Fulham in the Second World War

Friends of Gwendwr Gardens [FoGG]  Gwendwr Gardens are dedicated to the damage caused by enemy bombing, particularly by the raid on the night of Sunday, 20th February 1944.

Excerpt from "Fulham in the Second World War" by Leslie Hasker

Published by Fulham & Hammersmith Historical Society (1985)

ISBN 13: 9780901642202

Also in 1943 British and American bombers had been carrying out increasingly heavy attacks on Germany. This mass bombing destroyed extensive areas of the large cities, and was no longer claimed to be precision bombing. Some people felt deeply concerned and criticized the strategy. The Bishop of Chichester, George Bell, spoke out several times. In the House of Lords in October 1943 he said: `To bomb cities as cities, deliberately to attack civilians quite irrespective of whether they were contributing to the war effort, is a wrong deed whether done by the Nazis or by ourselves.' 

In November 1943 Hitler gave orders that there were to be reprisal attacks against England. London was to be the primary target. The German bomber force in the west was at a low ebb, and the Germans withdrew all the air strength they could spare from the Mediterranean and Russian fronts. It was intended to make considerable use of incendiary bombs. A new type of container had been devised which could hold as many as 620 of these devices. At intervals during its fall the layers of incendiaries would be released to give an even spread over a large area. 

The main attacks on London started on January 21 and continued intermittently until the end of March. Fulham's turn came late on the evening of Sunday February 20. In less than one hour twenty high explosive bombs fell as well as an estimated seven thousand incendiaries. The official record says that `less than half' the incendiaries ignited, but these `caused twelve serious fires and a great number of lesser fires dealt with by Fire Guards'. The furniture from bombed-out houses stored at Queens Club caught fire and there was a spectacular blaze. New arrangements had to be made for such furniture. At one time and another use was made of the closed Grand Theatre by Putney Bridge, shop premises at 1-10 Jerdan Place and Fulham Council's premises at 122-126 New Kings Road for storing furniture. A large proportion of the incendiaries contained explosive devices, something of which the Fire Guards had been waned. They had to take extra care when approaching a blazing incendiary in case it should blow up. 

There was some concentration of high explosive bombs in the West Kensington and Barons Court areas, and along the riverside. North End Road School was severely damaged and caught fire. The Home Guard had a Company Headquarters in the school, and quantities of hand grenades, detonators and fuses were hurriedly removed from the burning building. Subsequently the Home Guard established its replacement Company Headquarters in Lillie Road School. Bombs falling in the vicinity of North End Road School resulted in the deaths of fourteen people. Although of such short duration the effects of the bombing in Fulham that night had been serious. A total of seventy-six people had been killed and 194 were detained in hospital. Ninety-five houses had been demolished or badly damaged, and another 2,500 houses had suffered damage in varying degrees. The rest centres were crowded with people whose homes were uninhabitable. Fulham Palace Road School was still the main centre for the homeless. 

At the junction of North End Road and Lillie Road a container of incendiaries landed in the roadway. It had faded to open during its descent, and caused an explosion sufficient to split open the roadway and set a gas main alight. Three phosphorus incendiary bombs, falling at various places in Fulham, all faded to explode and were cleared away some days later. Phosphorus bombs had been introduced by the enemy in 1942 but this is the first record of their falling in Fulham. Identical in shape with the small (50 kg) high explosive bomb, the original phosphorus bombs were filled with a mixture of phosphorus, crude oil, wood shavings and other incendiary material. As soon as the phosphorus was exposed to the air the filling burst into flames. By 1944 the contents of phosphorus bombs had been changed and consisted of a sticky mixture of phosphorus and rubber. In general, these bombs do not seem to have been very effective. A parabomb in the Hurlingham Club grounds also failed to explode, and was recorded as having been the first unexploded parabomb in the London Region. Part of Rivermead Court had to be evacuated. Parabombs were delayed action bombs which floated down on parachutes. 

There was some feeling in Fulham that bombs falling in the West Kensington and Barons Court areas were intended for St Pauls School which was situated in Hammersmith just across from Fulham's northern boundary. The School was a large building facing Hammersmith Road, and it suffered a good deal of bomb daniage during the War. The boys had been evacuated to Easthampstead in Berkshire on the outbreak of hostilities, and the Army took over the building. Eventually it became the Headquarters of the 21st Army Group which was responsible for planning the invasion of Europe. A study of the exact points at which bombs fell in Hammersmith on that evening of February 20 does not support the theory that St Pauls School was the intended target. Many officers working at the School were billetted in flats in West Kensington and Barons Court. Perhaps they were the target. 

On Wednesday evening February 23, Fulham had another short `hammering' which started soon after 10. 30 p.m. and was au over within half-an-hour. A line of four high explosive bombs in the north-west comer of Fulham resulted in numerous casualties, both dead and injured. Many houses wered estroyed. Two heavy bombs caused particular devastation. One fell in the centre of Skelwith Road some way west of the junction with Rannoch Road. The other was recorded as having fallen at 15-31 Chancellors Road. In the centre of the Borough, in Felden Street and other streets just north of it, there was a concentration of incendiaries. The explosive type caused a nunber of casualties. There was a fatality in Felden Street caused by an exploding incendiary, and several people were injured by incendiaries in nearby Fernhurst Road and Radipole Road. In Reporton Road a woman was struck and killed by a falling incendiary. An incendiary bomb container, which had failed to open properly and still contained its load, landed on an air raid shelter in Rosaville Road killing five people. The biggest fire was at the riverside in the Shell Mex Depot at Lensbury Wharf. It ranked in London terms as a major fire and forty appliances were directed there to bring the blaze under control. Explosions from the Depot could be heard all over the southern part of Fulham. Phosphorus incendiary bombs proved to be as ineffective as ever. One fell in Bishops Park and another in Fulham Cemetery. Neither could have done much harm in those locations, but in anyc ase both failed to ignite. Something new in Fulham was an unrotated projectile which came down in the Gas Works having failed to explode at altitude. This was the type of rocket which had caused the alarm at Bethnal Green Underground Station the previous year. It was cleared away from the Gas Works a week later. These Z battery projectiles were steel tubes about seven and a half feet long. There was a fuse in the head, a propellant in the tail, and a high explosive charge in the main length of the tube.When they fell the projectiles came down almost vertically and penetrated very deep. Bomb Disposal Units found them troublesome things to deal with. A total Of ten high explosive bombs fell in Fulham that evening and fifty-five people were killed. Sixty had to be taken to hospital and detained there. Approximately two thousand people were rendered homeless. Eighty-four houses were wrecked or badly damaged, and 2300 others sustained some damage. The Germans were using much bigger bombs than had been the case earlier in the War. This must explain the considerable amount of damage. 

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The general impression in Fulham was that the heavy casualties in these two February raids were caused by the reluctance of many people to go to the air raid shelters in good time. There had been a long lull in the bombing. Many evacuees had come back from the safe areas, and most of the local schools had re-opened. All this resulted in a relaxed feeling that the worst was over. Only the more cautious took shelter as soon as the sirens sounded. The majority waited until they heard bombs nearby. Then it was too late.