Clive Harris - A Wander Through Wartime London Five Walks Revisiting the Blitz

A DISTRICT
A3 Westminster

B DISTRICT
73 Euston
66 Clerkenwell
72 Soho

C DISTRICT
A34 Shadwell
A35 Millwall

D DISTRICT
44 Shooters Hill
52 Lee Green
40 New Cross
43 Greenwich
54 East Greenwich

F DISTRICT
1 (HQ) Lambeth
60 Southwark
61 Dockhead
82 Old Kent Road

AUXILIARY SUB STATIONS

2Z Marylebone Grammar School, 248 Marylebone Road NW1 (annexe Central Garage, Harewood Avenue, NW1)

11V Lords Cricket Ground, St Johns Road, NW8

5V University Motors, 11 Down Street, Piccadilly

73 (HQ) 173 Euston Road NW1

73W Christchurch School, Herbrand Street WC1 (annexe Daimler Hire Co, Herbrand Street WC1)

73X Clipstone Street School, New Cavendish Street, W1 (later 18 Upper Woburn Place)

73Y Maple and Co Ltd, Tottenham Court Road, W1

74Y Princess Road School, NW1 (annexe Curators Lodge, Zoological Gardens NW1)

62U Bank Chambers, 329 High Holborn, WC1

62Z Royal College of Surgeons, Lincolns Inn Fields, WC2

66Z The Technical School for Women, Queens Square WC1 (annexe G Bailey & Sons, Great Ormond Street WC1)

72Z Jacksons Garage 7/9 Rathbone Place, W1 (later 5/11 Mortimer Street W1)

44X Brook Hospital, Shooters Hill Road, SE18

43U Randall Place School, SE10

43X Rangers House, Chesterfield Walk, SE10

54W Charlton Manor School, Nigeria Road SE7

54X Invicta Road School, SE3

1U Holy Trinity School, Carlisle Lane SE1

1V Beaufoy Institute Black Prince Road SE1

1Y Surrey CCC, Kennington Oval, SE11

60U John Harvard School, Copperfield Road SE1

60V Friar Street School, Webber Street SE1

60X Pickfords, 60, Long Lane, SE1

82U Alma School, Southward Park Road, SE1

Many famous and some not so famous eyewitnesses of the incredible, terrible period in Londons long history have contributed their experiences to this book, one however provides a fitting conclusion on the Blitz. Constantine Fitzgibbon, wrote the following words in 1957 summing up his feelings on the bombing campaign;

They looked the fear straight in the face and decided that the reality, horrible though it was, was neither so bad as the expectation had been, nor so repulsive as the alternative of surrender to a wicked and cruel enemy must be. Civilian morale did not crack then; and there is no reason, despite hysterical publicists and strontium-mongers, to assume that it would crack again, even if the conditions were far, far worse.

That is one lesson that may be learned from the Blitz. Another is the extraordinary adaptability, of the inhabitants of a great city. Some people have talked, in the past, as though the bombing of London were a battle fought between the Londoners, particularly the civil defence services, and the Luftwaffe. This is not quite true. A fight in which one man stands defenceless while another punches him is scarcely a fight at all. But what is true is that the people of London displayed enormous ingenuity in dodging the punches as best they could, and enormous resilience in their ability to recover and to accept more punishment. Thus, though they in no sense defeated the Luftwaffe, they frustrated Hitlers purpose, and that was a very real victory.