Plaques for the memory

The First Bomb on the City of London (author's photo)

For almost 150 years, famous people and the locations of great events in history have been recorded by the now familiar circular blue plaques. At first these plaques were neither circular nor blue but gradually evolved into the shape that we are now accustomed to. These plaques were originally unique to London and were produced and funded by the Royal Society of Arts, then taken on by the London County Council and following the local government reorganisation of 1965, the Greater London Council. Following the demise of this latter organisation in 1986, the scheme has been administered by English Heritage and under their stewardship has been rolled out across the country. Apart from the English Heritage plaques, many people and events have been commemorated in a similar fashion by local authorities and other organisations across the country.

Recently, the English Heritage Blue Plaque scheme has been in the news for the sad reason that all new installations are to be suspended for at least the next two years due to cuts in government funding. Whilst it is to be hoped that an alternative method can be found to enable this decision to be reversed, perhaps now is a good time to examine some of the people and events of the Second World War that are commemorated by blue and other plaques across the capital.

There are too many wartime related plaques to mention them all in one article but instead we will try and mention as many as possible of the more notable people and events commemorated.

Leonard Rosoman's haunting image (author's photo)

We start not with a plaque in the conventional sense rather than a stone but seeing as how it marks the beginning of what was to escalate into the London Blitz, it is not possible to ignore it. Prior to the night of 24th/25th August 1940, London had not suffered from any serious bombing; indeed the capital had been placed 'off limits' by Adolf Hitler, perhaps in the hope of still being able to bring the British to the negotiating table rather than by forcing an invasion. Everything was to change on this night however, when a flight of German bombers, aiming for the Thameshaven oil refineries at the mouth of the Thames, instead found themselves hopelessly lost and instead of ditching their bombs over open countryside as their commander had thought, actually dropped them over the northern part of the City of London, at Fore Street, Moorgate. This theory of this first raid being a mistaken one is open to debate, for as well as the first bomb mentioned above, bombs also fell on East and West Ham, Stepney, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Leyton, Edmonton, Walthamstow, Bloomsbury and Islington - surely too large an area for an 'accidental' attack by a handful of bombers. Whatever the reason, it is generally agreed through subsequent corroboration of local authority incident logs that the first bomb fell on the City of London at Fore Street at 00:15 on 25th August 1940 and this landmark incident is recorded today with a commemorative stone on the replacement building erected on the spot. A landmark incident because it can be argued with some justification that the course of the war changed decisively in favour of the Allies from this moment. The switch to night bombing of London took the pressure away from RAF Fighter Command, who were able to regroup and consolidate the air superiority over the United Kingdom that they had never looked like losing during the Battle of Britain. They were able to inflict on Nazi Germany their first decisive defeat of the war and one from which they would never subsequently be able to recover.

Sydney Alfred Holder (author's photo)

The Blitz of course, was to create many heroes, myths and legends. A group of heroes to come out of this turbulent period in London's history, were the men and women of the London Fire Brigade and Auxiliary Fire Service, the 'heroes with grimy faces' as they were dubbed by Winston Churchill. Formed in 1938 as a result of the rapid expansion of the Civil Defence services following the Munich Crisis, the AFS volunteers were originally held in low esteem by the British public. One of the most common insults hurled their way was to be called '£3 a week Army dodgers' as a swipe at their being exempt from the call-up to the fighting services. Although trained by regular firefighters, on the outbreak of war in 1939, most of these auxiliary firefighters had never even tackled a 'normal' fire, let alone the maelstrom that they would face during the Blitz and never has the phrase 'baptism of fire' held more truth. Today the charity Firemen Remembered commemorates the numerous acts of self sacrifice and heroism displayed by the Fire Services in London by placing their distinctive white plaques at the scenes where fire fighters made the ultimate sacrifice. Theirs is an ongoing work and new plaques sponsored by this charity continue to be erected. The author has been lucky enough to be invited to several unveilings, the most recent of which saw a plaque unveiled to the memory of Auxiliary Fireman Sydney Alfred Holder, who died on the night of 29th/30th December 1940 - the Second Great Fire of London - in a scene immortalised by the War Artist Leonard Rosoman, himself an AFS firefighter who was present at the same incident and who narrowly avoided death under the collapsing wall that he subsequently painted. The plaque pictured is located at the scene of the incident in Shoe Lane, EC4.

Sir Winston Churchill (author's photo)

Winston Churchill, who gave the Fire Services their epithet as mentioned above, is commemorated with at least seven plaques across London, the one pictured being at what proved to be his last home in the capital at 28 Hyde Park Gate. Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940 in the aftermath of the Norwegian fiasco, a campaign for which his predecessor Neville Chamberlain was to take the blame but which ironically had seen Churchill as one of it's architects. Despite this, Churchill was to galvanise the country into a new atmosphere of defiance and belief in the final victory over Nazism. Part of this new atmosphere was to see new blood at the head of the armed services and after not a little exasperation on his part, the installation of military leaders who were accustomed to winning battles.

Bernard Law Montgomery (author's photo)

One of this new order of military leaders was Bernard Law Montgomery. The son of a clergyman, Montgomery was born in Kennington, southeast London in 1887. A career soldier, he had served in the Great War and had been shot through a lung and severely wounded in 1914 whilst serving in Belgium. Following a lengthy recuparation, he was to return to the Western Front in 1916 and saw further action at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 before finishing the war as GSO1 with the 47th (1/2nd London) Division as a temporary lieutenant colonel. Peacetime service followed with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and marriage to Betty Carver came in 1927. These years were undoubtedly the happiest of his life; his wife Betty smoothed the many rough edges of his character and brought him a family. Tragedy was to follow in 1937 when his wife died suddenly following the onset of septicaemia caused by an insect bite. Devastated by his loss, Montgomery characteristically threw himself into his work, to the exclusion of all else and became the arch-professional of the British Army, expecting and demanding the same levels from all who served under him. Those who failed to meet his exacting standards were dealt with ruthlessly and dismissed in his own phraseology as being 'quite useless' and as such quite often damned from any further advancement in the Army.  This sort of attiude was to bring Montgomery many enemies in the peacetime Army but in wartime, especially under the new regime of Churchill and his new Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Alan Brooke, who had advanced and protected Montgomery in peacetime, it was only a matter of time before the spiky little general was to come into his own. He had distinguished himself during the withdrawal of the BEF from France in May 1940 and following a spell in Southern Command in the UK during the invasion scare of 1940, he was sent out to North Africa in the summer of 1942 to take command of the British Eighth Army from General Auchinleck following the latter's withdrawal to a defensive line at a railway halt called called El Alamein. The subsequent victory at El Alamein in November 1942, was the first time that the British Army had beaten the German Wehrmacht before the arrival of American troops into the European theatre and marked the beginning of the end of the German presence in North Africa. Today, a blue plaque marks Montgomery's birthplace at Oval House, 52-54 Kennington Oval.

