Cable; section of high tension cable and troughing from Minories Junction, Metropolitan Railway, damaged during an air raid, 13 June 1917

During the First World War, London sustained aerial attacks from both airship and aeroplane bombardments. This high-tension cable and its casing were taken from the Underground line at The Minories junction in the City after enemy bombing. The Metropolitan Railway Company rescued it. The damage shows the ferocious power of the bomb. Few precautions were taken against air raids on London in the First World War since they seemed an unlikely threat. However, between 1915 and 1918 there were 31 raids, which killed some 670 people.