# Interactive map of the London blitz
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 6, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182 "2012-12-06T14:19:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/1 "2012-12-06T14:19:47Z")
Amazing interactive map of London showing where the bombs fell, street by street. Seems that around me, wherever there are dodgy looking flats in nice areas it is because a bomb was dropped there. Can’t believe all this happened in the space of about 9 months!
[Bombsight.org](http://bombsight.org/#15/51.5050/-0.0900)
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### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/2 "2012-12-06T14:28:21Z")
Thanks for posting that… astonishing. Even more so the more you zoom out.
I can look out of my window now and see an indirect result of the blitz; a children’s park built in the gap made by the bombing between a long row of terraced houses.
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### Author:  [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/3 "2012-12-06T14:53:17Z")
Hell if I can make it work.
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### Author:  [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/4 "2012-12-06T14:54:57Z")
Remarkably the street I work in did not get a single hit. Which means there is no excuse for some of the shoddy buildings in it. There is one bomb right at the end of the road but it looks to be next to what appears today to still be a fairly old building (the Chandos pub) so I guess it got rebuilt.
Zooming out really is quite amazing.
Edit: Actually I do see a rather horrible red brick building that is now a McDonalds right under one bomb site at the top of St. Martins lane. That explains that one.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/5 "2012-12-06T16:09:43Z")
It doesn’t record the V-2 hit on Russel Square. I guess the V-1 and -2 weren’t counted in this data. I did like the other layer for “Anti-Invasion sites.”
If you like this, you may like the “Defense of Britain” layer for google earth. A comprehensive listing of all sorts of pillboxes, Anti tank and Anti aircraft positions, coastal guns, searchlights, etc…
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/6 "2012-12-06T18:34:29Z")
What’s really amazing is when you zoom out. I knew the blitz was bad, but boy, that’s a LOT of bombs.
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### Author:  [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/7 "2012-12-06T19:18:47Z")
Jeez, that’s a lot of bombs. It would probably be more interesting if I knew anything about London.
Anyone care to supply coordinates and descriptions?
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### Author:  [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/8 "2012-12-06T19:35:12Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> If you like this, you may like the “Defense of Britain” layer for google earth. A comprehensive listing of all sorts of pillboxes, Anti tank and Anti aircraft positions, coastal guns, searchlights, etc…
A little help? I can’t figure out how to find that.
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### Author:  [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/9 "2012-12-06T20:29:39Z")
I’m getting a 404 error on the OP link 😕
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/10 "2012-12-06T20:39:19Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#):
>
> A little help? I can’t figure out how to find that.
Go here:
[http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&id=1001114772780](http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&id=1001114772780)
and hit “View in Google Earth”
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/11 "2012-12-06T20:43:06Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#):
>
> I’m getting a 404 error on the OP link 😕
It’s doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter, and the site seems to be struggling with the load.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/12 "2012-12-06T23:13:29Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Go here:
>
> [http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&id=1001114772780](http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&id=1001114772780)
>
> and hit “View in Google Earth”
I have no idea what I’m supposed to be looking for. 😕 When I zoom to a certain level I get hundreds of little boxes labeled A or B with two or three numbers, but no identification of what they are, no popups, no links. When I zoom in even more I get little red markers that appear to be markers for some sort of transit stops or stations.
And I have no idea where to find a layer called Defense of Britain.☹
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### Author:  [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/13 "2012-12-06T23:25:45Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Go here:
>
> [http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&id=1001114772780](http://www.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=earth&id=1001114772780)
>
> and hit “View in Google Earth”
Thanks. Note that it has the Brit spelling: “defence”.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/14 "2012-12-06T23:29:51Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> And I have no idea where to find a layer called Defense of Britain.☹
The first time for me it went into my temporary “Places” directory, rather than “Layers”. I had to turn off all the other overlays like roads and boundaries to make sense of it - there are a very large number of items in the Defence of Britain layer, and my computer struggled.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/15 "2012-12-08T23:11:03Z")
It helps to turn off most of the folders and just view one folder at a time. I went and changed the symbol for most of the various folers to make it easier to tell the different sites apart without clicking on them. Note that most items only have the bare bones info listed. But here and there you can find listings with images, diagram and sometimes an anecdote or two. One small bridge had originally been rigged for demolition in preparation for the German invasion. But a few years ago a work crew that was repairing the bridge found the demo charges which had not been removed! The most interesting thing about the map is how it reveals the major defense lines as well as important locations just from the positions of pillboxes.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/16 "2012-12-08T23:34:34Z")
Man, they really hated Hyde Park.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/17 "2012-12-09T00:16:49Z")
Wow, Tyrone Slothrop, how do you have the time or stamina?
Yeah, I know that was just V-2s, shut up
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### Author:  [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/18 "2012-12-09T01:01:14Z")
Makes you realise why nuclear weapons were such a step-up in destructive power doesn’t it.
I do wonder how they noted the locations of the bombs that fell in the Thames though.
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### Author:  [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/19 "2012-12-09T01:59:33Z")
Thanks for posting this. It’s extremely interesting to see where they hit, and even though I’ve read about the bombings, seeing all the red really stuns me.
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### Author:  [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-of-the-london-blitz/643182/20 "2012-12-09T20:45:39Z")
Amazing. A bomb landed pretty much on top of the building I now live in. That’s a really sobering reminder of what WW2 must have been like. I wonder if there’s a similar map for Dresden, or any German city.
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