Dwight D Eisenhower (author's photo)

During Montgomery's time in North Africa and subsequently in Sicily, he was to encounter a then relatively unknown general of the United States Army, Dwight D Eisenhower, who was to exercise overall command during this latter campaign. He was to find Montgomery a difficult man to command but like the superb diplomat and commander he was, recognised Monty's qualities as a 'winner' and allowed him a certain amount of latitude. The two men were to be reunited during the Normandy Campaign when Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander with Montgomery as his overall Land Force Commander for the invasion and the immediate aftermath before Eisenhower was to take over the overall land command, much to Monty's annoyance. It was during this campaign that Eisenhower's friendship with Montgomery finally faltered; the lack of tact and respect shown by his subordinate was too much for him to take and the relationship between the two men was never the same again. Eisenhower was well liked within the UK and whatever shortcomings he had as a field commander, he was widely respected for his diplomacy and for his refusal to allow nationalistic concerns interfere with the overall Allied cause. The plaque shown is outside Eisenhower's former headquarters in Grosvenor Square.

The First Buzz Bomb - Grove Road, E3 (author's photo)

During the Normandy campaign the people of London, who perhaps might have felt that they had seen the last of bombing to their city, were to get a rude awakening in the early hours of 13th June 1944 when the railway bridge at Grove Road, Bow was struck by what was at first thought to be a crashed aircraft. This theory was soon dispelled when more and more of these weapons began to fall on the capital as well as in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. These first crude cruise missiles were being launched mainly from sites in the Pas de Calais and although countermeasures were soon put in place, such as moving the anti-aircraft guns and balloons to form a coastal defence line, behind which the RAF could operate to shoot down those bombs which still got through, some 2,515 of these 'buzz bombs' as they were quickly christened by the war weary Londoners, managed to evade all of the defences and caused further havoc where they fell. The worst of the V-1 attacks had passed by late August 1944, when the last of the launching sites were overrun by the liberating Allied forces.

The First V-2, Staveley Road Chiswick (author's photo)

At least these weapons could be defended against; much worse was soon to follow. At 6.34 pm on the 8th September 1944, there was a huge explosion in Staveley Road, Chiswick and a massive crater appeared in the roadway opposite number five. All along this hitherto quiet suburban road, houses were destroyed and those which did not collapse were seriously damaged. Perhaps surprisingly, the death toll was light, with only three people being killed and a further ten suffering serious injury. Unfortunately, this pattern of light casualties was not to last. Although the authorities suspected what was the real cause of the explosion, the authorities initially stated that the explosion was caused by an exploding gas main. Perhaps this was to avoid any panic but seeing as Londoners had not significantly panicked during the preceeding four years of bombings, this logic is hard to understand. These frightening weapons, which were launched from mobile sites mainly in the vicinity of Den Haag (The Hague) in the Netherlands, could not be defended against. The only way to stop them was to force the launching sites out of range of the UK, or to bomb the production sites but seeing as the main factory for the production of these weapons was an underground facility (where they were produced using slave labour in horrific conditions) this latter option was not viable. There were several high-casualty incidents on London - the worst being the Woolworths store in New Cross, which was struck on Saturday 25th November 1944, when 160 people - mainly Christmas shoppers - were killed, with a further 77 serious injuries and scores more walking wounded. These weapons were also fired on Maastricht, Brussels and Antwerp amongst other placess and it was at the latter location that the worst V-2 incident of the whole war occurred, when on 16th December 1944 the Rex Cinema received a direct hit. It was crowded with both locals as well as Allied soldiers enjoying some hard earned leave and the final death toll of 567 surpassed even the worst attack on London. Some 1,600 V-2s were lauched on Belgium, compared with the 1,400 aimed at the UK but fortunately, terrible as these weapons were, they came too late to affect the outcome of the war, although the last one was not to fall on London until March 27th 1945 and on Antwerp the following day. 

There are many more plaques in London commemorating people and events from the Second World War and below is a non-exhaustive list of those which this author is aware of. The knowledge of any others would be gratefully received!

Auxiliary Firemen Stanley Harold Randolph and Harry Richard Skinner - Tavistock Square WC1

Auxiliary Firemen Albert Edward Arber - Athelstane Grove E3

Balham Underground Station - 14th October 1940

Beckenham Auxiliary Firemen - Beckenham Fire Station

Bernard Law Montgomery - Oval House, Kennington Oval SE11

Blackfriars Station Entrance V-2 - Blackfriars Road SE1

Captain Ralph Douglas Binney - Birchin Lane EC3

Druid Street Arch Bombing 25th October 1940 - Druid Street SE1

Dwight D Eisenhower - Grosvenor Square W1

Earl Mountbatten of Burma - Wilton Crescent SW1
Edward R Murrow - Hallam Street W1
The First Flying Bomb - Grove Road Railway Bridge E3
Sir Frederick Handley Page - Grosvenor Square W1
West Ham Auxiliary Fire Service - Gainsborough Road School E15
Charles De Gaulle and Free French Forces - Carlton Gardens SW1
Guy Gibson VC - Aberdeen Place NW8
RAF Aircrew - Lord's Cricket Ground Pavilion NW8
Joan Bartlett and Violet Pengelly, AFS Firewomen - Old Millwall Fire Station, West Ferry Road E14
Nortraship, Norwegian Shipping & Trade Mission, Leadenhall Street EC3
Oranjehaven - Hyde Park Place W2
Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands in Exile - 77 Chester Square SW1
The Queens Hall - Langham Place W1
Auxiliary Fireman Sidney Alfred Holder - Shoe Lane EC2
Sir Archibald McIndoe, Reconstructive Surgeon - Draycott Avenue SW3
Sir Barnes Wallis - New Cross Road SE14
Sir Douglas Bader - Petersham Mews SW7
Sir Winston Churchill - Hyde Park Gate SW7
Old Palace School, St Leonard's Street E3
Stainer Street Arch Bombing 17th February 1941 - Stainer Street SE1
Station 39 London Auxiliary Ambulance Service - Weymouth Mews W1
Surrey Docks Fire September 7th 1940, Surrey Quays Road  SE16 
Old Surrey Theatre, St Georges Circus SE1
Field Marshal Viscount Gort, Belgrave Square SW1
Woolworths V-2 Attack 25th November 1944, New Cross Road SE14
Dr Hannah Billig, Cable Street E1
Alan Turing, Warrington Crescent W9
First V-2 Attack 8th September 1944, Staveley Road W4
Chelsea Fire Station, Kings Road SW3
Norwegian Government in Exile 1940-45, Princes Gate SW7
Poplar Fire Station, East India Dock Road E14
Turk's Row V-1 Incident, Turk's Row SW3
Auxiliary Firewoman Yvonne Green, Chelsea Old Church, Old Church Street SW3  


Published Sources:

Hitler's Rockets - Norman Longmate, Frontline Books 2009
The Lonely Leader: Monty 1944-45 - Alistair Horne, Pan Books 1995
Monty - Nigel Hamilton, Hodder & Stoughton 1994
The Narrow Margin - Derek Wood with Derek Dempster, Tri-Service Press 1995     
       
             

The Wartime Underground

A one-man shelter for use at railway depots (author's photo)

As most of our British readers at least will know, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the London Underground system. In November 2010 this blog examined the role played by the Tube in providing shelter for Londoners from Hitler's bombs during the Blitz and beyond. However, with this impressive anniversary of service in mind, perhaps now is a good time to take a look at the other, perhaps lesser known, but equally vital contributions to the war effort played by the London Transport in general and the Tube in particular.

