14 Woodstock Street W1

17 April 1941

By Alice Hollingsworth-Hallett

Incident 1389 in the Westminster Civil Defence records describes one of the many suffered by London on 17 April 1941. This was one of the largest raids to hit the capital during the Blitz: parachute mines, incendiary and high explosive bombs destroyed or damaged large parts of central and south London.

This devastating attack began once darkness had fallen at around 9pm and only stopped at dawn when the German bombers retreated in fear of being exposed to retaliatory attack in daylight.

A number of the bombs dropped that night failed to explode.  At Woodstock Street W1, an unexploded bomb resulted in the cordoning off and evacuation of a large number of other streets (including parts of Oxford Street and New Bond Street).

A Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Unit managed to defuse the bomb and no casualties or damage were caused. Once the danger had passed the handful of policemen manning the exclusion zone around the unexploded bomb were released to offer their services elsewhere. Many were involved in clearing the railway lines leading out from Victoria towards the South Coast which had been badly damaged.

Today the site of the unexploded bomb at 14 Woodstock Street is an Ed’s Diner – pictured below.