January 1945

  7 Responses to “January 1945”

1. 

   Ray Osborne says:

   Wednesday, 7th May 2014 at 5:44 am

   I would be interested in any documents relating to the above incident. My mother, who recently died’ told me about being in the house at 34 Maybank Road, South Woodford when this took place. Luckily, while the house was quite damaged, she and her father and sisters were unhurt.

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2. 

   Allan carter says:

   Saturday, 21st June 2014 at 8:11 pm

   A piece of V2 shrapnel came through the front window on the 23rd January 1945, that had landed near Fords Car factory Dagenham. My Dad had it engraved with our names on it .Mr & Mrs Carter Donald, Allan and Rob at 117, Second Ave , Dagenham Essex. I now have it at home in a glass cabinet.

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3. 

   Frederick Clark says:

   Friday, 10th February 2017 at 12:46 pm

   At 08.37 a.m 23rd. Jan.1945 my brother and I were getting ready for school, we were in the kitchen of our council house in Crutchley Rd., I was aged 6, my brother Gordon was 11 yrs. old.I remember it being extremely cold with the occasional wintry shower,my older sister Eileen had gone to work at Sainsburys in Catford and our mother was making her way to the 124 bus stop in Verdant Lane, a few minutes walk from our house. At precisely 08.37, Hitlers “vengeance” rocket, the V2 slammed into the cemetery in Verdant Lane, just over the back from where we lived. There was no warning, unlike its predecessor the Doodlebug (V1) which made a horrible rattling sound. The 13 ton V2 travelled faster than the speed of sound and impacted at over 3,000 miles per hour, you couldn’t hear it coming, the only noise being after the blast. I can recall the walls seemed to contract and expand also a sensation that seemed to take your breath, our back door suddenly blew in just missing my brother. I was sitting under a shelf containing pots and pans and a heavy old clock, the shelf snapped in the middle but the contents luckily did not fall on me. After the initial shock we looked out the back,there was another row of houses between us and the cemetery,over these in the distance we could see a huge pall of smoke mushrooming at the top, also there were lots of clods of clay splattered everywhere. There are some gaps in my memory, some of which were filled in by my older siblings and mother.The next thing I recall was that we were in Verdant Lane looking for our mother, my sister had been given a lift home by her boss. Our mother had been waiting for a bus when the rocket struck, the blast had apparently knocked her off her feet and thrown her into the road, she was bruised and dazed with a few minor cuts and bruises, other than that, unhurt. I remember the scene, the road was strewn with debris, big clumps of soil, glass and debris and as we made our way back home we were stepping over what we believed were human remains.My impression was that everything seemed to have fallen silent and there seemed to be a foggy type haze, I’m not sure if this was from the blast or the weather conditions at the time.It seems that our house had received only minor damage, some broken windows and a good splattering of clumps of clay. This monster was fired from Batt 1./485 loosduinen (site 19) The Hague,it then travelled faster than the speed of sound before smashing into the cemetery, a V2 creates a crater approx 66Ft. wide & 26 Ft. deep throwing up approx 3,000 tons of material into the air, 0 deaths were recorded and only 7 people were injured.A lucky escape for everyone in the area,it would have been so different if it had exploded on hard ground. .

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4. 

   Andrew Bremner says:

   Monday, 11th May 2020 at 10:50 am

   Incident 534 — 14 January 1945 — Barking

   From my Late Dad’s memoir .. Paddy Bremner.. We were playing billiards in the front room of our flat 20A London Rd Barking when a V2 rocket dropped over our block. There was no warning. The noise dust and the pain seemed to go on forever. The lights went and we were in total darkness and it felt as if somebody kept hitting me on the head with a hammer. I put my hand to my face and could feel sticky blood everywhere. The lights came back on and my face was a mask of blood. I was completely dazed and disorientated. The heavy rescue men came and rendered first aid and insisted I be taken to hospital. I was carried in the arms of a large man who placed me in the ambulance. A large crowd had formed and cheered as we went past. I was lucky and only required being bandaged to the nines and receiving a tetanus. For the rest of my life I would jump at the slightest thing. My nerves were shot to pieces. Paddy Bremner 1932 – 1990

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5. 

