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Sunderland in world war 2

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daedalus said:
Eeee, look at me, my ganny had a piano...pathetic!
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Remember that people couldn't afford a TV or a car so they probably had a radio or a piano.

My nanna grw up in a relatively well off family in Whitburn, her dad owned a chippy, and they had a piano. I was always surprised how a miner's wife had such a love for classical music, until she told me about her upbringing before she married my maternal grandfather. We are often too hard on our ancestors as they had a lack of opportunity but were far from being uncivilised.

This is dedicated to her anyhow, her favourite.

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zwartekat said:
@Paddy O'Dors posted some good photos a while back of some bomb damage around Fulwell. I think it was Garcia Terrace / Atkinson Road area. There are a few blocks of houses down there that don't fit with the others. I was also told by my Dad that a few bombs dropped on what is now Barnes Park extension and I think you can still identify the crater areas (I believe it was a farm in those days). My Grandad was an ARP and I believe there were also some bombs fell around Silksworth Lane area aimed at the railway line that was there at the time.
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On 16th of may 1943 a parachute mine drops on the corner of Atkinson Road and Rosedale Terrace.
Four houses are demolished,146 are damaged 44 of them seriously.10 people were killed,eight were injured.
 
My dad worked on bomb damage in and around Fulwell, replacing roof slates blown off during the raids. He took a horse and cart full of slates, started at one end of a terrace and patched up all the way along, then did the same on the back roof slope all the way along. Sometimes he returned the next day after another bombing to do the exact same terrace all over again. Eventually the horse knew when to move along the street, so the lads didn't have to leave the roof.
 
Kate Adie reckoned Sunderland was often bombed in the morning as German planes offloaded any remaining bombs after bombing Liverpool or such like as Sunderland was the last land they passed.
 
becs said:
I know a bomb hit next to Roker Park and destroyed a wooden shed building outside the ground. Another hit the Victoria Hall.

My Grandpa told me Sunderland was targetted as the German pilots saw the Wear bridge and thought it was the Tyne bridge, so Newcastle wasn't hit as much as Sunderland.
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Although they'd argue that they had more shots so should have won even though most weren't on target.
 
Stevie Freestein II said:
Remember that people couldn't afford a TV or a car so they probably had a radio or a piano.

My nanna grw up in a relatively well off family in Whitburn, her dad owned a chippy, and they had a piano. I was always surprised how a miner's wife had such a love for classical music, until she told me about her upbringing before she married my maternal grandfather. We are often too hard on our ancestors as they had a lack of opportunity but were far from being uncivilised.

This is dedicated to her anyhow, her favourite.

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Errr - she had a 'wireless' and a car. I think my great-grandfather had a fair bit of money. F*ck knows where it went - it certainly hasn't filtered down to me!
 
Rick O Shea said:
Errr - she had a 'wireless' and a car. I think my great-grandfather had a fair bit of money. F*ck knows where it went - it certainly hasn't filtered down to me!
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Snobs! My nanna married beneath her 'social status' but after an argument with my granddad still often muttered under her breath that she should have 'ran off with that sailor in Portsmouth'. Maybe she liked a bit of rough.
 
My Mam was 19 when WW2 started , she left Sunderland to work in the factories in Birmingham because they were desperate for workers and used to tell me so many stories about being bombed and stuff she had seen and heard about - it must have been terrifying .
 
Stevie Freestein II said:
Did they fly back to Norway? Seems long way to go.
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not many of them came from Norway, Luftflotte 5 (Norway) pretty much ceased raids on the UK after getting spanked in the big daylight raid (the one that the film shows) and then just concentrated on mining ports and port approaches

The Blitz was mainly carried out by Luftflotte 2 & 3 (mostly 3) based in Northern France, Belgium and Holland

So while its possible that it might have happened i dont think it would have been following any sort of plan - probably only happened when they could;nt find Liverpool and were on the way back (would be just as likely to target any of Newcastle, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Hull, etc on the way back - whichever they got near to on the way back)
 
Luca said:
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On 16th of may 1943 a parachute mine drops on the corner of Atkinson Road and Rosedale Terrace.
Four houses are demolished,146 are damaged 44 of them seriously.10 people were killed,eight were injured.
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I'd need to double check, but I think my grandparents lived on Atkinson Road and were bombed out. I also think there were two raids that hit Atkinson Road, so I couldn't say whether that photo above was the one that saw them move house!

I'll need to ask me fatha.
 
Scotty said:
not many of them came from Norway, Luftflotte 5 (Norway) pretty much ceased raids on the UK after getting spanked in the big daylight raid (the one that the film shows) and then just concentrated on mining ports and port approaches

The Blitz was mainly carried out by Luftflotte 2 & 3 (mostly 3) based in Northern France, Belgium and Holland

So while its possible that it might have happened i dont think it would have been following any sort of plan - probably only happened when they could;nt find Liverpool and were on the way back (would be just as likely to target any of Newcastle, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Hull, etc on the way back - whichever they got near to on the way back)
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I don't get that. They'd be severely off course to bomb the NE if they were heading for Liverpool/Manchester. If bombing the NE after not being able to bomb Liverpool/Manchester once they'd got there, would mean heading even further away from their home airfield. I don't think German bombers at the time had the range to be able to do this. It would make more sense if, once they realised Liverpool/Manchester was a no-go, to drop their bombs and scarper back to safety as quickly as possible.

I've also read that German bombers attacked Belfast by flying up the Irish Sea. If this is so then bombing Liverpool by flying up the Irish sea would seem more appropriate then flying over heavily armoured areas of England.
 
The Lambton Worm said:
I don't get that. They'd be severely off course to bomb the NE if they were heading for Liverpool/Manchester. If bombing the NE after not being able to bomb Liverpool/Manchester once they'd got there, would mean heading even further away from their home airfield. I don't think German bombers at the time had the range to be able to do this. It would make more sense if, once they realised Liverpool/Manchester was a no-go, to drop their bombs and scarper back to safety as quickly as possible.

I've also read that German bombers attacked Belfast by flying up the Irish Sea. If this is so then bombing Liverpool by flying up the Irish sea would seem more appropriate then flying over heavily armoured areas of England.
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sorry, i was saying its possible that if Luftflotte 5 were on port mining on say Liverpool then if they could'nt find the target and turned around they'd possibly have the opportunity to drop something on an East Coast town on the way back to Norway

Not that a bomber from France or the Low Countries would get so lost that they would bomb an east cost city instead of a west coast city

(altho nickelbein did'nt work that far away and there were reports of German bombers aiming for Belfast who bombed Eire by mistake - and just to show i'm impartial Bomber Command had a less than stellar aiming record in the early parts of the war. Have just finished a Max Hastings book on it where BC set off to bomb an airfield in Denmark (aalborg) i think, got turned around in an electrical storm over the North Sea and bombed RAF Coltishall by mistake (they got sent dummy iron crosses by colleagues from Coltishall the enxt day)

:-)
 
Vinny the Mackem said:
I'd need to double check, but I think my grandparents lived on Atkinson Road and were bombed out. I also think there were two raids that hit Atkinson Road, so I couldn't say whether that photo above was the one that saw them move house!

I'll need to ask me fatha.
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What happened if your house was destroyed by bombing? Would insurance cover it as I'm sure ours has exclusions for Acts of War, God, etc.
 
There was a big fuck off bomb crater in the field behind the house which is now the Rosedene. A few yards difference and said establishment might not have come into existence. :D
 
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