The traitor William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was a broadcaster for Nazi Germany during the second world war. He would spout propaganda on short wave radio and lots of people in England would listen in just to ridicule his statements.

However! There was an occasion when he informed the people of Newton Heath in Manchester that the big “Mather & Platt” factory on their doorstep had been camouflaged to hoodwink the glorious Luftwaffe into thinking what they were sighting was a populated block of houses, the outer walls had been painted to resemble windows and doors and a lawn in front.

The attempt had proved to be in vain, he informed us because the painters had omitted to include a letter-box opening on the doors. The kids in the area went to see for themselves and what Haw-Haw had said on that occasion was true!

Apart from Mather & Platt, the factories round about included West Gas, Dempsters and Avro’s. All of them manufacturing munitions and equipment essential to the war effort.

Although the factories were prime targets, it was rare for any of them to get a hit apart from a few incendiary bombs which were swiftly dealt with by the Fire Watch and ARP It was unfortunately the houses of people living near the factories and Gas Works which attracted the devastation.

Many men who didn’t go into the forces were engineers with qualifications to turn out goods needed to fight the war, others were medically downgraded for service, they all kept up moral throughout. The men, women and children at home may not have faced the enemy as our servicemen did but! The front line of war started at the donkey-stoned front steps of their houses and the big “V” sign on the wall.
Tom Connor.