This weekend in Clydebank has been the anniversary of 2 nights of bombing by the German Airforce in 1941.
Clydebank knew it would be a target at sometime and there had been many false alarms since the war began.
The chief targets were the Admiralty Fuel Depot, John Brown's Shipyard, the Singer Sewing Machine factory( now producing bombs and bullets) and some other targets too.
So, when on Thursday 13th March, the sirens sounded over the town, many thought that it was just another false alarm. But they were wrong. And even as the sirens were still sounding, the first bombs began to fall.
The initial wave of aircraft dropped incendiary bombs, which began fires at one end of the town at the Fuel depot, in the middle of the town at the woodpile in the Singer Factory, and a depot at the far end of the town. These fires would still be burning when the second night of bombing began 24 hours later.
So when the heavy bombers arrived over the town, it was an easy target.
There were some defenses. There were barrage balloons and some anti aircraft guns too. The Glasgow Squadron of fighters was scrambled. But the plan there was that the artillery guns would force the bombers to fligh high, where the RAF fighters would take them on as they flew above the flak level.
But in fact, the bombers flew very low, and the fighters were stood down after an hour or so.
My mother had been at a school choir practise as the sirens went off. She and her pal tried to reach home, but they had to seek shelter in a close near Hamilton Street. Her pal ran across the road to the house where she lived. The house was hit, and her pal was killed. My mother spent the night sheltering in a close.
By the morning, all was chaos. Fires everywhere, communications limited, roads blocked, low water pressure, and collapsed and burning houses everywhere.
In one building, a family of 14, the Rocks Family were all killed, except the dad who was at work. In that street alone 150 people were killed.
Throughout the day brave attempts were made to put out fires, rescue those trapped and recover those who were dead. But as evening closed in, many people fled the town for fear of another raid.
And they were right. A second night of bombing began, with waves of aircraft during the night. This time everyone who could moved to air raid shelters.
By the following morning, only 7 houses remained undamaged in the town. Most people had lost everything. Hurried arrangements were made to bus as amany as possible to places of safety. Many of those folk would never return, and the community would never completely recover.
For obvious reasons, publicity was restricted, the newspapers reporting a raid on a Clydeside town, with a few casualties.
The official death toll was given as 528. One warden, when he heard that number said, "Which street was that?" The feeling still is that the numbers killed were much higher.
Today there are few signs left of the Blitz. The Shipyard has gone, the Singer factory is no longer, and most of the Buildings have been demolished, though if you look you can see sharpanel marks on some of the remaining sandstone tenements.
Some years later, a Christian group from Germany came to Clydebank to build a community centre.
If you wish to find out more, there are many links on the internet. On the BBC news, on newspapers like The Evening Times, and on the Clydebank council website and Libraries pages.
