#londonblitz

Air-raid victim, London, ca. 1940 - by Cecil Beaton.

World War II - Britain in September 1940

London Blitz

The London Blitz was the sustained bombing of Britain's capital by the German and Italian air forces from September 1940 to May 1941 during the Second World War (1939-45). The objective was to bomb Britain into submission, but despite almost 100,000 civilians being killed or injured in the nightly raids, Londoners resisted, and the war went on.

Hitler's Objectives

Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 following the latter's invasion of Poland. By mid-1940, Germany had marched through the Low Countries, British forces had abandoned the Continent in the Dunkirk evacuation, and France had fallen. A German invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion) looked imminent, and it would surely be preceded by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) attacking Britain to gain air superiority. Cities might also be threatened, just as they had been in the First World War (1914-18) when German Zeppelin airships had attacked London.

At first, the Luftwaffe concentrated on trying to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the air and on the ground by bombing airfields. When this strategy proved unsuccessful, and the RAF effectively won the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe changed tactics. Bombing London and other cities became the new objective, as specified in a directive from the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler (1889-45): "...for disruptive attacks on the population and air defences of major British cities, including London, by day and night" (quoted in Dear, 108).

The Luftwaffe was now intent on destroying Britain's material supplies and crushing civilian morale by targeting the docks in London's East End, key industrial sites, power stations, railway terminals, and other ports. London was just 30 minutes from Luftwaffe bases and an easy target thanks to the highly visible (even at night) dramatic bends in the River Thames. The strategy, in the end, failed to weaken Britain's resolve, but hundreds of thousands of civilians would first have to live through a nightmare of bombing that lasted nine months with long periods when raids came every single night.

Daily Life in the London Blitz

In this collection of resources, we examine daily life during the London Blitz, the period of intense bombing of the British capital from 1940 to 1941 during the Second World War (1939-45). We look at Nazi Germany's objectives for the bombing, how civilians spent night after night in air raid shelters, and some of the privations endured such as the evacuation of children and rationing of food. We also encounter eyewitness accounts from those directly involved such as firefighters, air raid wardens, and women volunteers.

One of the oddest things about our everyday life is its a mixture of ruthless horror and every-day routine. I pick my way to work past the bomb craters and the shattered glass, and sit at my desk in a room with a large hole in the roof (a block of paving stone came through).

Phyllis Warner (Gardiner, 48)

Life in an Air Raid Shelter in the London Blitz

Crowded and uncomfortable air raid shelters became a feature of the urban landscape across Britain during the Second World War (1939-45) as the bombers of Nazi Germany systematically hit cities from 1940. The London Blitz was a particularly sustained period of bombing which civilians escaped from by diving into private or public shelters when the sirens whined their warning signal.

People sought refuge in the London Underground stations, in purpose-built community shelters, in their cellars, under the stairs, or in refuges in their gardens such as the Anderson shelter. The danger was real, prior to the autumn of 1942, more British civilians were killed in the war than British military personnel.

The Bombing of Britain

Civilians had a lot to put up with even before the bombing started. The blackout was imposed where no non-essential lights were to show at night and so help enemy bombers. There was a real fear that gas bombs would be used, and so everyone was encouraged to carry gas masks. The Phoney War, the period of relative military inactivity in Britain between September 1939 and the spring of 1940, brought a sense of false security, but the German Luftwaffe (air force) would arrive soon enough.

Hundreds of thousands of children were evacuated from cities, including the capital where one million children were shipped out. Youngsters were sent to the safety of the countryside, but the separation from parents and a familiar environment proved traumatic for many. As the historian J. Hale points out: "By January 1940 about half of all children and nine out of ten mothers had returned to their old homes" (27). Despite this, when the bombing started, the official policy of evacuation was continued.

Bombers of the Luftwaffe and the Italian Air Force dropped both explosive and incendiary bombs, the first type to smash through buildings and the second to set the ruins alight. Britain had an integrated air defensive system, the Dowding System, which monitored incoming aircraft and sent out fighters to intercept like the Supermarine Spitfire, but many bombers got through to deliver their deadly loads. In the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe aimed to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF), both in the air and on the ground, while a secondary aim was to terrorize the civilian population. As the Luftwaffe began to lose the battle, so it concentrated more on civilian targets. Most raids were carried out at night since darkness was the best protection for the German bombers against fighters and anti-aircraft guns. The bombers were guided by radar to their targets, but bombing remained highly inaccurate so that even when strategic sites like factories were the target, there was usually great damage to civilian areas.

London was first bombed on 24 August 1940. The bombers were to attack an oil terminal but mistakenly hit the city, thus beginning a tit-for-tat bombing of civilian areas that escalated to unimaginable horrors like the total bombing of Coventry and Hamburg (Operation Gomorrah). The systematic bombing of London began on 7 September 1940 and continued until the middle of May 1941. The British press called this campaign "the Blitz". The East End of the city, where the docks were located, was a particular target. Other cities across Britain were also repeatedly hit. For civilians, not knowing where the bombers would hit next, air raid shelters became essential everywhere.