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A Heinkel III flying over the Isle of Dogs, London, during the Battle of Britain, 1940 (C5422) |
The Blitz
Blitz, the German word for lightning, was applied by the British press to the tempest of bombing raids carried out over Great Britain in 1940 and 1941.
Concentrated direct bombing began on 7 September 1940 with heavy raids on London. The scale of the attack rapidly escalated; over September alone the German Air Force dropped 5,300 tons of explosives on the capital. German planes soon extended their targets to include coastal ports and other centres of production.
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The remains of Coventry Cathedral, 17 November 1940 (SG14860) |
The infamous raid of 14 November 1940 on Coventry brought a still-worse twist to the campaign when 500 tons of explosives and nearly 900 incendiary bombs were dropped in ten hours of unrelenting bombardment, a tactic later emulated on an even greater scale by the RAF’s attacks on German cities.
The British population had been warned in September 1939 that air attacks were likely, and civil defence preparations had been started some time before. Simple corrugated steel Anderson shelters were dug into gardens up and down the country. Larger civic shelters built of brick and concrete were erected in British towns, and a blackout was rigorously enforced.
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Sheltering in the Elephant and Castle Tube station, London (D1568) |
Soon, the night raids began increasing in frequency, and many people virtually took up residence in shelters, giving rise to a new spirit of solidarity and community.
In London, many people moved down into the Tube stations. At first actively discouraged by the government, this popular action held sway, and it was a common sight to pass through an Underground station crowded with the sleeping bodies of men, women and children, the platforms piled high with their belongings.
The main air offensive against British cities diminished after May 1941 with the change of direction of the German war machine towards Russia, though sporadic and lethal raids – using increasingly larger bombs – continued for several more years.
