THE Second World War seemed exciting stuff to 13-year-old Robert Harbron.

As a youngster growing up in the village of Norton, on Teesside, the threat from Nazi Germany seemed a world away.

But 60 years ago, on August 15 1941, tragedy struck his village, bringing home the horrors of war and leaving all but one member of a family dead.

The evening was damp, with the rain of the afternoon having gone and left behind low cloud.

The two local cinemas, the Moderne and the Avenue, were coming to the end of their first-house runs. Hundreds of patrons were spilling out on to the street.

The Carlton and Co-op dance halls were already starting to fill up for the regular Friday night hop when a series of explosions shook the district.

Confused patrons looking to go home were surprised to see fire engines and rescue vehicles racing to the scene of a bombing.

The Luftwaffe bombers had launched a daring raid on ICI, the petrochemical complex which was helping to power the British war effort.

At that time, the Billingham complex was one of the few places capable of refining the 100 octane petrol used by the Rolls-Royce engines that powered RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes.

A strike on Teesside would disrupt the flow of fuel to RAF bases in the South, defending the country from invasion. Without air superiority, the British would be powerless to repel Operation Sea Lion - the Nazi blueprint for a cross-Channel invasion.

But faced with a hail of anti-aircraft fire, one enemy bomb crew panicked. Not wanting to return home with their cargo of bombs, they dropped them over Norton.

An alternative theory is that the bomber crew carried out their mission but the bombs were carried on the wind to a civilian target.

Robert Harbron was watching a film in the Moderne when the bombs landed. He vividly remembers the confusion after the incident.

He said: "No air raid sirens had gone off and most of us thought the bang was caused by ICI, so we continued to watch the film.

"However, a big notice flashed up on the screen telling us to leave the building, but still no panic had set in.

"As we went outside, the sound of the fire engines and rescue vehicles going up Norton Avenue soon sent the story of the bombing around the village.

"No fire was visible and the shaded lamps of the many wagons and the police barrier across the road near the recreation-ground told us an incident had occurred."

However, it was not until the next morning that the shock of what had happened sank in.

The bomb had fallen on 160 Norton Avenue, killing six members of the Boundy family and a visitor. A further 14 houses had to be demolished.

Mr Harbron, 73, said: "I had grown up with the two eldest boys and went to school and Scouts with them. It was a shock to be told what happened.

"Their sister was spared because she was out visiting a friend. It sounds strange, because of everything that happened, but it was an exciting time for a 13-year-old boy listening to the roar of the many aeroplanes. I wasn't scared, as the parents were very fearful for us and I think it just didn't register with us. I was sad I had lost friends, but I was unsure of what was going on."

The main thing Mr Harbron can remember is the community spirit that sprang up around him.

He recalled how everyone helped everyone else, and how children spent the day after the raid searching the gutters for shrapnel.

"If you could get a piece which had writing on it or German markings then you were the shrapnel king," he said.

"ICI was a priority target for the Germans during the war, but it was saved from destruction by its smoke-screen false factory sites, heavy anti-aircraft guns and balloons. I suppose it was quite worrying looking back, but for a 13-year-old it was all a new adventure."