Minister of Home Security Herbert Morrison was also worried morale was breaking, noting the defeatism expressed by civilians. 11 Feb 2020. Bombing civilians would cause a collapse of morale and a loss of production in the remaining factories. So worried were the government over the sudden campaign of leaflets and posters distributed by the Communist Party in Coventry and London, that the police were sent to seize their production facilities. This involved the bombing of English Channel convoys, ports, and RAF airfields and supporting industries. It is argued that persisting with attacks on RAF airfields might have won air superiority for the Luftwaffe. The day's fighting cost Kesselring and Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2) 24 aircraft, including 13 Bf 109s. It would prove formidable but its development was slow. [171] In the bad weather of February 1941, Fighter Command flew 568 sorties to counter the Luftwaffe which flew 1,644 sorties. [31], The circumstances affected the Germans more than the British. [93] The use of diversionary techniques such as fires had to be made carefully. Birmingham and Coventry were subject to 450 long tons (457t) of bombs between them in the last 10 days of October. Operating over home territory, British aircrew could fly again if they survived being shot down. In September, there had been no less than 667 hits on railways in Great Britain, and at one period, between 5,000 and 6,000 wagons were standing idle from the effect of delayed action bombs. [117] Attacks against East End docks were effective and many Thames barges were destroyed. 80 Wing RAF. Many more ports were attacked. [144] In January and February 1941, Luftwaffe serviceability rates declined until just 551 of 1,214 bombers were combat-worthy. The main focus was London. [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. [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. "[25] Such principles made it much harder to integrate the air force into the overall strategy and produced in Gring a jealous and damaging defence of his "empire" while removing Hitler voluntarily from the systematic direction of the Luftwaffe at either the strategic or operational level. [141][failed verification] Altogether, 130 German bombers destroyed the historical centre of London. [13] The strategic impact on industrial cities was varied; most took from 10 to 15 days to recover from heavy raids, although Belfast and Liverpool took longer. The Luftwaffe was not pressed into ground support operations because of pressure from the army or because it was led by ex-soldiers, the Luftwaffe favoured a model of joint inter-service operations, rather than independent strategic air campaigns. Throughout 1940, dummy airfields were prepared, good enough to stand up to skilled observation. The estimate of tonnes of bombs an enemy could drop per day grew as aircraft technology advanced, from 75 in 1922, to 150 in 1934, to 644 in 1937. [94], On 15 September the Luftwaffe made two large daylight attacks on London along the Thames Estuary, targeting the docks and rail communications in the city. [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. These collections include period interviews with civilians, servicemen, aircrew, politicians and Civil Defence personnel, as well as Blitz actuality recordings, news bulletins and public information broadcasts. 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. London Blitz took place during the World War 2. The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940 (a battle for daylight air superiority between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force over the United Kingdom). The London Blitz started quietly. [50] London hospitals prepared for 300,000 casualties in the first week of war. Many people over 35 remembered the bombing and were afraid of more. [190], The brief success of the Communists also fed into the hands of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). More than 13,000 civilians had been killed, and almost 20,000 injured, in September and October alone,[110] but the death toll was much less than expected. A summary of Harris' strategic intentions was clear. [136] The Germans were surprised by the success of the attack. [81], British air doctrine, since Hugh Trenchard had commanded the Royal Flying Corps (19151917), stressed offence as the best means of defence,[82] which became known as the cult of the offensive. [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. Another poll found an 88% approval rating for Churchill in July. [191] In other cities, class divisions became more evident. Morale was not mentioned until the ninth wartime directive on 21 September 1940. IWM C 5424 1. [28], The Luftwaffe's poor intelligence meant that their aircraft were not always able to locate their targets, and thus attacks on factories and airfields failed to achieve the desired results. Rapid frequency changes were introduced for X-Gert, whose wider band of frequencies and greater tactical flexibility ensured it remained effective at a time when British selective jamming was degrading the effectiveness of Y-Gert. The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain. Still, many British citizens, who had been members of the Labour Party, itself inert over the issue, turned to the Communist Party. [163] By the end of the air campaign over Britain, only eight percent of the German effort against British ports was made using mines. Praise for Blitz: "With a relaxed style and array of fun characters, including an agent who makes people who look at him see their mother and a baby goat that turns into a little boy, O'Malley's latest will appeal to his many followers." Kirkus Reviews Praise for Daniel O'Malley and the Rook Files series: "Laugh-out-loud funny, occasionally bawdy, and paced like a spy thriller . [35][36], It was also possible, if RAF losses became severe, that they could pull out to the north, wait for the German invasion, then redeploy southward again. At around 4:00 PM on that September day, 348 German bombers escorted by 617 fighters Sept. 7, 1940 - the beginning of the London Blitz blasted London until 6:00 PM. [69] Contrary to pre-war fears of anti-Semitic violence in the East End, one observer found that the "Cockney and the Jew [worked] together, against the Indian". The property stands alone on a section of riverbank on the Thames, in South East London 's . Many of the latter were abandoned in 1940 as unsafe. At 18:17, it released the first of 10,000 firebombs, eventually amounting to 300 dropped per minute. 