‘Most of the young men are away fighting,’ John pointed out. ‘And judging by that cloud I have a feeling the town will need all the help it can get. What say you, George?’

‘I’m up for it,’ George said heartily. ‘We ain’t quite past it yet. You wait there an’ I’ll go an’ get the car. I should be savin’ petrol really, but this is an emergency.’

Ten minutes later the men set off to see what could be done to help leaving the women to see to the children.

The extent of the damage became apparent when they reached the bottom of Tuttle Hill and turned into Manor Court Road. Whole houses lay in ruins, some still ablaze as firefighters battled to douse the flames. In other places women and children were digging amongst the ruins with their bare hands as they desperately searched for survivors.

The bodies that had been recovered had been laid out at the sides of the road and covered with sheets provided by people whose houses still stood, and a tiny little girl clutching tight to a teddy bear was sitting on a kerb, her hair thick with brick dust as tears streamed down her dirty cheeks, leaving white trails through the grime.

‘Poor little bugger,’ a firefighter who saw John looking towards her said. ‘Luckily she was asleep in a Morrison shelter when we found her but her mam, dad an’ brother all copped it. The neighbours have sent for her grandparents so hopefully they’ll take her in.’

Grim-faced, John nodded before asking, ‘What can we do to help?’

Training his hose higher onto the fire he was trying to bring under control the fireman told him, ‘Just dig if you’re able. But be careful – if you smell gas step away. This whole place is a ticking time bomb with so many damaged gas pipes about.’

As the morning progressed more bad news filtered through to them. The majority of the town had been hit and already over a hundred dead had been found. Chilvers Coton Church and the surrounding churchyard had taken a hit too and they heard that there were headstones and the bones of disturbed bodies all over the place.

John shuddered at the thought. It seemed that the Luftwaffe had no respect for the British people whatsoever, be they alive or dead. Even the injured had had to be turned away from the hospital because that had been hit too.