The first major involvement, both by the Underground and by London's familiar red buses and at that time, equally familiar trams and trolleybuses, was to assist in the Herculean task of evacuating over half a million people, mainly schoolchildren but also expecting mothers, the mentally ill, the elderly and infirm, blind persons and long-term hospital patients from the built up areas of London to the safety of the countryside. Whilst the bulk of this task fell upon the main line railways to fulfill, the Metropolitan Line which in those days ran out to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire certainly played a full part in moving thousands of children away from central London. Even more surprising was the part played by London's buses in this mass movement; the red double deckers undertook journies as far afield as Oxford, Cambridge, Northampton, Eastbourne and Weston super Mare - a far cry from their usual routes.

This massive task over, London's road and rail transport could concentrate on the vital task of moving millions of Londoners to their war work, as well as the more mundane but equally vital role of helping Londoners and later the thousands of visiting servicemen and women to enjoy their much reduced leisure time in the capital. Services, especially in the suburbs, finished much earlier than we are accustomed to today. This was partially due to the blackout; people did not want to get caught away from home in a bombing raid if they could help it. Another reason was that people worked incredibly long hours and simply did not have the time, energy or inclination to go out very often. In central London, things were slightly different, especially slightly later in the war when visiting servicemen of all nationalities flooded into the capital whilst on leave.

Handley Page Halifax Mk III (RAF photo)

Behind the scenes however, the London Underground was involved in the War Effort in ways that people could not imagine. Before the outbreak of war, London Transport was involved in a massive works programme of extending the tube network, some of which was incomplete and had to be placed on hold 'for the duration' as the commonly used phrase of the time went. Some, like the extension of the Central Line eastwards from Liverpool Street to Epping and Hainault, resumed with the coming of peace and are familiar to us today but others, like the planned extensions of the Northern Line to Elstree and Bushey, proved to be stillborn - the freeze on new housing due to the imposition of the Green Belt rendered this scheme obsolete and it was never completed. Much of the infrastructure was already in place and it was part of this abortive extension to the network that was to make a massive impact on the British war effort.

A depot for the extra trains required on the Northern Line extension had already been built on what would today be called a 'green field' site in Aldenham, Hertfordshire and it was here as well as at a new purpose built factory at nearby Leavesden that London Transport's Underground staff were to be involved in a venture completely alien to them - that of aircraft production. Staff were drawn from the various engineering departments - Underground and Road - and they were given inductions at the Handley Page company to get them accustomed to the industry, although as engineers, these people soon understood what was required and in May 1941, the first Halifax bomber built by London Aircraft Productions, as the new company was called, rolled off the production line. Over seven hundred would follow, the last being handed over in April 1945. Looking ahead to peacetime, the jig built production techniques learned by London Transport's engineers in aircraft production would prove vital in the production of the 'RT', London's first standardised, mass produced bus, of which nearly seven thousand were built. Moving ahead even further, the experience gained in working with aluminium was crucial in the design and production of the iconic Routemaster bus and moving further ahead still, the new Bomber Command memorial in Green Park, features an aluminium roof made from salvaged aluminium from a Canadian Halifax bomber, shot down in Belgium in 1944. A fitting memorial not only to the 55,573 Allied airmen lost whilst serving with Bomber Command but also to the men and women of London Aircraft Productions.

Bomber Command Memorial showing the reclaimed roof (author's photo)

Another piece of London Underground land, not then in use but today used regularly by thousands of unknowing passengers, are the tunnels of the Central Line extension between Leytonstone and Gants Hill; nearly five miles of tunnel, which although physically complete on the outbreak of war, had yet to be opened for public use. This subterranean world was to see a remarkable transformation into a improvised, bomb proof factory, managed by the Plessey Company, manufacturing aircraft components. It was an amazing set-up, complete with miniature railway for transporting the components, three stations at Wanstead, Redbridge and Gants Hill for the employees to enter and exit the works, as well as cloakrooms, first aid facilities, a canteen and mess rooms capable of serving sixteen hundred people all being fitted into this confined space.

Apart from these temporary wartime expedients, London Transport's regular bus, train and train overhaul works were adapted for war work. In peacetime, London's underground trains were overhauled at Acton Works but in wartime, in addition to a greatly reduced train overhaul programme, Acton turned it's expertise to all manner of new disciplines, such as overhauling Sherman tanks, constructing bodies for ambulances and breakdown lorries, repairing engines and generators for naval landing craft and converting Sherman tanks to 'Duplex Drive' - i.e. able to operate amphibiously in upto ten feet of water and which proved invaluable during the Normandy landings. Acton also converted tube trains into 'Refreshment Specials' in order to feed the shelterers in the tube and undertook much work in repairing trains damaged by the Blitz, including one carriage that was rebuilt using two undamaged halves of severely damaged carriages being welded together to form a 'new' undamaged unit. Staying on the rails, London's Tram Overhaul Works at Charlton, being situated close to the Woolwich Arsenal, turned it's hand to producing ammunition and parts for guns.

Sherman Duplex Drive Tank (IWM Photo)

Apart from these 'behind the scenes' works, London Transport's staff also played a part in the front line. As a result of the 1938 Munich Crisis, London Transport had formed a Territorial Army Unit - the 84th (London Transport) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment and on the outbreak of hostilities, they rallied to the colours and served with distinction in Norway, North Africa and Italy and formed separate batteries from busmen, tram and trolleybus staff as well as railway and engineering staff. London Transport was truly at war.

London's Underground and it's staff performed a myriad of duties during the Second World War but undoubtedly the happiest duty performed was right at the end of the war, when the buses and tube trains played their full part in bringing the children back home. London Transport was at last able to rebuild and resume it's love/hate affair with Londoners. During the dark wartime years, 22,580 members of staff had served in the Armed Forces, Merchant Navy and Civil Defence, whilst some 245 had been killed by enemy air attacks in London in addition to those killed in action whilst serving with the Forces. 

Published Sources:

A History of London Transport - TC Barker & Michael Robbins, George Allen & Unwin 1974

London Transport at War 1939-1945 - Charles Graves, Almark Publishing 1974

The Shelter of The Tubes - John Gregg, Capital Transport 2001

The Battle of the Barents Sea, a V.C. and the end of the Kriegsmarine

Capt R St V Sherbrooke VC (IWM)

The end of 1942 saw the British public enjoying a respite from the bombing that had scarred London and many other of their major towns and cities during the First Blitz of 1940/41 and the Baedecker Raids of 1942. The fourth Christmas of the war for the British was more austere even than the previous three, with rationing and shortages beginning to bite but most people stoically got on with their war work after an all too brief break, which in most cases lasted just for one day. The news from overseas, certainly in the European theatre, continued to be encouraging. In the east, the Germans were surrounded at Stalingrad and disaster was imminently looming for them. In North Africa, the victory won at El Alamein in November 1942 was being consolidated as the Eighth Army swept towards Tripoli and the Afrika Korps found itself being squeezed into an ever diminishing space as the American and British armies advanced from the west following the successful 'Torch' landings the previous November. The Battle of the Atlantic continued with convoy after convoy battling their way through the U-Boats bringing their much needed supplies through to Britain. The attrition rate on both sides was frightening; the phenomenal output of the American shipyards would ensure that the Allies would win the 'tonnage war' although no shipyard on Earth could ever replace the brave seaman who would perish, many of them lost forever in the Atlantic. The casualties amongst the U-Boats were horrendous, once depth charged or sunk on the surface, hopes of escaping from the steel coffins were slim and once in the sea, chances of rescue were even slimmer. Reviled at the time, there can be no doubt that the U-Boat men were brave indeed.

