A little more background for those unable to Google!! Felicity Edwards was 17 when war broke out in 1939. She worked for the Milk Marketing Board and lived with her family in Balham, London throughout The Blitz. On the day of the Balham Bombing, Felicity remembers sitting with her mother in the kitchen, listening to the noise from the waves of planes and anti-aircraft fire when suddenly the whole house felt as though it had been lifted up. They both knew then that something really powerful had gone off close by. A bomb had fallen in the High Road and then through the roof of the northbound line of the Underground, and on to the line. The explosion punctured sewage, water and gas pipes, so these were all affected in the Balham area. The power was off in the Tube station which led to general panic and then a stampede as people fought to get up the escalator and out of the station. Ironically no-one was directly killed by the bomb, but people were trampled and killed as they tried to escape from the Station. Walking to Balham High Road the next day Felicity could see the huge crater left after the explosion with a double-decker red London bus stuck in it. Apparently the bus had driven into it by accident late at night in the blackout, got stuck and was unable to be got out again. (From the "People's War" BBC website) Apparently they had to break up the No 88 bus in situ. I believe the tube station drowning scenes in "Atonement" were based on this incident.... The Woolworth store in Balham High Street was where the land mine exploded and the bus apparently ruptured the water and sewage pipes. Culmore Cross, just behind the Woolworth store was hit by a V1 in 1944. bit too popular with the Jerries, I feel!! Hmmm.... just used Geoff's Search Engine with the date and Balham for Civilian War Dead and comes up with 65 Names.... must be the second worst after Bethnal Green....
Was it not the bombing of the woolworth store in New Cross that has that unfortunate claim of worst civillian casualties? On the 25th November 1944 New Cross High Street was busy with South Londoners . Woolworths on the corner of Goodwood Road, and the adjacent Co-op were packed with shoppers. One report mentions that a sought after supply of saucepans had become available and many were queuing outside Woolworths in the hope of being able to purchase one. At 12.26 PM there was an enormous explosion as a V2 Rocket impacted into the Woolworths store. Contemporary reports from a number of witnesses indicate that the V2 had been seen in its last moments of flight, a line drawn across the grey November sky.The store bulged outwards and then imploded and in the carnage 168 people were die and 121 were seriously injured. It was the 251'st Rocket to be successfully launched. This was the worst tragedy in the entire V weapon campaign and one of the worst civilian disasters of World War II.As the store exploded there was blinding flash of light an an enormous roar followed by a dense cloud of smoke and powdered dust. Witnesses several hundred yards away felt the warm blast on their faces,some were physically pushed backward by its force. The Co-Op Store next door also collapsed killing more people inside. The bodies of passers by were flung for great distances, and an army lorry was overturned and destroyed killing its occupants. A double decker bus was spun round causing yet more deaths and injuries,its occupants were seen still sitting in their seats covered in dust.There were piles of masonry and pieces of bodies all around, where Woolworths had been was just an enormous gap.The debris stretched from the Town Hall to New Cross Gate station and it was to take 3 days to clear this and to retrieve all the bodies from the debris.Today the site has been totally re-developed but the extent of the damage area can be seen from where the new buildings commence both in the New Cross Road and in surrounding streets. Lewisham council have erected a blue plaque on the building to commemorate the tragedy.
