The Churchill Series – March 30, 2007

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

That night “stands out in my memory," Churchill would later say. He was speaking of October 14, 1940, when London was in the fifth week of the Great Blitz which would last until the following May:

We were dining in the garden room of Number 10 when the usual night raid began.

The steel shutters had been closed. Several loud explosions occurred around us at no great distance, and presently a bomb fell, perhaps a hundred yards away, on the Horse Guards Parade, making a great deal of noise. …

The kitchen at Number 10 Downing Street is lofty and spacious, and looks out onto one of the courts of the Treasury through a large plate glass window about twenty-five high. The butler and parlour maid continued to serve the dinner with complete detachment, but I became acutely aware of this big window, behind which Mrs. Landemare, the cook, and Nellie, the kitchen maid, never turning a hair, were at work. …

[I] ordered the cook and other servants into the shelter, such as it was.

I had been seated again at table only about three minutes when a really very loud crash, close at hand, and a violent shock showed that the house had been struck.

My detective, [Inspector Thompson,] came into the room and said much damage had been done. The kitchen, the pantry and the officers on the Treasury side were shattered.

We went into the kitchen to view the scene. The devastation was complete. The bomb had fallen fifty yards away on the Treasury, and the blast had smitten the large, tidy kitchen, with all its bright saucepans and crockery, into a heap of black dust and rubble. The big plate glass window had been hurled in fragments and splinters across the room, and would, of course, have cut its occupants, if there had been any, to pieces.

Everyone in Number 10 survived the night but three members of the Home Guard on duty at the Treasury were killed.

Churchill's account of the night is found on pages 346 & 347 of Their Finest Hour (The Riverside Press), the second of his six volume history of WW II.

Many of us have had close calls. Some of us have had severe and depressing shocks, as when a house is destroyed by fire or storm. Or perhaps we’ve had our homes broken into and robbed.

And, of course, we’ve all witnessed via media people struggling the day following Katrina.

Recalling such events in our own lives, and recalling how tough it is in such circumstnaces to carry on with our normal activities, gives us some appreciation for the magnifcent determination, psychological strength and courage Churchill and the people of London displayed as they endured and fought on during the nine months of the Great Blitz.

BTW – Re: The first sentence that begins the paragraph: “I had been seated at table only …”

I didn’t leave out a “the” between “at” and “table.” Churchill was speaking in the form the Brits will often use as when they say: “She’s now in hospital.”

Have a very nice weekend. On Monday, I hope you're all seated here at blog.

John