11 Feb 2020. Outside the capital, there had been widespread harassing activity by single aircraft, as well as fairly strong diversionary attacks on Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool, but no major raids. [52], Based in part on the experience of German bombing in the First World War, politicians feared mass psychological trauma from aerial attacks and the collapse of civil society. In July 1939, Gring arranged a display of the Luftwaffe's most advanced equipment at Rechlin, to give the impression the air force was more prepared for a strategic air war than was actually the case. London was bombed ever day and night, bar one, for 11 weeks. Dowding was summoned on 17 October, to explain the poor state of the night defences and the supposed (but ultimately successful) "failure" of his daytime strategy. Poor intelligence about British industry and economic efficiency led to OKL concentrating on tactics rather than strategy. Around 200 people were killed and another 2,000 injured. It was faster, able to catch the bombers and its configuration of four machine guns in a turret could (much like German night fighters in 19431945 with Schrge Musik) engage the German bomber from beneath. On the night of 22/23 July 1940, Flying Officer Cyril Ashfield (pilot), Pilot Officer Geoffrey Morris (air observer) and Flight Sergeant Reginald Leyland (Air Intercept radar operator) of the Fighter Interception Unit became the first pilot and crew to intercept and destroy an enemy aircraft using onboard radar to guide them to a visual interception, when their AI night fighter brought down a Do 17 off Sussex. [145] The shift from precision bombing to area attack is indicated in the tactical methods and weapons dropped. [115] In the initial operations against London, it did appear as if rail targets and the bridges over the Thames had been singled out: Victoria Station was hit by four bombs and suffered extensive damage. Explore the London Blitz during 7th October 1940 to 6th June 1941 Aggregate Bomb Census Information Powered by Leaflet CartoDB - Map data OpenStreetMap.org contributors The National Archives give no warranty to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for purpose of the information provided. [173] On 10/11 May, London suffered severe damage, but 10 German bombers were downed. THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 07 1940 September 07 The Blitz begins as Germany bombs London On September 7, 1940, 300 German bombers raid London, in the first of 57 consecutive nights of. The building of London's Royal Docks introduced a new world of commerce to the capital. On September 13, 1940, shortly after the start of Germany's bombing campaign on the towns and cities of Britain, five high explosive bombs were dropped on Buckingham Palace. [56] Not only was there evacuation over land, but also by ship. [94] A total of 348 bombers and 617 fighters took part in the attack. 4 June 1940 18 June 1940 22 June 1940 1 July 1940 . 1 March 1935 3 June 1936) championed strategic bombing and the building of suitable aircraft, although he emphasised the importance of aviation in operational and tactical terms. but even after the Blitz ended, danger remained. When the second hand re-aligned with the first, the bombs were released. Bombing civilians would cause a collapse of morale and a loss of production in the remaining factories. The docks drew produce and people from all over the world; they survived the bombings of World War II and the economic downturn of the 1970s and 80s to become a hive of industry and activity once again. They have usually been treated as distinct campaigns, but they are linked by the fact that the German Air Force conducted a continuous eleven-month offensive against Britain from July 1940 to June 1941. The heavy fighting in the Battle of Britain had eaten up most of Fighter Command's resources, so there was little investment in night fighting. Although many civilians had used them for shelter during the First World War, the government in 1939 refused to allow the stations to be used as shelters so as not to interfere with commuter and troop travel and the fears that occupants might refuse to leave. [184], Raids during the Blitz produced the greatest divisions and morale effects in the working-class areas, with lack of sleep, insufficient shelters and inefficiency of warning systems being major causes. [160], On 13 March, the upper Clyde port of Clydebank near Glasgow was bombed (Clydebank Blitz). Although there had been many bombing raids on London since mid 1940, the first raid where the survival of St. Paul's Cathedral was at risk and where the Watch were tested in the extreme was on Sunday 29th December 1940. X- and Y-Gert beams were placed over false targets and switched only at the last minute. [27], Although not specifically prepared to conduct independent strategic air operations against an opponent, the Luftwaffe was expected to do so over Britain. Tawny Pipit (1944) While the likes of Welcome Mr. Washington (1944), Great Day (1945) and I Live in Grosvenor Square (1945) extended British hospitality to visiting Americans, Anthony Asquith's The Demi-Paradise (1943) was alone in offering the hand of friendship to our Soviet allies. In March 1941, two