On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 23:28:37 +0100, "Robin Mayes"
wrote:


"webmaster" wrote in message
.uk...
This is an email I received the other day - seems a bit dubious to me. Any
ideas?


"Did you know that Bank station today is actually only part of Bank
station?
Part of it was demolished by German bombs during the blitz in the 1940's
when trains were in the station. They closed it off and sealed it up
without
taking the bodies out as it was too dangerous to go in after them. A
distant
relative of mine is believed to be buried there. She didn't return home
from
work that night and was never seen again. She always caught the train at
Bank station. You may be able to find out more from London Underground."

A bomb hit Bank road junction and smashed through the Central Line ticket
hall, which is underneath. The bomb proceeded to bounce down the esclator
shaft and ISTR exploded at the bottom escalator landing killing several
people.

A common misconception. The report of the official enquiry* states:

"A high explosive bomb** fell at 19.59 hours on 11th January, 1941,
approximately in the centre of the road junction at the Bank of
England... The road junction... consists of a shell above a large
hollow elliptical space some 200 ft. in longer diameter. The bomb
penetrated the road surface and exploded immediately beneath***,
disrupting the road upwards and causing it to collapse into the
elliptical gallery. At the same time, the blast travelled through the
various underground passages, and in particular forced its way with
extreme violence down the escalator into the two tubes of the Central
London line, carrying with it a number of persons who were on the
escalator and at the foot of it at the time, and killing and injuring
others sheltering on the platform opposite the entrances. A train was
standing at the platform on one of the lines, and a few moments after
the explosion another train entered the other platform. At the foot of
the escalator are two heavy steel doors for prevention of floods,
blocking the access to the platforms: both these doors were open. Had
they been shut, we are told that there might have been danger of
collapse of the wall of the tubes."

Total fatalities were 46 in situ, 10 subsequently died in hospital.
Gruesomely, some of those were blown from the escalators, across the
platform and onto the tracks, before being run over by the incoming
train, although it seems unlikely they were alive by that stage, let
alone conscious. In the same raid, two bombs landed within 30 yards of
each other next to Liverpool Street station, killing 43 people who
were either on two buses destroyed by the blasts or standing at bus
queues. Ten people were also killed in Cheapside.

* National Arhives, Kew document HO 186/639
** The initial Civil Defence report suggests it was, "probably caused
by two 500 lb bombs falling closely together, or possibly a single
bomb of large calibre."
*** It is generally considered that the actual explosion was in the
escalator machine room.
--
Nick Cooper

[Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!]

The London Underground at War:
http://www.cwgcuser.org.uk/personal/...ra/lu/tuaw.htm
625-Online - classic British television:
http://www.625.org.uk
'Things to Come' - An Incomplete Classic:
http://www.thingstocome.org.uk