0:00:02 > 0:00:04AIR RAID SIREN
0:00:04 > 0:00:07This was Hitler's Blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09During their nine-month bombing campaign,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11the Nazis devastated cities and towns
0:00:11 > 0:00:15across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18London bore the brunt of the initial raids.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21But soon after, the Luftwaffe
0:00:21 > 0:00:25began attacking other industrial centres.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27I'm David Harewood.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29And in this programme, I'm finding out why
0:00:29 > 0:00:32my home city of Birmingham became a target.
0:00:32 > 0:00:38People genuinely thought that English society might end any day now.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42I'll meet some of those who lived through the heaviest bombing of the war.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47- So this is actually one of the German incendiary bombs?- Yes.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50I'll discover the personal tragedies that history often forgets.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55And I said to my auntie, "Is that true, what I've just heard?
0:00:55 > 0:00:59"That Mum and Dad are dead?" And she just says, "Yes".
0:00:59 > 0:01:03And I'll experience a view of my city that will stay with me forever.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Where I grew up as a child was right in the heart of it,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10right in the middle of it, and that's quite fascinating.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33I'm a Brummie and extremely proud of it.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35But like many people, I've never delved
0:01:35 > 0:01:38into my city's history.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41I've built an acting career appearing in dramas like Homeland,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46playing fictional characters often caught up in terrifying global events.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49But today's story is all too real.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51And it couldn't be any closer to home.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56'I now split my time between London and LA.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59'But for a few days at least, I'm back in the West Midlands.'
0:02:00 > 0:02:03I'm hoping this journey will educate me about the past
0:02:03 > 0:02:06and reconnect me with my roots.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10You know, I've obviously been back to Birmingham many times
0:02:10 > 0:02:12to visit my family, Mum or Dad...
0:02:12 > 0:02:15But it's strange, really. This is probably the first time
0:02:15 > 0:02:17I feel I'm coming back to visit the city.
0:02:19 > 0:02:20I don't know if I've done that...
0:02:22 > 0:02:24..ever.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29AMERICAN VOICEOVER: This is my kind of town.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34I grew up in 1970s Birmingham.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38An exciting, confident place, with its sights set on the future.
0:02:40 > 0:02:41I found the city exciting.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44The modern buildings reflect its position as
0:02:44 > 0:02:47the nation's industrial powerhouse.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50You feel as if you've been projected into the 21st century.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56The city has always seemed to be changing, developing, regenerating.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59'Apart from the Small Heath district, that is.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02'This area, where I grew up, has hardly altered at all.'
0:03:02 > 0:03:07It's really strange to be back in the place where it all started.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Actually, THIS was my house.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13This particular street, this stretch of the street,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17was just full of kids round about my age,
0:03:17 > 0:03:24and we were forever playing hide-and-seek until midnight,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26the wee small hours.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29And one of the best places to hide was...
0:03:31 > 0:03:33..up there.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38So we used to basically get up like this and make our way
0:03:38 > 0:03:45to the top of the wall and hide there for literally hours.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49Like, 20 of us would just kind of cycle up to Small Heath Park
0:03:49 > 0:03:54and just play all day long in the park,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58just great memories of camaraderie, of friendship.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02There were Irish kids, Indian kids, black kids, Jamaican kids,
0:04:02 > 0:04:03all just playing together.
0:04:05 > 0:04:0728 bus, I used to get that to school.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Interesting, really. As a kid growing up, you know,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17I never really had a sense of...
0:04:17 > 0:04:20of anything other than this place
0:04:20 > 0:04:23just being a great place to play, but...
0:04:24 > 0:04:26God, there used to be this gorgeous girl who used to live...
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I think she used to live...in...
0:04:30 > 0:04:33She used to live just opposite us. Absolute stunner.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Can't remember what her name was.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Used to... I think we'll stop right there!
0:04:41 > 0:04:42Stop right there.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45# Back to life, back to reality. #
0:04:45 > 0:04:48'Happy times. And innocent times.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50'Like all kids, I lived in the moment,
0:04:50 > 0:04:55'and I certainly wasn't interested in dull stuff, like local history.'
