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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.

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.

Reviews

Gustav Milne has written an amazingly well-researched book covering the little known, various London defences during the time of the blitz. He writes in particular, about the Thames-Flood emergency teams (TF) who were responsible for repairing breaches in the flood defences of the Thames These previously unknown heroes, by necessity, worked throughout the height of the air raids in some very dangerous situations.
This book will appeal to scholars and historians as well as those who just love London history. The prodigious amount of references somewhat distracts from the overall read. However, the photographs add a more engaging aspect to the book. Interestingly I even have some identical photos hanging on the wall of my office!
One aspect of the London blitz that unfortunately wasn’t covered by Milne, was the courageous role of the Port of London tugboat crews. On many occasions, they towed burning vessels away from the quaysides – including ammunition ships. A small mention of these men wouldn’t have gone amiss.

September 2020 will mark the 80th anniversary of the first bombs dropped on London in what would come to be known as the London Blitz. The story of the Blitz, and those iconic images, are well known. Less well known is the story of London County Council’s emergency repair teams who, whilst their colleagues on land were battling fires and saving lives, repaired breaches to Thames flood defences and thus prevented the capital from serious and cataclysmic flooding.

Other reviewers have commented that the number of archival references in this book could be off-putting. I didn’t find this to be the case at all, and far from being a ‘dry’ read, Gustav Milne’s book is fascinating, enlightening and authoritative. With contemporary and modern-day photographs, well laid out chapters, lists of incidents attended by the various teams, a good index and bibliography, plus the afore-mentioned archival references, there is nothing to not recommend this book. It was everything I hoped for, and more, and it will be a boon to anyone with an interest in the home front in London during the Second World War, and those with an interest in the Second World War generally.