In one article, which was published in February 1944, it had in big letters it has “345 YEARS OLD –Can Still TAKE IT.” Further on in the article it says things like: “Their new technology cannot defeat our old technology”. This article was also designed to boost up morale, saying that they were still standing and united, not afraid of what lies ahead. The bad news of the article is buried at the very bottom, where the Davis Theatre was bombed, killing six people and injuring 25 others not in bold letters like the previous article. This was some considerable months before the successful D-Day landings and when the outcome of the war was still in doubt.
The Battle for Britain did not affect Croydon and London until it was first bombed on the 17th June.2 On the 12th August the pattern of attacks changed when orders were given for the full-scale offensive. Goring changed the strategy and gave orders that all further attacks were to be directed solely against the RAF, its aerodromes and support facilities, especially the ‘ring of steel’ around London, of which Croydon in the Group 11 wing was protecting London and the south east.5 On the 15th August 1940 Croydon airport was first severely bombed and the warehouses around it were damaged. The casualty reporting system 4 shows that 62 people were killed and over 72 were wounded.
The Redwing Aircraft factory is totally destroyed and the whole of the management board of the NSF being killed in the attack. This was not without some cost to the Luftwaffe who lost 3 planes over the airfield.2
It gives the names and addresses of the dead people. Although out of the 62 only 37 had their names and addresses listed. This may be due to the fact that these were workers that came to work in the war industry in the Croydon area and lived in temporary accommodation, which was very common at the time. Approximately 83% of fatalities were male and 17% were female.
The actions of local government started before the war, as a result of the Air Raid Precautions Act 1937.6 The Act required local government to:
- Provide instructions of what to do in a raid
- Warning systems
- A system of collecting casualty reports
- Organisation of first aid facilities
- Organisation of ambulance and casualty stations
- Provision of auxiliary fire service
- Supply of labour facilities to clear debris from public place and the protection of private premises
- The facilities of for the detection of poisonous gas
Local ratepayers would have noticed this through an increase in local rate taxation, although 60% of the expenditure in providing these services was met by the government. Ironically, when the Croydon council wanted to dig tunnels into hills and use them as air raid shelters, but they were prevented by the national government.2
The total cost spent by the Council was in the region of 6.5. Million pounds2. Some aspects may in the first instance have been questionable, in terms of the populations understanding to the seriousness of the affects of bombing. One local council official ordered 1200 shelters and organised a local meeting to demonstrate the construction and use of the shelters. The audience that turned up was 297. Conversely while the population may not have felt the seriousness of a bombing campaign, a different behaviour was observed. In October 1939, the Surrey Comet reported that on one Saturday alone there 24 marriages in one Register Office. The Superintendent had never been so busy; by the end of the following week that total had risen to more than 100.
conflicting reports elsewhere which reports the figure of 3,80010 and which I cannot find a possible explanation.
Finally, the post war effect on the Croydon economy and surrounding area was notable in two aspects, firstly the Council created new homes for 20,000 people at New Addington and secondly in order to do so with the labour shortages at the time, recruited large numbers of Commonwealth and Irish citizens, which in turn provided the seeds of the multi cultural population in Croydon today2
