Remembering the German bombers

[Dextrous63]

Thank you all for your memories of war/post war life.   I wasn't born until '63, and hence was completely oblivious to all of this.  My father lived through all the nonsense as a forced (farm) labourer, and my mother worked in the rations offices in North Wales.

Thanks again,

[Michael Rolls]

There were so many tales of narrow escapes, and, so sadly, so many that weren't. I was born in Plymouth in 1937. When war came we were actually visiting mums' s family in Ireland and managed to get back before things got serious. The road in which I was born was flattened by the Luftwaffe in 1941 and many of the folk mum and dad knew were killed.

[GrannyMac]

So many lives were affected Mike.  Everyone knew a family who'd lost a son, or brother.  My granny's neighbour had a son on the HMS Hood, which was sunk by the Bismarck. Over 1400 died. Our upstairs neighbour's brother had been a prisoner of the Japanese.  We saw him occasionally, he was a sorry sight. 

My own father was in the RAOC, evacuated from Le Havre.  Dad had poor health when I was growing up, he died when I was a teenager.  He and my mother were born before WW1. I think their generation were pretty stoic, and passed some of their resilience on to us.  It's a pity we don't see more of it today in attitudes to work, benefits etc. 

[Scrumpy]

I remember as a teenager seeing a man in our local area who had severe burns to one side of his face..  He still smiled even though it was just half his face that showed this..
I didn't look at him too closely.. I was too embarrassed .. I never did ask about him or his life.. I was far too busy enjoying my own.. 
How sad it must have been for those who came back home a different person in mind and body.. 
They had to adapt again in mixing with society..
It must have been hard for the families also..
Our headmaster only had one arm... We all respected him.. 

[JBR]

Thank you all for your memories of war/post war life.  I wasn't born until '63, and hence was completely oblivious to all of this.  My father lived through all the nonsense as a forced (farm) labourer, and my mother worked in the rations offices in North Wales.

Thanks again,

Wow!  I thought I was the youngest member here, born in 1952.

November 12, 2025, 10:44:11 AM

So many lives were affected Mike.  Everyone knew a family who'd lost a son, or brother.  My granny's neighbour had a son on the HMS Hood, which was sunk by the Bismarck. Over 1400 died. Our upstairs neighbour's brother had been a prisoner of the Japanese.  We saw him occasionally, he was a sorry sight. 

My own father was in the RAOC, evacuated from Le Havre.  Dad had poor health when I was growing up, he died when I was a teenager.  He and my mother were born before WW1. I think their generation were pretty stoic, and passed some of their resilience on to us.  It's a pity we don't see more of it today in attitudes to work, benefits etc.

The people of this country have certainly changed since those days.  I have heard so many similar things about people who were involved in the second world-war, and also some more recent conflicts.  In a way, it is perhaps a good thing that this country is unlikely to involve itself in another serious war, though some of our armed forces are still being sent to help sort out smaller conflicts in various places.

The next big thing is more likely to involve nuclear weapons, especially if Putin is involved, so there is less likelihood of men being shot and having legs blown off.  Instead, entire cities and everyone in them will be obliterated; a quick death at least for some.

[klondike]

I don't believe Putin will ever use nukes. The shit state of his conventional army suggests they aren't likely to work even if he tried. The army is so corrupt with money being skimmed off by the higher ranks that I doubt much maintenance work on the nukes gets done. The yanks spend more maintaining their nukes than the entire russian military budget and on paper they have less nukes.

[Alex]

'I don't believe Putin will ever use nukes.'
Neither do I.

[JBR]

I hope you're both right.  Of course, no-one with any common sense wants a nuclear war.
On the other hand, does Putin possess any common sense?

[Michael Rolls]

Doubt it - just meglamania

[klondike]

Putin wants to survive. Push the red button and if the others in the chain are as nutty as him and there is a launch then they will all die.

[JBR]

Putin wants to survive. Push the red button and if the others in the chain are as nutty as him and there is a launch then they will all die.

So will we!

[Flying Bomb]

It's called MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction.

[JBR]

It's called MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction.

Very true, though I live in hope that, like so many other things in Russia, Putin's nukes will fail to go off!

[klondike]

Lots of things going off in Russia these days. They come from Ukraine

[Vlad]

Very true, though I live in hope that, like so many other things in Russia, Putin's nukes will fail to go off!

The Strategic Rocket Forces were heavily depleted in 2024 having to provide a couple of battalions into the Ukrainian meat grinder along with an infantry battalion from the crew of the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov who were deployed to Kharkiv.
Having said that last year September]16 Regiment-sized elements (approximately 1,000 personnel and over 100 pieces of equipment) of the Russian 35th [with RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile systems...there were reported problems with 'missing batteries' for the launch systems.

(Nicked from RUSI)