Norwich Blitz
()
About this ebook
Martin W. Bowman
MARTIN W. BOWMAN is the author of over 100 books on military and commercial aviation as well as photographic books on a variety of subjects. He has participated in German and USAFE air/land and night air/drop missions on C-160 and C-130 Hercules aircraft, and is a frequent contributor to aviation journals in Great Britain, the USA and Australia. In 1999 he was appointed an official researcher for DERA.
Read more from Martin W. Bowman
Boeing 747: A History: Delivering the Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confounding the Reich: The RAF's Secret War of Electronic Countermeasures in WWII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legend of the Lancasters: The Bomber War from England, 1942–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Invasion of East Anglia, 1940: An Historical Cover Up? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClash of Eagles: USAAF 8th Air Force Bombers Versus the Luftwaffe in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deep Sea Hunters: RAF Coastal Command and the War Against the U-Boats and the German Navy 1939–1945 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mighty Eighth at War: USAAF 8th Air Force Bombers Versus the Luftwaffe 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsC-130 Hercules: A History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nachtjagd: Defenders of the Reich, 1940–1943 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reich Intruders: RAF Light Bomber Raids in World War II Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5German Night Fighters Versus Bomber Command, 1943–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jet Combat in the Nuclear Age: Jet Fighter Campaigns?1980s to the Present Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosquito: Menacing the Reich: Combat Action in the Twin-Engine Wooden Wonder of World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosquito Mayhem: de Havilland's Wooden Wonder in Action in WWII Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDuxford and the Big Wings, 1940–45: RAF and USAAF Fighter Pilots at War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosquito Missions: RAF and Commonwealth de Havilland Mosquitoes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/52nd Air Division Air Force USAAF 1942-45: Liberator Squadrons in Norfolk and Suffolk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAir War Varsity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bedford Triangle: Undercover Operations from England in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sepecat Jaguar: Tactical Support and Maritime Strike Fighter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings100 Group (Bomber Support): RAF Bomber Command in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lockheed F-104 Starfighter: A History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth American Mustang P-51: Long Range Fighter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Berlin: Bomber Command Over the Third Reich, 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Men Who Flew the Mosquito: Compelling Accounts of the 'Wooden Wonders' Triumphant World War Two Career Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLockheed F-104 Starfighter: Interceptor, Strike, Reconnaissance Fighter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRAF Fighter Pilots in WWII Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Norwich Blitz
Titles in the series (100)
Great War Fighter Aces, 1916–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuschwitz Death Camp Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzkrieg Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWith Rommel in the Desert: Tripoli to El Alamein Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Allied POWs in German Hands 1914–1918 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Germans at Arras Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChiang Kai-shek Versus Mao Tse-tung: The Battle for China, 1946–1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adolf Hitler Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5German Guns of the Third Reich Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Normandy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU-108 at War Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hitler's Defeat on the Eastern Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5D-Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Mountain Troops, 1939–1945: The Gebirgsjager Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Korean War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Crushing of Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the North African Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joseph Stalin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Waffen-SS on the Western Front, 1940–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrika-Korps Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5B-17 Memphis Belle Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hitler's Headquarters, 1939–1945 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Armoured Warfare and Hitler's Allies, 1941–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in Northwest Europe, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare and the Waffen-SS, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943–1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Himmler's Nazi Concentration Camp Guards Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings6th SS Mountain Division Nord at War, 1941–1945 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related ebooks
An Eye in the Sky: The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force Career of Air Commodore Henry George Crowe MC, CBE, CBD (SC) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Shadow of Arnhem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWind in the Wires and an Escaper's Log: A British Pilot's Classic Memoir of Aerial Combat, Captivity and Escapeduring the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiscovering my Father: The Wartime Experiences of Squadron Leader John Russell Collins DFC and Bar (1943-1944) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPathfinders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Air-Launched Doodlebugs: The Forgotten Campaign Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The V-Weapons: Then and Now Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShip-Busters: British Torpedo-Bombers in World War II Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kingsnorth Airship Station: In Defence of the Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting the Kaiser's War: The Saxons in Flanders, 1914/1918 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Royal Naval Air Service in the First World War: Aircraft and Events as Recorded in Official Documents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMesserschmitts Over Sicily: Diary of a Luftwaffe Fighter Commander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devon at War, 1939–45 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMenin Gate North: In Memory and In Mourning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Russian Air Force in the Eyes of German Commanders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRetreat through the Rhone Valley: Defensive battles of the Nineteenth Army, August–September 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMain Line Operations Around Manchester and the MSW Electrification Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Age of Tanks: Britain's Lost Armour, 1945–1970 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Airfields and Airmen of the Channel Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsS.A.S. in Tuscany, 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlying Warbirds: An Illustrated Profile of the Flying Heritage Collection's Rare WWII-Era Aircraft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Black Watch: A Record In Action Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle for North Africa: The Epic Second World War Struggle in the Desert Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritish Airships, Past, Present, and Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Phantom of Scapa Flow: The Daring Explot of the U-47 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTorpedo Bombers Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Captains of Bomb Disposal 1942-1946 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aerial War: 1939–45: The Role of Aviation in World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The 33 Strategies of War: by Robert Greene - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Norwich Blitz
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Norwich Blitz - Martin W. Bowman
First published in Great Britain in 2012 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley,
South Yorkshire.