0:04:55 > 0:05:00The city I grew up in was all about clubs, music, girls.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02I never really had a sense, growing up, of the war,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05or the damage that Birmingham went through.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07I mean, my parents got here in the '60s.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10I wonder if they had any sense of the destruction
0:05:10 > 0:05:12that Birmingham had gone through.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21Probably not. By then, Birmingham's population was changing rapidly
0:05:21 > 0:05:25with thousands of new arrivals who had never experienced the Blitz,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29coming from the Caribbean and beyond, helping to rebuild Britain.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Birmingham's town planners were also busy,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35clearing the bomb-damaged Victorian housing
0:05:35 > 0:05:38to create a new city for a new age.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43'By the time me, my sister and my two brothers arrived,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'the Birmingham of the Blitz had almost disappeared.'
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- Hi, Mum.- Hi! You all right?
0:05:50 > 0:05:53'Still, the war had been over for barely 20 years
0:05:53 > 0:05:56'when my parents pitched up in Birmingham.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59'Surely they had some sense of what had gone on here?'
0:05:59 > 0:06:02So, when you arrived, was there any kind of physical evidence,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05- any bomb damage, any...? - Not in the '60s, when I first came,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07we didn't get that.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09I mean, there were still remnants of what happened,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12- like when we lived in Oldknow Road, remember?- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15We didn't know what that was, but then we found out
0:06:15 > 0:06:19it was the remnants of a shelter in the back...
0:06:19 > 0:06:21in the bottom of the garden.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27Was there a sense that, you know, the city was on the up,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30or was it quite, as you say, it was quite poor?
0:06:30 > 0:06:33It was quite poor, to be truthful. It was quite poor.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36I was surprised, when I first came here, to see that people were,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39literally, as poor as we were in the Caribbean
0:06:39 > 0:06:42and most people lived in one room.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44- Not a whole house? - No, no! Not like today,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47when you have kids and you want a whole house.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Most... A lot of people lived in one room.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Well, it was lovely seeing my mum,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57but as I suspected, she didn't really know too much about the war.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59I guess, coming here in the '60s,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02the Blitz really wasn't part of her story,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04so it's going to be really interesting for me to go on
0:07:04 > 0:07:06this journey to see if I really do have any connection
0:07:06 > 0:07:08to that part of Birmingham's history.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14To find out, I need to go back to November 1940, when another
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Midlands city, Coventry, was flattened by Nazi bombers.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23Words are hopelessly inadequate to describe the horror and indignation
0:07:23 > 0:07:27felt all over the civilised world at this wanton devastation.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32The Germans claimed this was revenge for the Allied bombing of Munich.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36But it also marked a shift in their tactics,
0:07:36 > 0:07:41widening the Blitz from London to other UK cities.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Coventry's harrowing experience was broadcast around the world,
0:07:45 > 0:07:46but less well known is that
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Birmingham's turn came just five days later,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52with three consecutive nights of raids that
0:07:52 > 0:07:54also killed hundreds of people.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Why did my city make it onto Hitler's target list?
0:07:58 > 0:08:02I'm meeting up with aerial archaeologist Chris Going.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04He has rare intelligence documents that the Germans
0:08:04 > 0:08:07prepared before the war started
0:08:07 > 0:08:11and they show precisely why Birmingham had to be bombed.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16The single most important factory here in the Small Heath
0:08:16 > 0:08:22part of town is this - it's the Birmingham Small Arms factory.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Close by, you've also got the Singer works.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Now, where are you on this map?
0:08:28 > 0:08:32I lived on a place called Oldknow Road. It's right...
0:08:32 > 0:08:36Hang on, let's find it. There it is. There it is. There it is.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39It's actually just at the end of the road.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43So, I would've been almost smack in the middle of a target.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47You're wedged between two of the most important industrial
0:08:47 > 0:08:49targets in Birmingham.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51- Astonishing.- It is.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Birmingham wasn't the only important industrial centre
0:08:56 > 0:08:57in the Luftwaffe's sights.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00As the Blitz went on, they attempted to bring war production
0:09:00 > 0:09:03to a halt by attacking Nottingham, Sheffield and Newcastle.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07But alongside Coventry, Birmingham felt the full force.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Those first three nights of bombing left a trail of destruction
0:09:12 > 0:09:17and the Nazis themselves took photographic evidence of their success.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21- This is the day after those attacks. - Wow.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24A is "zerstorung" - destruction.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29They got the Singer works. Here's the BSA works.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33When this photograph was taken, which was on the 23rd,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36they would be... They'd still be bringing up the bodies.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40It's astonishing to know that, actually, I grew up...
