Leytonstone E 11
Wed. Sept.18th [1940]
Dear Alb. & Bett,
Now that I have a few minutes to spare I thought you might like to have a dispatch from one of England's many war fronts - London.
You know already that we've been getting it hot & strong up here ever since I've been back. Each night there is a raid warning lasting for 8 hours or more - mostly about 9 hrs, although last night it was 9 hrs 53 mins (from 8.7 pm - 6 am) with another warning at 7 am and three more since. Most days we get five or more warnings although only once or twice a day perhaps do we see an air battle. One is, in fact, going on above us now. We've had two long day-warnings lately - one last Friday from 8.55 am - 2 pm & one on Monday from 2.15 pm - 6 pm. School is a farce, as only half or less of the boys attend & we spend our time in the corridors which are our shelters. During these all night raids we actually get heavy gunfire & planes overhead for 8 or 9 hrs. Sometimes there's a lull for half hr. after the warning is given, before the show starts. Sometimes - most often, the guns and sirens go together. The last ½ [half] hour before the "all clear" is usually quiet.
I can't possibly tell you of the number of bombs which have fallen say within 1 mile or 1 ½ [one and a half] miles of this house - while Stratford, Bow, Plaistow etc are terribly smashed up. I told you, I think, of a bomb in Grove Green Rd. & one on a shelter in Forest Drive West. Later we had an aerial torpedo in Hainault Rd right at the end of our street. Bombs fell on a number of shops in Leytonstone High rd & smashed 4 of them to mere rubble. Another bomb fell in the churchyard opposite Woolworths. Last Saturday night was the worst. An aerial torpedo landed again directly on houses in Forest Drive West. Five were blown to pieces - not a stick of furniture even could be seen - only piles of earth, loose bricks & beams of timber. Eleven bodies have been recovered & they think there are still more to be found. Forty houses around (including the one whose shelter was hit the previous week) have been rendered uninhabitable & scores more in the street behind have had windows, doors, chimneys etc destroyed. Mr. B-- lives 4 doors away & their house is badly damaged. The noise of that torpedo falling was terrifying - like a mighty rushing wind. I was lying awake in the bed & it seemed to be coming straight for us. The explosion made the whole house rock. 30 secs. later another aerial torpedo came and wiped out the United Dairies factory, a shop & two houses in Hainault Rd. That's the second aerial torpedo within 300 yds in Hainault Rd. A school has been hit & the workhouse in Union Rd. was struck by another aerial torpedo & several wards demolished. They are still digging for bodies. These aerial torpedoes weigh about 1800 lbs to 1 ton. The noise of gunfire, the whistle of shrapnel & the scream of falling bombs is appalling. Every few moments a plane or group of planes come nearer and nearer - the local guns blaze away & then a few bombs - sometimes near - sometimes further off. Sleep is impossible.
Last Monday I was put on duty as a warden for the first time since I've been back. My patrol is from the corner of Cavendish Drive down past our house to the bottom and up Scarborough Rd. I report when a warning comes. The post is about 150 yds down Cavendish Drive. Nothing had happened in our sector & I was told it was easy. the sirens went on Monday at 10 minutes to eight in the evening. I reported at the post. The guns were already blazing away & planes were overhead. I walked back to the house - dodging into doorways when I heard shrapnel falling. I put on my mac & then it came - a "Molotov basket" of 50 incendiary bombs on our street, a few on the flats behind us & a number on the railway embankment behind Mrs. S--'s. Some fell on Norlington School which is just across the line. I rushed out and blew my whistle to summon the wardens (3 of them) who were standing by. The whole street seemed ablaze with white magnesium glare. There were 10 fires between our house & the post. 94 escaped, but two fell three doors away. I tackled one which was blazing under a front window and got it out quickly. then the woman screamed out that one had fallen on a shed full of timber in her back garden & was blazing away. I rushed through the house & tackled the bomb with sand. Then I put out the blaze in the shed with buckets of water. the other wardens were working singly on other fires down their end of the street. Norlington School was blazing furiously & the Magnet Laundry next door. The Brigades were at work there.
