Game postponed after bomb find

[Revolution]

There were a number of games called off the weekend they found the bomb due to the weather. I remember watching Football Focus and Bob Wilson drawing attention to why our game was off. The pitch was frozen anyway - hence "Off-UXB" could be written on the pitch by the groundsman.

The game was played on the Tuesday night instead. It was bitterly cold and the pitch was bone hard. I remember a number of the United players wore blue trainers rather than boots, presumably as studs were of little use. The main thing I remember of the game was the dismal weather, smallish crowd, and our second goal - Keith Edwards and Oldham's Gary Hoolickan were chasing a through ball, and Hoolickan lobbed Andy Goram by accident as he came out (nb that was the first and last time I ever saw Andy Goram come off his line). We won 2-0.

 

[Tunstall Fred]

Bomb sights were rudimentary and aerial navigation poor, so many bombs missed their intended targets (similarly for the RAF). They wanted to hit the steelworks of the East End but from 10,000 feet up in the dark, Sheffield has few distinguishing features. London for example was 'easy' in that you fly in from the East and follow the Thames and it's very distinctive curves. The Don and Sheaf are only a few feet wide until they get to the City Centre and so must be very difficult to spot.

There were also planned diversionary tactics in place, so fields near Anston/Todwick and also near Bradfield, had pre-prepared fires to light once the pathfinders had gone over. The idea was that the main bomber force would fly to the fires, where they thought they'd hit major targets that were burning, and drop their load there.

I live in S10 and various odd stray bombs fell around Crosspool/Crookes too.

There's an excellent old map showing where all the bombs fell and it is covered on this site:

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/13710-bombs/

I believe Eckington woods were also used as a diversionary tactic

 

[Cheets]

I saw a documentary a few years ago that claimed it had maps showing targets for the Luftwaffe to hit and these included Sheffield hospitals. I just googled it and came across this: http://www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/news/how-hitler-mapped-out-blitz-on-city-1-3683001