Bomb, incendiary bomb

This was one of several incendiary bombs that fell on the City of London on the night of 29th-30th December 1940 during World War II. The bomb failed to properly ignite and was recovered from the site with its fuse and tail missing.
At the height of the German air attacks on London in 1940 and 1941, known as the Blitz, up to 100,000 small incendiary bombs, similar to this example, fell on London in a single night. The 29th-30th December 1940 was one of the most destructive nights of the Blitz as the incendiary bombs dropped from 136 German bombers destroyed churches, offices and warehouses in the City of London. St Paul's Cathedral, guarded by its own fire watch, miraculously survived the attack that killed 160 Londoners including 14 firefighters. The huge fires caused by the incendiary bombs combined to give the impression that the City was suffering the 'Second Great Fire of London'.