Posts Tagged ww 2

WW 2, Bicycles in Paris

4 May 2011
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Gege’s family in Paris during the German occupation (1940-1944) used public transportation (subway & trains) or bicycles throughout the four year occupation. No gasoline was available for automobiles, even though some private and commercial vehicles were converted to gazogene. The engines were converted to burning charcoal or compressed natural gas.

Gege went everywhere which her bicycle but locked it up if she left it parked on the sidewalk. One evening at a concert she didn’t lock her bicycle and it was stolen. Bicycles were rationed like everything else, so a replacement was expensive, if available.

Her father’s bicycle had replacement tires made of wood blocks wired together. Imagine how it would be to ride with wooden tires on cobblestone streets. With leather in scarce supply, shoes were made with wood as well.

WW 2 A Sad Soldier

26 April 2011
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Gégé Smith was in the subway in Paris with her younger brother. It was 1942 with the city filled with German soldiers.

She was fourteen years old and small for her age. Her younger brother was about eight years old. A German soldier took the seat next to them. They stiffened since any overt action against the despised soldiers might bring an unpleasant response.

But the subway was crowded, so they didn’t move.  He smiled at them and then tried to make conversation in his halting French.

They learned that he had a son the same age as her brother. Then he poured out his story in German and a tear ran down his cheek. For a few minutes they felt sorry for this fellow.

Paris WW2 Gas Masks

19 April 2011
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Gas Masks

When the Germans invaded France and Paris, Gege Smith was thirteen years old. As the war with England got hotter and hotter; as the Allies started sending bombers into France and Germany to bomb industries, the Germans, in an uncharacteristic move, issued Frenchmen gas masks. I suppose that the Germans figured that if they would use gas against civilians, so would the Allies.

At any rate, each member of the family eventually had their gas mask. When the air raid siren announced the approach of Allied planes, everyone took shelter in the underground or in cellars. But they were instructed to take their gas mask. The instruction was that, if you didn’t have a gas mask, you should have a towel and a pot of urine. A towel soaked with urine apparently was protection against the type of gas expected.

The British bombing raids were at night. Early on, the gas masks had not been issued, so when the siren came, each member of the family took a towel and their chamber pot with their urine. One night, Gege knocked her brother’s chamber pot over and he had no urine for gas protection. But Gege was very kind and agreed to share hers if there was a gas attack.

Can you imagine this life for four years? Pretty awful.