Onboard HMS Sheffield during an Arctic convoy (IWM)

Staying with the war at sea, Christmas 1942 saw the resumption of the supply convoys to Northern Russia, which had earlier been suspended following earlier heavy losses, most notably amongst Convoy PQ17, which as a result of faulty intelligence and Admiralty meddling from afar had been ordered to scatter, leaving the merchant ships easy prey for the waiting U-Boats and Luftwaffe. After one more convoy, the route was suspended pending the return of the almost perpetual darkness of the Arctic winter and Christmas Eve 1942, saw the fourteen merchant ships of Convoy JW51B sailing from Loch Ewe together with their close escort of destroyers, corvettes and one minesweeper commanded by Captain Robert St. V. Sherbrooke in the destroyer Onslow. There was also a more distant escort of two cruisers, HM Ships Sheffield and Jamaica commanded by Admiral Robert 'Bob' Burnett. More distant cover still was provided by the heavy units of the Home Fleet.

Convoy JW51B was being viewed by the Kriegsmarine as an opportunity to justify the existence of it's heavy ships. Earlier losses amongst these units, most notably the battleships Graf Spee and the Bismarck as well as heavy losses in the Norwegian campaign had left Hitler with a feeling of deep skepticism about the usefulness of these ships as well as underlining the inherent inferiority complex that the Kriegsmarine felt towards the Royal Navy. Led by Admiral Kummetz, the plan was for the Pocket Battleship Lutzow, suupported by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, supported by six destroyers to sail from the base at Altenfjord, Norway and to force their way through what the Germans saw as a puny escort and having disposed of these, to wreak havoc amongst the merchant ships. 

The convoy had successfully met up with Sherbrooke's destroyers off Iceland on Christmas Day but heavy weather on the 28th/29th December had caused many of the merchant ships to lose station and when the weather eventually moderated, five merchant ships and two escorts had become detached from the main body of the convoy. Three of these merchant vessels eventually rejoined the convoy, with the remaining vessels heading independently towards Kola Inlet, which they reached safely. 

HMS Sheffield early in the war (IWM)

The German forces made contact with the convoy on New Year's Eve but despite their overwhelming superiority in numbers, were driven off time after time by the escorting destroyers. Sherbrooke fought his ships magnificently and using the threat of torpedo attack and the skilled use of smoke, the German ships were unable to break through. The defence was not without cost; the minesweeper Bramble, which was to the north of the convoy searching for the merchant ships detached by the bad weather stumbled across the Admiral Hipper, and true to the spirit of the Royal Navy, opened fire on her vastly more powerful enemy, which together with her escorting destroyer Friedrich Eckholdt, made short work of the little minesweeper, which sank with all hands. The German vessels then shifted their attention back to the convoy, attacking the destroyers, severely damaging the Onslow and grievously wounding Sherbrooke, who was hit in the face by a shell splinter. Despite his wounds, which saw Sherbrooke's left cheekbone shattered and his left eye dangling down the wound, the Captain refused to leave his bridge and continued in command until this latest attack had been beaten off. Only then did he allow himself to be taken below and relinquished command to the next most senior officer, Lt Cdr David Kinloch, in the destroyer Obedient. During this clash, the destroyer Achates, which had been laying smoke across the stern of the convoy, was also seriously hit, and was also to sink with heavy loss of life, although the escort trawler Northern Gem, commanded by Lt Horace Aisthorpe managed to pick up eighty one survivors from the freezing seas.

It was during this German attempt to reach the convoy that the British cruisers arrived on the scene. The time was 11:30 and adhering to the old adage, "When in doubt, steer for the sound of the guns", Burnett's cruisers achieved complete surprise; Admiral Hipper's guns were trained in the opposite direction to the Sheffield and Jamaica and it was not until twenty four six inch shells burst around her, that those on Hipper were aware that British reinforcements had arrived. The British gunfire, aided by radar, was extremely accurate; Sheffield's fifth salvo struck the target, as did Jamaica's fourth, fifth and sixth. Both ships were firing at intervals of less than twenty seconds and the hits by the British ships achieved much psychological as well as material damage to the Hipper and those in command of the German force, which retired in some disarray but not before the destroyer Eckholdt, which had earlier finished off Achates, now fatally mistook Sheffield for the Admiral Hipper and was literally blown out of the water by the British cruiser, sinking with all hands. Her last plaintiff signal to her flagship had been "You are firing on me." It is doubtful if those on board ever actually knew what had hit them.

The second heavy German ship, the Lutzow made a belated appearance on the scene but was again unable to force the issue and after some desultory exchanges, both sides retired due to the threat of torpedo attacks in the darkness by the escorting destroyers. The convoy had been saved and all fourteen merchant ships were able to reach their Russian destinations to discharge their precious cargoes. Sherbrooke, though dangerously wounded was later repatriated where he would eventually recover and return to duty. Whilst he was in Russia awaiting his return home, Sherbrooke would learn of the award of the Victoria Cross, the highest British award for gallantry for his superb defence of the convoy, which brought valuable time for the British cruisers to appear on the scene. It was also awarded, as Sherbrooke was modestly to admit later, for the actions of the whole of his escorting force.

Grossadmiral Erich Raeder (Bundesarchiv)

For the Kriegsmarine however, the repercussions of this defeat were to be enormous. Hitler, when informed of the debacle, flew into a rage and decreed that the remaining surface ships were "so much old iron", were a waste of valuable resources and were therefore were to be paid off with immediate effect. The guns could be used for coastal defence, the scrap metal used for building tanks and other materials for the army and the manpower transferred to U-Boats or to the infantry. This decision Hitler said, was "irrevocable."

For the head of the Kriegsmarine, Admiral Raeder, it was too much and he immediately announced his retirement. His replacement was to be Admiral Donitz, head of the U-Boat arm and who managed to get  the decision to scrap the surface ships to be later partially reversed. Almost exactly one year later, the battleship Scharnhorst made a final foray against the Russian convoys only to be sunk off North Cape on Boxing Day 1943 by the British battleship Duke of York and her escorting cruisers and destroyers, one of which was the cruiser Sheffield, grizzled veteran of the Barents Sea, the Bismarck action and many battles in the Mediterranean.

Apart from the ships sunk and damaged in this and the other victories achieved by the Royal Navy, the Battle of the Barents Sea represented a greater, bloodless victory which resulted in many of the German surface ships being laid up in port, never again to venture to sea, many of which were to fall victim to the Allied air attacks.

Published Sources:

73 North - Dudley Pope, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1958

The Battle of The Atlantic - John Costello & Terry Hughes, Collins 1977

Engage the Enemy More Closely - Correlli Barnett, Hodder & Stoughton 1991

The Fighting Admirals - Martin Stephen, Leo Cooper 1991

Charlton SE7: A London suburb at war

The piece below was written by me in 2009 for inclusion in my friend and guiding colleague Clive Harris's erstwhile 'Front Line London' website. Clive kindly mentioned this article recently on the Charlton Life forum and so suitably updated and with some additions, the article is reproduced below.

