“I said damn the Germans and went to sleep again”

William Hallam had been through one too many air raid alarms.

William Hallam
13th April 1918
The hooter blew a Zepp alarm in the night at 10 to 12. It woke me up. I said damn the Germans and went to sleep again. I was told this morning the all clear went at 2 but I didn’t hear it. I hear they didn’t get nearer than Banbury. A dull cold day. After dinner I dug up garden and planted late potatoes.

Florence Vansittart Neale
13 April 1918
100 Div: up against us. Our men splendid but enemy very strong. Must hold them – God helping us!

Diaries of Florence Vansittart Neale of Bisham Abbey (D/EX73/3/17/8); and William Hallam (D/EX1415/25)

Leave a comment

by berkshirerecordoffice on 13 April, 2018 • Permalink

Posted in Enemy nations and individuals, Hopes and prayers: the religious response, Life on the Home Front, News from the Front: the grim reality of war, Patriotic fervour

Tagged 100th Division, Aerial photography, Air raids, Banbury, Gardening, Zeppelins

Posted by berkshirerecordoffice on 13 April, 2018

https://berkshirevoiceswwi.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/i-said-damn-the-germans-and-went-to-sleep-again/

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search for:
Recent posts
- What a vast difference it makes to know that the War is won 28 November, 2019
- Two German rifles (one without a bolt) 27 November, 2019
- Returned from military service 26 November, 2019
- Changes to war savings 25 November, 2019
- “This hospital is being used for permanently disabled soldiers, so that it will probably remain open for a long time” 24 November, 2019
- “The absolute stillness and reverence of the crowd was most marked” 23 November, 2019
- A memento of the Great War 22 November, 2019
- Slight consolation in proud grief 21 November, 2019
- Always cheery even under the most adverse circumstances 20 November, 2019
- A Memorial which will stand for centuries as a keepsake of the bravery and sacrifice of Mortimer’s sons 19 November, 2019
- A telegram advising closure 18 November, 2019
- An absence (in the Army) of more than three years 17 November, 2019
- Forbury Hill “not really suitable for the erection of a War Memorial such as would be worthy of the great events which it was now proposed to commemorate” 17 November, 2019
- Training for a post at Woolwich Arsenal 16 November, 2019
- A Cross for the war memorial Altar has been promised 15 November, 2019
- “Plenty of beer – more than I’ve had since the War started” 14 November, 2019
- Serving beer to the Entertained Soldiers and Sailors 13 November, 2019
- “It is difficult to obtain a complete list of those parishioners or worshippers in our church who died in the War” 12 November, 2019
- A mysterious peace fell like the dew from heaven upon the hearts of a waiting people 11 November, 2019
- The great silence: the sacrifice of those who fell must not be in vain 11 November, 2019

Previous posts
Previous posts
Themes
Themes
Visit Berkshire Record Office
9 Coley Avenue
Reading
RG1 6AF
0118 9375132
Tues-Wed 9-5
Thurs 9-9
Fri 9-4.30
Meta
Archives
After the war Behind the lines Children and the war Enemy nations and individuals Hopes and prayers: the religious response Internment and prisoners of war Joining up Life on the Home Front Never forget: remembering the war New opportunities and other changes for Berkshire's women News from the Front: the grim reality of war Nursing the wounded Our allies and friends Patriotic fervour Roll of honour: the war dead Safe asylum: refugees in Berkshire Service at home Supporting the troops Uncategorized
Most mentioned names, places and subjects
Aeroplanes Air raids Army chaplains Army Service Corps Army training Ascot Belgians Belgium Berkshire County Council Billets Bisham Bisham Abbey Bishop of Oxford Bracknell Brown Burghfield Canadians Choirs Christmas Cigarettes Clewer Clothes Concerts Congregationalists Cookham Dardanelles Demobilisation Earley Egypt Florence Image Florence Vansittart Neale Food France French George V Germans Germany Guns Henry Vansittart Neale Hospitals Illness Influenza Intercessions Interned John Maxwell Image Lady Mary Glyn Leave London Maidenhead Missing Music Navy Newbury Newspapers Peace Peace celebrations Percy Spencer Phyllis Vansittart Neale Price rises Prisoners of War Ralph Glyn Rationing Reading Reading Prison Red Cross Rolls of Honour Royal Berkshire Regiment Royal Engineers Royal Flying Corps Russia Russians Salonika Sandhurst Services Sewing Shelling Shells Shortages Smith Soldiers' families Soldiers' wives Stratfield Mortimer Submarines Sulhamstead Swindon Sydney Spencer The Spencer Family Trains Trenches Warfield Wargrave War memorials War Office War savings William Hallam Will Spencer Windsor Winkfield Wokingham Zeppelins

%d bloggers like this: