interactive map that shows every bomb dropped on London during The Blitz

stona · Dec 8, 2012

One bomb landed on the square (the central area where the pitches are prepared) of Lords cricket ground. Now that is worthy of retaliation!

The docks extended along the river for miles but the idea that you can seperate them from residential areas is ridiculous.

This is a non scaled sketch of the docks as they were at the end of the nineteenth century.

Many of the wharfs and pools were lined by warehouses but one street back was typically some of the poorest housing in London. Overcrowded terraced houses,what we call "back to backs". This type of housing proved vulnerable to blast damage. A bomb might demolish one house and leave half a dozen others uninhabitable and irrepairable,awaiting demolition.

The interactive map just demonstrates how inaccurate bombing was at the time.

Steve

yulzari · Dec 8, 2012

stona said:
And the apologists will notice that it seems to have been the centre of Plymouth that was targeted,particularly heavily damaged in the March 1941 raids. Remarkably little damage was done to the extensive naval installations,unless you count the Royal Naval Barracks at Keyham.
The only two buildings to survive in the city centre were both of recent construction. The National Westminster bank (Bedford St) and the Western Morning News Agency (Frankfort St)

Steve

I have commented on this previously but the Dockyard in Devonport (Plymouth) was covered by smoke generators so the only visible target was the City. Bombers came in from the East to avoid the anti aircraft fire from the dockyard in the west, the anti aicraft guns in the Sound and Breakwater plus the naval vessels anchored in the Sound to the south and the high land of the moors to the north. Creep back made Lufwaffe bomb aimers drop just short of their intended site so early ones fell on the western edge of the city and later ones crept east as successive bomb aimers dropped just a bit short.

That is why my house in the east of the city is surrounded by post war rebuilt houses filling in the gaps in the terraced housing and my cellar has a spring running through it in very wet weather caused by a ground crack courtesy of a 110kg german bomb.

stona · Dec 8, 2012

Did they activate the smokescreen at night?
The March 20/21 raid was a bit of a **** up by the Luftwaffe not least of all because the first bombers arrived,and bombed,before the illuminators dropped their flares.The worst casualties from this raid were at the City Hospital Maternity Ward where 19 children and 4 nurses were amongst the dead.
The raid of 21/22 March went according to plan. The illuminators were reported orbiting for twenty minutes before finally dropping their flares. Presumably they marked the intended target and the city centre was devastated.
On both these occasions the attack was indeed from the Nort East. The bombers arrived between 8.40 and 9.00 pm. on both nights. It would have been dark.
Steve

davebender · Dec 8, 2012

HyperWar: The Battle of Britain--A German Perspective

In 1938, even well-qualified bomber crews could achieve only a two percent bombing accuracy in high-level, horizontal attacks (up to 13,500 feet), and twelve to twenty-five percent accuracy in low level attacks against targets of between 165 to 330 feet in radius

What altitude did Luftwaffe bombers typically use when attacking the London Docklands?

davebender · Dec 8, 2012

This answers a lot of questions.
Document 43. German plan of attack on London

d). Flying altitudes after rendezvous with fighters:
KG 30 = 5,000 - 5,500 metres (16,400 - 18,000 feet).
KG I = 6,000 - 6.500 metres (19,700 - 21,300 feet).
KG 76 = 5,000 - 5,500 metres (16,400 - 18,000 feet).
To stagger heights as above will provide maximum concentration of attacking force. On return flight some loss of altitude is permissible, in order to cross the English coast at approximately 4,000 metres (13,000 feet).

From those heights less then 2% of German bombs are likely to fall within 100 meters of the aiming point. Areas within a mile or so of Docklands aiming points are likely to be plastered.

stona · Dec 8, 2012

davebender said:
Areas within a mile or so of Docklands aiming points are likely to be plastered.

And in fact an area considerably larger than that was plastered which again demonstrates ( as I keep saying) just how inaccurate bombing was at this time.