raids on Plymouth and London dehoused 148,000 people. At a London railway station, arriving troops pass by children who are being evacuated to the countryside. On 9 April 1941, Luftflotte 2 dropped 150 tons (152t) of high explosives and 50,000 incendiaries from 120 bombers in a five-hour attack. The primary goal of Bomber Command was to destroy the German industrial base (economic warfare) and in doing so reduce morale. [66], Public demand caused the government in October 1940 to build new deep shelters within the Underground to hold 80,000 people but the period of heaviest bombing had passed before they were finished. [24][182] This meant that British coastal centres and shipping at sea west of Ireland were the prime targets. [163] By the end of the air campaign over Britain, only eight percent of the German effort against British ports was made using mines. (Photo by J. TikTok said in a blog post in June that it will route all data from U.S. users to servers controlled by Oracle, the Silicon Valley company it chose as its U.S. tech partner in 2020 in an effort to . The Romanov family was the imperial house of the Russian Empire from 1613 until being forced out of power in 1917 during the Russian Revolution. This weight of attack went on for two months, with the Luftwaffe dropping 12,400 long tons (12,600t) of bombs. [174] By the end of May, Kesselring's Luftflotte 2 had been withdrawn, leaving Hugo Sperrle's Luftflotte 3 as a token force to maintain the illusion of strategic bombing. News reports of the Spanish Civil War, such as the bombing of Barcelona, supported the 50-casualties-per-tonne estimate. [107], Luftwaffe policy at this point was primarily to continue progressive attacks on London, chiefly by night attack; second, to interfere with production in the vast industrial arms factories of the West Midlands, again chiefly by night attack; and third to disrupt plants and factories during the day by means of fighter-bombers. Edgar Jones, et al. Gring's lack of co-operation was detrimental to the one air strategy with potentially decisive strategic effect on Britain. Attacks from below offered a larger target, compared to attacking tail-on, as well as a better chance of not being seen by the crew (so less chance of evasion), as well as greater likelihood of detonating its bomb load. Many civilians who were unwilling or unable to join the military joined the Home Guard, the Air Raid Precautions service (ARP), the Auxiliary Fire Service and many other civilian organisations. [40] The Port of London, in particular, was an important target, bringing in one-third of overseas trade. The first German attack on London actually occurred by accident. The London Blitz started quietly. The word "blitz" comes from the German term. Air raids caused about 2,300 casualties in London in World War I, and during the Battle of Britain in World War II, the city was bombed relentlessly by the German Luftwaffethe London Blitz . [135] In particular, the West Midlands were targeted. The Luftwaffe flew 4,000 sorties that month, including 12 major and three heavy attacks. The London Underground rail system was also affected; high explosive bombs damaged the tunnels rendering some unsafe. dodged bombs to make her way across London from her aunts house to dance class. Daylight bombing was abandoned after October 1940 as the Luftwaffe experienced unsustainable losses. Moreover, the OKL could not settle on an appropriate strategy. [46], In an operational capacity, limitations in weapons technology and quick British reactions were making it more difficult to achieve strategic effect. [53] Winston Churchill told Parliament in 1934, "We must expect that, under the pressure of continuous attack upon London, at least three or four million people would be driven out into the open country around the metropolis". Many houses and commercial centres were heavily damaged, the electrical supply was knocked out, and five oil tanks and two magazines exploded. In particular, class division was most evident during the Blitz. These were marked out by parachute flares. When Gring decided against continuing Wever's original heavy bomber programme in 1937, the Reichsmarschall's own explanation was that Hitler wanted to know only how many bombers there were, not how many engines each had. Although there were a few large air battles fought in daylight later in the month and into October, the Luftwaffe switched its main effort to night attacks. The exhausted population took three weeks to overcome the effects of an attack. The first jamming operations were carried out using requisitioned hospital electrocautery machines. In Sunderland on 25 April, Luftflotte 2 sent 60 bombers which dropped 80 tons (81.3t) of high explosive and 9,000 incendiaries. Over several months, the 20,000 shells spent per raider shot down in September 1940, was reduced to 4,087 in January 1941 and to 2,963 shells in February 1941. [138] The strategic effect of the raid was a brief 20 percent dip in aircraft production. Operating over home territory, British aircrew could fly again if they survived being shot down. The light guns, about half of which were of the excellent Bofors 40 mm, dealt with aircraft only up to 6,000ft (1,800m). [159] Operations against London up until May 1941 could also have a severe impact on morale. [114] It is not clear whether the power station or any specific structure was targeted during the German offensive as the Luftwaffe could not accurately bomb select targets during night operations. [25] In 1940 and 1941, Gring's refusal to co-operate with the Kriegsmarine denied the entire Wehrmacht military forces of the Reich the chance to strangle British sea communications, which might have had a strategic or decisive effect in the war against the British Empire. Underground officials were ordered to lock station entrances during raids but by the second week of heavy bombing, the government relented and ordered the stations to be opened. [60] In March 1943, 173 men, women and children were crushed to death at Bethnal Green tube station in a crowd surge after a woman fell down the steps as she entered the station. He told OKL in 1939 that ruthless employment of the Luftwaffe against the heart of the British will to resist would follow when the moment was right. [50], On the other hand, some historians have recently contended that this revisionism of the "Blitz spirit" narrative may have been an over-correction. [118] The London Docklands, in particular, the Royal Victoria Dock, received many hits and Port of London trade was disrupted. At least 3,363 Luftwaffe aircrew were killed, 2,641 missing and 2,117 wounded. Dec. 17, 1983: Six people are. [161] Still, while heavily damaged, British ports continued to support war industry and supplies from North America continued to pass through them while the Royal Navy continued to operate in Plymouth, Southampton, and Portsmouth. Ports were easier to find and made better targets. [92], German beacons operated on the medium-frequency band and the signals involved a two-letter Morse identifier followed by a lengthy time-lapse which enabled the Luftwaffe crews to determine the signal's bearing. London: The Blitz, September 1940-June 1941 Records are incomplete, but between 7 October 1940 and 6 June 1941 almost 28,000 high explosive bombs and over 400 parachute mines were recorded landing on Greater London. Launched in May 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, discover our collection of resources about the resilience of London during World War II. [139], Although official German air doctrine did target civilian morale, it did not espouse the attacking of civilians directly. [101] On 8 September the Luftwaffe returned; 412 people were killed and 747 severely wounded. [64][65] The government distributed Anderson shelters until 1941 and that year began distributing the Morrison shelter, which could be used inside homes. From the beginning of the National Socialist regime until 1939, there was a debate in German military journals over the role of strategic bombardment, with some contributors arguing along the lines of the British and Americans. [145] Use of incendiaries, which were inherently inaccurate, indicated much less care was taken to avoid civilian property close to industrial sites. American observer Ralph Ingersoll reported the bombing was inaccurate and did not hit targets of military value, but destroyed the surrounding areas. By the height of the Blitz, they were becoming more successful. Workers worked longer shifts and over weekends. Three cross-beams intersected the beam along which the He 111 was flying. The government saw the leading role taken by the Communist Party in advocating the building of deep shelters as an attempt to damage civilian morale, especially after the MolotovRibbentrop Pact of August 1939. [98] The fighting in the air was more intense in daylight. Children pull crackers under paper decorations while jubilant adults smile . By December, this had increased to 92 percent. The government did not build them for large populations before the war because of cost, time to build and fears that their safety would cause occupants to refuse to leave to return to work or that anti-war sentiment would develop in large congregations of civilians. [195] Many sites of bombed buildings, when cleared of rubble, were cultivated to grow vegetables to ease wartime food shortages and were known as victory gardens.[196]. The oil-fed fires were then injected with water from time to time; the flashes produced were similar to those of the German C-250 and C-500 Flammbomben. The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. But the Blitz started in earnest on the afternoon of 7 September when the German Luftwaffe filled the skies in the first major daytime raid on London. Blitz Incidents Thursday, 2 January 2014 High Holborn - the morning of 8th October 1940 I had no idea fighter-bombers were used against London as early as 1940, yet on Tuesday 8th October just before 9 am a raid took place that certainly hit targets across the centre of London, including Whitehall, at the very heart of British government. [194], In one 6-month period, 750,000 tons (762,000t) of bombsite rubble from London were transported by railway on 1,700 freight trains to make runways on Bomber Command airfields in East Anglia. [145] Captured German aircrews also indicated the homes of industrial workers were deliberately targeted. The programme evacuated 2,664 boys and girls (ages 5 - 15) until its