of having been hit, which it had but in comparison slight. It was a sight which remained for a long time and as it was some years before it was cleared, weeds grew and flowered in the ruins like a wildflower garden of the cathedral. But we were saved from the dreaded invasion.

Disasters came and went, but we had gained one important victory, the threat of invasion had receded for the time being although the bombing of towns and civilians continued in some form or other until more or less the end of the war. London was bombed frequently during the day and also at night. Many people left and made for the country where everyone opened their homes to help them in their plight. They often had nothing except what they carried, church halls put up many of these unfortunate people; as did the councils with vacant houses and unfinished buildings. The call now was for blankets and camp beds and warm clothing. After a few nights away from the fear of bombs, we had a few but nothing like the cities, many went back to their homes and you never heard of them again but a few we had as life long friends. It was a wonderful time of sharing. So the war had its good times as well as bad.

My divorce came through in 1940 and I married again in 1941 in Kings Cross, London Registry Office. A very quiet wedding during which Kings Cross Railway Station was bombed, and as this was only a stonesthrow away it was a bit noisy at that time. Afterwards we went to a famous London Restaurant of those days, Frascatti's of Tottenham Court Road with our friends who had witnessed our marriage, for lunch to find them sweeping the glass from their shattered windows. So started my second marriage of on the whole 25 happy years.

this series of Ruby's "Memoirs" to be continued.

written by Ruby Bullock

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