Greetings virtual Blitz walkers, wherever you are. Something of a mixed day with the weather in London but we're gathered outside Sloane Square Underground Station to begin our exploration of wartime Chelsea. We begin by comparing views of Sloane Square now and in the 1930s

The station was opened in 1868 by the Metropolitan District Railway and in 1939 began a modernisation as part of London Transport's 'new works' scheme, which included the installation of escalators, the first of their kind on a sub-surface (as opposed to deep level) line.

The works were completed on 27 March 1940 but to no avail, as on 12 November 1940, it was struck by a HE bomb, almost totally wrecking the station. The station was not being used as a shelter but 36 were killed and a further 79 seriously injured, mostly passengers on board a..

train which had been pulling out of the station when the bomb struck, causing large pieces of rubble to hit the train carriages. Temporary repairs were carried out and the station was totally rebuilt post-war. The only clue that can be seen today is at platform level, where the..

stubs of the cast iron supports for the original glazed roof can be seen protruding from the retaining walls above the platforms. We now cross Holbein Place and stroll along the pleasant Sloane Gardens, which takes us into Lower Sloane Street, where we turn left and immediately..

right into Turk's Row, where we pause outside Sloane Court East, where there is a commemorative plaque affixed to the wall of the obviously rebuilt complex of buildings. As can be seen, the plaque commemorates one of the worst V-1 Flying Bomb incidents of the war, when 77 people

lost their lives, of whom 74 were American service personnel. The complex of buildings were being used by U.S. Forces as billets and offices and when the V-1 struck on Monday 3 July 1944 at around 08:00, many of the service personnel were still within the complex. The casualties

included several WACS (Women's Army Corps) members, the first suffered by them overseas. Glenn Miller and his Army Air Force Band had been billeted at Sloane Court but a few days previously, Miller had been watching V-1 after V-1 flying overhead and had had a premonition that..

something awful was going to happen. The day before the incident, he had arranged to be moved to RAF Twinwood in Bedfordshire. The USAAF Motor Pool at Sloane Court wouldn't take him and the band on a Sunday, so instead Miller arranged for RAF transport from Twinwood to take them

in return for his band giving a concert for the RAF personnel at Twinwood. This deal quite probably saved the lives of Miller and his band. We now leave this once melancholy scene, made more cheerful by the sound of children playing at the school which now occupies the site and..

turn left into Franklin's Row and head toward the main gates of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, founded in 1682 by King Charles II and we can compare the scene today with that of 3 January 1945, when a V-2 rocket fell in the grounds, killing four people and injuring 28 others.

Like many parts of London, the Royal Hospital had been bombed in the previous conflict and we can see the damage caused on 16 February 1918, when a "Giant" Staaken bomber dropped a 1,000 kg bomb - an unprecedented size weapon for the time - which fell on the Northeast Wing of the

of the hospital, killing five people, a Captain of Invalids, his wife, two children and their niece. Three further people were injured in this raid. Ironically, these buildings were rebuilt after the war, only to be destroyed again in 1945 by the V-2 mentioned earlier.

If you have time, there is an excellent museum within the Royal Hospital that is open to the public on weekdays and which is well worth a visit, as is the Wren-designed chapel, which dates from 1687 and which is also open to the public.

As can be seen from the bomb map and the 500 kg UXB on display in the museum, the Royal Hospital suffered several other attacks during the war, almost certainly due to its proximity to the Thames and as we continue along Royal Hospital Road, we will learn of another incident here

We pause outside the National Army Museum (well worth a visit in its own right) which stands on the site of what was the Infirmary and which was the scene of the worst incident to affect the Royal Hospital during WW2. On the night of 16/17 April 1941, a parachute mine exploded,

largely destroying the building, killing thirteen - four nurses, the Ward Master and eight pensioners. Amongst the pensioners killed was 101 year old Henry Rattray, a veteran of the Zulu wars. All of those killed due to enemy action are remembered on a plaque outside the chapel.

We now continue along Royal Hospital Road, passing the junction with Tite Street, which contains no fewer than three blue plaques, composer Peter Warlock (not photographed), Oscar Wilde and also Lord Haden-Guest, a physician and politician who was awarded the MC in 1917 for..

rescuing wounded men whilst under fire at Passchendaele. Another famous resident of Tite Street, who has not yet received his Blue Plaque, was Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, once of 92 Squadron and better known as one of the masterminds of the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III

in 1944, who was subsequently recaptured and murdered by the Gestapo. We continue for a short distance along Royal Hospital Road, until we reach Cheyne Place, a terrace of houses and apartment blocks where we see a large inscription "6W" carved into the stone at the base of one

of the buildings here. This marks the site of the former Station 6W of the Auxiliary Fire Service, which was based here and which was seriously damaged by a parachute mine on the night of 16/17 April 1941, killing 3 AFS Firemen, whose names are recorded on a plaque at Chelsea..

Fire Station (now closed) in the Kings Road, which we shall pass later. We now turn right into Christchurch Street and pass the delightful parish church of Christ Church, Chelsea which dates from 1839 and is the work of architect Edward Blore. Apart from some minor incendiary..

damage, the church survived the war more or less unscathed but is worth a visit to view the intricate Roll of Honour of parishioners who perished in the Great War. We turn left Robinson Street, cross Flood Street, once the home of Margaret Thatcher + continue across the junction

into St Loo Avenue and then into Oakley Gardens. All of these roads suffered damage to a greater or lesser degree, mainly from incendiaries but the occupants of no. 59 would have had an unpleasant surprise when they discovered a UXB in their front garden on 14 September 1940,

which was happily removed by a Royal Engineers EOD team. We now cross into Upper Cheyne Row and continue along here until we reach the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, which despite its clean and "newer" appearance, actually dates from 1895 and which in common with many churches

in WW2, allowed people to use it's crypt as an air raid shelter. On the night of 14 September 1940, between 80 and 100 people were sheltering in the crypt, when a HE bomb crashed through the west window and the church floor, before exploding in the crypt. Sadly, 23 shelterers..

were killed in the explosion and ensuing fire and the diary entries of Josephine Oakman, an ARP Warden at the scene, makes for sad reading. We now leave this scene and continue along Cheyne Row for our final port of call today, at Chelsea Old Church, on Cheyne Walk, on the Thames

Chelsea Old Church dates from 1157 and contained the private chapel of Sir Thomas More, which was added in 1528. During WW2, the bell tower of the church was used by local ARP Wardens and AFS personnel for Fire-Watching purposes but on the night of 16/17 April 1941, the church..

was almost competely destroyed by two parachute mines which fell in close proximity and which exploded simultaneously. Five Fire Watchers, including AFS Firewoman Yvonne Green, Canadian and wife of a Canadian Army Officer stationed in England, were killed instantly by the blast

The church and the surrounding buildings were devastated in the blast but Chelsea Old Church was rebuilt salvaging as much of the remaining structure that remained and re-consecrated in 1958. A memorial plaque to the five Fire Watchers is inside the church, whilst Yvonne's plaque

is on the wall of adjacent Roper's Gardens, which is a small walled garden built on land that was cleared of rubble following the bomb blast. That concludes our walk for today but meet me tomorrow outside the old Chelsea Fire Station in Kings Road, when we'll do the second half..

of this walk which will take us back to Sloane Square. Enjoy the rest of your day./END

I should have mentioned that there is a further plaque in Turks Row to the V-1 incident, which is inset into the pavement on the opposite side of the road. However, this one is very vague and doesn't give an exact date, or an accurate number of casualties.