WARTIME LONDON (1940-1945)
Ladislav Sitenský lived through the bombing mainly in Liverpool's Speke district, as he recalled: "At the beginning of my stay in Speke I was going out with a young girl. One evening we were caught during an air raid in the centre of the city. The bombs were falling damn close and we took shelter in front of the Adelphi Hotel. I could not have foreseen that the young lady suffered from claustrophobia and that at all costs - bombs or no bombs - she would want to run away. I was afraid to let her go alone, so we both ran out into the street. We pressed ourselves into an alcove at the entrance to the hotel. But my back was exposed. It was no laughing matter, for I could still hear the noise of the fire engines, the whistling and exploding bombs and the anti-aircraft guns. In short, the horrific symphony of war. Miraculously we survived. When I drove past after fifty-six years, I still recognized the place at once. It was quiet, the war was far away, and only the memories remained.
Speaking of women, I remember a twenty-six-year-old nurse from a local hospital. At the time, Ing. Krejčík was her boyfriend. She was very afraid of air raids and wanted him to spend nights with her in her apartment. He could not refuse such a wish. During one night's air raid, they were in bed. Even with the noise, Krejčík heard the bomb thud into the garden below the window and did not explode. He shouted "time bomb" - a bomb with a timer and pushed her quickly out into the corridor. She only had time to put on her robe and her protector his pyjamas. They were already on the stairs when the bomb exploded. The shockwave swept them down one floor onto the carpet of the lobby. After the initial shock, they were surprised to find that, except for a few bruises, they were not injured at all. He probably saved her life, because she would have had difficulty recognizing that it was a time bomb that had fallen there.
The house was badly damaged, the roof was blown off, the front door was on the opposite side of the street and a substantial part of the wall, with the window had been blown into the room where they had been sleeping. His winter coat was pierced by shrapnel. He found another 15-centimetre piece of shrapnel in his pocket. He kept it as a souvenir.
The lady would not go up again. The fact that she was wearing only a dressing-gown did not bother her. However, Krejčík was shy about spending the night among strangers in his pyjamas."
However, the people of Great Britain could not escape the attacks of the German unguided V-1 missiles and V-2 missiles even between 1944 and 1945. It had already seemed that in 1943, due to the predominance of the allied air force, the air raids were finally coming to an end. Brigadier General Alois Vicherek knew about this, writing in his diary:
"Tuesday 27. 6. [1944] At 12.15 p.m., Mrs. Kumpoštová phones to say that our house has been hit hard. She was lightly wounded, but Mrs. Ormer is injured more severely and is being treated at the offices of the Free French [Svobodní Francouzi – author’s note]. I am going there right away. The house has been completely demolished, only the cellars are preserved. My things have been very well preserved, Mrs. Kumpoštová has everything lost for now. We are saving what we can. A big mess all around. We are taking away clothes and linens. Wednesday 28. 6. I am calling off the English lessons and all visits. Later I go to the demolition site and pull out what else there is to salvage. We are saving all the good dishes and preserves. We still can't give anything to Mrs. Kumpoštová. I am putting things in the ČČK [Czechoslovak Red Cross, of which General Vicherek was chairman – author’s note]. Thursday 29. 6. I take care of some office work and at the same time sort out some of my clothes. Mrs. Ormer takes away uniforms and some clothes. In the afternoon she also takes some of Bessy's linens and clothes. Mrs. Kumpoštová sorts out her own stuff. I don't like the fact that she doesn't deal with the things that aren’t hers. She just wants to collect her things and leave the rest. I phone Olina, who is at the Franks. I stay up all night in different apartments. We remove all the dishes and preserves. Sunday 2. 7. I work all day in the warehouse sorting books and things from the bombing of the house. In the evening, I sleep at Klinger's. Air raids all day with irregular breaks. Monday 3. 7. Two more carloads of things taken to the warehouse, it's raining hard. Air raids all day again with irregular breaks […] At 12.30 p.m. a bomb hit the house next door from the Prime Minister and the Ministry. All windows were blown out, many walls broken, doors blown off […] Tuesday 4. 7. I'm still sorting out the scattered clothes. Many alarms all day […] Wednesday 5. 7. Two bombs fell about 150 m east of where the Kalls live, one about 5.30 p.m. and the other almost to the same place about 7.30 p.m. During the second one I was at the Kalls, the window in the dining room completely warped but remained intact. I was visiting the Špačeks with Mrs Kumpoštová and Olina. Dr. Drtina [Dr. Prokop Drtina – author’s note] was driving past Albert Hall […] when the first bomb fell. Thursday 6. 7. At 10.25am Mrs Kumpoštová leaves with Olina Euston Station heading for Cumberland, where they will probably stay for a long time […]”