THE WEDNESDAY —A Canadian Heroine of the Blitz
Not all the heroes of the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz were made in the air and not all of them were men. From London's Steve Hunnisett comes this story of a young French Canadian woman who wanted to make a difference and who then paid the ultimate price.
This spring marks the seventieth anniversary of one of the largest as well as one of the last raids of the London Blitz. So heavy and destructive was the raid of the night of the 16th/17th April 1941 that it became known to Londoners as 'The Wednesday'. Whilst most parts of London were affected by this raid, on this occasion it was the western side of the capital that suffered most and large swathes of Chelsea, the West End and St Marylebone were pounded with many lives lost and famous old buildings destroyed. It was also the night that the singer Al Bowlly was killed as he slept in his flat in Jermyn Street, having eschewed the offer of a hotel in High Wycombe after having played a concert there for the comfort of his own bed.
Although Londoners were not to know it at the time, the First Blitz was drawing to a close; Hitler was about to turn his attention eastwards and would require his Luftwaffe resources for Operation Barbarossa - the attack on the Soviet Union and the quest for lebensraum or living space for the German people. Despite this impending attack, a large proportion of the German air force would remain in the west but Hitler had decided against further attacks on London once his onslaught against the Russians had started and no amount of entreaties by the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goring and his senior commanders, Sperrle and Kesselring could change his mind.
This was still in the future though and before the attack to the east, the Fuhrer's 53rd birthday on 20th April was approaching and needed to be celebrated in style. Goring decided on staging two huge raids on the capital, perhaps to flatter Hitler but also to demonstrate to him once and for all that given a free reign, his Luftwaffe could indeed flatten London.
So it was that the two raids on 16th/17th April and then on 19th/20th April were the two heaviest raids thus far of the Blitz and would only be surpassed by what proved to be the last raid on the night of May 10th/11th 1941. As mentioned briefly earlier, the west of London suffered the most in this raid; no area more than the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea as it then was and inspecting the Civil Defence Incident Log today, one is struck by the number of times that 'The Wednesday' recurs when taking stock of the damage inflicted on the borough by enemy action and indeed, when walking the borough today, there are several memorial plaques located here and there for those in the know that confirm the record.
Albert Allick "Al" Bowlly was a popular Jazz guitarist, singer, and crooner in the United Kingdom and later in the United States of America during the 1930s, making more than 1,000 recordings between 1927 and 1941. Bowlly showcased a diverse range of material unsurpassed by any contemporary other than perhaps Bing Crosby. He was also a truly international recording artist. He was killed by the explosion of a parachute mine outside his flat in Duke's Court, 32 Duke Street, St James, London during the Blitz.
The Royal Hospital, home of the Chelsea Pensioners, was devastated this night when the Infirmary was destroyed by a Parachute Mine that detonated in the road outside and caused the deaths of fifteen pensioners and hospital staff. Amongst those killed was 101 year old Henry Rattray, a veteran of the 24th Regiment of Foot and survivor of many earlier campaigns.
The Infirmary itself had been an 1809 addition to Wren's original Royal Hospital buildings and had been designed by Sir John Soane. Although heavily damaged, there was arguably enough left of the building to warrant rebuilding but sadly the remains were demolished, with the site today being occupied by the National Army Museum.
A shot of the remains of the Royal Hospital Infirmary after the Parachute Mine explosion with Wynford Vaughan Thomas of the BBC interviewing to a Pensioner and one of the nurses about their experiences. Photo: Steve Hunnisett Collection
The Memorial Plaque at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, which honours the staff and patients who lost their lives on “The Wednesday” including 101-year old Henry Rattray, a veteran of the famous Zulu Wars of the late 1870s. Photo: Steve Hunnisett
Outside the hospital, a plaque commemorates the firefighters who lost their lives on “The Wednesday”. Photo: Steve Hunnisett
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Further along Royal Hospital Road was Station 6W of the Auxilary Fire Service or AFS, located in the garages of Cheyne Place. A clue to the location of this station can still be seen today in the form of a large '6W' carved in the stone wall in front of the apartments that now stand on the site. Another Parachute Mine detonated here, killing three Auxiliary Firemen, whose names are recorded on a memorial plaque, erected by the charity 'Firemen Remembered' at the present day Chelsea Fire Station in the King's Road. Another bomb, this time one of the conventional High Explosive variety caused the deaths of a further four AFS men at the Brompton Fire Station, located in Chelsea Square and these men too, are remembered on the plaque at King's Road.
The large ‘6W’ carved into the wall that marks the former location of the AFS Fire Station in Cheyne Place. Photo: Steve Hunnisett
A typical Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) team of firefighters with their ‘Fire Tender’ which is a converted London Taxi with a ladder and trailer pump. These lads were from Brockley in Southeast London but the kit would have been the same across London. Photo: Steve Hunnisett Collection
John Carlin – A Chelsea Air Raid Warden. These men and women risked their lives every night working throughout London while fully exposed to the random death from above and the dangers of unexploded ordnance, incendiary bombs and structural fire. Carlin carries the tools of his trade - a hose, axe, extinguisher. Photo: RBK&C archives via Steve Hunnisett
Nor had the night finished with the men and women of the AFS, for when we reach the site of Chelsea Old Church in Cheyne Walk, we can discover perhaps the most poignant story of them all, which concerns a visitor from Canada whose story deserves to be told.