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. BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline Fact File : The Blitz 25 August 1940 to 16 May 1941 Theatre: United Kingdom Area: London and other major cities Players: Britain: RAF Fighter Command under. The GL carpet was supported by six GCI sets controlling radar-equipped night-fighters. 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. This day marks the beginning of the Blitz when an attack on London is launched by the Germans, starting a nine-month long campaign against the city. Douglas set about introducing more squadrons and dispersing the few GL sets to create a carpet effect in the southern counties. [24], Hitler was much more attracted to the political aspects of bombing. However, meteorological conditions over Britain were not favourable for flying and prevented an escalation in air operations. From 1916 to 1918, German raids had diminished against countermeasures which demonstrated defence against night air raids was possible. However, resentment of rich self-evacuees or hostile treatment of poor ones were signs of persistence of class resentments although these factors did not appear to threaten social order. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (Kindle Edition) by. Instead, he wasted aircraft of Fliegerfhrer Atlantik (Flying Command Atlantic) on bombing mainland Britain instead of attacks against convoys. This led to their agreeing to Hitler's Directive 23, Directions for operations against the British War Economy, which was published on 6 February 1941 and gave aerial interdiction of British imports by sea top priority. Around 66,000 houses were destroyed and 77,000 people made homeless ("bombed out"[158]), with 1,900 people killed and 1,450 seriously hurt on one night. The London Underground rail system was also affected; high explosive bombs damaged the tunnels rendering some unsafe. Fighter Command lost 17 fighters and six pilots. Curiously, while 43 percent of the contacts in May 1941 were by visual sightings, they accounted for 61 percent of the combats. On 17 April 346 tons (352t) of explosives and 46,000 incendiaries were dropped from 250 bombers led by KG 26. Little tonnage was dropped on Fighter Command airfields; Bomber Command airfields were hit instead. A Gallup poll found only 3% of Britons expected to lose the war in May 1940. The light guns, about half of which were of the excellent Bofors 40 mm, dealt with aircraft only up to 6,000ft (1,800m). [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. The first jamming operations were carried out using requisitioned hospital electrocautery machines. [12], Five nights later, Birmingham was hit by 369 bombers from KG 54, KG26, and KG55. But the great bulk of the traffic went on, and Londonersthough they glanced apprehensively each morning at the list of closed stretches of line displayed at their local station, or made strange detours round back streets in the busesstill got to work. The production of false radio navigation signals by re-transmitting the originals became known as meaconing using masking beacons (meacons). [108], Kesselring, commanding Luftflotte 2, was ordered to send 50 sorties per night against London and attack eastern harbours in daylight. (PROSE: Ash, TV: The Empty Child) It lasted from 7 September 1940 to 21 May 1941. A third poll found 89% support for his leadership in October. In the last days of the battle, the bombers became lures in an attempt to draw the RAF into combat with German fighters. The first attack merely damaged the rail network for three days,[102] and the second attack failed altogether. One third of London was destroyed. The Blitz (shortened from German 'Blitzkrieg', "lightning war") was the period of sustained strategic bombing of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. [87] Dowding accepted that as AOC, he was responsible for the day and night defence of Britain but seemed reluctant to act quickly and his critics in the Air Staff felt that this was due to his stubborn nature. The port cities of Bristol, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, Swansea, Belfast, and Glasgow were also bombed, as were the industrial centres of Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, and Sheffield. Some people even told government surveyors that they enjoyed air raids if they occurred occasionally, perhaps once a week. Ed Murrow reporting on war torn London during the blitz. [187] Historians' critical response to this construction focused on what were seen as over-emphasised claims of patriotic nationalism and national unity. [146] Eventually, he convinced Hitler of the need to attack British port facilities. The attacks were authorized by Germany's chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. [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. Contact Us 0207 608 5516 Call today: 9am - 5.30pm Its round-the-clock bombing of London was an immediate attempt to force the British government to capitulate, but it was also striking at Britain's vital sea communications to achieve a victory through siege. [23], While the war was being planned, Hitler never insisted upon the Luftwaffe planning a strategic bombing campaign and did not even give ample warning to the air staff that war with Britain or even Russia was a possibility. [1], In early July 1940, the German High Command began planning Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. From 1943 to the end of the war, he [Harris] and other proponents of the area offensive represented it [the bomber offensive] less as an attack on morale than as an assault on the housing, utilities, communications, and other services that supported the war production effort. It hoped to destroy morale by destroying the enemy's factories and public utilities as well as its food stocks (by attacking shipping). [149], By now, the imminent threat of invasion had all but passed as the Luftwaffe had failed to gain the prerequisite air superiority. Between 1940 and 1945, over 52,000 civilians were killed in Britain during bombing raids by German aircraft. Industry, seats of government and communications could be destroyed, depriving an opponent of the means to make war. Committees quickly formed within shelters as informal governments, and organisations such as the British Red Cross and the Salvation Army worked to improve conditions. Here are the flats today, courtesy of Street View . This had important implications. Workers worked longer shifts and over weekends. Many unemployed people were drafted into the Royal Army Pay Corps and with the Pioneer Corps, were tasked with salvaging and clean-up. Direction-finding checks also enabled the controller to keep the pilot on course. Authorities expected that the raids would be brief and in daylight, rather than attacks by night, which forced Londoners to sleep in shelters. 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. [135] In particular, the West Midlands were targeted. The Blitz was a huge bombing campaign of London and other English cities carried about by the German airforce from September 1940 to May 1941. Jones began a search for German beams; Avro Ansons of the Beam Approach Training Development Unit (BATDU) were flown up and down Britain fitted with a 30MHz receiver. This timeline highlights key moments in the run up to and during the Battle of Britain. Home Secretary Sir John Anderson was replaced by Morrison soon afterwards, in the wake of a Cabinet reshuffle as the dying Neville Chamberlain resigned. [139], Probably the most devastating attack occurred on the evening of 29 December, when German aircraft attacked the City of London itself with incendiary and high explosive bombs, causing a firestorm that has been called the Second Great Fire of London. By 1938, experts generally expected that Germany would try to drop as much as 3,500 tonnes in the first 24 hours of war and average 700 tonnes a day for several weeks. [34] It has also been argued that it was doubtful the Luftwaffe could have won air superiority before the "weather window" began to deteriorate in October. The bombing also helped to support the U-boat blockade by sinking some 58,000 long tons (58,900t) of shipping and damaging 450,000 long tons (457,000t) more. In mid-September 1940, about 150,000 people a night slept in the Underground, although by winter and spring the numbers declined to 100,000 or less. No follow-up raids were made, as OKL underestimated the British power of recovery (as Bomber Command would do over Germany from 1943 to 1945). An unknown number of bombs fell on these diversionary ("Starfish") targets. There was also minor ethnic antagonism between the small Black, Indian and Jewish communities, but despite this these tensions quietly and quickly subsided. [46], In an operational capacity, limitations in weapons technology and quick British reactions were making it more difficult to achieve strategic effect. 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. 5 Jan. Leslie Hore-Belisha, Britain's Minister of War, is dismissed. [136] The raid against Coventry was particularly devastating, and led to widespread use of the phrase "to coventrate". Many popular works of fiction during the 1920s and 1930s portrayed aerial bombing, such as H. G. Wells' novel The Shape of Things to Come and its 1936 film adaptation, and others such as The Air War of 1936 and The Poison War. Gring's lack of co-operation was detrimental to the one air strategy with potentially decisive strategic effect on Britain. Dowding agreed air defence would require some offensive action and that fighters could not defend Britain alone. This led the British to develop countermeasures, which became known as the Battle of the Beams. The considerable rail network distributed to the rest of the country. In particular, class division was most evident during the Blitz. The Metropolitan-Vickers works in Manchester was hit by 12 long tons (12.2t) of bombs. Wever's vision was not realised, staff studies in those subjects fell by the wayside and the Air Academies focused on tactics, technology and operational planning, rather than on independent strategic air offensives. The official history volume British War Production (Postan, 1952) noted that the greatest effect on output of warlike stores was on the supply of components and dispersal of production rather than complete equipment. London: Aurum Press. The shortage of bombers caused OKL to improvise. Erich Raedercommander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarinehad long argued the Luftwaffe should support the German submarine force (U-Bootwaffe) in the Battle of the Atlantic by attacking shipping in the Atlantic Ocean and attacking British ports. London, and cities. Ingersol wrote that Battersea Power Station, one of the largest landmarks in London, received only a minor hit. The populace of the port of Hull became "trekkers", people who made a mass exodus from cities before, during and after attacks. 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. Liverpool suffered 180 long tons (183t) of bombs dropped. Edgar Jones, et al. The fake fires could only begin when the bombing started over an adjacent target and its effects were brought under control. Entertainment included concerts, films, plays and books from local libraries. [17], The vital industries and transport centres that would be targeted for shutdown were valid military targets. The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of . 6063, 6768, 75, 7879, 21516. [156] Hitler now had his sights set on attacking the USSR with Operation Barbarossa, and the Blitz came to an end. [97] Of this total around 400 were killed. They also noted regional production was severely disrupted when city centres were devastated through the loss of administrative offices, utilities and transport. [71], According to Anna Freud and Edward Glover, London civilians surprisingly did not suffer from widespread shell shock, unlike the soldiers in the Dunkirk evacuation. [40] The Luftwaffe's decision in the interwar period to concentrate on medium bombers can be attributed to several reasons: Hitler did not intend or foresee a war with Britain in 1939, the OKL believed a medium bomber could carry out strategic missions just as well as a heavy bomber force, and Germany did not possess the resources or technical ability to produce four-engined bombers before the war. 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. German intelligence suggested Fighter Command was weakening, and an attack on London would force it into a final battle of annihilation while compelling the British Government to surrender. When the Luftwaffe struck at British cities for the first time on 7 September 1940, a number of civic and political leaders were worried by Dowding's apparent lack of reaction to the new crisis. Less than 100 incidents reported by the London Fire Brigade up to 5pm on September 7, 1940. The Battle of Britain: Timeline July 26, 2010 2 mins read The dates of the four phases of the Battle of Britain are contested by some, and have been inserted in brackets only as a guideline. The Luftwaffe lost 18 percent of the bombers sent on the operations that day and failed to gain air superiority. [145], In 1941, the Luftwaffe shifted strategy again. [179] Though militarily ineffective, the Blitz cost around 41,000 lives, may have injured another 139,000 people and did enormous damage to British infrastructure and housing stock. [115] The bombing disrupted rail traffic through London without destroying any of the crossings. An average of 200 were able to strike per night. Soon a beam was traced to Derby (which had been mentioned in Luftwaffe transmissions). [50] Panic during the Munich crisis, such as the migration by 150,000 people to Wales, contributed to fear of social chaos.[54]. [58][59], The most important existing communal shelters were the London Underground stations. [32], The decision to change strategy is sometimes claimed as a major mistake by OKL. 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. There was also a mentality in all air forces that flying by day would obviate the need for night operations and their inherent disadvantages. The difference this made to the effectiveness of air defences is questionable. [85] Although night air defence was causing greater concern before the war, it was not at the forefront of RAF planning after 1935, when funds were directed into the new ground-based radar day fighter interception system. From July until September 1940 the Luftwaffe attacked Fighter Command to gain air superiority as a prelude to invasion. [125], Few fighter aircraft were able to operate at night. [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. Famed SF author Connie Willis' first novel in five years, Blackout, returns to a scenario she's explored before: Time-traveling scholars find themselves changing historical events they're only . This weight of attack went on for two months, with the Luftwaffe dropping 12,400 long tons (12,600t) of bombs. [154], Even so, the decision by the OKL to support the strategy in Directive 23 was instigated by two considerations, both of which had little to do with wanting to destroy Britain's sea communications in conjunction with the Kriegsmarine. Ultimately, the Russian royal family reached a . "Civilian morale during the Second World War: Responses to air raids re-examined.". [35], While Gring was optimistic the Luftwaffe could prevail, Hitler was not. [127] Over 10,000 incendiaries were dropped. The word "blitz" comes from the German term. In the Myth of the Blitz, Calder exposed some of the counter-evidences of anti-social and divisive behaviours. [152] Raeder's successorKarl Dnitzwouldon the intervention of Hitlergain control of one unit (KG 40), but Gring would soon regain it. The loss of sleep was a particular factor, with many not bothering to attend inconvenient shelters. "Bombing of London" and "London Blitz" redirect here. The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: London During the Blitz London during the Blitz A view of Big Ben through barbed wire entanglement. Civilians left for more remote areas of the country. Summerfield and Peniston-Bird 2007, p. 4. Only one bomber was lost, to anti-aircraft fire, despite the RAF flying 125-night sorties. The moon was full and the Thames had a very low ebb tide. On 15 September, on a date known as Battle of Britain Day, a large-scale raid was launched in daylight, but suffered significant loss for no lasting gain. The German Luftwaffe dropped thousands of bombs on London from 1939 to 1945, killing almost 30,000 people. [106], Loge continued during October. However, as with the attacks in the south, the Germans failed to prevent maritime movements or cripple industry in the regions. The North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, suffered the Hull Blitz. By September 1940, London had already experienced German bombing. 219 Squadron RAF at RAF Kenley). Hitler believed the Luftwaffe was "the most effective strategic weapon", and in reply to repeated requests from the Kriegsmarine for control over naval aircraft insisted, "We should never have been able to hold our own in this war if we had not had an undivided Luftwaffe. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.[4].
london blitz timeline