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Docklands and the Blitz

Death from the sky

Damage to the railway marshalling yards at Silvertown, 7 September 1940. © NMM

Although London had been bombed on several previous occasions, the 'Blitz' proper began on Saturday 7 September 1940.

That day, 348 German bombers escorted by 617 fighters attacked the capital in the late afternoon, forming a 32-km (20-mile)-wide block of aircraft filling more than 2000 square kilometres (800 square miles) of sky.

	George Adams - The first night of the Blitz.
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Smoke from burning factories at Silvertown, 7 September 1940. © NMM

During the raid 448 people were killed. The day became engraved on the memories of local residents as 'Black Saturday'.

Taken from a German aircraft, this photograph shows smoke rising from one of the many bombed factories in the North Woolwich and Silvertown areas.

Looking towards the fires in the East End from Tower Bridge on 7 September 1940. © NMM

Surrey docks ablaze

That night over 1000 bombs and thousands of incendiary devices caused widespread damage to the docks and industrial centres like Woolwich Arsenal and Beckton gasworks. The Germans also attempted to destroy the timber ponds in the Surrey Docks.

Many of the bombs were strapped to oil drums to aid the conflagration. The result was a firestorm in the docks that blazed from end to end for a whole week.

This photograph, taken during the night from near Tower Bridge, gives some idea of the intensity of the blaze.

Night of destruction

Firemen tackling a blaze at the Surrey Docks, September 1940. © NMM

The fire at the Surrey Docks was so hot that window glass in buildings far from the flames shattered in the heat and the strong winds that were generated.

Vessels passing along the far side of the river suffered blistered paintwork.

A third of the warehouses and transit sheds were destroyed.

Burning warehouses at the Surrey Commercial Docks, September 1940. © NMM

Witness account

The opening night of the Blitz was observed by PLA official T. L. Mackie:

Bomb damage at the docks. © NMM. The daylight exposed a terrible scene; the greater part of the timber docks, like a barren smouldering wilderness and huge warehouses completely gutted. Port of London Authority offical. T.L. Mackie's account of the Blitz. Players: Realplayer 5 | Quicktime 4 Need help with audio? View Transcription Ships which only a few hours ago had been discharging cargoes were torn by the blast and defaced by the fire. Some had been holed and sunk, showing only a small part above the water. Steel girders were twisted to indescribable shapes and surviving masonry lay at dangerous angles. Alas, this shambles proved to be more than unsightly wreckage, for the bombs and fire had claimed toll of human life, and the bodies still lay amongst this charred debris.

Smells of Empire

Fires in the docks released the smells of the capital's imperial trade. One of the firemen recalled:

Smoke from the fires at the Surrey Docks, September 1940. © NMM There were pepper fires, loading the surrounding air heavily with stinging particles so that when a fireman took a deep breath it felt like breathing fire itself. Fires in the Docks Players: Realplayer 5 | Quicktime 4 Need help with audio? View Transcription There were rum fires, with torrents of blazing liquid pouring from the warehouse door and barrels exploding like bombs themselves. There was a paint fire, another cascade of white hot flame, coating the pump with varnish that could not be cleaned off for weeks. A rubber fire gave forth black clouds of smoke that could only be fought from a distance, always threatening to choke the attackers.

• Defending the East End
• The 20th-century port
• Growing up in the Blitz
• Winston Churchill

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