Yvonne Marie Green was a 30 year old thirteenth generation Canadian from Montreal who had recently been divorced from Tyrou Nichol, a British actor. She had re-married, this time to Leonard Green, an officer of the Canadian Army who had been posted on attachment to the Royal Tank Regiment shortly after the outbreak of war. The family home was at 24 Old Church Street, Chelsea but like all worried husbands who were in a position to do something about it, Leonard had tried to move Yvonne to the relative safety of the country and for a while, she dutifully lived with him near his barracks at Farnham in Surrey but being the fiercely independent and fiesty character she was, Yvonne was having none of this and soon moved back to London and later joined the AFS as a Firewatcher based at Chelsea Old Church.
Yvonne had left her baby daughter Penelope, in the safety of Canada with her mother and from her regular correspondence to 'Maman Cherie' which survive in the archives of the Imperial War Museum, we can see just how independent this remarkable lady was. Her letter dated 8th October 1940 demonstrates exactly what she thought of life in the country:
“Here I am back in London again, to your honor and my satisfaction. Honestly, Farnham was a simply dire place and I'd rather face Goering's worst than die from pernicious boredom. I take no chances, believe me, and when I'm not on duty I sleep downstairs very snugly in the basement. Don't alarm yourself when you don't hear from me because I have given instructions that if anything should happen to me you should be informed - so no news is good news - remember that.'
Yvonne's letters are all like that - newsy, common sense, matter of fact and with an unshakeable belief in the final victory of the British Empire and her Allies. By 23rd February 1941, she was writing home to report on her first night stationed at the top of the tower of Chelsea Old Church:
“I had quite an exciting experience on Wednesday night - my first night as a fire watcher. I was as high as one could get in Chelsea Old Church tower being shown around; where the buckets of sand, stirrup pumps and water were. And the bombs dropped! The first we'd seen in our district since September. I tell you, I have never descended a spiral staircase as fast in all my life! It was only a stick of three bombs in the next street which luckily did little damage and only one man hurt-a broken leg. So my experience was not disastrous luckily, but its going to take a lot to inveigle me up to the top of that tower again while a Blitz is in progress. I have never had a head for heights anyway.'
Chelsea Old Church dates from 1157 and includes Sir Thomas More's private chapel that was added in 1528, with the nave and the tower that Yvonne took a dislike to being added in 1670.
A drawing by David Thomas showing what Chelsea Old Church used to look like. Image : Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea archives via Steve Hunnisett
A watercolour by F. Griffen depicts the damaged church after the clean-up. Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea archives via Steve Hunnisett
On the night of 16th/17th April 1941, Yvonne was not originally meant to have been on duty but had swapped shifts with one of her colleagues. At about 1.00 a.m., whilst the raid was at its height, she and five of her Fire Watching colleagues set off on a patrol along Chelsea Embankment. Whilst one of the team, a Mr Mallett was examining some shell fragments in the road, he became aware of something floating down behind him. He quickly realised that this was a Parachute Mine and shouted at the others to run. His colleagues were about twenty feet away from him and began to run towards Chelsea Old Church. Mr Mallett was running too quickly to turn the corner and follow them, so instead ducked for shelter behind a fire alarm cover. At about the same time, a second Parachute Mine descended between the still running group of five Fire Watchers and the Church. This mine exploded, also setting off the first and in the resulting blast, most of the Church was destroyed and five out of the six Fire Watchers were killed, the only survivor being Mr Mallett.
One of those killed was Yvonne Green, the visitor from overseas known as 'Canada' to her colleagues and 'Papoose' to her Mother. She had written what proved to be her last letter home barely two days previously, on 15th April 1941:
'The Blitz hasn't affected London for some days now or nights. I should say now but I think it is a fair assumption to say that it is purely temporary and we'll be getting it again soon - maybe. Adolf has a little too much on his hands now though to try and defeat civilian morale as well as coping with the armed forces of Greece, Yugoslavia, Australia and us (not forgetting the Free French).'
Yvonne's mother would no doubt have received this final letter after she learned of her daughter's death. Yvonne is remembered today, along with her four colleagues killed on that tragic night by a plaque inside the rebuilt Chelsea Old Church, whilst Yvonne as the only member of the AFS amongst the group, has another plaque dedicated to her outside the church and installed by the excellent 'Firemen Remembered' charity which does so much to keep alive the memory of the men and women of the wartime fire services.
The immediate aftermath of the explosion that killed Yvonne Green demonstrates the power of the parachute mines dropped by the Luftwaffe on the citizens of London. Photo: RBK&C archives via Steve Hunnisett
Another shot of the wreckage of Chelsea Old Church. It was the wreckage of the lives of heroes like Yvonne Green which was the most devastating however. Photo: RBK&C archives via Steve Hunnisett
Left: The only known photo of Yvonne Green. On the right Yvonne's daughter (L) and her granddaughter (holding Yvonne's Great Grandson) at the unveiling of the memorial plaque in 2007. Both photos published with the kind permission of the Firemen Remembered website. Firemen Remembered is an independent charity dedicated to recording and remembering firemen and firewomen who served in the London Region in World War II and commemorating those who died.
The Commemorative Plaque for Yvonne Green as seen in the previous dedication photograph. Photo: Steve Hunnisett
The next time you are in London, and you wish to take a tour, forget the standard stuff and engage Steve Hunnisett of Blitzwalkers (http://www.blitzwalkers.co.uk/). Blitzwalkers offers guided walks through selected parts of London where there is a rich tapestry of stories to be told about the London Blitz, whether these be stories of individual heroism, tragic occurrences or everyday life in London during the Second World War (WWII).
Walks are illustrated with 'then and now' photographs, artefacts from the period such as pieces of shrapnel, items of clothing and uniform and even an incendiary bomb - deactivated of course! Their knowledge both of the localities covered and the personalities from those areas, together with technical knowledge of the organisations involved and the equipment used all serve to make these walks an unforgettable and interesting experience.
