Chronology of World War II

Monday, October 14th


Balham Tube Station, 8pm, 14 October 1940


Balham Tube Station, 8pm, 14 October 1940
As people huddled on the platforms below the drone of planes and rumble of bombs got closer until an enormous blast above stopped the chatter. A bomb had smashed into the High Road, leaving a crater 50ft wide into which an omnibus - travelling as usual in darkness - fell. Remarkably, none of its passengers were seriously hurt. However, 68 people are killed in the tunnel below.