WORLD WAR II Walking Through the Dark

One morning just as the sun was rising, there was a thunderous sound in the sky and then warning sirens sounded. People ran to bomb shelters of cellars as quickly as they could. Then a shrieking sound filled the air as the bombs began to fall. This was the first of bombings that poured out of the skies over Germany, the American planes by day, and the English planes by night. The night skies would light up brightly like fireworks when the bombs fell from the sky and explored into fireballs as they hit the ground. The SS Elite raids had slowed down giving the people some relief, but a new fear struck the elderly, the women, and the children who remained within the cities that were being bombed. Sirens could blare at any given moment sending out a short warning of the coming bombs. When a siren sounded, it would send everyone into sheer panic as they ran to find a cellar where they could find shelter and safety from the bombs. The moment a siren sounded great panic set into the people. Fear caused the people to flow out into the streets like a wave in the ocean moving towards the nearest shelter. The stronger people pushed and shoved trying to get ahead of the weak and those with young children. Mothers pulled their children close to them, hoping the crowd would not drag their children away. Many times, the crowd was so thick that a child would be pulled away from the mother and moved forward with the crowd or the child would fall and be stepped on by the crowd and injured. The people had to move fast to get to the closest shelter before the shelter became full, once full the door would be closed and locked. The people outside the shelter would have to run to find another shelter as the bombs fell from the planes, hitting the ground and bursting into flames. Mothers with their small children looked like shepherds herding their children to keep them close. Babies and young children were crying as they were led to the closest shelter. They were crying because of the loud noises of the siren and the fear that had settled in the air. There was a loud whistling sound of the bombs as they started to fall from the sky; many people were still outside the shelter. Fear caused people to do things they would never have thought of doing before. As the sound of bombs began to fall people began to run and push to get to the shelters and if someone fell, they would not help them but step over them and keep moving toward the shelter in fear for their lives. The pushing of the crowd was like a wave on the sea in a storm, moving so fast it would take everything in its path. What could not move at the same speed was pulled under the wave and the crowd moved over the top of them.