On a North/South axis bombs (not just the odd one) fell from Hatfield to Dorking,neither of which would be considered London even today. They are about 40 miles apart as the crow flies. The East/West distribution is similar.

Some non-British members might not appreciate the scale of the map.If you were a Luftwaffe crew aiming at the docks and your bombs fell at the extremes you had missed by twenty miles.
Even the bombs that fell in and around Hyde Park are at least 5 miles from "Docklands".

Cheers

Steve

Readie · Dec 8, 2012

tyrodtom said:
Why so few bombs in the Thames? You can actually trace the course of the Thames by the abscence of bombs on the survey.

Did the bombs that landed in the river in most cases not explode, so they never got recorded, or recovered, so they're not on the survey ?
Or was the Luftwaffe's accuracy good enough to not waste bombs on a river, but not good enough to miss civilian areas ?

The river Thames would be visible to the LW Tom, whether they had a cunning plan to bomb the river into submission only Herr Goering would know...
Charting the fall of all bombs would be a titanic job and many must still lie in the London clay.

Cheers
John

Readie · Dec 8, 2012

Have a look at this link.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...uFamA0AXFyYGQAw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=679

Plymouth, Second World War (1939-1945)* |* 1941* |* Plymouth Blitz - The March Raids

To quote Gerald Wasley: 'There was no running away for those caught in this air raid, there was no escape, perhaps worst of all there was no way of retaliating'.

That would come later, but to our revisionist chums it goes a way to explain the desire to 'hit back'.

Cheers
John

stona · Dec 8, 2012

Readie said:
The river Thames would be visible to the LW Tom, whether they had a cunning plan to bomb the river into submission only Herr Goering would know...
Charting the fall of all bombs would be a titanic job and many must still lie in the London clay.

Cheers
John

I don't see how the bombs that fell into the river would have been mapped,even if they had exploded. It's not as if someone could come along days or weeks later and note the damage
Many of the bombs would have been incendiaries which would leave no trace in the river.I suspect that the bombing distribution would carry on uninterrupted across the river.Like John I suspect that many HE bombs remain buried deep in the clay of the river bed. The Thames is tidal and certainly to the East of the city the bombs may have fallen onto mudflats to be concealed by the next incoming tide.

Goering's plan to bomb the river into submission obviously failed,otherwise Spike Milligan couldn't have written that the Thames smelt like sh*t, "no wonder there's no fish in it".

Cheers

Steve

Readie · Dec 8, 2012

stona said:
I don't see how the bombs that fell into the river would have been mapped,even if they had exploded. It's not as if someone could come along days or weeks later and note the damage
Goering's plan to bomb the river into submission obviously failed,otherwise Spike Milligan couldn't have written that the Thames smelt like sh*t, "no wonder there's no fish in it".
Cheers
Steve

Haven't you heard of the Royal Bomb Splash Observer Corps Steve?
Maybe Goering was trying to help with dredging the Thames and we have misunderstood the whole reason for the Blitz...

Cheers
John

buffnut453 · Dec 9, 2012

Matt308 said:
Was there anything of strategic importance in what is now Hyde Park?

Errr...it was Hyde Park then, too. The Hyde estate was "obtained" by Henry VIII. James I allowed limited access to the gentry and the park was opened to the general public by Charles I in 1637. opened Gotta watch out for all those killer ducks and the top-secret attack rowing boats on the Serpentine!

stona · Dec 9, 2012

buffnut453 said:
Gotta watch out for all those killer ducks and the top-secret attack rowing boats on the Serpentine!

And the highly trained gangs of anti-panzer squirrels. Tough buggers these,who'll savage you to death for a hazelnut.

Steve

stona · Dec 9, 2012

I've had a good look at that site now and have managed to pull out the bombing from just the first night of the blitz.

