Sheffield blitz information

[bluebird62]

Im doing history at school and i want to know about the

 

sheffield blitz as anyone got any imformation about it.

 

PLEASE!!

 

Go to your local library and and get the book --"SHEFFIELD BLITZ" by paul License

it is in both words and pictures. and worth reading also can be bought from the sheffield star £8.95

[bluebird62]

I think Sheffield's blitz occured mainly on two nights. I don't have the dates now, but found them out when researching this area myself. Enter Sheffield Blitz on Google and you should find it. A relation of mine had a big street map issued afterwards, showing the location of every bomb fall. She remembers a mine suspended my its parachute at one of the steel works and another story is about some lady (who may have lived in the Brocco Bank area) going to the kitchen to put the kettle on and returning to find her living room gone.

 

Kenny, the dates the blitz occurred was the 12th and 15th december 1940

i have the book in question kenny if you want , you can email me and i will answer any questions for you.

[Falls]

Although the blitz only lasted two days I'm thinking there must have been many bombing raids on Sheffield .Running away fm Fullwood Cottage Homes a lot of times in the raids I remember the fire-man clearing us off fm a hill that ran fm Penistone rd to cinema at the top(Langsett)?lots of shops with all the goods scattered over the rd I'm sure I remember them aiming for the steel mills at different times, but its been 65yrs and memory fades a tad.

 

Hi

 

The Lufwaffe tried to bomb Sheffield a number of times before they finally did it, Dec. 12 & 15, 1940. It was low cloud and atmospheric polution that saved us on other occasions. You could hear them up there (Heinkel bombers had a distinct sound: one engine ran clockwise and the other counterclockwise.) but because of the cloud and smog, they didn't know exactly where they were. We lived near to downtown and spent quite a few nights, or parts of nights, in the shelter before the nights of the big raids.

 

On the night of the first blitz raid, it was a clear and cold with a wind that moved enough of the usual smog for the bombers to get their bearings.

 

Regards

[Floridablade]

That was the Heeley Palace, the first time I went out with my husband it was to that Cinema, the second date was to Bramall Lane to see United.

 

Did you say on one of your messages that you had family with the last name KAy ???. If so would be interested to know your connection.

 

Cynthia, Ontario.

Cynthia,

 

My surname is Kay but it is a very common name in Yorkshire and Lancashire. My brother told me it had an "E" on the end at one time but it was changed because of the great influx of Jews using Kay instead of their origonal east European name at the turn of the 19/20th century.

[Floridablade]

Hi

 

The Lufwaffe tried to bomb Sheffield a number of times before they finally did it, Dec. 12 & 15, 1940. It was low cloud and atmospheric polution that saved us on other occasions. You could hear them up there (Heinkel bombers had a distinct sound: one engine ran clockwise and the other counterclockwise.) but because of the cloud and smog, they didn't know exactly where they were. We lived near to downtown and spent quite a few nights, or parts of nights, in the shelter before the nights of the big raids.

 

On the night of the first blitz raid, it was a clear and cold with a wind that moved enough of the usual smog for the bombers to get their bearings.

 

Regards

 

 

Yes on both nights,Thursday and Sunday it was a clear crisp fullish moon.

[ValeAngel]

One of my grandfathers was in the Auxiliary Fire Service during the Sheffield Blitz, and he used to tell my grandmother how horrific it was, seeing the bodies of victims, especially children. She told me he was called out to a hotel where there had been a function on, and the guests had been sent into the basement during an air raid to shelter, but the hotel was bombed and caught fire. The people were trapped and they all died. Does anyone know which hotel this might have been?

[peterw]

One of my grandfathers was in the Auxiliary Fire Service during the Sheffield Blitz, and he used to tell my grandmother how horrific it was, seeing the bodies of victims, especially children. She told me he was called out to a hotel where there had been a function on, and the guests had been sent into the basement during an air raid to shelter, but the hotel was bombed and caught fire. The people were trapped and they all died. Does anyone know which hotel this might have been?

 

Marple Hotel, Fitzalan Square.

[Falls]

Hi,

 

We lived on a street off the Wicker and on the Friday and Saturday morning after the first Blitz raid, we had a lot of family and friends coming to the house to see if we were alright. To get to our street, they must have seen some of the damage and told my parents about it all. This must have got my interest so I begged my Dad to take me to see it all. This he did on the Saturday afternoon.

 

We first walked down our street into the Wicker. I'm sure you have all seen the famouse picture of the Wicker on the morning after the first raid with the bomb hole and the tram split in two. I don't remember seeing the tram but it might have been moved the time I was there. Don't remember the hole either.

 

I can't remember much about crossing Lady's Bridge but I do remember the mess in doorways of the shops at the bottom of Waingate - where Hindley's tool shop and Friend sweet shop used to be. Every shop doorway seemed to have bundles in them. Some with feet or a hand sticking out from under the the covers that had been placed over them. I suppose these were victims still waiting to be picked-up.

 

There was lots of activity in Haymarket and King Street didn't exist any more. When seen from the Haymarket end of the street, everything was either rubble or a burnt-out shell. Many of the buidings had fallen into the street. We got to the corner of Fitzallan Square and must have been stopped by the police from going any further. This saved me from seeing the mess at Marples.

 

Some of you may remember the old stone-built tram shelter on the bottom side of the square, opposite what was then the Electra cinema (later the News Theatre, etc.). Laying partly across the roof of the shelter and down onto the tram tracks/road was what looked to me like the wing from a plane. It could also have been the part of the roof from a building that was blown there by the blast from a bomb. I have read most ot the books on Sheffield Blitz and seen many of the photographs but nowhere have I seen any reference to parts of a downed-plane landing in the square.

 

At that point, I think my dad had seen enough, and I'm sure he thought I had seen too much already, so we turned around and went home.

 

Regards

[peterw]

Just remembered that the other building in which a lot of people lost their lives was the former Brightside and Carbrook Co-operative Society’s Store.

Cannot remember the road it was on, but I do remember that Rotherham’s trams, which were only capable of being driven from the front rather than at both ends like Sheffield trams, used to a the loop outside the Co-op to return to Rotherham. There was an air-raid shelter underneath the building, and if my memory serves me correctly, only the facade was left standing. I think, not sure, that it was demolished some time later because it was in a dangerous condition.

[Floridablade]

Marple Hotel, Fitzalan Square.

 

 

Yes,it was Marples in Fitzalan Square which suffered a direct hit and almost everyone was killed,it was the talk of Sheffield for years whenever the Blitz was mentioned.