Spotter on duty at The Valley (Greenwich Heritage Centre)

With a father who served in HM Forces, most of the time overseas and a mother who worked at Woolwich Arsenal throughout the Second World War, it was probably inevitable that I would have more than a passing interest in the history of those times, although admittedly for some reason that I’ve never quite been able to work out, my interest has always been slanted towards the war at sea. Notwithstanding this, possibly because of hearing my Mother and her friends talking about those days, interest in the home front, especially in my own corner of south east London has never been too far from the surface. 

These days, there aren’t too many visible signs of the war in SE7, although with a bit of local knowledge and with a little research, it is quite easy to get a good idea of what was bombed and what evidence remains. 

The first place to start when researching an area is the local authority’s archive to study the Civil Defence Incident Logs. Scandalously, in the sixties and seventies, perhaps before the social history value of such information was fully appreciated, some boroughs destroyed their records. Fortunately the Royal Borough of Greenwich, as we should now call it, has an excellent Heritage Centre in which is held the records of the old Metropolitan Boroughs of Greenwich and Woolwich. 

From a study of these logs, it can been seen that much of the heaviest damage was done to what is now known as North Charlton - that is the area at the bottom of Charlton Church Lane and bordering the Woolwich Road. There were many factories in this area, especially between Woolwich Road and the River and it was these that suffered repeatedly. Johnson & Phillips, British Ropes, Harvey’s, Stone Manganese, Siemens, the Central Tram Repair Depot at Rainton Road and many other local industries were all heavily bombed in 1940-41, as was the Woolwich Arsenal, where my late Mother had been working since joining as a 16 year old in 1937. Despite working in what was arguably the most dangerous place in London, she always felt safer once at work, rather than chancing the public shelters that were the only option if the warning went whilst travelling to work on the bus. She maintained until the end of her life that if the siren went as she was crossing Beresford Square, as it did on more than one occasion, she would always hurry up and get through the Arsenal Gates. This probably false feeling of safety was shared by many of the workers that I have spoken to subsequently.

The story as far as Charlton was concerned actually began before what is now viewed as the official start of the Blitz. On the 4th September 1940, St. Paul’s Church, which was located at the junction of Charlton Lane and Fairfield Grove, received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb which entered through the roof of the main building, completely destroying it. This was something of a landmark, as it was the first church in London to be destroyed in the War and the day following the incident, many thousands of people came to view the ruins. Sadly, the novelty value of this occasion was to wear off very quickly indeed. The gutted shell of the building remained until after the war, but was then demolished and the land sold to the local council for housing purposes. Today, the only clue to the existence of this landmark is an unremarkable block of local authority flats, which bears the name of the church which once stood on the site. This incident was covered more fully in this blog in April 2010

Mum did have one lucky escape, which was on ‘Black Saturday’ 7th September 1940, the first day of the Blitz. For reasons that she could not later recall, her boss had given the Pay Office (where my Mother worked) a Saturday off. This was a real bonus, because Saturdays were a normal working day at that time. My Mother remembered spending much of her day off – from the late afternoon onwards – in the Anderson Shelter of her parents’ home in Montcalm Road, Charlton. When she reported for work on the following Monday, the whole area where she worked, including her own office building as well as many of the air raid shelters, had been destroyed. 

The destroyed Charlton Station (Greenwich Heritage Centre)

In Charlton, ‘Black Saturday’ also saw the railway line between Charlton Junction Station (as it was then called) and Woolwich Dockyard completely closed due to unexploded bombs. This pattern was followed many times during the following two months, with the line being closed again on the 12th September and again on the 20h, 24th and 25th September, when Angerstein’s Wharf was struck, with four railway personnel being killed. In October, the lines were again blocked due to bomb damage and once again, Angerstein’s Wharf was struck by incendiary bombs. No evidence of this damage is really apparent today, as most of the buildings were demolished post-war. Jumping ahead in time, the Booking Office and ancillary buildings of Charlton Station were completely destroyed on 23rd June 1944, when it received a direct hit from a V-1 flying bomb, killing four civilians, including Mrs. Newick, the wife of the signalman, who lived in the Stationhouse. As a result, the whole station was demolished and remained as a collection of temporary buildings until 1967, when the station was rebuilt into the style we see today. 

The railway received one further blow, on 8th February 1945, when the signal box at the opposite end of the platform to the booking hall, received extensive blast damage from a V-2 that exploded 400 yards away from the building, although happily causing no casualties. 

The familiar sights of London at war were already apparent in SE7 by the time the Blitz started in September 1940. Although there was no heavy anti-aircraft battery in Charlton itself, my mother recalled a mobile gun that used to drive along Canberra Road firing sporadically, which presumably did little good, other than to give the impression to the general public that we were fighting back, albeit in a small way. There was also a battery of 3.7” guns on Blackheath, which again, at that stage of the war, would have been more of a morale-boosting exercise than anything else. Charlton Park was the home of one, possibly, two barrage balloons, which of course, were dotted liberally all across London. In Canberra Road, number 106 received a near miss and severe blast damage, which caused the building to be demolished and which now gives one of the few clues to the Blitz still visible in SE7. The house was rebuilt to a slightly different layout to the other undamaged houses, which still stands out today. It was this blast that did the only lasting damage to the family home in nearby Montcalm Road. Roof tiles were blown off, windows blown out and the upstairs ceilings were all brought down. The evidence of post-war rebuilding is still evident today, with the ceilings being reconstructed in a different style to the originals. 

Invicta Road School (Greenwich Heritage Centre)

On November 14th 1940, the same night as the great raid on Coventry, southeast London also suffered. In Charlton Park Lane, near the junction with Shooters Hill Road, near to where Charlton Lido now stands, a parachute mine fell and became entangled in trees. Fortunately, there was sufficient time to evacuate the residents of the adjacent houses, before it exploded some hours later, destroying several houses and causing severe blast damage to many other properties. By far the worst incident in London on this night was in nearby Blackheath, when Invicta Road School, then in use as a fire station for the Auxiliary Fire Service received a direct hit from a Parachute Mine, killing twelve firemen and three civilians. These two incidents were separated by a matter of minutes and presumably the same aircraft dropped both of these mines. 

Back in Charlton proper, The Village also attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe, when the Bugle Horn public house and St. Luke’s Church also received severe blast damage. The stained glass windows of the church were almost completely destroyed and what is now the Lounge Bar of the pub was severely damaged. This was not rebuilt until after the war, and whilst today the building looks much as it ever did from the outside, a closer inspection of the interior of this bar reveals it to be a pastiche of the original. 

Once the First Blitz of September 1940 to May 1941 was over, Charlton in common with the rest of London enjoyed something of a respite with only sporadic raids until the ‘Little Blitz’ of late 1943 to the spring of 1944. Then in June 1944 came the Allied invasion of Europe and the war-weary citizens of Charlton perhaps thought that the end was in sight. It was at this relatively late stage of the war that Londoners were subjected to their final and arguably worst ordeal in the form of the terror weapons – the V-1 Flying Bombs and later the V-2 Rockets. 

