London Blitz 1940

[dandy46]

Hi, I'm new to this but I wonder if someone can help me, perhaps Valda who seemed to know all about this subject area in a similar topic!
My grandparents, great grandparents, two aunts and a niece were killed in the war by a bomb on 8 September 1940 in their home at 47 Camilla Road, Bermondsey, London.
Can anyone help me with any information about the event or about where they would be buried.
I believe there is a document called the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey section of the Civilian War Dead Register which might give me some information but I do not know how to get hold of it.
Would there be anything in the newspapers do you think as it was in the first few days of the blitz?
Any help on how to get any information would be very helpful.
Many thanks, Andrew

[gaucho]

Hi,
have you tried the War Graves website?
http://www.cwgc.org/
John

[HeatherLynne]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat Dandy.  I'd also say it's worth trying the CWGC site, my civilian Great Great Grandma is recorded on there so hopefully you will have similar success.
Best of luck, Heather

[dawnsh]

Hi there

I've moved your topic to the London & MIddlesex section where, hopefully, some of our chatters may be able to help.

Dawn

[Valda]

Hi Andrew

Welcome to Rootschat

The first thing to know about newspaper reports during the war was yes bombing was reported but newspapers were subject to censorship. Morale was considered very important and the true nature of the damage that was being inflicted was kept from the public. Large areas of London were being bombed extensively in September 1940

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/09/a8794209.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/88/a8943988.shtml
http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/0038.html


On the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website it is possible to find the list of Bermondsey Metropolitan Borough civilian war dead

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_reports.aspx?cemetery=4004057&mode=1

You can check through the list to see just how many people in Bermondsey were killed on the nights of 7th and 8th September as well as the next week's raids and so on. Many of the lists for the other Metropolitan London boroughs look similar to Bermondsey in scale of numbers. Just Bermondsey (not a particularly large metropolitan borough) lists 711 civilians killed during World War II. Numbers for adjacent boroughs - Deptford 703, Camberwell 1,030, Southwark 1,006 and Lambeth 1,646 - over 5,000 civilians killed in the 5 boroughs alone throughout the war, with specific dates indicating the heaviest bombing raids.

For such a large number of people in any one family to be killed in normal circumstances would get detailed reportage but these were far from normal circumstances for London and London's neswpapers.

In that first raid on Sept. 7, 1940, the German's unleashed the fury of their bombers on London's waterfront - from the rum quay warehouses at the West India Docks to the Commercial Surrey Docks and its vast store of lumber. Other industrial targets, such as the gas works and the Ford Motor Co. plant, burned as well.
`Send all the bloody pumps you've got ... The whole bloody world is on fire!'' Station Officer Gerry Knight told the London fire alarm office, according to Paul Ditzel's book ``Firefighting During World War II.''

http://londonfirejournal.blogspot.com/2005/07/world-war-ii.html


Southwark Local History Library is the archive that is likely to hold the most information - newspaper coverage etc on the bombing raids 8th September in the Southwark area which includes Bermondsey.

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200161/local_history_library

I hope this is helpful - I don't really hold any particular specialist knowledge on civilian bombing during the Second World War. Perhaps if you pursue this with Southwark library you will be able to report back on this topic with just what sort of information/records the library were able to refer to.
Knowing the detail of the records that can be searched would be very useful to anyone else who would be interested in pursuing similar research.


Regards

Valda

[jayaydee]

Slightly off topic, but has anyone seen this site:

http://project-habbakuk.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-lcc-maps-on-web.html

It's an interactive map showing where all the V2 rockets fell in London and surrounding areas. There's plenty of links to other related sites.

[dandy46]

Hi everyone,
Many thanks to you all for your help I have now found some records.
Does anyone know if there is an Ordnance Survey map of the area of Camilla Road before and sfter the blitz, as the area has now been totally rebuilt.
If anyone has any further information regarding this bomb I would be very grateful.
Kind regards, Andrew Warren

[dawnsh]

Hi Andrew

I've got a copy of a pre-war Authentic Map Directory of London and Suburbs.

The page is too big to show here but if you send me you email address on the personal message system (click the green scroll to the left of the screen under my avatar) I'll send it to you.

Dawn

[mc8]

This site is useful -
http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V1_summary_se1.html
 The dead are confirmed in the Bermondsey war dead book-try southwark family history library who should be ablt to help further-they have a photo archive and staff are very knowledgeable