How did St Paul's survive World War Two?

London has marked the 70th anniversary of one of the worst nights of bombing during World War II, when the German Luftwaffe dropped 10,000 bombs on to the city. Eight Wren churches were destroyed.

A devastating wave of air raids turned London's Square Mile into a raging inferno as fire fighters fought to contain the fires from spreading.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had asked that St. Paul's Cathedral should be protected from fire at all costs in a bid to boost morale across the capital, so teams of volunteers armed with sandbags and hoses worked through the night dousing the flames to save Christopher Wren's iconic building.

The next day as London was shrouded in smoke, the cathedral stood virtually untouched surrounded by the shells of burned out buildings.

With the water mains also targeted during the bombing, fire fighters struggled with a lack of water to fight the fires. The River Thames was also very low that night, creating extra problems for the fire brigade in accessing water.

Twelve firemen died that night and 162 civilians also lost their lives. More than 600 people were injured, including 50 when a bomb fell directly onto an air raid shelter.