The London Daily Newsletter Thursday 2 February

On 2 February 1943, the last German troops in the Soviet city of Stalingrad surrendered to the Red Army, ending one of the pivotal battles of World War II. In their attempt to take Stalingrad, the German Sixth Army faced a bitter Red Army under General Vasily Zhukov employing the ruined city to their advantage, transforming destroyed buildings and rubble into natural defensive fortifications. In a method of fighting the Germans began to call the Rattenkrieg, or “Rat’s War,” the opposing forces broke into squads eight or 10 strong and fought each other for every house and yard of territory. The battle saw rapid advances in street-fighting technology, such as a German machine gun that shot around corners and a light Russian plane that glided silently over German positions at night, dropping lethal bombs without warning. However, both sides lacked necessary food, water, or medical supplies, and tens of thousands perished every week. Starvation and the bitter Russian winter took many lives, and on 21 January 1943, the last of the airports held by the Germans fell to the Soviets, completely cutting the Germans off from supplies. On 31 January, Von Paulus surrendered German forces in the southern sector, and on 2 February the remaining German troops surrendered. Only 90,000 German soldiers were still alive, and of these only 5,000 troops would survive the Soviet prisoner-of-war camps and make it back to Germany.

Harold Hill
Harold Hill is an area in the London Borough of Havering and a district centre in the London Plan.

The name Harold Hill refers to Harold Godwinson who once held the manor of Havering-atte-Bower. Romford was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1937 and governed by Romford Borough Council, which was the local authority during the construction of the Harold Hill estate. The housing development of Harold Hill was conceived in the Greater London Plan of 1944 in order to alleviate the housing shortages of Inner London. Before construction of the estate – completed in 1958 – it was the location of Dagnam Park house and grounds. Most of the land for the estate was purchased in 1947 by the London County Council. The area was within the designated Metropolitan Green Belt, but an exception was made for the development because of the housing need in London following the Second World War. Construction of 7631 permanent homes, housing 25 000 people, began in 1948 and was complete by 1958. The development is fairly low density with large sections of parkland retained in the centre and edges of the estate. The Municipal Borough of Romford was abolished in 1965 and Harold Hill became part of the London Borough of Havering in Greater London.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

An Omnibus Ride to Piccadilly Circus, Mr Gladstone Travelling with Ordinary Passengers (1885) Credit: Alfred Morgan (1862-1904) This painting shows Mr Gladstone, the British Prime Minister, travelling with ordinary passengers. The description of the painting also says that it includes a self portrait. Thus we can perhaps assume that the artist, Alfred Morgan, is seated next to the window on the left-hand side.

Alfred Morgan (1862-1904)

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.