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Montrose bridge.


Roger Newsome

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I saw this on the news the other day and thought it might be of interest here. To be honest I had forgotten about it until I went through Montrose on the way home yesterday.

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/971607/scottish-engineers-world-war-2-bullet-holes

 

https://stv.tv/news/north/1418247-long-forgotten-wwii-bomb-damage-found-under-rail-bridge/

 

https://www.railstaff.uk/2018/06/11/shrapnel-marks-and-bullet-holes-uncovered-in-montrose-viaduct/

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My uncle was training to be a teacher in Montrose when WW2 broke out.  I'm not sure if the child who was killed had been one of his pupils but he certainly knew the family although by the time of the incident he was serving in RAF intelligence.

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5 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

My uncle was training to be a teacher in Montrose when WW2 broke out.  I'm not sure if the child who was killed had been one of his pupils but he certainly knew the family although by the time of the incident he was serving in RAF intelligence.

That's interesting and a little known story that shouldn't be forgotten. I was was going to give your post just a "like" but given the tragic circumstances I didn't think it appropriate. 

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Thanks Roger.  My uncle passed away in 2011 aged 97 so I can't ask him for any more information.  He had some difficulty getting demobbed because officers who spoke fluent German were in great demand but once he got out he went back to Montrose where he taught for about ten years before promotion took him away.  I clearly remember him speaking about the bridge being attacked (more than once I think) and the girl being killed in one of the raids. I also remember his observation that it was ironic he was never in any serious danger while he was in the RAF but a small girl was killed in a normally quiet place like Montrose.

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On a similar theme on the way out to lunch today we passed the site of where Masham, North Yorkshire, was bombed in 1941. Details here,

http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york41/a1al.html

My Grandparents lived just beyond the brewery in the background of the memorial photo.

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I spoke to a gent at the Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre (a great place to visit if you are in the area www.rafmontrose.org.uk) a few years back who was a young boy in Montrose and remembers that particular raid well as he and his Father were walking up the main street in Montrose at the time of the attack and his Dad pulled him into an alleyway just as one of the aircraft straffed the main street. They were bombing the harbour and one bomb hit the Chivers fruit factory.

There is a great book (I can't find it at the moment to get the title!) that documents the Luftwaffe's activities over Scotland during the war and if I remember correctly it states that this raid was one of many raids that took place on the east coast of Angus and Fife on that day.

 

Duncan B

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