The Longest Night: 10-11 May 1941, Voices from the London Blitz
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Interview: Gavin Mortimer
Posted: Wed May 10 2006 -
This week sees the sixty-fifth anniversary of the worst night of the Blitz, when London became a sea of flames. Time Out interviewed hundreds of people who survived the onslaught. These are their voices
On Saturday May 10 1941, the Luftwaffe launched an unprecedented assault on London. At 11pm, as the air raid sirens echoed across the city, the first explosions occurred. By the following morning, the German bombers had claimed 1,486 lives, destroyed 11,000 houses, and hit the Houses of Parliament, Waterloo Station, the British Museum and many other landmark buildings. It was a night that would change the face of the capital forever.Advertisement12.30am
At 30 minutes past midnight, the storm broke over London. The smoke from the Fireraisers [incendiary bombers] had dissipated and people on the ground looking up saw a sky lousy with German bombers. Thirty Junkers 88s from [unit] KG1, 29 Junkers of KG77, 59 Junkers of KG54, 42 Heinkel He111s of KG55 and 28 Heinkels of KG27, with a hundred more half an hour behind.Special Constable Ballard Berkeley was patrolling his beat when the first bombs dropped. He was standing outside the Lyons Corner House in Coventry Street talking in his actor’s voice [Ballard went on to play the Major in ‘Fawlty Towers’] to the customers coming in and out of the restaurant, when a cataract of incendiaries fell from the sky at 250mph. They hit the ground with their curious and distinctive plop-plop sound and then erupted in a sizzle of bluish-white flame. Ballard watched ‘helpless’ with mirth as a man put a steel helmet over one of the incendiaries: ‘The helmet went red hot, white hot and then disintegrated.’ It also amused the news vendor standing on the Corner House with the evening edition stacked in front of him. ‘Star, News, Standard!’ he bellowed with a grin on his face. ‘Star, News, Standard! Cup final result! Cup final result!’
‘He just stood there,’ recalls Ballard, ‘and the bombs came down and he kept selling his papers.’ Another bunch of incendiaries fell, just a few yards in front of a prostitute coming up from Piccadilly. ‘She had an umbrella up,’ said Ballard, ‘and she was singing, “I’m singing in the rain…”. The only rain coming down was the incendiary bombs. And I remember thinking: I wish Hitler and Goering could have a look at this.
It was quite extraordinary.’Bombs fell everywhere in those bedlam hours. They fell in the north, in Purcell Street, Islington, where a HE bomb flattened 17 houses and left eight dead. They fell in the south, in Cunard Street, Southwark, where a landmine exploded on a row of houses owned by the RWhite’s Lemonade Company killing 14. They fell in the east, in Redmead Lane, Wapping, where a bomb landed on the premises of T Allen Ltd, a cartage contractor, wrecking his ten horse-drawn vans, killing a driver and several horses. They fell in the west, in Notting Hill, where a covey of high explosives pulverised Bomore Road hewing out Nos 12 to 40 on one side and 29 to 41 on the other. Seven civilians died and 13 were wounded.
The bombs were no less arbitrary than usual on May 10 1941. They picked their victims at random, indifferent to sex or age or godliness. At 15 Mann Street, Southwark, a couple were sitting either side of their kitchen table when an explosion dislodged the chimney breast above them. It fell noiselessly, shattering the table but leaving the pair without a scratch. In Walworth, 19-year-old Hereward Barling was guiding a doctor to an incident in Rodney Road when a bomb dropped, killing Barling instantly but sparing the doctor. In Clapham, 15-year-old Maggie Meggs got out of bed to tell her parents they have to leave the house. ‘Something bad is going to happen,’ she told them. Muttering at the whims of teenagers, Mr and Mrs Meggs took their daughter to the shelter. On their return they found a two-foot spear of glass embedded in Maggie’s pillow.
Other buildings were hit just as indiscriminately, like the Queen’s Hall in Langham Place. Just a few hours earlier, the Hall had held 2,400 people listening in rapture to Malcolm Sargent conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Now, the only voices were those of Tom Clark, the electrician, and Bob Rhodes, a fireman permanently stationed in the 21,000 square foot of the Queen’s Hall. The pair had just swept the building for incendiaries and found nothing amiss. They put their feet in the caretaker’s room just inside the artists’ entrance in Riding House Street and filled the kettle with water. Suddenly they heard a heavy thud on the roof. They ran into the Hall and saw through the skylights sparks and flames coming from the side of one of the oval windows at the back centre of the ceiling, as though one of the workmen up there was ‘welding an acetylene lamp’. Rhodes thanked his good fortune. A 50-foot hose was positioned just at that spot, and with the help of Clark the incendiaries were quickly extinguished. Clark told Rhodes he could turn the water off, but before Rhodes had moved the hose went dry. ‘It’s turned itself off, Tom,’ said Rhodes. Then there was a hiss, a sudden tremendous explosion of energy and the flames were roaring from the incendiary once more. Clark hurtled into the caretaker’s room and phoned the fire service. They said they would be there as quickly as they could.
Half an hour later flames were threshing back and forth across the entire roof of the Queen’s Hall. When debris from the roof began to fall into the Hall there was still no sign of a fire engine; nor was there when the seats caught fire or when the blue-green paint started to wriggle down the walls. They hadn’t appeared when the gilded pipes of the towering organ cracked and toppled, nor when the flames writhed their way underneath the platform into the band room where the instruments were stored. Inside they destroyed without discretion, devouring Amatis and Guearnerius and Stradivarius and cheap, worn instruments that lay beside them.- Add your comment to this feature
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21 comments
does any body know if the stones certified by sir baddeley of the house of parliament in 1941 are of any value ESP. NO. 17606 my dad left them to me from his estate thanks.
