On the night of 29–30 December 1940, approximately 100,000 bombs fell on the city. The Germans dispatched 136 bombers to the city. Fewer incendiaries were dropped than in the raids of 15 November or 8 December. The raid was focused on a part of the city that contained many non-residential buildings, such as churches, offices, and warehouses. Many of these were locked and were not covered by the Fire Watchers Order of September 1940, which applied to places of work with at least 30 employees, warehouses with an area of and sawmills or timber yards with more than 50,000 cubic feet of timber. Incendiary bombs were the main armament that night. Moderately small, at — each bomber was equipped with approximately 180 of them — the bombs carried magnesium and started fires. The raid saw 1,500 fires begin in the city.
Firefighting
Firefighters' efforts were hampered by a water shortage. The main water-main in the City was bombed. Units trying to get water from other hydrants caused the water pressure to drop. Efforts to draw water from the River Thames were hampered by the low tide. The fire brigade's difficulties were further exacerbated by wind, combined with the concentrated area of the attack. Twelve of those killed in the raid were firefighters, while 250 were injured. Artist Leonard Rosoman was serving with the Auxiliary Fire Serviceon the night of the raid. While fighting a fire in Shoe Lane, Rosoman was relieved of his hose. Moments later a wall collapsed, burying the two firefighters working where Rosoman had just been. The moment haunted Rosoman for the rest of his life. He immortalised the scene in his painting A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4.William Sansom, a friend of Rosoman's who would go on to become a novelist and travel writer, survived the incident. The fireman who relieved Rosoman of his hose was killed. Sam Chauveau of the London Fire Brigade described the scene that faced the fire fighters:
St Paul's Cathedral
and the immediate area was struck by 28 incendiary bombs. Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent the message that "St Paul's must be saved at all costs". A famous photograph, St Paul's Survives, was taken from the roof of the Daily Mail building by Herbert Mason. Mason was the chief photographer at the Daily Mail, and was on the roof firewatching when he took the picture. Mason described the moment he created the photograph – The camera is believed to have been a Van Neck on a quarter plate glass negative. The Royal Photographic Society, Magazine Photographic Journal, remarked on the brightness of the scene, saying that "The light that was available for an instantaneous exposure is an indication of the fierceness and extent of the fire." Volunteers serving as part of the St Paul’s Watch patrolled the iconic building. The Watch was first put together during the First World War. Then it was meant to protect the building from German Zeppelin raids. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the group was reconstituted to guard against the anticipated air raids. American correspondent Ernie Pyle observed the raid from a balcony:
Aftermath
The publishing industry bore heavy losses in the raid. Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Row, an area known since the 19th century as the centre of the London publishing and book trade, were badly hit, and the buildings and stock of 20 publishing houses were totally or partially destroyed. Stationers' Hall, neighbouring offices, the book wholesalers Simpkin Marshall, and several bookshops were lost. An estimated five million books were lost in the fires caused by tens of thousands of incendiary bombs. In some opinions, the economic damage from such large devastation of a major city is thought to have accelerated the collapse of the British Empire, and the decline of the United Kingdom as a superpower in the decades following the war.
