The Blitz Bus Station Bomb Took Several Lives
One of the most ferocious bombing campaigns unleashed in Croydon by Nazi Germany during the Blitz resulted in a bus depot being destroyed.
Between 10.50pm on May 10, 1941 and 5.50am the following day a relentless bombing attack in Croydon claimed 14 lives across the borough including seven at the bus depot.
But a particularly horrific hit on the bus garage in Brighton Road earned a prominent place in Croydon's own war records.
An extract taken from WC Berwick Savers' book, Croydon and the Second World War, describes the attack.
It says: "We had the second furious attack of the year. Here, the area of bombing was wide and again the attack came in waves, the later bombers being attracted by the blaze of fires started by the earlier ones.
"Thornton Heath, Upper Norwood and Addiscombe were visited once more. The most vicious assault, however, fell on South Croydon in the vicinity of The Red Deer,
"Eight HE bombs fell in two sticks, with a four-minute interval between the sticks. One bomb fell on an Anderson shelter causing four deaths.
"Another hit the polishing Store of Carrington Manufacturing Co Ltd, known as Cameo Works, destroying the store and starting a terrific blaze which acted as a beacon, while flaming varnish ran down the gutters of Sanderstead Road.
"Two bombs fell upon the bus garage of the London Passenger Transport Board. The effect again was as dramatic as it was tragic."
It was common during air raids for the buses to be parked in the streets surrounding the garage. But because residents feared the lights used to clean the vehicles would make them a target for air raids, they were moved into the garage.
On the night of the raid most of the buses had been filled with petrol, ready for the next day's work, so when the bombs hit, the depot went up in flames.
WC Berwick Sayers, who was Croydon's chief librarian between 1915 and 1947, also describes in great detail the heroic attempts to rescue busmen trapped in the inferno.
He says: "There were men inside some of whom, when the first bomb fell, had dived into one of the examination pits under the buses. Heroic attempts were made to get out these unfortunate busmen.
"In this the commandant of stretcher depot eight played a part that deserves to be recorded. Other men had been blown under buses and were unconscious. He rescued three of them and returned four times.
"His attempts to get the two men out of the pits were in vain. The garage was completely destroyed and with it 65 buses."
Water used by fire fighters became so hot when the flames heated the hydrants, that rescuers were scalded as they went in to save those trapped.
London Transport Museum described the bombing campaign of 10th May 1941 as its worst night during the Blitz. Not only were 65 buses destroyed at the South Croydon depot, but elsewhere in London there were 20 direct hits on LT railways and in four separate locations tunnels in the Underground network caved in.
Aside from a couple of bombs in July 1941, Croydon was not a target again until January 1943. Croydon's struggle during the Second World War is well-documented at the Croydon Local Studies Library and Archive Service at the Clocktower in Katharine Street. Call 020 8760 5400 x 1112.