The WW2 Sheffield bomb map.

I heard a bomb fell near Dodworth Train Station

 

The bombers came up from northern France and approached Sheffield from the south. After dropping their bombs, they turned west for the return journey, navigating by the reservoirs. Barnsley would be only a few minutes flying time away and with so many aircraft a few would have strayed and come pretty close.

One of the old boys on here told me that as a boy he’s been coming back with his aunt from the Cinema in Hoyland when bombs fell around Hoyland Common. Years ago the Chronicle had an article about a man in Birdwell who’d dug up an incendiary in his garden.

My mother said the sky glowed red over Sheffield and there was a constant drone of bombers. She was hiding under the kitchen table with her mother when there was a banging and shouting at the door. It was the next door neighbour…. “If we’re going to dee, let’s all dee together!”

 

thanks. the piece we found was near to birdwell

 

Pontefract got bombed. They hit a terraced house aiming for Baghill Railway Station and munitions works. Pontefract had a large garrison at the time too.

 

Surprised it wasn't with all the mines - knocked them out if affects big industry

 

Might have been. Lots of sweet factories making munitions instead of what they were supposed to in aid of the war effort.

 

My dad always told me the luftwaffe flew in from the east and used a still white Barnsley town hall tower as a signpost pointing them down to Sheffield

 

Why didn't they paint it black?

 

We have always been told Lincoln Cathedral was never attacked because it was also a signpost for the Luftwaffe.

 

What's the point it's war.

 

Apparently they were. My mother was a bus conductress on the Barnsley-Sheffield route and was caught in a bad raid one night. She told me that the mistake the enemy made was to fly east-west trying to take industry out. They failed to fly along the Don valley. Many of the bombs fell on the city centre and residential areas. If you look at the map for patterns, there are signs of sticks of bombs falling east-west. The other factor was that navigation in those days at night was nothing like it is today. No radar and a blackout below. As for my mother, it was the last scheduled bus that night. The air-raid sirens went off just after they'd set off and were in the Wicker, near the arches. The driver stopped the bus and the few passengers and crew went into a public shelter. When the all-clear sounded the bus was still there and serviceable but the roof was full of holes caused by shrapnel. I was at school as a kid, at Scott Road in Pitsmoor and in the 1950s there was still grim evidence of damage. One of the fare stages on the route down into the city was actually known as Bombed Church. It was many years before it was rebuilt.

 

I t

Balby had 20 deaths in one raid.

 

I love to hear the stories out parents lived through, your mum must have been a brave young woman doing that job at night in wartime, respect.

 

Someone asked about Dresden. Just giving estimations.
As for war. Allus ends up with Jaw, Jaw, so why not do it from the start. But sad to say, inevitably, coming to an agreement is nay on impossible. To both parties. The world is fekked.

 

Interesting that. My road is covered up by the map of Dore and Totley in the bottom corner so I assume it wasn't directly affected. One right by my old house in Crookes though.

 

It’s the human cost, of them buggers was so close it made my aunty drop her fish and chips , she wasn’t happy apparently!

 

Had relatives in North Wales and they took in children evacuated from Liverpool. The train carrying these youngsters pulled in at the stations on the route and people who could take children went to the station and were given the number of children they could care for - no vetting at all ! - don't know if they got paid for taking in these children.
My family took in two sisters and at night they could see the red sky of Liverpool burning in the far distance - unsurprisingly in adulthood both sisters needed support for mental health issues.

 

I believe the chemical works at Low Barugh were a target. My memory is a little foggy on this as I'm recalling something my grandma told me years ago. I think it had been designed (and possibly built) by a German company so they were aware of the exact location. My memory is a bomb was dropped but it didn't explode. I could have got this wrong.

 

They were far more likely to come east from Holland and Belgium across the North Sea than north from France - less time over land reduces the chances of being shot down on the way. And its nearer.

 

This may be a little less known story.
A UK bomber on its way to Germany crashing in Barnsley

https://www.bestofbarnsley.co.uk/post/barnsley-tales-the-day-a-plane-crashed-in-our-town