Page 89 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

Kentish Times - 11th May 1945
Victory in Europe - Salute to the People of North West Kent

"The end of the war in Europe.... how remote has that glorious achievement seemed in the
last few years.

Victory in Europe ... a dream without possibility of fulfilment? How dared we hope that
such a possibility could be attained, with the German military machine dominating the
Continent and behind that apparently invincible force, the Nazi Party, with its insidious, evil
ramifications?

But our dream has come true ... the war in Europe is over and to the Allies has come
victory.

On that sunny Sunday morning when the late Mr Neville Chamberlain, as prime minister,
told us over the wireless that a state of war existed between this country and Germany,
most of us had no idea of what was in store for us. Our conception of how the war would
be waged was largely based on our recollections of the 1914-18 struggle, although we had
some impression that the aerial section would play a larger part this time. Yet, few of us
realised - how could we?- just what bombardment from the air really meant.

For a time few of us could understand the trend of events, or rather the lack of activity on
the war front. Borrowing an apt phrase from our American friends, we called it a phoney
war.. nothing seemed to happen... we were lulled into a sense of false security.

And then came the German break through the Maginot line - the collapse of France, the
disaster and miracle of Dunkirk - here too was warfare we did not understand. Blitzkrieg -
the enemy just across the Channel. We could hear the sound of the guns. Our army was
back in England .. the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force- broken but marvellously
undismayed. We rallied the clarion call of the prime minister... "blood, toil, tears and sweat"
was promised us as the price of freedom. We accepted, and set to with a will. At last, we
knew what war meant.

And then, in truth, we found ourselves in the front line of The Battle of Britain. Shall we
ever forget those daytime raids or the conflicts being fought high up in the sky over our
heads? The valiant struggle of "the few" against apparently overwhelming odds. The
gallant RAF won the first round. The second stage was the night raids and we more than
ever who lived in north west Kent found ourselves in the path of the Luftwaffe.

Night after night we spent in our shelters or at our posts. Day after day we went to our
work, carrying on with heavy eyes and heavy limbs aching from long, comfortless hours in
shelters.
The bombs came .. high explosives caused destruction. Incendiaries added to the
confusion. We saw homes smashed to atoms, dear ones killed or maimed.. but we stuck it.
Each morning we set about our business.. each evening we had our hurried meal and
prepared for the night to be spent either in our shelters or at our posts. We carried on...

Then came the renewal of the air raids ...not on the scale to which we had become
accustomed before... short, sharp attacks (scalded cat raids we called them).. damage and
casualties. Still we carried on.. fortified by the consciousness of our growing strength. The
war news suddenly brightened.. El Alamein.......Tripoli...Tunis...Sicily. We had landed in
Europe. Rome...... Italy vanquished. The first break in the Axis.

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