St. Matthews Hospital in Hoxton was among the buildings that were bombed by the Germans on a night raid in October, 1940, and this photograph shows rescue workers carrying away the bodies of victims found among the wreckage of the wards.

Terror By Night

Captain J.G. Bickford, DSO, Royal Navy, was killed while in command of HM Destroyer "Express", which the Germans claimed to have sunk; actually though damaged, the "Express", made her way safely to port.  This news was given in an Admiralty Communique of Septemer 5, 1940, which also stated that the destroyers "Ivanhoe and "ESK" had been sunk by torpedo or mine. 
 
 In Memory of 
Captain JACK GRANT BICKFORD
D S O, D S C

H.M.S. Express, Royal Navy
who died age 43
on 10 September 1940

Remembered with honour
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL

Destroyer Commander Makes His Last Passage

In the last phase of the Battle of Britain the enemy employed many Messerschmitt 109 fighters fitted with makeshift bomb-carriers to take two bombs.  But this improvisation had its perils, and here is an Me 109 whose bombs were exploded in mid-air by bullets from a pursuing Spitfire.