World War ll London Blitz Diaries Series

Friday, September 1 War started today. After another week of lies and duplicity, Hitler launched into actual warfare early this morning. At five thirty this morning he announced the enclosure of Danzig in the Reich, and at five forty five he bombed his first Polish town . . . The BBC has just announced that King George held a Privy Council this noon, and has signed papers completing the mobilization of our Army, Navy, and Air Forces. Further news to be broadcast at four p.m.” So begins diary of Ruby Side Thompson, a middle-aged Londoner in a highly unsatisfying marriage who lived through the Blitz and who recorded with ink and pen whatever was utmost on her mind. Generally, her writing served as therapy for her bad marriage – and she chronicles her husband’s faulty behavior in great detail -- but when cataclysmic world events crash into her consciousness, they gain top priority and she writes fluidly as they unfold before her: “Wednesday, May 15 At seven a.m. we heard that the Dutch have laid down their arms. After the Germans re-captured Rotterdam yesterday, the Netherlands Commander-in Chief issued an order to his troops concerned, to cease fighting. To continue resistance was hopeless. “Now the struggle for Belgium proceeds . . .” “Saturday, June 22 . . . The French Cabinet has been sitting most of today, and no armistice has been signed up till now, eight-fifteen p.m. Winston Churchill broadcast on Tuesday night, saying we would fight on “till the curse of Hitler was lifted from the brows of men.” Such writing blasts history out of the realm of dry, dusty names and dates and nearly places the reader in the midst of events as they unfolded, very heady stuff for history buffs. Sunday, September 1. The raids at one p.m. and five-thirty are the worst Romford has yet experienced. At mid day fifteen bombs were dropped in the very center of town. The first one fell in Victoria Road, only missing the railway bridge by a half block. Then in a straight line across all those little roads towards Hornchurch and the Romeo, fourteen others were dropped, demolishing shops and houses and killing many people. Rumor gave the estimate dead as fifty, but we do not know the actual number yet. Perhaps it was more. I sat alone here in the most awful terror I have ever known. The noise was devilish, the house shook so much I expected it to fall upon me, and the suction in this air is indescribable. Machines were dwelling right over the house, and each bomb as it fell sounded as though it might be in the back garden.” This is very important documentation and will have tremendous appeal to those who have an avid interest in the effect of the war on ordinary Britons.

This diary is the 3rd in a series of four volumes written by Ruby Side Thompson. They document her experience about World War Two in England and the London Blitz. The diaries are unique, written from a woman's experience during war time. They include Ruby's opinions written only for the privacy of her diary. Her views are often ahead of her time. She writes about the war in terms that would have been considered blaspheme if spoken our loud. We are fortunate to have this very personal and articulate perspective of that war of seventy years ago. March 4,1943 Well, today, March Fourth, I live. I still live. Last night we had two bad raids. The first came at eight-thirty and went on until ten p.m. The second came at four thirty this morning, and lasted until a quarter to six. Our gunfire was terrific. I have not heard yet what damage was done. Nothing in this immediate vicinity, though when Ted returned from the Home Guard he said one of their officers had come in, in an extremely nervous state, and said bombs had fallen in Collier Row. However, when the radio man came this morning, about a half and hour ago, he said, no, not Collier Row last night, but nearer to Fairlop and Warley, the airdromes, well, we’ll know later. Whilst the racket is going on I get very sick, and retch constantly. I can’t help it, and I can’t stop it. This morning I feel sore in the ribs, as though somebody had kicked me. If a bombardment went on for twelve or eighteen hours, I think I should expire, not from a direct hit, but from my one bodily mechanism, which will not behave properly, and which I can’t control, no matter how emphatically my will commands it. Sheer animal fear, over which the soul has no control, yes, sure it can kill you. This blasted war! When, oh when, will it finish? If there is anything in this world stupider than war I have never heard of it. Men deliberately destroying mankind, men deliberately destroying the entire world, could there possibly be anything more insane? Well, I pray like mad. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Deliver us from evil. Oh deliver us from evil.

Do you find yourself watching reality tv? Well, if you do, click off that set and head for the real thing. These diary entries, written 70 years ago by Ruby Thompson, who had to simultaneously put up with the Blitz bombing of London and a marriage that was as damaging to a woman's psyche as those Nazi bombs were to the city, will take you back to a time and put you in the middle of the history the way no boring textbook summary of the war could. What was it really like for the individuals who bore the fear, rationing, and destruction created by the Blitzkrieg against London? How were women stuck in bad marriages, held captive not only by convention, but by their own mindset that had been drilled into them from birth? Ruby's fierce intelligence, powers of observation, clear writing, and analysis of her miserable husband and unhappy marriage provide insight into both history and the psychological state of a woman stuck partly by her era and partly by her own sense of what was possible. A fascinating revelation for anyone interested in World history and women's history. Also check out the blog by the same title. Fascinating!

This is the fourth and final in a series of diaries written by Ruby Alice Side Thompson during World War ll. She lived in Romford, Essex a suburb outside of London. Ruby Thompson wrote almost daily about the incessant air raids and bombings, keeping meticulous records of the time, location, and length of these raids. She writes of the stress and terror revealing the emotions, fears and the way lives were crippled due to the constant unknown of when or where a bomb would hit. In one segment she even sees a bomb sailing by her window. Her two youngest twin sons were directly affected by the war, one shot down over Germany, spending most of the war as a German war prisoner. His brother lost a leg. Ruby considered both these tragedies to be lucky compared to the fate of many others. Ruby writes brutally honest accounts of life as she saw things as they happened. They are her innermost thoughts, feelings, and frustrations. Because this personal record of events during the war and her marriage were not written for anyone but herself we are now, seventy years later, have a small peek into the past from which we can see a family trying to survive the London Blitz during World War II. Ruby's politically incorrect opinions, as well as her continual up and down moods also documents the war within her marriage as well as her continual vacillations with her religious beliefs. Her candidness is what makes this book a page-turner. If you have ancestors who were alive during World War II, in England, this book is a good place to find how households and family members lived during the London Blitz. Ruby Side Thompson's personal diaries bring history into reality.