   Len Parker says:

   Sunday, 24th May 2020 at 11:04 pm

   When the V2 hit West Hampstead on 8/1/45 my mother and I and our landlady were in 114 Iverson Road. My mother and I got out badly injured but our landlady Mrs Thomas died later in hospital. I could not see her in the list of those killed by V2s

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   • 

     Admin says:

     Monday, 25th May 2020 at 11:31 am

     Many thanks for pointing out this omission which we are pleased to confirm we have now included with the following details:-

     Incident No: 489 – 10/01/1945 – ETHEL MAUD THOMAS age 51 OF 114 IVERSON ROAD.
     DAUGHTER OF THE LATE MR. AND MRS HAMLIN; WIFE OF ARTHUR JOHN THOMAS. INJURED 8 JANUARY 1945, AT 114 IVERSON ROAD; DIED AT NORTH-WESTERN HOSPITAL

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6. 

   Jill Harris says:

   Tuesday, 14th July 2020 at 3:42 pm

   I am just typing up my late Mothers memories (Lilian Spark) and these are from the V2 which landed opposite her house 26A Woodland Street, Hackney Ref 445 L781036 at 16:13. My mother was a telephonist at Whitehall Exchange in London during the war.

   On 4th January 1945 I left home for work not knowing that it would be the last time I would do so from that house. The house where I was born.
   At around 16:15 I was told to go on a certain circuit on the switchboard, there was a private call for me. This wasn’t allowed really but we often got away with it. I plugged in my head set and my friend Doris’s younger brother Fred was on the line asking me what number house I lived in at Woodland Street. This was enough for me to realise something was wrong. I told him number 26A and he said it had gone and my house was all rubble. The VE 2 had landed opposite my house.
   I knew my Mother was in as I had recently phoned her to ask her to come to the pictures with me that night but she had refused. She told me she had been shopping earlier in the local corner shop and asked if she could leave the loaf of bread she had bought on top of the fridge in the shop and pick it up on the way home, but she had forgotten to pick it up and I had told her not to worry about it and we would make do with what we had got and said goodbye, so I knew she was in the house.
   I was in a terrible state by this news from Fred my friend’s brother. There had not been any air raid warning. They just came over and exploded on impact when the engine cut out.
   After a time when the supervisors thought I was alright to travel they sent me home accompanied by a senior girl. We caught a taxi and he took us as fast as he could to the top of my road which had been roped off at both ends and wouldn’t take any fare. I dashed under the rope and ran to where my house had been, chased by air raid wardens because they said the gas mains had been broken and it was dangerous. All I could think of was my Mum and my dog Paddy were in that rubble. The warden guided me to the other end of the road where a load of people were standing and there was my Mum being cuddled by a warden. I couldn’t believe she would be alive after seeing what was left of my house. We both rushed at one another and the warden cuddled us both together. I had thought I wasn’t going to see my Mum again.
   Apparently, Mum had waited until 16:00 as she realised the shop would be open to let their two children in from school which was opposite the shop so Mum went to collect her loaf of bread. Thursday was early closing day so the shop had shut at 13:30 that’s why Mum had just got round the corner to the shop when the V2 came down. She said she felt the pavement shake and a great blast of wind rush past her with lots of dust. The bomb had fallen on the library opposite our house killing many children and people in the library and walking down the road. Poor Mum said she couldn’t understand why the man lying on the pavement didn’t get up as she passed him, she thought he was doing as we were advised if we couldn’t get to a shelter in time which was to lie face down with arms resting on your chest. The poor man had died from the blast of the rocket landing.
   Paddy my dog hadn’t been found and I was very upset about this. My uncle and my brothers were looking for her in the rubble in the evening and about 20:00 they heard a whimper and found Paddy under the boards from the cupboard under the stairs which had fallen over her and protected her. She must have been lying there waiting for my Mum to come back. They say bread is the stuff of life an it was for my Mum and Paddy.
   Neighbours next door and all along the road had died. If it hadn’t been early closing day my Mother would have collected her bread on the way home from the shops and she wouldn’t have gone out again.
   Unfortunately, the children had just come out of the local church school at 16:00 and lots were killed.
   By this time snow was falling and all our photos and books and clothes were all soaked. I had just had a suit made for me, a jacket and two skirts it was a serge material an I had two skirts because this material got shiny with use but my wardrobe that I kept my clothes in had a glass inside the door which shattered and ripped all my clothes to bits. So much for having two skirts to last longer. It was a great shock to know all our possessions had gone and all our close neighbours had lost their lives. Two old ladies who lived next door to us were killed and one was found sitting in a chair holding our cat Jimmy. Both killed by the blast the air raid warden told me, but Paddy was only next door and was lucky thank goodness.

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