[Chris A.]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

Hello Chris:

Digging around, I found a very old book called The Blitz, by Constantine Fitz Gibbon, which dates from 1959.

Anyway, this states that KGr 100 used X beams and that : '...The map prepared for the night's operation showed that the beams were intended to intersect roughly over Picadilly Circus. In fact....unloaded its marker bombs some two miles further to the east, in the neighbourhood of St Paul's Cathedral.'

The book also states that a further contributing factor to the enormity of the fire was that many buildings were locked and deserted on a Sunday evening at the end of Christmas week, allowing incendaries to set fires without any intervention.

In response, in January 1941 the British Govt introduced regulations giving effect to a compulsory 'fire-watching' scheme, which effectively moved civil defence from a voluntary to a compulsory basis.

Cheers

Don (Boomerang)

Hi Don

Thanks very much for the info. It certainly was most probably the quietest time for the City of London being just after Christmas.

Regards

Chris.