ending in October after the sinking of the SS City of Benares with the loss of 81 children out of 100 on board. [99] Fighter Command lost 23 fighters, with six pilots killed and another seven wounded. Ground-based radar was limited, and airborne radar and RAF night fighters were generally ineffective. Some people even told government surveyors that they enjoyed air raids if they occurred occasionally, perhaps once a week. [13][14], In the 1920s and 1930s, airpower theorists such as Giulio Douhet and Billy Mitchell claimed that air forces could win wars, obviating the need for land and sea combat. Other units ceased using parachute flares and opted for explosive target markers. Between 1940 and 1945, over 52,000 civilians were killed in Britain during bombing raids by German aircraft. Roads and railways were blocked and ships could not leave harbour. Harold Macmillan wrote in 1956 that he and others around him "thought of air warfare in 1938 rather as people think of nuclear war today". [144] In January and February 1941, Luftwaffe serviceability rates declined until just 551 of 1,214 bombers were combat-worthy. [190], The brief success of the Communists also fed into the hands of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). The RAF and the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) adopted much of this apocalyptic thinking. The loss of sleep was a particular factor, with many not bothering to attend inconvenient shelters. During World War I, German zeppelins and Gotha airplanes had bombed the city and forced people to take shelter in the tunnels. It had no time to gather reliable intelligence on Britain's industries. 348 bombers led by 617 fighters barraged London around 4:00 in the afternoon that day. Then bombers carrying SC1000 (1,000kg (2,205lb)), SC1400 (1,400kg (3,086lb)), and SC1800 (1,800kg (3,968lb)) "Satan" bombs were used to level streets and residential areas. Attacking ports, shipping and imports as well as disrupting rail traffic in the surrounding areas, especially the distribution of coal, an important fuel in all industrial economies of the Second World War, would net a positive result. Night fighters could claim only four bombers for four losses. Loge had cost the Luftwaffe 41 aircraft; 14 bombers, 16 Messerschmitt Bf 109s, seven Messerschmitt Bf 110s and four reconnaissance aircraft. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights. [50] The unexpected delay to civilian bombing during the Phoney War meant that the shelter programme finished in June 1940, before the Blitz. [48] Based on experience with German strategic bombing during World War I against the United Kingdom, the British government estimated that 50 casualtieswith about one-third killedwould result for every tonne of bombs dropped on London. A further attack on the Clyde, this time at Greenock, took place on 6 and 7 May. [72] The psychoanalysts were correct, and the special network of psychiatric clinics opened to receive mental casualties of the attacks closed due to lack of need. "Pathfinders" from 12 Kampfgruppe 100 (Bomb Group 100 or KGr100) led 437 bombers from KG 1, KG 3, KG26, KG 27, KG55 and Lehrgeschwader 1 (1st Training Wing, or LG1) which dropped 350 long tons (356t) of high explosive, 50 long tons (50.8t) of incendiaries, and 127 parachute mines. They concluded bombers should strike a single target each night and use more incendiaries because they had a greater impact on production than high explosives. The first attack merely damaged the rail network for three days,[102] and the second attack failed altogether. The number of contacts and combats rose in 1941, from 44 and two in 48 sorties in January 1941, to 204 and 74 in May (643 sorties). [140] The first group to use these incendiaries was Kampfgruppe 100 which despatched 10 "pathfinder" He 111s. The property stands alone on a section of riverbank on the Thames, in South East London 's . Nearly 350 German bombers (escorted by over 600 fighters) dropped explosives on East London, targeting the docks in particular. [63] Peak use of the Underground as shelter was 177,000 on 27 September 1940 and a November 1940 census of London, found that about 4% of residents used the Tube and other large shelters, 9% in public surface shelters and 27% in private home shelters, implying that the remaining 60% of the city stayed at home. His hope wasfor reasons of political prestige within Germany itselfthat the German population would be protected from the Allied bombings. Entertainment included concerts, films, plays and books from local libraries. [60], Each day orderly lines of people queued until 4:00pm, when they were allowed to enter the stations. Throughout 1940, dummy airfields were prepared, good enough to stand up to skilled observation. The London Blitz Timeline Nathaniel Zarate Sep 7 1940 September 7, 1940 On Saturday September 7th 1940, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force to bomb London. [145] Part of the reason for this was inaccuracy of navigation. [58][59], The most important existing communal shelters were the London Underground stations. Ingersol wrote that Battersea Power Station, one of the largest landmarks in London, received only a minor hit.
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