Even though the largest percentage of German bombs dropped on London fell on the East End, the City of London and the docks, the capital’s West End and its suburbs also suffered, extensively. This was illustrated by the experience of the City of Westminster, a London borough amalgamated in 1965 with its neighbour, St Marylebone, but in 1940 a discrete municipal entity. Over 1,100 City of Westminster residents were killed during the London Blitz and 2,500 others seriously injured. The borough witnessed its first (minor) bomb incident when incendiaries fell on Belgravia on 30 August 1940.
Many iconic buildings in City of Westminster and St Marylebone were badly damaged during the first three and a half months of the Blitz (September to December 1940). These included: Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, The National Gallery, BBC Broadcasting House (Portland Place W1), Marble Arch, Green Park, Sloane Square and Trafalgar Square Underground Stations. Also struck were Leicester Square, Regent Street, Victoria Street, Petty France, Dolphin Square SW1, Pimlico, Millbank, Savile Row W1, Madame Tussauds, Baker Street, (Marylebone), five department stores on Oxford Street (John Lewis, Selfridges, Peter Robinson, Bourne and Hollingsworth and DH Evans), Soho and Piccadilly.
In daylight and night raids during 1940-1941, an average of 28 high explosive bombs fell per 100 acres in Westminster. Westminster districts - particularly Pimlico, Soho and Millbank - were struck by incendiary and high explosive bombs, parachute mines ('land mines' in contemporary parlance) and V1 flying bombs (from June 1944). V2 Long Range Rockets also hit Westminster and St Marylebone during September 1944 to March 1945.
The Blitz | Bomb Incidents | West End at War
westendatwar.org.u
Blitz damage in London > ∫
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