JOHNSON, JAMES

4/5 APRIL 1941.

BRISTOL C.B.

St.George Division

Stapleton

At Bristol 6 (Purdown) HAA Gun Site

SIBLEY, Albert George (29) Gnr. 1602963, 238 Bty. 76 HAA Rgt. Royal Artillery. Of 65 West Borough, Wimbourne, Dorset. Son of Reginald John Sibley of Wimbourne.

Also killed in Bristol

BOYES, Emma Grace (76) of 65 Freemantle Road, Cotham, Bristol. Died 4/4/41 at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

COLLINGS, William Albert (35) ARP Rescue Service. Of 83 Doncaster Road, Southmead, Bristol. Husband of R.G.Collings. Died 4/4/41 at Southmead Hospital.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

No.10 (Sodbury) Area

At the Bristol 5 (Brickfields) HAA Gun Site, Winterbourne

JOHNSON, James (20) Gnr. 904948, 238 Bty. 76 HAA Rgt. Rotal Artillery. Of Brickfields Camp, Winterbourne, Glos. and 64 Ward Street, Grimsby, Lincs. Son of James Henry and Betsy Ann Elizabeth Johnson of Cleethorpes, Lincs.

NORRIS, Ronald Arthur (19) Gnr. 897197, 238 Bty. 76 HAA Rgt. Royal Artillery. Of Brickfields Camp, Winterbourne, Glos. and 69 Tockington Road, Grimsby, Lincs. Son of Arthur and Ivy Norris of Grimsby.

From the Western Daily Press on Monday 7th April 1941

FEW CASUALTIES IN BRISTOL “BLITZ”

Loads of Incendiary Bombs Dropped

FIRE FIGHTERS’ FEAT

It was disclosed last night that four enemy aircraft were destroyed in Friday night’s raids on this country, two by our night fighters.

Damage to Bristol during a five hour “blitz” on Friday night was astonishingly light and although load after load of incendiary bombs were dropped, as well as many high explosives, casualties are officially stated to be few.

Enemy bombers came over in force to make this moonlight attack, but the anti-aircraft barrage was so terrific that many planes, after making several attempts to penetrate the curtain of fire, dropped their bombs in fields and woods around the city. Scores of villages and hamlets report high explosives and incendiary bombs dropped.

British fighters were patrolling the skies outside the ring of bursting shells.

An eye witness described on Saturday the remarkable sight of one bomber, hit by shell fragments, burst into flame and crashed at Hewish, near Congresbury, Somerset.

It seemed to me that the aircraft made several attempts to get over its target,” he said, “but our gunfire was terrific. Suddenly in the middle of the bursting shells, I saw a red glow. It got brighter moving across the sky, and I was able to see a trail of smoke behind it. Then several searchlights started exploring and I saw that the glow was actually an aircraft on fire.

RELEASED LOAD OF INCENDIARIES

“There was a lull in the firing, and the searchlights followed the bomber across the sky until suddenly it began to dive and fell like a flaming torch to the ground.”

The load of incendiary bombs carried by the plane was released over a country district just before it crashed. Three members of the crew bailed out, two of them being captured shortly after they landed. The third, it stated, was killed when his parachute failed to open. A fourth member of the crew perished in the blazing plane.

Incendiary bombs were dropped in several districts of Bristol, but the fire fighters, who feel that they have this weapon well under control, put them out rapidly and efficiently. There was actually only one fire that could be called serious, and this was soon under control.

Slight damage was caused by fire to a church, an ancient and famous school, and a hotel and many firewatchers in residential districts had to deal with incendiary bombs which fell through the roofs of their houses.

A member of the crew of a fishing boat was seriously injured when a German plane machine-gunned the boat at a South-West coastal village.