Direct hit kills 34 Firemen and women

19th April 1941: Britain's worst ever loss of life in a single Fire Brigade incident as a parachute mine hits a temporary fire station

Men of the Auxiliary Fire Service during a break.

London was targeted by the Luftwaffe yet again on the night of 19th/20th April. It was a particularly heavy raid, some said because the 20th was Hitler’s birthday, but its scale was consistent with several other heavy raids at the time.

An AFS unit with their fire engine in London, 1941

The four storey Old Palace School in Poplar, East London was being used as a Fire Station and gathering point for Fire crews called in from other districts.

The raid on the 19th April was mainly centred on the docklands, although bombs fell across London and the south east of England. Firefighters were called up from Beckenham in Kent, south east London, to assist the London Brigade in Poplar, east London. The crews first rendezvoused at the Old Palace School in Poplar¹, which was being used as a Sub Fire Station. In the watch room, two volunteer firewomen, Hilda Dupree and Winifred Peters, coordinated the calls.