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Luftwaffe sends 712 bombers to London, 449 killed, including 34 firemen.
The worst single loss of life in the history of the Fire Brigade in English history occurred during the night of the 19th when 34 firemen were killed at the Old Place School in Poplar, East London.
During the war many schools were left empty due to children being evacuated to the country. The Old Palace LCC School in St. Leonards Street, Poplar, was one of these, and was commandeered during the war, for use as a Sub Fire Station, for firefighters of the Auxiliary Fire Service. At precisely 1.53am, a land mine, dropped from a Luftwaffe bomber and landed directly on the school. The land mine landed on the roof of the school and dropped down a stairwell and into the watch room where two women were killed outright. The men waiting outside were caught by the blast, which also demolished two thirds of the school building, and they were buried by falling masonry. Rescue services, already hard-pressed, arrived too late for any lives to be saved.
The raid on the 19th April was mainly centred on the docklands, although bombs fell across London and the south east of England.
The worst single loss of life in the history of the Fire Brigade in English history occurred during the night of the 19th when 34 firemen were killed at the Old Place School in Poplar, East London.
During the war many schools were left empty due to children being evacuated to the country. The Old Palace LCC School in St. Leonards Street, Poplar, was one of these, and was commandeered during the war, for use as a Sub Fire Station, for firefighters of the Auxiliary Fire Service. At precisely 1.53am, a land mine, dropped from a Luftwaffe bomber and landed directly on the school. The land mine landed on the roof of the school and dropped down a stairwell and into the watch room where two women were killed outright. The men waiting outside were caught by the blast, which also demolished two thirds of the school building, and they were buried by falling masonry. Rescue services, already hard-pressed, arrived too late for any lives to be saved.
The raid on the 19th April was mainly centred on the docklands, although bombs fell across London and the south east of England.