S70 2AS
Copyright © Martin W. Bowman 2012
ISBN 978-1-84884-755-2
eISBN 978-1-78303-909-8
The right of Martin W. Bowman to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Typeset by Mac Style, Beverley, East Yorkshire
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation,
Pen & Sword Family History, Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Military, Pen & Sword
Discovery, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe True Crime, Wharncliffe Transport,
Pen & Sword Select, Pen & Sword Military Classics, Leo Cooper, The Praetorian Press,
Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Frontline Publishing
For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact:
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England.
E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Norwich City
Bibliography
This book is dedicated to the firemen and firewomen and the other services E. C. LeGrice FRPS, Clifford Temple, George Swain and the other brave and resourceful war photographers who risked their lives during the bombing raids on Norwich in WW2 to photograph the destruction at close quarters.
House on Exeter Street off Dereham Road with letters proclaiming that the family were all safe at Tasburgh. Someone has scrawled the ironic message ‘Bed & Breakfast’ over the top right hand window.
Acknowledgements
I am especially grateful to Bob Collis who graciously made available his account of the Baedeker raids on Norwich and which is referred to throughout. I am also indebted to Norman Bacon, Mike Bailey; Nigel McTeer; Jack Richardson; Norwich 2nd Air Division Memorial Library; Norwich Castle Museum; Sallie Watson; and Tony Hatch.
Norwich City Hall Isn’t Paid for Yet but never Mind, the Luftwaffe will soon put paid to it
On Tuesday, 9 July 1940, a warm afternoon, the dull throb of aircraft engines could be heard from high in the sky near Norwich. At Mousehold aerodrome on the outskirts of the city no air-raid siren was sounded. At Barnards Iron Works, a collection of First World War hangars and outbuildings, there was no cause for alarm. Although the Battle of Britain was about to start the cathedral city was not yet in the front line. When an air raid warning was sounded, a young teenager, Derek Patfield, took his place as one of the pairs of spotters in the watch tower erected on the top of the Enquiry Office, watching for enemy attack. To relieve the boredom he often trained his pair of powerful binoculars on the young female employees walking between the workshops and offices. If he saw approaching enemy aircraft, or thought they identified one as enemy Derek pressed the alarm siren, which sounded all over the works resulting in the employees dashing to the air-raid shelters. When the young spotters got fed up with the lack of aircraft activity during their two-hour shift, they would sound the siren, just for the hell of it, to see the panic it caused! False alarms were explained away as ‘incorrect identification’.
At five o’clock when the two aircraft approached from the northeast, flying at about 600 feet, they made out the black markings in the shape of crosses on the wings they flung themselves to the ground. They were Dornier Do 17s! Barnard’s was hit by twelve 50kg high-explosive bombs. Three bombs, which failed to explode, were also dropped. The raid was all over in six long seconds. Two men who were working by the loading dock were killed and another threw himself to the ground 20 yards from where a bomb exploded but his only injury was a damaged toe, which later had to be amputated. One worker had a most remarkable escape when a bullet or bomb splinter went through his trouser-leg while others pierced the walls on either side of him. One of the aircraft was seen to bank away towards the centre of the city.
At the famous Colmans’ Mustard Works at Carrow, workers coming off shift poured through the main gates – jostling, laughing and bicycle-bells ringing. As the Dorniers suddenly appeared overhead many of the women were pushing their bicycles up Carrow Hill. The Dorniers banked a little and dived and the sound of a whistling bomb rent the air. The older men remembering the sound of falling bombs from the First World War threw themselves to the ground, at the same time shouting to the women, ‘Down!’ The women and girls did not immediately abandon their bicycles and they did not throw themselves to the ground. A bomb crashed through trees at the top of Carrow Hill near the Black Tower and exploded at ground level. The resulting blast and flying splinters of stones, earth and glass killed Bessie Upton (36) and Maud Balaam (40) instantly. Gladys Sampson (18) and Bertha Playford (19) died shortly after being admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Maud Burrell (37) finally succumbed to her injuries on 12 July. A further four bombs hit the Boulton & Paul works in Riverside killing seven men and three men died later of their injuries. Four men were killed when one of four bombs dropped on the LNER locomotive sheds and goods yard at Thorpe Station exploded. Three others died later of their injuries.
On 2 December 1940 a bomb fell in the grounds of Carrow Abbey and another on Bracondale which killed Mr. Arthur John Pennymore (55), a member of the counting house staff at Colman’s who was on duty as a special constable.
Norwich, in common with most English cities, suffered enemy attack from the air and, during a period of almost three and a half years bombs were dropped in every part. ‘To most young people’ recalled J. Fincham ‘the year 1940 meant nothing, but to me it was my first taste of the bomb dropping, which was to take place in Norwich in the next three years. I was at Boulton & Paul in the box shop with Charlie Banfield as my foreman. On Thursday, 1 August I was working a bench drill next to a young lad, Alfred Swan, when suddenly the hooter went – one, two, three, seconds: ‘Duck Swanny!’ I shouted – and under the bench we dived. Perhaps another two seconds