0:09:40 > 0:09:45the house I grew up in was a target area for the German Luftwaffe.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47- I had no idea about that. - Absolutely.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53..1005...
0:09:53 > 0:09:55'Now I've seen those German documents and photos,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58'I want to view my city as their pilots did
0:09:58 > 0:10:02'so Chris and I have come to Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield in Warwickshire
0:10:02 > 0:10:06'to fly the actual routes the Luftwaffe took back in November 1940.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11'Our pilot today is Bill Giles.'
0:10:11 > 0:10:15OK, is everyone happy, comfortable, secure?
0:10:15 > 0:10:18- Yes.- All good?- All good.- Great.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23I've actually been flying quite a lot this year.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28But about this time on a 747 or whatever, I'm normally fast asleep,
0:10:28 > 0:10:33but taking off in something as small as this is really quite something.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Wow, look at that! Beautiful!
0:10:54 > 0:10:55Fantastic visibility.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13I can actually start to see, if I'm not mistaken, Birmingham, right?
0:11:13 > 0:11:17You can see Birmingham ahead of us. We're coming from the south-east.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19You can see the Post Office Tower.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24I had no idea just how exposed everybody would have been,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27but you really see that from this perspective.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Well, it's interesting that you say that.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33In December 1940, the Birmingham Post reported
0:11:33 > 0:11:36that the bombing of Birmingham was as random as ever,
0:11:36 > 0:11:41that the bombs were so scattered across the city,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45they couldn't quite fathom what they were aiming at.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58There, on your right, is Small Heath.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Here we are, flying over the mighty Blues' ground,
0:12:01 > 0:12:02what a gorgeous sight that is!
0:12:05 > 0:12:08We're really going to fly directly over my road now,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11which is this road here, Oldknow Road.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14You can see my house, I know exactly where it is.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19And this is the Singer factory, which was badly attacked in November
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and there, that whole complex just to the south of the railway line,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27- is the BSA works.- We are a stone's throw from the BSA works.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29You are absolutely seconds away.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45I had no idea, growing up, just how surrounded my road was
0:12:45 > 0:12:50by major Second World War manufacturing plants.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54It's easy to feel quite detached from up here,
0:12:54 > 0:13:00I guess, thinking as a bomber to think that, down there,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04there are people working in factories,
0:13:04 > 0:13:10working on things that really are going to destroy your countrymen.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12You're not thinking about people,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15you're just thinking about buildings, shapes in the dark.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18You'd probably just be thinking about your target.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24Get in, drop my ordnance and get home to my loved ones.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29There's no personal feeling at all, you're just coming in, doing a job
0:13:29 > 0:13:31and trying to get home.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43'So I've now seen Birmingham from the point of view of the bombers.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46'But what about those who were bombed?
0:13:46 > 0:13:51'I've come to meet a survivor of the Blitz, Barbara Johnson.'
0:13:51 > 0:13:55- Hello, David.- Hello, how are you? - Nice to meet you.- Nice to meet you.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58'Barbara was only five when the war started.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01'She now visits schools, talking about her experiences,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03'and she has a treasure chest
0:14:03 > 0:14:05'full of memorabilia from Birmingham's Blitz.'
0:14:08 > 0:14:13My God! So, who would carry one of these around, then?
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The wardens or the ARP men.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20So you would hear that sound and everybody would run
0:14:20 > 0:14:22and put their masks on?
0:14:22 > 0:14:23Yes, put the gas mask on.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28- So this is actually one of the German incendiary bombs?- Yes.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32The majority of times, when they went off, they lost the tail
0:14:32 > 0:14:36but, fortunately for me, I've got one whole.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Sparks came out of there and set fire to buildings.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42There's all the holes and sparks would come out of there.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47- This is a child's gas mask, under fives.- Look at that!
0:14:48 > 0:14:53And this one is for anybody over five and adults.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Issued to all civilians.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59But we can't take them out the plastic cases
0:14:59 > 0:15:03- because there's asbestos in the bottom.- Oh, right. Asbestos?
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Asbestos. And we had them on our faces.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11'Barbara was among nearly two million British children evacuated
0:15:11 > 0:15:15'when the war started and one of 25,000 from Birmingham.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20'The idea was to remove them from the area of danger
0:15:20 > 0:15:25'and place them in safe havens. It didn't always work out that way.'
