Bomb damage to houses, Claremont Avenue, Morden
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| Area | West Barnes |
|---|---|
| Picture Reference | MerMor_World_War_2-1 |
| Original Format | Photo |
| Notes / History | This house - like the one pictured in nearby Marina Avenue - was totally flattened by the Luftwaffe during The Blitz, which lasted September 1940 to May 1941. A map of all the bombs drawn from the WW2 bomb census, which can be seen on www.bombsight.org, shows that a high explosive bomb landed at the end of Claremont Avenue just before it merges with West Barnes Lane on the far SW border of the Borough. Claremont Avenue is situated near the railway line, several gasometers and the site of an anti-aircraft battery and any these could have been the target when high explosive bombs fell on both of these streets. It is equally possible, though, that the aircraft that dropped them were directly targeting Croydon Airport, which came under sustained attack by the Germans throughout the war. The airfield played an important part in Britain’s wartime defence and the Luftwaffe’s bombers were forced to fly very high in order to avoid the anti-aircraft fire. This made it difficult for them to target the airport accurately and many bombs were wide of the mark, or were simply ditched in order to lighten the load of the aircraft before it returned to base. |
