As the world remembers the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, two Cyprus-based Londoners relive their experiences of life under Hitler’s bombs. )
For Constance Hirst, 88, who moved to Paralimni in 1993, the memories of war-torn Britain will never fade.
She told the Sunday Mail that as an 18-year-old, the dark nights of the blitz were terrifying. “My worst memories are trying to hide from the bombs,” she said, “We lived between Black Friars and Waterloo – we were right near a railway station which they were aiming for all the time. Night after night the bombers would come.”
Like many of her generation, Constance soon adapted to the daily terror raining down on the capital, the loss of friends and the destruction of the landscape they knew became almost the norm.
“We stood on the tables and watched London burn, eventually we all got used to it. You came home from work, changed into your slacks and that was it. We then sat waiting for the sirens, followed by the bombs.”
The outbreak of war led to large-scale evacuation of women and children from London and other large cities, and took many by surprise, like Constance who never believed that there would actually be a war.
“In 1939 we weren’t prepared for war and we didn’t think we would go to war. The ARP was equipped with broomsticks, and I remember we used to say, if the Germans attack with broomsticks, we’ll be OK!”
JIM GREEN
Jim Green, who now lives in Dherinya, was a child growing up on the outskirts of London during at the outbreak of hostilities. For him the daily excitement of bombs and alerts are as fresh today as they were 70 years ago.
“Where I lived we were surrounded by munitions factories and we were near the airfield at Hendon, so obviously the Germans wanted to destroy the area – everywhere, the parks, streets and rooftops had anti aircraft guns fitted,” he told the Sunday Mail.
“Our windows were blown out several times during the bombing. I remember we had a Morrison shelter in our house, which the whole family slept in at night.”
Named after the then-Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, the shelters were made of very heavy steel and could be put in the living room and used as a table. One wire side lifted up for people to crawl underneath and get inside.
Until one day in 1943, Jim had little idea of the realities of war, but a visit to a local shopping arcade exposed him to a sight he cannot forget.
“There in the road was a bus on its side. It’s not everyday you see a leg on its own still in the trousers. There were parts of bodies everywhere; the bus had been directly hit. People were screaming and crying, I’ll never forget it.
“It took years to clear London up; it still looked like a bomb site even into the 1950s.”