The first V-1 in London fell in Bow on 13th June 1944 but the boroughs of Greenwich and Woolwich were spared until three days later, when the first of many of these weapons fell in both boroughs. Greenwich’s first fell harmlessly on allotments in Tunnel Avenue, Greenwich, whilst the first ‘buzz bomb’ in Woolwich fell in Heavitree Road, Plumstead causing seven fatalities. The V-1’s fell regularly thereafter in both boroughs, with the casualties mounting steadily. The V-1 assault fell away and then stopped altogether by early September 1944 when the Allied armies overran the launching sites in the Pas de Calais. Another brief respite followed but then on 8th September 1944, a house in Staveley Road, Chiswick was obliterated without warning. At first, the authorities tried to calm the populace by informing them that the explosion was caused by an exploding gas main but when the explosions continued, they finally had to come clean and tell Londoners that yet another new weapon was being used against them. Thereafter, some of the more cynical Londoners christened the rockets ‘flying gas mains!'

Like everywhere in London, as well as many other places in England and indeed liberated Europe, the V-2s caused havoc in Greenwich. The first one to fall in the borough also proved to be the worst. This was on 11th November 1944 when the Brook Hotel in Shooters Hill Road was completely destroyed by a direct hit. There were twenty nine fatalities, many of whom were passengers on a number 89 bus which happened to be passing when the missile fell. The pub was rebuilt after the war but subsequently closed; the building however is still extant as a small supermarket. Most buildings that suffered from the attentions of these rockets were completely destroyed but there is one building in Charlton, which although rebuilt after the war, still shows the extent of the damage caused. The building is Charlton House, the splendid Jacobean manor house that greets visitors to Charlton arriving from the direction of Blackheath, which suffered a near miss from a V-2 on the evening of 25th January 1945. The entire north eastern wing of the building was destroyed, and although the post-war rebuilding work was painstakingly done, unfortunately shortages of materials and perhaps a low budget caused the wrong colour brickwork and stone to be used and the rebuilt area can still be clearly seen, giving the present day viewer some idea of the extent of the damage caused. 

Johnson & Phillips in March 1945 (Greenwich Heritage Centre)

The final V-2 incident of the war as far as Charlton was concerned occurred on 9th March 1945, barely two months before the end of the war in Europe, when the Johnson & Phillips factory, which had suffered so much during the First Blitz received another direct hit, this time on the Cable Shop causing one fatal casualty. The last V-2 of the entire war fell in Orpington on 27th March 1945 causing one final fatality but with the Allied armies closing in on the shattered remains of the Third Reich, the final surrender of the Nazis on the 8th May 1945 meant that London and Londoners could at last begin to return to their peacetime routines. 

To end on a brighter note, the final word must go to an incident which my late Mother remembered until the end of her life. It was June 1944 and her husband to be, Ron was on leave, having just returned from nearly four years service overseas in North Africa. The air raid siren sounded and both Mum and Dad began to walk down the garden to the shelter. As they were doing this, a V-1 could be seen and heard overhead. The engine then stopped and instead of running, my Mum made some comment about the engine having stopped and just stood there watching. Ron told her in no uncertain terms to get down, whereupon he pushed her to the ground and she ended up face down in the dirt with a muddy face. 

Mum was uncertain where the V-1 fell, but given the chronology, it is just possible that it was the same weapon which fell on Charlton Station as described above. 

She still laughed about this incident some 60 years on, as apart from the muddy face, it was the first time that my Dad had ‘sworn’ at her, apparently having called her a “Silly Cow” when she was gawping at the Doodlebug!

Unpublished Sources:

Author's family recollections
Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich ARP Incident Log
Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich ARP Incident Log

It's only a name!

The fifth HMS Duncan (HMSO)

Whilst recently reading a post on another blog (which shall remain nameless to prevent embarrassment to the writer), I took exception to what I felt was a facile comment regarding the naming of one of the Royal Navy's new Type 45 Destroyers. Without quoting him directly, the upshot of what was said was along the lines of "What sort of name is HMS Duncan? Sounds like it was named after an accountant!"

Although this comment was no doubt meant to leave his readers rolling in the aisles with laughter, I for one felt that it showed a staggering amount of ignorance not only towards the naming policy of the Royal Navy but showed a lack of knowledge of history in general, which sadly seems only too prevalent these days.

Whilst the arguments over the teaching of British history in schools belong to another place, this whole saga left me thinking about the whole business of how military hardware is named and how this reflects the characteristics of the various nations and services involved.

As we've started with the Royal Navy, let us continue with the story of HMS Duncan. Named after Admiral Adam Duncan, victor of the Battle of Camperdown against the Dutch in 1797. She is the seventh ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name and this I think, is the crux of the Royal Navy's naming policy; famous names are perpetuated, battle honours won by previous ships of the same name are proudly displayed on the current vessel and the ship's company are encouraged to learn and be aware of the history attached to the name. For interest, despite the first HMS Duncan appearing in 1804, the battle honours for this name were all earned by the fifth vessel to bear the name, a 'D' Class destroyer launched in 1932 that saw arduous service during the Second World War. She earned the following battle honours for the name - Spartivento 1940, Malta Convoys 1941, Mediterranean 1941, Atlantic 1941-45, Diego Suarez 1942.

A look at the Royal Navy's current fleet list, although sadly greatly reduced in recent years, reveals many famous names still in commission and whilst there are too many to mention them all here, names such as Illustrious and Ocean commemorate famous aircraft carriers from the past, whilst names such as Kent, Westminster, Montrose and Portland not only perpetuate famous old names but provide a connection from local communities to their Navy which makes for superb public relations. The US Navy, follows a similar tradition to their British counterparts, mixing the tradition of perpetuating old names such as Enterprise, commemorating famous naval heroes such as Halsey, Nimitz and Spruance and connecting with local through the vessels named after their respective States, towns and cities.

The German Navy of World War Two, the Kriegsmarine, as might be expected named it's vessels in a generally much more martial style, celebrating past Germanic heroes such as Bismarck, Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Graf Spee, as well as perhaps surprisingly naming some cruisers after German cities like Nurnberg, Emden and Koln, although these style of names were in the minority. It was probably not surprising that the Nazi regime wanted to commemorate German heroes from the past rather than foster connections with local communities.

Moving away from the navies of World War Two to the fighting aircraft, less of a pattern emerges. Rather than a general naming policy, many aircraft names were decided on the whim of the designers, or more usually the individual manufacturers. More often than not though, this loose policy produced some memorable names, many of which remain household names to this day. Arguably the best known aircraft of the last war, or possibly of all time is the Supermarine Spitfire. Today, the name is synonymous with speed, grace and deadly fighter aircraft but perhaps what is not so widely known is that the fighter was almost called the 'Shrew' instead of the name that subsequently passed into legend. The inspiration came from the chairman of Vickers Aviation Limited, the parent company behind Supermarine, who nicknamed his daughter 'a little spitfire' and who rightly felt that the name was more inspiring than that originally proposed. When the name was decided upon, the news was passed to the designer, RJ Mitchell, who famously remarked "Just the sort of bloody silly name they would give it!" Like many designers, Mitchell wasn't interested in names, just in getting the final product right.

Prior to the Spitfire, Supermarine were as their name implies, better known for their seaplanes rather than fighters, with the result that their seaplanes were given stolid, if uninspiring names such as Walrus, Seagull, Seamew and Sea Otter. The Spitfire seemed to revitalise their naming policy, for post-war they produced fighter planes with names like Scimitar, Spiteful and Attacker. 

