Dad's discharge mystery

[j.sabourn]

#20. That’s something the civilian population in the likes of the Ukraine are very unlikely to get , their bombs will be at supersonic speeds at short distances , they will be dead or injured mostly without any warning. Maybe is the best way to go if you are one of the casualty’s. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John.
To me supersonic was me running out of the outside toilet as two Messerschmitt fighter bombers flew just over our chimney pots firing their machine guns at the steel and tin works in broad daylight, very brave Germans as we had a Polish spitfire squadron about a mile away, and they didn't mess around. The barswards later came over and bombed the village but missed the steel works.
Des

[j.sabourn]

#22. Most people who lived through that era have stories to tell Des. My own mother used to tell one about being chased down the street Richmond Park Road by a Messerschmitt . Years later I was staying in the same house and sure enough the bullet holes were still in the brickwork surrounding the front door. 0ne of my own memories was of my grandfather trying to hold the ceiling up on the near miss by a V2. He was covered in white plaster and looked like a ghost. As regards my mothers true story the ack ack guns were placed down the street and likely the German pilot was after them plus of course the never ending searchlights. The pilots excuse probably if he ever needed to have one , was he was getting rid of excess weght for his return flight back across the channel . The generation before us ,it was a conversation point for the rest of their lives . It was hard to distinguish a bullet hole from a cannon shell as just took out chunks of masonry , and believe the main armament of a Messerschmitt may have been cannon. Cheers JS

[Keith Tindell]

My father was war wounded in 1939-40, it was called operation Duck, he used to laugh at that, and said i wish they had told me earlier. He was severely burned and lying on deck in a stretcher, and told me , if you want to know fear, lay on deck with the guns firing, and J87,s with the siren in the nose coming in for what seems like hours, i can only imagine. The whole account is on line, and he did not know what it was called until i looked it up. kt

[j.sabourn]

The old junkers was well known as the dive bomber with the siren in the nose , it was devised to put the fear of God into the recipients of such. The same as the infantry soldier was taught to shout and scream at the enemy when advancing with fixed bayonets. Today apparently by the stories one reads in the media the likes of one of Australia’s VC winners in Afghanistan is being dragged over the coals for mistreating the enemy. To me he is or was doing what he was trained for. But the stories that such so called friendly press comes out with , makes me think I would like to see them put in the same situation as some of our servicemen and see how they would perform . Would probably die of fright . JS

[Doc Vernon]

All interesting i guess, but i think as usual this Thread has been Hijacked by some replies hat do not relate to the actual Posters query!
Dad's discharge mystery

PLEASE!!! Stay on the thread Subject, start another if you want to talk of other issues!
Thank You