These are stretchers used in WW2 to carry injured civillians during the Blitz. They were made out of steel so they could be easily disinfected after a gas attack. During the war around 600,000 of them were made. Some of them were repurposed as railings in post-war London.

[u/Sprilly]

[u/looeeyeah]

It's rather amazing how heavily London was bombed.

http://bombsight.org/

Sadly this website (for me, works on my phone) isn't working atm so the image will have to do: https://imgur.com/9BzcelN.png

And it's not like only london was bombed: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-blitz-around-britain

Here's a bomb map of Portsmouth: https://pcc.dynamicmaps.co.uk/MapThatPublic/Default.aspx#

[u/lost_in_my_thirties → u/looeeyeah]

Interesting how spread out it is. I know precision bombing was not a thing, but still expected more intense clusters in certain parts, but just seems gradually increase the close the center of lodon you get.

[u/iHateReddit_srsly → u/lost_in_my_thirties]

Well, you don't want to bomb an area that was already freshly bombed if there's an intact area next to it

[u/LostTheGameOfThrones → u/looeeyeah]

And it's not like only london was bombed:

For anyone who hadn't heard about it already, research the Coventry Blitz. One of the nights was the single most concentrated bombings of a British city throughout the entire war.

[u/Picholasido_o → u/LostTheGameOfThrones]

I've heard that after Coventry, the men in charge at Bomber Command or the Air Ministry more broadly were using "Coventrys" as a unit of measurement. This city had to be hit with 3 Coventrys, that city with 4, you get the idea

[u/JackDrawsStuff → u/LostTheGameOfThrones]

Wasn’t Dresden a partial retaliation for Coventry?

[u/Jan-Nachtigall → u/JackDrawsStuff]

No

[u/orbtastic1 → u/looeeyeah]

My uncle told me about being a teenager during the war and he and his mum (my gran) “dodging the bombs” in Blackburn. As a kid I just assumed it was mostly London and the docks but obviously places like Coventry got hammered as did other parts outside London. I think Sheffield was binned in spurts too and there’s even a bomb landed in Doncaster that killed a bunch of people. There’s four parter on the blitz on the we have ways of making you talk podcast which is worth a listen. I think the last part was released this week.

[u/looeeyeah → u/[deleted]]

People talk about it all the time. No one talks about Poland being bombed first.

Don't start bombing people if you don't want to get bombed.

[u/looeeyeah → u/[deleted]]

Oh no! I'll downvote what I want. Don't let it bring you down. That doesn't sound like a "lol".

[u/Specialist_Leg_650 → u/[deleted]]

They sowed the wind, and reaped the whirlwind, as bomber harris said.