The Spitfire's 'sister' fighter during the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane came from the Hawker Aircraft Company who unlike Supermarine, seemed to have a definite naming policy for their products, for as well as Hurricane, they were also responsible for the Fury, Typhoon and Tempest - all named after great disturbances of the air, although just to confuse everyone, they also came up with bird names such as Tomtitt, Sea Hawk, Kestrel and much later, their famous 'Jump Jet', the Harrier. The American manufacturers came up with a similar mixture of names for their products, giving us a diversity of names ranging from the Flying Fortress, Liberator, Thunderbolt, Lightning and Mustang, as well as many more, all of which have a distinct American feel to them. 

By contrast, the aircraft of the Luftwaffe mainly relied on their manufacturer's type name for indentification - the Bf109, the Focke Wulf 190, the Heinkel 111 and the Dornier Do17 all became famous - or infamous - just through these numbers alone. There were exceptions though - the Focke Wulf 200 maritime reconnaissance aircraft was christened the Condor and as such became etched in the mind of many a participant in the Battle of the Atlantic. Also permanently associated with the Nazis is the Junkers 87 Stuka, which was a corruption of the German word Sturzkampfflugzeug, meaning 'dive bomber', which is exactly what the Stuka was!

Military hardware, in contrast to ships and aircraft, does not generally seemed to have been named as such, Rifles, machine guns, artillery pieces and the like do not usually attract anything other than their type numbers but the exception to this rule is the tank. For some reason, the tank attracts names as diverse as anything seen with fighting ships and aeroplanes.

The Panzer Mk III Tank (author's collection)

British tanks during World War 2, it has to be said, were on the whole fairly uninspiring in terms of performance, the only truly class piece of equipment was the Comet, which only entered service in time for the last six months of the war in Europe. Before that, the British Army had to make do with some splendidly named tanks such as the Cromwell, Churchill and Crusader as well as the somewhat less inspirationally named Matilda! 

To most of us, the American tank of World War 2, which also provided much of the armour for the British Army, was the Sherman. Not the most powerful tank ever produced, the Sherman had the great advantage of being produced in vast numbers, so that losses could easily be replaced. It was also easy to maintain  and rugged, so combining all of these factors, the Allies were onto a winner. Wartime American tanks were named after famous generals, so in addition to the Sherman, names such as Lee, Grant and Pershing were all commemorated.

German tanks started the war as purely being named Panzer (or tank) Mk I, II, III etc. It was not until later in the war that they started being named after big cats, firstly the Panther and then possibly the most famous and feared tank of the war, the Tiger. Fortunately for the Allies, the Tiger appeared fairly late in the war and was not built in sufficient numbers to threaten the outcome of the war.

As always in a blog of this nature, we can only scratch the surface of the subject but as can be seen, the name attach a certain mystique to a weapon of war and sometimes give the weapon legendary status.

Published Sources:

Badges and Battle Honours of H.M. Ships - Lt. Cdr. K.V. Burns - Maritime Books 1986

Spitfire - Jeffrey Quill - Arrow Books 1985

Armistice Day 1940, The London Blitz and Taranto

Bomb Damage in Greenwich (Greenwich Heritage Centre)

In last week's post, we concentrated on one of the many fallen servicemen of the Second World War, in this case one of those commemorated on the memorial plaque of Ickenham Cricket Club in Middlesex as part of the run-up to Remembrance Sunday, which this year coincides with the actual day of the original Armistice Day; the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which in 1918 marked the end of fighting in the First World War.

As we have not concentrated solely on the Blitz in London for some time, perhaps this weekend of remembrance is a good time to do so. Study of a cross section of the Civil Defence (ARP) Incident Logs from across London reveals that the Luftwaffe was no respecter of Armistice Day and that the Blitz on London continued regardless.

The 10th November was a Sunday in 1940 and in London the sirens sounded the alert shortly after 7pm, part of the nightly routine of attending to your daily business, grabbing a bite to eat if there was time and then descending into the shelter, not knowing whether your house or place of work would still be there in the morning, or indeed whether one would even see the morning.

It seemed to be a particularly bad night in the Borough of Greenwich; a Public Air Raid Shelter in Armada Street, Deptford suffered a direct hit from a High Explosive bomb causing three fatal casualties. There were also nine seriously injured shelterers, including three children who were taken to the Miller Hospital. The street level shelters were particularly vulnerable, offering some protection against flying shrapnel but being no more resistant to a direct hit or even the blast from a near miss than the average house. As if this wasn't bad enough, a private air raid shelter at the nearby Rodney Iron Foundry also suffered a direct hit from a HE Bomb, this time with the loss of six lives, presumably employees of the foundry, with a further thirty nine casualties, of whom twenty one were serious. Elsewhere in the borough, the Bugle Horn pub in Charlton Village was hit in the early hours of the 11th November and whilst there were only three slight casualties, part of this historic old inn was destroyed, although happily rebuilt after the war.

Moving westwards across the capital, Westminster, the seat of government, was not immune from the Luftwaffe's attentions that night. Browsing through the Incident Log, one sees famous names such as Dickins & Jones, Swan & Edgar as well as the Army & Navy Stores in Victoria Street all suffering from HE bomb hits or the effects of blast. Well known street names also feature; Duke Street, Buckingham Palace Road and Vauxhall Bridge Road as well as many others all received direct hits from either HE or Incendiary devices. Even the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square was not spared, although in this instance the bomb did not explode and was later safely removed by those brave men of the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Squad.

South of Westminster, in Camberwell, most of the bombs recorded seem to have fallen harmlessly on open ground, such as Alleyn Girls' School Playing Fields which saw another HE bomb, although the Nunhead Allotments received what would today be called a 'Friendly Fire' incident when an unexploded Anti-Aircraft Shell made an unwelcome appearance. Although on this occasion causing no casualties, these shells could sometimes be just as deadly as the German bombs and study of the Incident Logs across London record many instances of fatal casualties being caused by these shells, which on the basis of "What goes up, must come down" fell indiscriminately having missed their intended targets. Indeed, the Bethnal Green Tube Station Disaster of March 1943, in which 173 people were trampled to death in a stampede, was caused by people panicking at the sound of what at the time was thought to be the explosion of a bomb but what was in fact, the guns in nearby Victoria Park opening fire.

In Southwark as in Camberwell, the raid on this night was relatively light, with the main problems being caused by two Unexploded Bombs in Collinson Street and although one of these did subsequently explode, it was after the area had been cleared and there were no casualties.

Moving north to Stoke Newington, the bombers concentrating on this borough seem to have been loaded with a batch of substandard bombs, with no fewer than twelve unexploded HE devices being successfully dealt with by the Royal Engineers across the borough. In neighbouring Finsbury, the bombs were slightly more effective, with a HE Bomb falling at the junction of Whitecross Street and Banner Street causing a gas main to ignite but mercifully with no recorded casualties.

HMS Illustrious in 1942 (Australian War Memorial)

Although the nights of 10th/11th November and 11th/12th November 1940 did not see particularly heavy raids, the bombs fell far and wide across London, Poplar, as always seemed to suffer. The eastbound District Line at Bow Road Station was blocked for some hours by a HE Bomb and a further bomb fell outside the Wellington Arms Public House in Wellington Way, although the Log does not record any human casualties resulting from these incidents.