0:15:25 > 0:15:32When I was five, I went on an evacuation to Evesham with my sister.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38I was only there for a short while because I started wetting the bed
0:15:38 > 0:15:42and the gentleman that we were there with,
0:15:42 > 0:15:47he used to get his belt off and used to lash the back of my legs.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49- What?!- Every morning.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55And in the end, he said I couldn't sleep in his bed any more
0:15:55 > 0:16:00and he put me in a cubbyhole on a bag of straw
0:16:00 > 0:16:01with a pillow and a blanket
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and that's where I was to sleep, a five-year-old.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08And my sister was eight, she was at school
0:16:08 > 0:16:12and she was able to write a letter home to Mum
0:16:12 > 0:16:17and she put in there that we were being treated badly
0:16:17 > 0:16:21and so, in September '41, my mum came over to Evesham
0:16:21 > 0:16:23and fetched us back.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28'Like many evacuees, Barbara returned to the city
0:16:28 > 0:16:32'just as the German bombing campaign was getting started.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35'It was another unforgettable experience...
0:16:35 > 0:16:37'for all the wrong reasons.'
0:16:38 > 0:16:41We were all down the shelter and my dad didn't go to war
0:16:41 > 0:16:45because he'd got a bit of a heart defect from rheumatic fever
0:16:45 > 0:16:49so he used to do fire watching and he'd come and tap the shelter
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and Mum got out, but she never used to leave us
0:16:53 > 0:16:56and she never came back and I thought, "Where has she gone?"
0:16:56 > 0:17:00And then, on the evening, when Dad came home from work...
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Sorry. When my mum and dad came home from work,
0:17:05 > 0:17:11my mum sat us down and said, "Nana and Grandad have gone to heaven."
0:17:11 > 0:17:16She didn't say they were killed, she just said they went to heaven.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20- So do you actually have a picture of your grandparents?- Yes, I have.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23- Oh, it's up there. - There, it's there.- Right here?
0:17:23 > 0:17:26That's the only one I've got.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Louisa and Harry.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32She was 68, he was 72.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37I feel as though I was robbed of my grandparents.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39I loved them so much.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Before doing this programme,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43I really didn't know to what extent
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Birmingham had been affected by the Blitz
0:17:45 > 0:17:47so this has been a real revelation to me.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I had no idea it was hit quite so hard.
0:17:50 > 0:17:56Yes, because of the situation that we made everything in Birmingham -
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Spitfires, bombs, you name it, we made it.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03But it's a shame that Birmingham was forgotten.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10It was quite an amazing experience in there, talking to Barbara.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13She obviously still feels deeply the scars of war
0:18:13 > 0:18:16and it's strange, I kind of decided to do this programme
0:18:16 > 0:18:18because I thought it could be interesting.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Actually, now, I feel as though I'm doing the programme
0:18:21 > 0:18:23not just for myself, but for people like Barbara,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25giving her a voice, really.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31This journey into Birmingham's wartime past
0:18:31 > 0:18:33gets ever more fascinating,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36but no story on how the Midlands suffered during the Blitz
0:18:36 > 0:18:40is complete without travelling 20-odd miles east, to Coventry.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46When I was a kid, getting the bus to here from Small Heath
0:18:46 > 0:18:49was as easy as going into Birmingham City Centre.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53I know the place really well, but I've never seen it like this.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58We're coming in from the angle
0:18:58 > 0:19:03that most of the bombers from the air fleets two and three
0:19:03 > 0:19:07would have flown on the night attacks.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17And the first attack which took place,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20the night of the 14th and 15th of November,
0:19:20 > 0:19:25was on Coventry, but the shock of this night attack,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the destruction that it inflicted on the town,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33really changed the regional mood, as well as anything else.
0:19:33 > 0:19:40On the 14th November, 1940, it became a city of destruction.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44For three nights, the German bombers attacked in their fullest force.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48This introduced a new word into the vocabulary of mass murder -
0:19:48 > 0:19:49"to coventrate".
0:19:49 > 0:19:51From this vantage point,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55it's obvious that most of Coventry's centre has had to be replaced.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59But, to be honest, I couldn't see many pre-war buildings
0:19:59 > 0:20:01during my flight over Birmingham, either.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04There's a definite feeling amongst the people I've talked to that,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07whilst Coventry's suffering caught Britain's attention,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Birmingham's experience was somehow hidden from public view.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Is that true? And, if so, was there any official reason?
