London in wartime: a bomb explodes near Drury Lane in 1944

[davesgcr]

A degree of "sang froid" may have been there - journalist Paul Vaughan wrote his father was on a Southern electric train Wimbledon bound there it was stopped at Earlsfield - commuters just carried on reading the Evening News or Standard till the warned flying bomb exploded quite near to them , (they did duck part under the seats in that few seconds) , carried on reading as the dust settled till the 4-SUB lurched into action and carried on.

"Bit of a contretemps" on the 518 om train tonight dear" - he laconically told Mrs V when he got home.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

"Bit of a contretemps" on the 518 om train tonight dear" - he laconically told Mrs V when he got home.

not '22 minutes late, flying bomb at earlesfield' ?

 

[petee]

very interesting thread. my mother was in england during the war and claimed to be in london under the blitz once at least. (my father was in england too but in birmingham.)

A degree of "sang froid" may have been there - journalist Paul Vaughan wrote his father was on a Southern electric train Wimbledon bound there it was stopped at Earlsfield - commuters just carried on reading the Evening News or Standard till the warned flying bomb exploded quite near to them , (they did duck part under the seats in that few seconds) , carried on reading as the dust settled till the 4-SUB lurched into action and carried on.

this was my observation also on 9/11 here in nyc.

 

[davesgcr]

very interesting thread. my mother was in england during the war and claimed to be in london under the blitz once at least. (my father was in england too but in birmingham.)



this was my observation also on 9/11 here in nyc.

I think the London and SE view - even with normal bombing - let alone V1's etc was "if it has your number on it..."

You would expect me , of course , to add that no train or signal box was ever abandoned "under fire" - they may well have stopped the job and sought what ever shelter they could - often under the train and mindful of the 3d rail - but they were there and handy. Numerous instances reported of track workers carrying doing repairs under fire. I looked up some of the files in the Kew records office and it made sobering , if impressive reading.......

My own experiences only lie in the awareness of always aware of terror attacks and post actual London bombings. The entire network of course was evacuated (tube and heavy rail) - but we were asked to run a normal service after key stations were comprehensivery searched (including the rolling stock) - we did that in about 2 hours and planned to run a full peak service to get people home. (after all - we had got them to London that morning) - we specifically asked each train crew using every manager and supervisor if they were content in going up to London that late afternoon , and every single one said they would. It was a long day as you can image , but I was immensely proud of the service ethos amongst all staff. We persevered with considerable security checks for a while afterwards.......

 

[davesgcr]

very interesting thread. my mother was in england during the war and claimed to be in london under the blitz once at least. (my father was in england too but in birmingham.)



this was my observation also on 9/11 here in nyc.

The NY subway did a remarkable job in very quick reconfiguring lines that could no longer access the WTC area - pretty quick and innovative - and then restored the wrecked bits pretty quickly. Impressive.........

 

[petee]

The NY subway did a remarkable job in very quick reconfiguring lines that could no longer access the WTC area - pretty quick and innovative - and then restored the wrecked bits pretty quickly. Impressive.........

and made some discoveries in the process!

The Archaeology of Colonial New York’s Battery Wall

The Museum of the City of New York is currently digitizing an extensive collection of artifacts excavated from New York’s colonial Battery Wall in preparation for public access and long term …

blog.mcny.org

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and made some discoveries in the process!

it's a bit of a tangent, but there's bits of the roman wall round the city of london that got re-discovered as a result of bombing in 1939-45

 

[davesgcr]

and made some discoveries in the process!

The Archaeology of Colonial New York’s Battery Wall

The Museum of the City of New York is currently digitizing an extensive collection of artifacts excavated from New York’s colonial Battery Wall in preparation for public access and long term …

blog.mcny.org

Excellent they repurposed some of the wall in the South Ferry station. Public art and historical appreciation. Will have a look when (if) I get over there again.

 

[PTK]

I think the London and SE view - even with normal bombing - let alone V1's etc was "if it has your number on it..."

You would expect me , of course , to add that no train or signal box was ever abandoned "under fire" - they may well have stopped the job and sought what ever shelter they could - often under the train and mindful of the 3d rail - but they were there and handy. Numerous instances reported of track workers carrying doing repairs under fire. I looked up some of the files in the Kew records office and it made sobering , if impressive reading.......

My own experiences only lie in the awareness of always aware of terror attacks and post actual London bombings. The entire network of course was evacuated (tube and heavy rail) - but we were asked to run a normal service after key stations were comprehensivery searched (including the rolling stock) - we did that in about 2 hours and planned to run a full peak service to get people home. (after all - we had got them to London that morning) - we specifically asked each train crew using every manager and supervisor if they were content in going up to London that late afternoon , and every single one said they would. It was a long day as you can image , but I was immensely proud of the service ethos amongst all staff. We persevered with considerable security checks for a while afterwards.......

That is admirable. For while after, I would not use the deep tube lines, only the sub-surface ones, such as the Circle Line. I was not so much frightened of being blown up, but of the tube trains stopping in the tunnels. I would have got very claustrophobic.

 

[ElizabethofYork]

Yes, my mother told me of cases like that. She heard of a family sitting round a table who were all dead, killed by the shockwave. I am unsure if that case was true.

There are people right now living through such things that are but a fading memory for us in this country.

My mum remembers living in London EC1 during the bombing, and having to huddle with her family in an anderson shelter, or down to the tube platform. It must have been absolutely terrifying I just can't even imagine it.

 

[Spymaster]

My mum remembers living in London EC1 during the bombing, and having to huddle with her family in an anderson shelter, or down to the tube platform. It must have been absolutely terrifying I just can't even imagine it.

Mum and her sisters were in Dulwich during the blitz. They had an Anderson in the garden but mum said that after a while she didn't bother going down during raids because her room was on the top floor and the shelter had a couple of inches of water on the ground and stank. Dulwich wasn't really targeted but SE London got a lot of bombs from planes that jettisoned their loads when they got lost or over-ran their targets. Also quite a few V1s.

 

[tim]

The V2s must have been psychologically terrifying even to battle-hardened Londoners after four years of bombardments. The very first supersonic weapon to rain on civilians, one that you can’t hear approaching, and not even acknowledged by your own government for many months. I wonder what must have gone through the minds of local residents who witnessed a nearby street being suddenly destroyed by an explosion seemingly coming from nowhere.

The first V2 landed outside my father's school in Chiswick. Initially the official story was that a gas main had exploded. Locally it was referred to as the Flying Gas Main. He also said that the event that caused most widespread trauma was the bombing of the stables of the local dairy which killed all the horses that worked on the milk rounds - everyone knew their neighbourhood horse.
On the whole, I think that area of what is now West London got of fairly lightly.

 

[davesgcr]

That is admirable. For while after, I would not use the deep tube lines, only the sub-surface ones, such as the Circle Line. I was not so much frightened of being blown up, but of the tube trains stopping in the tunnels. I would have got very claustrophobic.

Trust me -there were considerable checks on my bit of the railway - nothing went into service without a thorough walk through and a check on racks etc. We got a load of willing retired staff to come in and assist on this. Spent too many antisocial hours on doing so - and being first on call and the nominated security contact you can imagine there was a lot of pressure. Nothing was outstabled in "vulnerable" areas overnight.

 

[WouldBe]

That is admirable. For while after, I would not use the deep tube lines, only the sub-surface ones, such as the Circle Line. I was not so much frightened of being blown up, but of the tube trains stopping in the tunnels. I would have got very claustrophobic.

They still have tunnels on the sub-surface lines.