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41
The ambulance stations suffered considerable damage by enemy action during
the year. On 23rd June, 1944, within a few days of the start of flying-bomb attack,
Honeywell Road L.C.C. School, a part of which was occupied by auxiliary ambulance
station 180, was heavily damaged, three members of the staff receiving injuries.
The station remained in commission, however, working first from the air-raid shelter
and then from premises which had been held in reserve to meet such a contingency.
Subsequent major incidents included the total destruction of the premises occupied
by auxiliary ambulance station 118 in Woolwich, when eight members of the staff
were injured. The station was transferred to the premises of another station, where
it remained in commission until other accommodation could be secured. The
Brook ambulance station premises were totally destroyed by a rocket on 11th
November, 1944, two members of the staff being killed and thirteen injured. This
station was one of the five administrative centres of the ambulance service in the
County of London, and one of the six peace-time general ambulance stations of the
Council. Despite the inevitable dislocation, the station went into full commission
with the willing co-operation of the staff on 13th November, 1944, at the premises of
an auxiliary ambulance station in the area. A skeleton service was maintained
between 11th and 13th November, and the station was out of commission for no
more than a few hours. "G" (Poplar) accident ambulance station was heavily
damaged—also by a rocket—on 7th March, 1945, but remained in commission.
In addition to these incidents, nearly every ambulance station in the County
was damaged to a lesser extent, often on more than one occasion; and, although
repairs were always executed as quickly as practicable, the shortage of labour and
materials inevitably resulted in some delay on occasion. Considerable credit is
due to the members of the staff, who never allowed any resultant discomfort to
interfere with their devotion to their duties.
When the attacks by flying bombs eased in September, they were replaced by
long-range rockets. These weapons were not so destructive of human life as some
of the earlier weapons, at any rate within the County of London.
A simple indication of the intensity of air attack is provided by the number of
injured persons carried in ambulance vehicles to hospitals or first-aid posts. This
standard is approximate only ; for a single unlucky hit from a lone plane may cause
more casualties than many bombs dropped in a heavy raid if they chance to land
on thinly populated territory. Again, if the enemy chooses to use incendiary
bombs in profusion he may cause relatively few human casualties (as on 29th
December, 1940) but a great deal of material destruction. The total number of
air-raid casualties carried by the London Ambulance Service in 1940-1 was 27,991 ;
the total number in June, July and August, 1944 (i.e., the period of flying bombs)
was 13,088, and the total from September, 1944, to March, 1945, when rockets were
the principal weapon used, was 4,742.
The figures of the number of patients carried on the occasion of particularly
heavy raids tell the same tale. On 7th/8th September, 1940. these numbered 1,202 ;
on 16th/17th April, 1941, 2,475 and on 10th/llth May, 1941, 2,154. As against
these records the highest number carried in any period of twenty-four hours as a
result of VI attacks was 1,024 on 18th June, 1944 ; while the V2 maximum was on
8th March, 1945, when 260 patients were carried.
The ambulance personnel responded with courage and enthusiasm to every
demand made upon them. During the long period of quiet between the major
attack and the flying bombs there had been many changes among the personnel.
A large proportion of those with "blitz" experience had left the service, their places
being taken by newcomers without first-hand experience of street work in air raids.
A substantial proportion of these were directed to the service by the Ministry of
Labour, and a higher proportion than in the past were unpaid part-timers, either
voluntary or directees. The stress of air-raid conditions in the summer of 1944
welded all these elements into a unified body of brave and efficient auxiliaries.