Although Londoners were not to know it, the Blitz which had begun on September 7th 1940 was approaching a temporary lull; bad weather was beginning to affect the ability of the Luftwaffe to launch effective attacks and the results of the attrition resulting from the Battle of Britain had also had it's effects on the Germans. They were in today's parlance suffering from Battle Fatigue and although they were to return with a vengeance on the night of 29th December and again during the spring of 1941, for now at least, the attacks were beginning to wane.

Fairey Swordfish of the RN Historic Flight (Peter Noble)

It was not all one way traffic though. The British were beginning to fight back and following on from the decisive victory gained by the RAF during the Battle of Britain during the summer and autumn of 1940, the 11th November was to see a major British victory over the Axis Powers, this time involving a handful of obsolete biplanes issuing a shattering blow to the Italian Fleet. At 2040 on the evening of 11th November 1940, the first of some twenty one frail looking Fairey Swordfish aircraft took off into the darkness over the Mediterranean from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious bound for the Italian Naval Base at Taranto. The object was to cripple the Italian Fleet which at that time, numerically at least, was threatening the superiority of the British Mediterranean Fleet. The Swordfish biplanes achieved total surprise and for the loss of two aircraft and their crews, one battleship - Conti di Cavour - was sunk and two others - Littorio and Caio Duilio - damaged so badly that they were out of action for over a year. The Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Andrew Cunningham, a man not easily given to praise, signalled to HMS Illustrious "MANEOUVRE WELL EXECUTED" which was fulsome indeed coming from such a perfectionist. 

As a result of this action, the Italian Fleet, always somewhat in awe of their British opponents, never seriously threatened them again, although there were to be scares in the ensuing years. Rather more ominously for the Allies, the action at Taranto was studied very closely by the Japanese. Although they were not yet in the war, they based their plans for a pre-emptive strike on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour and armed as they were with much more modern aircraft and many more of them than the venerable Swordfish, the results when the attack took place in December 1941 were devastating indeed.

Clearly, Armistice Day was in abeyance for the duration.

Published Sources:

Engage The Enemy More Closely - Correlli Barnett, Hodder & Stoughton 1991

The Illustrious & Implacable Classes of Aircraft Carrier - Neil McCart, Fan Publications 2000

The War at Sea - ed. John Winton - Hutchinson 1974

Unpublished Sources:

Civil Defence Incident Logs for the Metropolitan Boroughs of Camberwell, Finsbury, Greenwich, Poplar, Southwark , Stoke Newington and the City of Westminster

Time to Remember

W/O Pete Godfrey (author's collection)

As we approach 11th November, thoughts turn to those who gave their lives in service of their country during two World Wars as well as numerous other conflicts including those who serve in Afghanistan during the present day.

In one of the earliest posts on this blog, in The Dreaded Telegram we examined the story behind one of the names on a memorial plaque to be found at Ickenham Cricket Club in Middlesex. The sort of plaque that we have at Ickenham can be mirrored at countless cricket, rugby, football and other sports clubs across the country, as well as schools and other institutions, commemorating their members, former pupils and employees who made the ultimate sacrifice. At the time of this earlier post, we undertook to look at another of those commemorated and with Remembrance Day fast approaching, perhaps now is the time to do this.

Peter Leopold Godfrey, inevitably known as 'Pete' to his friends and squadron colleagues, was a twenty one year old Warrant Officer Pilot in the Royal Air Force. The photograph of him shows him to be a fresh faced young man and to look at his image is an instant reminder as to the extreme youth of the majority of those men fighting in the front line, whether they be soldiers, sailors or airmen. Pete was from Ickenham, which seventy years ago was even more of an outer suburb of London than it is today. He was educated at Harrow County School for Boys at nearby Harrow on the Hill and by all accounts was a fine young man as well as an excellent sportsman, joining his local cricket club at Ickenham, where he was described as an outstandingly good wicket keeper.

Ickenham Cricket Club Memorial Plaque (author's photo)

Pete would have been too young to have joined up on the outbreak of war in 1939, but by 1941 he had joined the RAF and after his pilot training he joined 80 Squadron, at that time based in North Africa as part of the Desert Air Force but later to move to Italy, before returning to the UK in April 1944 in preparation for Operation Overlord, at which time the squadron re-equipped with the Spitfire Mk IX fighter. In September 1944, the squadron once again re-equipped, this time with the Hawker Tempest Mk V, one of the fastest piston-engined fighters, which apart from their ground attack role in support of the Allied armies then involved in liberating France and the Low Countries from Nazi domination, were also instrumental in bringing down the V-1 Flying Bombs then plagueing London and Southeast England. 

There was another task in hand for the new Tempest fighters in September 1944; on September 17th, Operation 'Market Garden' was launched. This was Field Marshal Montgomery's audacious attempt to end the war early by advancing into Northern Germany by taking the bridges over the Rivers Waal and Neder Rhine and which was to culminate in the glorious failure at Arnhem.

All of this heartbreak was in the future when 80 Squadron took off from it's base at RAF Manston at 11:30 on the 17th September, tasked with flak-suppression duties over the Walcheren and Schouwen Islands. The squadron's War Diary laconically records that "Several guns were silenced.....One armed barge was attacked and left burning, whilst four others were damaged." The diary then goes on to record that "Flak was plentiful and Tempest EJ519 piloted by W/O P.L. (Pete) Godfrey was hit. He was not seen to bale out and aircraft was seen to crash into the sea."

A 'sister' Hawker Tempest EJ705 of 80 Squadron (www.hawkertempest.se)

Thus was the end of Pete Godfrey's life recorded in the unemotional language of the Squadron War Diary. Probably a glass or two would have been raised in his memory at a suitable time by his mates from the squadron and no doubt, his commanding officer would have had the heartbreaking task of writing to Pete's parents back home in Ickenham to break the awful news that they would never see their son again. It would have been a sad fact of life that this would have been a task that Pete's C.O. would have become used to performing, although it would never have been an easy or pleasant task, not eased by repetition.

For his squadron mates, it was business as usual; after returning to Manston at 13:35 to re-arm and refuel, 80 Squadron took off again at 18:25 and an armed recce of the Hague - Wassenaar - Leiden - Katwyk area was carried out, with further strikes being made on barges, motor transport and a car. Considerable light anti-aircraft fire was encountered but this time, the squadron incurred no losses and returned to base at 20:10. The squadron was to continue on these duties for the duration of 'Market Garden', an operation which was to end in failure at 'A Bridge too Far' in Arnhem and from whence a handful of bedraggled and bloodied British and Polish Airborne survivors were extricated some nine days later, whilst many more survivors were to become Prisoners of War and still more were never to return home.

Back home in England, Pete Godfrey's parents, along with the parents, wives, girlfriends and loved ones of many others would be beginning to try to come to terms with their loss.

Many families throughout Britain, the Commonwealth, the USA and indeed the whole World would have shared the experiences of Pete Godfrey's parents.

Remember them all.

Published Sources:

A Bridge Too Far - Cornelius Ryan, Wordsworth 1999

Arnhem: The Battle for Survival - John Nichol and Tony Rennell, Penguin 2012

Unpublished Sources:

80 Squadron War Diary - National Archives, Kew