Does anyone have a photo of Greenland Water, all that is left of the Surrey Commercial Docks, please? Roy
That is most interesting, I must get myself up there one day. I worked for United Baltic for several years, at first our berth was in Greenland Dock 22 South which was by the entrance lock. We then moved to a new berth in Canada Dock. I was reminded of this when I was writing about the Mulberry Harbours, some of the Pheonix units were constructed in Surrey South Dock, which was drained for the purpose. Roy
The whole of London docklands is steeped in history.You can see both sides of the river took a pounding during WW2 .I would add that there are enough reminders left in place to make sure the history is not forgotten. I shall keep posting photos as and when I trawl my way through the area.
This is from Wiki - Newcastle/Wallsend docks in WW2: "As part of the Führer's War Directive No. 9, Newcastle, north Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside in north-east England were deemed important targets. The areas had important heavy industry and busy docks sending coal to London and the south and there was also major railway connections to Scotland. Targets included the Tyne river bridges, the docks, Elswick steelworks, Swan Hunter's shipyard, Vickers Armstrong "Naval Yard" and Wallsend slipway. Following the declaration of war against Germany in September 1939, over 30,000 people, mainly children, were evacuated from the city." - among them some of my cousins. Their father, my uncle , worked at one of the Wallsend dockyards. We lived a little further north where there were also dockyards, and an important submarine base, but luckily weren't heavily bombed, unlike Newcastle.
ps I've just found this thread from this forum which mentions the submarine base: Blyth, Northumberland One of the posters was in my class at school!
Clive, Quite a while since I visited Barrow and it's museum, but remembered being impressed with the WW2 section including bombed out house. A very high percentage of housing destroyed or rendered inhabitable. Barrow during the Second World War - The Dock Museum Free Resources Regards Tom
1939-1945 World War 2, The Blitz and Normandy The Royal Docks suffered severe damage during World War II. German leaders believed that destroying the port with its warehouses, transit sheds, factories and utilities would disrupt Britain’s war effort. It is estimated that some 25,000 tons of ordinance fell on the docklands with much of that on the Royal Docks and surrounding area. Human losses were extremely high but in spite of the sustained bombardment, London’s Royal Docks remained open. They handled less shipping due to attacks by German submarines on British merchant ships, which led to food shortages and rationing but many did get through and the docks helped keep Britain supplied with food. Towards the end of the war the Royal Docks played a vital role when the mulberry harbours that helped establish the beach head for the Normandy landings were constructed in secret within the docks themselves. Once completed they were towed towards Folkestone and put in place to support the landings and the allied forces push across north France. Despite the damage the Royal Docks enjoyed a brief boom in trade post war and for a while it looked as though the docks would continue to thrive through to the end of the twentieth century. But it was not to be. London's Royal Docks History - Official Timeline