Firms stepped in to help in building our bomber fleet
Historian Malcolm Goode concludes events which were taking place in May 1942 which saw Burton soldiers fighting in many corners of the globe while local firms made key parts for aircraft.
THE FAR EAST
BRITISH and Commonwealth troops stood and fought a last bitter battle with the Japanese forces at Kalewa in Burma, this enabled the remaining forces in Burma to enter the border region with India and eventualy reach Imphal.
The British and Commonwealth forces, together with troops from India and Burma, begin to arrive, after some 13,500 troops had been killed in this campaign so far.
NORTH AFRICA
GENERAL Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps, together with the Italian army, attacked British and Commonwealth troops holding the Gazala line in Libya.
The Italian armour were repulsed by troops of the Free French Forces who were backed by allied tanks.
Rommel’s forces caused some serious moments with his more powerful anti-tank guns.
Fotunately for the Allied forces, Rommel’s advancing armour had to be restrained by him as they began to suffer serious fuel problems.
The Royal Navy, serving in the Mediterranean, had for some time been successfully disrupting Rommel’s fuel supplies sailing from Italy to North Africa.
To help alleviate the problem, the German Luftwaffe assembled a special bomber force to find and sink Royal navy ships.
Unfortunately they found and sank the British destroyers; H.M.S. Kippling, Lively and Jackal to the west of Alexandria, Egypt.
GERMANY
AT the end of this month, Air Marshall Harris had finally assembled enough bombers to carry out his plan of the first “1000 Bomber” raid which was carried out on May 30.
The selected target was the German city of Cologne.
Over 59,000 people were made homeless. British losses amounted to 40 aircraft.
The new British Mosquito bombers made their first of many raids over Germany on May 31.
These aircraft were mainly constructed from wood where many parts were manufactured and assembled by our local ladies in factories in Burton.
Those factories were our local timber manufacturers – J.B. Kind of Shobnall Street, Sharp Bros. and Knight of Wellington Road, and the Midland Joinery Works on Branston Road.