Between 1940 and 1945 London suffered 101 daylight and 253 night-time air raids from the Luftwaffe and V1 and V2’s. There were 80,000 fatalities or serious injuries and appalling devastation. Well documented as these horrific events are, there was another major threat - the all too real possibility of widespread flooding whenever the Nazi onslaught breached the Thames’ river defences. This superbly researched and illustrated book describes the vital role and unsung achievements of the London County Council emergency repair teams ably led by Chief Engineer Thomas Peirson Frank. Three rapid response units were formed and, in the event, undertook repairs to over 100 breaches of the flood defences, thus saving the Capital from drowning. We also learn of the fate of London’s docks and bridges and of the ships, boats and barges lost in the estuary and tideway. This fascinating account has been compiled by the Thames Discovery Programme team and, 80 years on, pays tribute to the non-combatants who kept the major port running and saved London. AUTHOR: Gustav Milne is an archaeologist, author and university lecturer. He began his career excavating with the Guildhall Museum in 1973 and was a founder member of the Museum of London’s Department of Urban Archaeology, excavating and publishing reports on many Roman, Saxon and Medieval riverfront sites. He subsequently taught for twenty years at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London where he set up the Thames Archaeological Survey and later The Thames Discovery Programme, the award winning community based project surveying archaeological sites exposed on the open foreshore. He also founded the Gresham Ship Project, the Evolutionary Determinants of Health programme and CITIZAN, a national, community based coastal survey, featured in the TV series Britain at Low Tide.
200 b/w illustrations