In the evening of 14th October 1940 On This Day one of the worst wartime disasters of the London Underground took place in Balham
Denis Robert Thiel a Fleet Street photographer who owned South Thames Studios took this famous picture of the 88 bus in the crater
German bombers were overhead and people had taken to the shelters, including the platforms at Balham underground station. The trains would have still been running at the time, and commuters would have been stepping over people using the station for protection.
Although just 13 metres below ground, the platforms were considered deep enough to be classed as an official shelter point.
At exactly 2 minutes past 8pm, a bomb hit the road above, causing a massive crater in the ground, and fracturing a water mains below ground. The subsequent flood of water and soil into the tunnel was to kill nearly 70 people.
The exact number of dead is unclear, with reports ranging from 64 to 68 people, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission now officially records 66 deaths.
In addition, more than 70 people were injured.
What is certain though is when the bomb struck, as the clock on the underground platform stopped at exactly 8:02pm.
South Thames Studios operated at 70 and 278 Streatham High Road and Norbury. Denis was a resident of 35 Pollards Hill South and 6 Hilldown Road Steatham
Many of Denis' pictures were credited to the Press AssociationaI
Denis Robert Thiel a Fleet Street photographer who owned South Thames Studios took this famous picture of the 88 bus in the crater
German bombers were overhead and people had taken to the shelters, including the platforms at Balham underground station. The trains would have still been running at the time, and commuters would have been stepping over people using the station for protection.
Although just 13 metres below ground, the platforms were considered deep enough to be classed as an official shelter point.
At exactly 2 minutes past 8pm, a bomb hit the road above, causing a massive crater in the ground, and fracturing a water mains below ground. The subsequent flood of water and soil into the tunnel was to kill nearly 70 people.
The exact number of dead is unclear, with reports ranging from 64 to 68 people, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission now officially records 66 deaths.
In addition, more than 70 people were injured.
What is certain though is when the bomb struck, as the clock on the underground platform stopped at exactly 8:02pm.
South Thames Studios operated at 70 and 278 Streatham High Road and Norbury. Denis was a resident of 35 Pollards Hill South and 6 Hilldown Road Steatham
Many of Denis' pictures were credited to the Press AssociationaI
