Steve Richards presents excerpts from his book The Luftwaffe over Brum: Birmingham’s Blitz from a Military Perspective and here details the harrowing diary entries of a volunteer ambulance driver.
In the autumn of 1940, Claudia Frances Renton was 57 years old and the mother of eight grown-up children. She lived in Mary Road, Stechford (one of Birmingham’s eastern suburbs) with her husband and youngest daughter, Peg. In October 1939, being a car owner, Claudia had offered her services as an ambulance car driver. The following year she enlisted in the Mechanised Transport Corps (MTC) and continued to work in a similar role.