The wardens of the next post were dealing with the fires in the flats. The remaining fires in Cavendish Drive we put out working together on stirrup pumps. One fire in an unoccupied house (No.23) we did not notice for some time & it had got going. However we got them all out in really good time & with very little damage considering. The A.F.S. etc. were attending to the blazing school & Jerry was using it as a landmark & letting drop salvo after salvo of high explosive & the guns were blazing furiously. It was like hell let loose. I found several unexploded (or unignited to be exact - they don't explode) incendiary bombs which I had to carry away and bury in buckets of sand. Finally we mopped our begrimed faces & went to the post to write the report that all was in hand. Jerry was still pasting us. I came out on patrol again to make sure that none of the fires had restarted & 2 of the wardens came out with me. We had just left the post & there came the whistle of a bomb overhead - we dropped flat to the ground & it landed on the doorstep of 50 Cavendish Drive - only 25 - 30 yds from where we were lying. For a second or so I hardly realized I was alive. Then I ran to the house and plunged in to see if anyone was in there or hurt - it was like going into a fog with smoke and dust. Wreckage was all over the place. I searched the house and found only a dog shut up in the kitchenette & unhurt. Later we found that the people had gone to a public shelter for the first time that night. The front of that house and the neighbouring ones were smashed up & windows were broken over 100 yds away. When I saw the chunks of masonry & bits of iron railings that must have flown over our heads as we lay on the ground, I realize how lucky I was. Actually it was only a small bomb - a 25 or 50 lb one - Had it been larger, I might not have been writing this. To our amazement an "all clear" went about 3 am but it was too good to be true. Jerry was back in an hour, pasting us again. He finally packed up just before 6 am. I had to look after the debris & watch there until daylight. When I got home I was more tired and worn out than I've ever been before. A neighbour brought me a cup of tea while I was on duty & Mrs. S--, kind soul, gave me breakfast when I came off duty about 7 am. There was another warning at 8 am & then I had to collect the unspent incendiary bombs and take them to A.R.P. Headquarters ( I wish I kept a bomb now, as a souvenir). A 'phone message came through that a time-bomb was buried outside our school & that the area was evacuated. When I reached A.R.P headquarters I was sent with another warden to examine certain places where it was thought time bombs had fallen. As a matter of fact we found none. It was 4 pm before I got a chance to sleep yesterday. It has been found out that the supposed time-bomb near our school was really a dud A.A. shell, so school is open today. I have rescued the fins of the first German incendiary bomb which I put out, as a souvenir. The bombs that fell on Monday night have done damage all over the place. Over 70 bombs - incendiaries and high explosives are reported to have fallen in Leytonstone on that one night. Last night I was off duty - standing by in case of more incidents. I have put a mattress in the cupboard under the stairs & I lie there fully dressed with tin hat, torch, whistle etc to hand. There was very heavy gunfire last night & I heard some bombs drop, but not very near. The Germans are dropping land-mines by parachute - one went off at the Bell, Walthamstow & rendered 100 houses uninhabitable, and, wonderful to say, killed only 1 person.
I must confess that the long weary hours of waiting and listening through the night, quite alone in the house with not a soul to talk to, were very trying, but I am profoundly glad that Rube and the kiddies are away. This is no place for women and children. Many folk have packed up and left here recently, & I don't blame them. This dislocation of traffic has made it very difficult for business folk & often they have to walk long distances. This bombing has shown the disadvantages of trolley buses compared with buses. Once the trolley bus route has been hit, the route is blocked as trolley buses can't go round side ways. Nearly all the main line termini are closed & many suburban stations. However the biggest nuisance is the inability to shop, get a bath, haircut or go to church without being disturbed by the raids. We have had no gas for the last fortnight & are not likely to get any for the duration. You can't get any hot stuff in Lyons etc in Leytonstone - not even tea, & often there is no food as the motor deliveries are held up. Tea can be got at Baker's Arms because they are on a different gas system.
Well, that's enough about war. How are you getting on? I suppose you are settling in your new home & I hope you are very happy there. Are you having much raid trouble? Drop me a line when you get time - I know you are busy now. Give my love to Brian & Sheila. Boys up here no longer collect cigarette pictures - they collect shell fragments. There's plenty of it about the streets. If Brian would like a piece I'll send him some.
Now I must ring off, as I'm on duty tonight. It's 6 pm now - I've been writing this letter between whiles.
Look after yourselves.
Lots of love,
Will XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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