0:20:16 > 0:20:22I'm at the BBC Birmingham newsroom to meet media historian Mike Temple.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25- ARCHIVE REPORT:- The martyred city of Coventry -
0:20:25 > 0:20:27amid the wholesale wreckage of a noble city,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31crushed by the force of hundreds of tonnes of bombs,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34the steeple of her one-time beautiful 14th century cathedral
0:20:34 > 0:20:38looks down on a scene of indescribable desolation.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I remember going to Coventry as a kid and seeing, you know,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45the destruction of the cathedral and reading about it.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47But I don't remember hearing anything
0:20:47 > 0:20:49about the destruction of Birmingham.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Well, many people didn't because, of course,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Coventry and London were the two cities that were highlighted
0:20:54 > 0:20:56and, you know, the experiences of Birmingham
0:20:56 > 0:21:00were largely hidden behind a sort of...a wartime censorship.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02So was there official censorship?
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Cos I was under the impression that the reason Birmingham
0:21:06 > 0:21:09wasn't reported was because they had Spitfires there,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12the BSA factory, they had all the munitions factories there.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Certainly, Birmingham was a key strategic target
0:21:16 > 0:21:21for the Germans, a key industrial powerhouse,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23if you like, of the UK and of the Midlands.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26So that was an official reason but, of course,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29another reason was not to spread fear and despondency.
0:21:29 > 0:21:30So, in a sense,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33it was almost what you might call positive censorship, right?
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38It was not censorship in the sense that someone was standing
0:21:38 > 0:21:39over your shoulder all the time.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41There was a great deal of self-censorship as well.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47These pictures from the north-east area...
0:21:47 > 0:21:50There, we have a reference to "the north-east area",
0:21:50 > 0:21:53an example of the sort of voluntary censorship that was taking place.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Birmingham, typically, was described as "a Midlands town".
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Manchester...the Manchester Guardian was not even allowed to report
0:22:00 > 0:22:02that Manchester had been hit.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05It was "an inland town in north-west England".
0:22:05 > 0:22:08All this was supposedly designed so that the enemy wouldn't know
0:22:08 > 0:22:10how successful or otherwise they'd been.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14What we've seen is a massive destruction in Coventry,
0:22:14 > 0:22:20almost apocalyptic scenes of death and destruction.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23If we contrast those with the pictures from Birmingham,
0:22:23 > 0:22:24which don't have sound,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28we see a slightly different view of the world.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31So, what we're seeing here in Birmingham is not images
0:22:31 > 0:22:32of death and destruction -
0:22:32 > 0:22:35what we're seeing is images of "life will go on", if you like.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38They're the phlegmatic British population -
0:22:38 > 0:22:40we'll carry on, they'll move house,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44they'll collect their water, they'll get by.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46These pictures are for different purposes.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Look, Joey still survives.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51We will go on, the British way of life will continue.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Why would those pictures be broadcast like that?
0:22:54 > 0:22:57It was necessary to create that myth, if you like,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59of the British people all together,
0:22:59 > 0:23:04the fact that, whatever Jerry threw at us, we could take it.
0:23:04 > 0:23:05I had no idea
0:23:05 > 0:23:08that the way Birmingham's Blitz experience was reported
0:23:08 > 0:23:12was a key part of Britain's propaganda war.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14No idea at all.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21I'm nearing the end of my Blitz journey,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23but before I finish,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25I want to catch up with Barbara Johnson,
0:23:25 > 0:23:26who I met earlier.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Oh, hi. Don't get up...
0:23:29 > 0:23:32'She's invited me along to chat to some of her friends from BARA -
0:23:32 > 0:23:36'the Birmingham air raid survival group.
0:23:36 > 0:23:37'What stories they all have.'
0:23:39 > 0:23:41How often did you have to go down into the shelters?
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Was it every night, every other night?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Went every night because we lived up on the second floor
0:23:46 > 0:23:48and, of course, when the raids started,
0:23:48 > 0:23:49you want to be in your shelter
0:23:49 > 0:23:51as quickly as you could.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I mean, the noise of the bombs falling
0:23:54 > 0:23:55must have been extraordinary.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59- Oh, yeah, yeah. Definitely. - Can you remember that?
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Yeah, quite frightening, really.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05So, whose decision was it to go down into the shelters?