Those familiar with London will be able to see,with much less information overlaid,that there was an effort by the Luftwaffe to attack the docks. There are definite concentrations of bombs in the areas in which the docks and their facilities were to be found. Having said that the hopeless inaccuracy of the bombing is demonstrated for all to see.Bombs in Tooting,Hammersmith,Walthamstow and the like are a loooong way off the intended targets.

I wonder if the concentration around Hammersmith,which happens to lie on a Northward bend of the river,as did the docks,though further East, was a case of mis-identification

Steve

Glider · Dec 9, 2012

stona said:
I don't see how the bombs that fell into the river would have been mapped,even if they had exploded. It's not as if someone could come along days or weeks later and note the damage
Many of the bombs would have been incendiaries which would leave no trace in the river.I suspect that the bombing distribution would carry on uninterrupted across the river.Like John I suspect that many HE bombs remain buried deep in the clay of the river bed. The Thames is tidal and certainly to the East of the city the bombs may have fallen onto mudflats to be concealed by the next incoming tide.

Goering's plan to bomb the river into submission obviously failed,otherwise Spike Milligan couldn't have written that the Thames smelt like sh*t, "no wonder there's no fish in it".

Cheers

Steve

I live close to SOuthend on the north bank of the Thames where it meets the sea. The bomb disposal teams are often out dealing with UXB's probably on average every 6-8 weeks. They go out at low tide to deal with them, the tide goes out about a mile so it takes a while. Once while I was there the disabling charge set off the main explosive in the bomb and a huge amount of mud was thrown up into the air.
Its so common and the bombs are so far out, they don't close the seafront, they just get on with it.

stona · Dec 9, 2012

The Luftwaffe also dropped a lot of parachute mines in the Thames estuary.
Steve

Glider · Dec 9, 2012

We are more worried about a sunken merchant ship the SS Richard Montgomery, the masts of which can still be seen. She is very close to the main channel (about 200 yards) and contains approx 1,500 tons of explosive. The have waited so long now its probable that the explosive is too dangerous to move and all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.

Readie · Dec 9, 2012

Glider said:
We are more worried about a sunken merchant ship the SS Richard Montgomery, the masts of which can still be seen. She is very close to the main channel (about 200 yards) and contains approx 1,500 tons of explosive. The have waited so long now its probable that the explosive is too dangerous to move and all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.

I'd worry about that too mate....

We dig up the occasional 500lb bomb here in Plymouth.Especially when post war buildings are demolished.
Luckily none have gone off...

Cheers
John

stona · Dec 9, 2012

Glider said:
We are more worried about a sunken merchant ship the SS Richard Montgomery,

It would make a proper mess of Sheerness if it went up!

A similar vessel blew up in the Channel off Folkestone with something of a bang causing much consternation though thankfully noone was injured.

Cheers

Steve

Milosh · Dec 9, 2012

Glider said:
We are more worried about a sunken merchant ship the SS Richard Montgomery, the masts of which can still be seen. She is very close to the main channel (about 200 yards) and contains approx 1,500 tons of explosive. The have waited so long now its probable that the explosive is too dangerous to move and all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.

Be prepared,
Halifax explosion Dec 6 1917
Halifax explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mont-Blanc carried 2,653 tonnes of various explosives, mostly picric acid.

Readie · Dec 9, 2012

Milosh said:
Be prepared,
Halifax explosion Dec 6 1917
Halifax explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mont-Blanc carried 2,653 tonnes of various explosives, mostly picric acid.

SS Richard Montgomery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ah yes, Canvey Island would disappear it that little lot went off..

But, there is a lot of unexploded ordnance elsewhere in Europe.

50,000 lb WWI Bomb Found Under Belgian Farm

Cheers
John

interactive map that shows every bomb dropped on London during The Blitz

Major

Staff Sergeant

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1st Lieutenant

1st Lieutenant

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Chief Master Sergeant

Chief Master Sergeant

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Chief Master Sergeant

Captain

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Captain

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Captain

Chief Master Sergeant

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Senior Master Sergeant

Chief Master Sergeant

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