The Blitz - The Hardest Night 10/11 May 1941, 11:02pm - 05:57am The most devastating raid on London took place on the night of 10/11 May 1941. The moon was full and the Thames had a very low ebb tide. These two combined with a maximum effort by the Germans, before the moved east to attack the Soviet Union, to produce one of the most devastating raids on the capital. It is impossible to provide comprehensive detail of the night's many actions but a number of highlights might give a little idea: 571 sorties flown by German bombers - some crews flying two and even three missions. 711 tons of high explosive bombs (167 were recorded as unexploded the next day) and 86,173 incendiaries dropped London Fire Brigade recorded at least 2136 fires, 9 of 'conflagration' level, 8 'major' outbreaks (rating over 30 pumps), 43 serious (up to 30 pumps), 280 medium (up to 10 pumps) and at least 1796 small. Approx 1436 people killed and 1800 seriously injured. The fires resulted in 700 acres of destruction - about double that of the Great Fire of London. Final costs of damage in 1941 values - £20,000,000 - about double that of Great Fire. Anti aircraft guns expended 4510 rounds - 2 bombers claimed destroyed Fighter Command in total dispatched 325 aircraft (not all over London). They claimed 28 enemy aircraft. One Hurricane was destroyed and another Hurricane and a Beaufighter were badly damaged. Luftwaffe actually lost twelve aircraft that night - 10 x He 111 - 1 x Ju 88 - 1 x Bf 110* * 24 long-range fighters were deployed over London but they suffered no losses. This aircraft crashed at Floors Farm, Bonnyton Moor, Glasgow at 2305. It was flown from Augsburg by German Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess on an ill conceived peace mission. The Blitz - The Hardest Night | History of the Battle of Britain | Exhibitions & Displays | Research | RAF Museum
Remembered Kensal Green Cemetery,London Civilian LAWRIE, ROBERT BRYAN Died 11/05/1941 Aged 27 Civilian War Dead Air Raid Warden, of 27 Queen's Gate Terrace. Son of Ethel Annette Lawrie, and of the late Allan James Lawrie, K.C. Died at Elvaston Place.
You can tell how busy this was, for the Fire Brigade, by the official report - which, unusually, does not name Lawrie. I will look further, at this man, if you want, but it looks as though he died of injuries (rather than being killed at the location of 22 Elvaston Place). EB is an abbreviation for Explosive Bomb.
I checked your man, Clive. He was killed (rather than died of injuries), as shown on the CWGC. He was taken to Hornton Place Mortuary, W8 - along with 9 others deceased. A label was placed on his toe, with the Number 1189/18. My database only shows civilian casualties - but the number sequence shows that those taken to this mortuary, on that day, were numbered 1189/10-1189/19. Some of the numbers are 'missing' from my database, which shows that soldiers (who were not listed by the Casualty Bureau) were also killed nearby and taken to this mortuary. 1189/19 was Alfred Edward Knapp of 6 Logan Mews, who was placed next to him in the mortuary (and was probably ferried in the same ambulance). A check of FreeBMD for the same district of Lawrie would reveal the military casualties. As stated, it is unusual for the AFS to not list one of their own who was killed. I have dozens of examples of named AFS casualties who only sustained minor injuries. As you wrote, a hard night indeed - and staff were clearly too busy to later collate the info into their official records.