0:24:05 > 0:24:06It was your parents'.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08My mum used to leave our coats
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and shoes ready for us
0:24:10 > 0:24:14to put them on and run to the shelters as fast as we could.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20My mum made cocoa, she used to make six jugs of cocoa
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and we got my grandad's old box on wheels
0:24:23 > 0:24:26we used to go around with this box on wheels,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29giving drinks of cocoa to the firemen,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32because we had some hard winters during the war.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35And in the winters, I've even heard their sleeves crack
0:24:35 > 0:24:37because they've been frozen.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40'Like Barbara, Mary has some painful memories
0:24:40 > 0:24:42'of her wartime childhood.'
0:24:42 > 0:24:46So, my two elder sisters and myself,
0:24:46 > 0:24:47we were all evacuated.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50- You didn't get to choose where you went?- Oh, no, no.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53We just stood in the field, in a big, long row,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57and then people from the village just came along and said,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00"Come on, you can come with me. Come on, you can come with me."
0:25:00 > 0:25:01And that's how it worked.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And they never thought, you know, "This is a family..."
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Oh, no. I mean, they didn't even ask our name.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10My two sisters went to other people
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and I went to a lady named Mrs Bree.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16That was terrifying, really, because, I mean,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I was still only five years of age.
0:25:19 > 0:25:20And then, one day,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22this gentleman stepped out of a car
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and he says, "I'm your uncle."
0:25:26 > 0:25:30I'd never seen him before, I hadn't got a clue who he was.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33And he says, "You're coming to live with us."
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I was really scared because I didn't know the people.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39They'd just got one daughter
0:25:39 > 0:25:42and I thought, "Well, what's going to happen to me?"
0:25:42 > 0:25:46So, I reached about 11 or 12.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50I was in the local fish and chip shop,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53and I overheard two ladies talking
0:25:53 > 0:25:57and they were sort of nodding in my direction.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01"Oh, that's the little girl whose mum and dad and sisters got killed."
0:26:01 > 0:26:04So, I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08So, I ran over home and I said to my aunt,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11"Is that true, what I've just heard -
0:26:11 > 0:26:13"that Mum and Dad are dead?"
0:26:13 > 0:26:15And she just said, "Yes."
0:26:15 > 0:26:18And I just ran upstairs and I just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed,
0:26:18 > 0:26:22and I thought, "I'm never going to see them again", you know.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25It was terrible. It really was.
0:26:26 > 0:26:27How...how...?
0:26:27 > 0:26:29HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:26:34 > 0:26:38How long was it, um...until you met your sister?
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Time went on and, um...
0:26:41 > 0:26:46I just asked my aunt and uncle about my sisters, my two elder sisters.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49And they did eventually follow them up.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53But we never had anything in common because we'd all been split up.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59- Thank you very much for that. - Thank you.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01Appreciate it.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05'I'm an actor, but when you hear stories like that,'
0:27:05 > 0:27:09you realise that real life can be much more raw and emotional
0:27:09 > 0:27:11than any drama.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16I want to end my journey with a visit to The Tree Of Life -
0:27:16 > 0:27:17a monument that those ladies
0:27:17 > 0:27:20campaigned to have put on public display.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23On its base are the names of the victims of Birmingham's Blitz,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26including Barbara Johnson's grandparents.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31Oh, there they are - the names of her grandfather and grandmother.
0:27:33 > 0:27:34Having met Barbara yesterday
0:27:34 > 0:27:37'and held a picture of her grandparents,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40'I have some kind of physical connection to it, so...'
0:27:42 > 0:27:43Yeah, it's quite...
0:27:43 > 0:27:46It's quite moving, when you think about it.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53I've recognised it really is a tough resolve of people
0:27:53 > 0:27:55in this city
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and you look at how modern it is now,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00you look around and see how it's continuing to evolve
0:28:00 > 0:28:01and continuing to grow.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03You feel enormously proud
0:28:03 > 0:28:08that...not only have we come through an incredibly traumatic experience,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10but we continue to move forward.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13It makes you feel enormously proud
0:28:13 > 0:28:17and I think we owe that generation of people
0:28:17 > 0:28:19a tremendous debt of gratitude
0:28:19 > 0:28:23because they showed incredible strength
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and, if it weren't for them, perhaps,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31you know...we'd maybe be facing a very, very different history.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48# Why do you whisper, green grass?
0:28:48 > 0:28:53# Why tell the trees what ain't so?
0:28:53 > 0:29:01# Whispering grass The trees don't have to know... #