Hi John. Can you scan it and email me a copy? That would be wonderful! Would live to see where my great grandfather lost one of his wife's and some children.
Jeanmhunt79@ hotmail.com
I have a picture of the houses bombed in may 1941 Westmoor road Enfield
Does anyone know the history of the parliament stone that was turned into different collectibles that was done to raise money after world war 2? I would love to write a book about this since many objects were produced and many had different symbols i.e. Churchill, parliament bulding etc. Thanks.
81Hollington Road - Jean
I was born in 44 Hollington Road in January 1952. The bomb site was there until 1963/4. I remember playing soldiers amongst the rubble and finding a pair of ladies glasses. They were the round rim, tortoise shell frame popular in those times. I often wondered what happened to the owner. I had no way of knowing who the lady was, but it is a childhood memory that has stayed with me to this day.
hi there my name is fabricio
I havea piece of stone with winston churchill big coin dating 1941 and at the back of it is writing by hand ( I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS STONE WAS PART OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT DAMAGED BY ENEMY AIR RAIDS ON 10TH MAY 1941
( SIGNED ) VINCENT BADDELEY ON BEHALF OF THE READ + AND ST JONHN FUND
AND SOME SORT OF STAMP AT THE BOTTON 13 may 1941
I do not know about this things so I was wondering if there is any value?
Many thanks
Fab
Hi,
After a lot of research I found that my great grandfather lost his "wife" and 2 sons in this bombing blitz at 81 Hollington Road, East Ham. Her name was Florence Mary Whittaker (MacLeod or Blackamore) aged 35. Her sons were William and Ian McLeod. I have no record of my great grandfather after this date. He identifed the bodies then disappears.
If the author is still alive or if anyone has come across more information on this blitz I would love to hear it,
Jean
Just found this site when I was googling the date. My uncle Ian Hankey was home on leave, staying in my grandparents' flat at 60 Pont Street when the church across the street, St. Columba was hit. He attempted with other neighbors to put out the fire with sand and buckets of water, but the church was gutted. He himself was killed late August, 1942 in the battle of Alam Halfa, just before El Alamein at the age of 20.
My father lived at 18 Cunard St and was in the house when the landmine hit. Sadly it killed his father Thomas Bowling, his mother Maud Bowling, his sister Jessica and his brother Thomas. My father was buried in the blast and was dug out many hours later. His other brother Edward had been evacuated to Somerset so was fortunately spared the experience.
The are buried at:
Camberwell Cemetery,
Brenchley Gardens
Camberwell
Greater London England
Postal Code: SE23 3RD
My grandmother was killed in these raids. She was Anna Heinz and was at the corner of Harrington and Ragland Sts NW1 where there was a direct hit. She had just come off duty as an ARP (I think) and this was a pub. Apparently she carried her jewels in her gas mask bag and by the time she was dug out someone had emptied the bag of the jewellery. I live in Sydney Australia and my mother,who spent the last 10 years of her life here,always said that it was the smell from digging her out that remained with her. Does anyone have any connection to this area of London? Our home address,where I was born, was 2 Harrington St. Thank you.
I found this site quite by chance by googling the date. I had a great aunt and uncle die that night in Brockley, S.E. London. My daughter has the only thing to survive the hit a tea service.
Thanks for the information Dave,
I think I also had family living in Cunard street and that could explain why contact was lost with them .Have you seen the book 'The London County Council Bomb Damage Maps 1939-1945' I know it is out of print but would like to see a copy .
I believe that they lived at 13 Cunard street whilst other family at 1 ( Herbert Cyril Dance ) and inlaws ( Hook ) at number 11
Have you seen the book 'The London County Council Bomb Damage Maps 1939-1945' I know it is out of print but would like to see a copy .
Do you know how I can find out who would have been living at the addresses in particular on 17thJune 1929 at 13 Cunard Street. I unerstand that RW Whites lemonade factory owned a number of the houses .Any idea which they were?
Sorry for so many questions but trying to close a big gap here
Thanks
Colin
cunnard street was where my father lost his family it was hit by a landmine and was the site of a communial air raid shelter it was opposite the r whites factory i believe it was never restored it was a typical victorian frontage street railings etc there is a publication about wells street park which features old photos and shows the layout .I saw what was left in the early eighties but believe its been re developed it features in the a.r.p. logs of the record of the raid and the list of casualties
Can anyone please tell me what happened to Cunard Street..It no longer seems to exist on maps
No. I am interested in people. But stories like this could have been written on countless other events during ww2.
When you finaly decide to write about this particular day, I was hoping for more oversight and information on a broader perspective relevant to this particular date. It's completely alright to write about individual cases, but it becomes rather trivial and monotone when the entire article is nothing but row after row after row of examples without going beyond that. What is the pont of just writing up a series of events, without putting them into a bigger historical context at all?
This is however, a choice for the writer I guess, but I have seen so many other articles like this, and they all tend to be about the same kind of stuff happening, which would be expectable during a war. I am not a politician. I am a young history student, keen on learning more about specific dates that the history books often fail to explain in detail. This article doesn't leave me much wiser, sorry. It seems to aim for a more mainstream audience I guess, and that's completely alright, It's just not what I personally wanted.
PS: If my spelling is odd, it must because I am Norwegian! :P
Sorry about that...