The WW2 Sheffield bomb map.

WOW what great story , such hero's, would I have been so brave at their age, I doubt it.

 

I don’t think it was just down to luck that the Sheffield steel works came through the blitz largely unscathed. There was undoubtedly some subterfuge deployed to divert the bombers from their intended targets. The city centre in particular paid an heavy price for it

 

The bombers that took part were based around Cambrai northern France. Flying North/Northwest they missed London, making landfall over Norfolk/Suffolk then up through the Midlands. A similar route to the one they used to flatten Coventry the previous month. Night fighters weren’t too much of a problem as early in the war there was no airborne radar. Even during the London Blitz very few fighters found a bomber never mind shot it down.

The thing about the Tarn Hall being used as a navigation point was a rumour that became accepted as fact locally – my mother told me about as well. In fact the bomber stream was guided by two radio transmission beams (X-Gerat) that intersected over the target area.

12th December was a clear moonlit night but there was fog over the river and industrial area. As a result, the pathfinders of KG100 dropped their marker incendiaries over the town and the main force bombed on that. A few nights later the second raid did hit the steel works but didn’t do too much damage.

 

Maybe he’s talking about the First World War.

On the night of November 27-28, 1916, LZ 61 raided England in the company of nine other Zeppelins. Crossing the coast north at Atwick, LZ 61 attacked Leeds, but was beaten off by anti-aircraft fire.

‘Bombing’ back then was simply throwing or releasing a very small bomb - this was done over Shafton, Dodworth, Kidsgrove, Goldenhill, Tunstall, Chesterton, Fenton and Trentham. LZ61 then headed out into the North Sea near Great Yarmouth. Here it was intercepted and destroyed by Flight–Lieutenant Egbert Cadbury, flying a B.E. 2C. LZ 61 fell into the sea about eight miles east of Lowestoft, Suffolk. There were no survivors among the 17 crew.

 

Yes, that was what she did as her war effort, mainly working early and late turns taking men to the pits and factories. Her brother was serving in Atlantic destroyers and her sister was a gun-layer on an AA battery in London during the worst of the Blitz. Ordinary, unassuming modest people who you could have passed in the street in Barnsley and never dream what they had done, and seen.

 

There were hundreds of coalmines in Britain at the time. The Germans wouldn't have wasted their resources trying to bomb them as it wouldn't have made any difference to coal production.

 

My grandma used to say that a bomb was dropped on Dodworth muck stack. Has anyone else heard that or was she just making it up?

 

It's true. During the First World War. See my post above.

 

So my dad and your mother where misled by a rumour which in my case has lasted for 60 odd years, and no offence, i will carry on believing my dad and your mother's version

 

There were a lot of rumours going round at the time. One was a German bomber was shot down over Sheffield and the crew thrown into a furnace. One bloke used the pilots seat as his armchair. No bomber was shot down that night though.

Another one going round tarn was that during the summer of 1940 we'd poured oil on the Channel and set fire to it to stop the Germans.

 

I remember my Dad telling me about the Zeppelin. He was 10 years old in 1916 and was living at Fell Lane Farm, Hoylandswaine. It passed over the house and everyone ran out to watch it. He said he was terrified, but nothing happened. It just motored away.

 

Cheers. Thought I'd give Google a go and it came back with this book which (I think) is a story based on historical facts. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OkeFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT232&lpg=PT232&dq=dodworth+bomb+slag+heap&source=bl&ots=BCOctWyCr2&sig=ACfU3U35BsFWjZwxG6BKt-m1dXbeROwwmg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSr8iok4qDAxX70AIHHWePBkgQ6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=dodworth bomb slag heap&f=false

I've not seen these details elsewhere though.

 

Thousands of ships making crossings but still targeted them

 

And what about this? The story of 'Mi Amigo'

https://www.historyextra.com/period...17-bomber-plane-crash-sheffield-park-history/

 

I wonder if Paul Midwood is in the group. People will remember Midwood Sports up Shambles Street. His Dad Bob was a Lieutenant in the Paras. He was at Dunkirk and was also one of the first to land behind German Lines on D Day. Paul has so many stories about Bob he could write a book. These men were Hero's and walked amongst us and because they rarely talked about the War we didn't know it. My Dads Cousin Eric Manley who owned the building firm in Wombwell won the Military Medal, and he never mentioned it. I didn't know about it until he died.

 

So much for the much vaunted efficiency of the Germans, they missed the sty completely.

 

There are a few craters round Bolton on Dearne whivh were a result of them getting rid of excess weight for the flight home.

 

I can't vouch for the source, although, bizarrely, I spent my first 6 years living on Strafford Street..
https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/t...n-i-was-a-lad-yorkshire-thread.312658/page-19

Also
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/83/a8679883.shtml

And
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/52/a2690552.shtml

 

So (and I as ever stand to be corrected), I went to the emergency services museum in Sheffield not so long ago and as I understand it, the Sheffield blitz was essentially two nights…. Once on a residential area and once on a steelworks area. I was also reading about it just today at the South Yorkshire air museum and it didn’t change my view. Regardless of the subterfuge employed (fake cities set up on the surrounding moors), I find it astounding that with the huge importance of Sheffield steel to the British effort (a huge amount of the navy ships were encased in high quality Sheffield steel) the Germans never really made a concerted effort.

In recent years I helped my mum apply for her father’s civil defence medal, awarded for services during the Sheffield blitz. I’ll still trying to find out more, but believe that as this involved being a member of the auxiliary fire service, he either went over on these two nights in question or was perhaps simply awarded it for being part of the wider service at the time. He was Worsbrough based and fire engines definitely went over to help from Barnsley. In fact one very fine example is in the afore mentioned museum.

With regards to Hull, I read a very good book all about their much more extensive blood recently. They really went through the mill. They also had subterfuge employed, a replication of the docks further east, which seemed to work really well.