london blitz timeline

With the doors to our museums physically closed, we are offering some exclusive World War II content from our galleries and collections. The primary target of NAZI Germany was to destroy the civilian center and industries on London. Authorities expected that the raids would be brief and in daylight, rather than attacks by night, which forced Londoners to sleep in shelters. [86], Hugh Dowding, Air Officer Commanding Fighter Command, defeated the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, but preparing day fighter defences left little for night air defence. [172], By April and May 1941, the Luftwaffe was still getting through to their targets, taking no more than one- to two-percent losses per mission. The year-long project . Authorities provided stoves and bathrooms and canteen trains provided food. [46], In an operational capacity, limitations in weapons technology and quick British reactions were making it more difficult to achieve strategic effect. Despite the bombing, British production rose steadily throughout this period, although there were significant falls during April 1941, probably influenced by the departure of workers for Easter Holidays, according to the British official history. The first German attack on London actually occurred by accident. The maximum range of Y-Gert was similar to the other systems and it was accurate enough on occasion for specific buildings to be hit. Many civilians found that the best way to retain mental stability was to be with family, and after the first few weeks of bombing, avoidance of the evacuation programmes grew. 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. [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. The German bombing of Britain from 1940-45 exacted a terrible price, in lives lost, infrastructure wrecked and nerves shattered. In those sites, carbon arc lamps were used to simulate flashes at tram overhead wires. [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]. [132] On 19 November 1940 the famous RAF night fighter ace John Cunningham shot down a Ju 88 bomber using airborne radar, just as Dowding had predicted. On 8 May 1941, 57 ships were destroyed, sunk or damaged, amounting to 80,000 long tons (81,300t). By September 1940, London had already experienced German bombing. In Wartime One Girls Journey From The Blitz To Sadlers Wells is understandable in our digital library an online permission to it is set as public . In some cases, the concentration of the bombing and resulting conflagration created firestorms of 1,000C. The RAF and the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) adopted much of this apocalyptic thinking. [121] Few anti-aircraft guns had fire-control systems, and the underpowered searchlights were usually ineffective against aircraft at altitudes above 12,000ft (3,700m). The loss of sleep was a particular factor, with many not bothering to attend inconvenient shelters. [79] The Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence (WVS) was established in 1938 by the Home Secretary, Samuel Hoare, who considered it the female branch of the ARP. [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. [156] The Luftwaffe attacks failed to knock out railways or port facilities for long, even in the Port of London, a target of many attacks. [60], Each day orderly lines of people queued until 4:00pm, when they were allowed to enter the stations. The most intense series of these raids took place from September 1940 to May 1941 in a period that has become known as the Blitz. These include Peter Hennessy, Andrew Thorpe, and Philip Ziegler, who while admitting serious exceptions, argue that the population largely behaved well during the Blitz.[193]. Here are the flats today, courtesy of Street View . Battle noises were muffled and sleep was easier in the deepest stations, but many people were killed from direct hits on stations. 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. Nearly 350 German bombers (escorted by over 600 fighters) dropped explosives on East London, targeting the docks in particular. A summary of Harris' strategic intentions was clear. 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. In 1938, a committee of psychiatrists predicted three times as many mental as physical casualties from aerial bombing, implying three to four million psychiatric patients. Below is a table by city of the number of major raids (where at least 100 tons of bombs were dropped) and tonnage of bombs dropped during these major raids. but even after the Blitz ended, danger remained. To prevent the movement of large enemy ground forces to the decisive areas, by destroying railways and roads, particularly bridges and tunnels, which are indispensable for the movement and supply of forces. More than 40,000civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the war, almost half of them in the capital, where more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged. 604 Squadron RAF shot down a bomber flying an AI-equipped Beaufighter, the first air victory for the airborne radar. [39] The attacks were focused against western ports in March. Many more ports were attacked. Bombing civilians would cause a collapse of morale and a loss of production in the remaining factories. [149] Some 50 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers and Jabos (fighter-bombers) were used, officially classed as Leichte Kampfflugzeuge ("light bombers") and sometimes called Leichte Kesselringe ("Light Kesselrings"). British anti-aircraft defences (General Frederick Alfred Pile) fired 8,326 rounds and shot down only 2 bombers. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) and his wife inspect bomb-damage in the City of London during the Blitz, 31st December 1940. [151], Directive 23 was the only concession made by Gring to the Kriegsmarine over the strategic bombing strategy of the Luftwaffe against Britain. 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. Although bombing attacks unexpectedly did not begin immediately during the Phoney War,[51] civilians were aware of the deadly power of aerial attacks through newsreels of Barcelona, the Bombing of Guernica and the Bombing of Shanghai. Children in the East End of London, made homeless by the Blitz From this point, there were air raids every day for two months. The lack of bombing in the Phoney War contributed significantly to the return of people to the cities, but class conflict was not eased a year later when evacuation operations had to be put into effect again. When the second hand re-aligned with the first, the bombs were released. Bombsite rubble from Birmingham was used to make runways on US Air Force bases in Kent and Essex in southeast England. [183], A popular image arose of British people in the Second World War: a collection of people locked in national solidarity. Direction-finding checks also enabled the controller to keep the pilot on course. The considerable rail network distributed to the rest of the country. [50] The unexpected delay to civilian bombing during the Phoney War meant that the shelter programme finished in June 1940, before the Blitz. Corum 1997, pp. Less than 100 incidents reported by the London Fire Brigade up to 5pm on September 7, 1940. Eventually, it would become a success. Three cross-beams intersected the beam along which the He 111 was flying. [156] Westminster Abbey and the Law Courts were damaged, while the Chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed. [99] Fighter Command lost 23 fighters, with six pilots killed and another seven wounded. [27], Although not specifically prepared to conduct independent strategic air operations against an opponent, the Luftwaffe was expected to do so over Britain. It hoped to destroy morale by destroying the enemy's factories and public utilities as well as its food stocks (by attacking shipping). In the following month, 22 German bombers were lost with 13 confirmed to have been shot down by night fighters. [134], From November 1940 to February 1941, the Luftwaffe shifted its strategy and attacked other industrial cities. Much damage was done. On September 7, 1940, 350 German bombers escorted by fighters bombarded London on consecutive successions. [70] Pub visits increased in number (beer was never rationed), and 13,000 attended cricket at Lord's. There was also a mentality in all air forces that flying by day would obviate the need for night operations and their inherent disadvantages. To support naval operations by attacking naval bases, protecting German naval bases and participating directly in naval battles. Edgar Jones, et al. Too early and the chances of success receded; too late and the real conflagration at the target would exceed the diversionary fires. 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. [70], Although the intensity of the bombing was not as great as pre-war expectations so an equal comparison is impossible, no psychiatric crisis occurred because of the Blitz even during the period of greatest bombing of September 1940. 7 September 1940 In the run up to 7 September, the night the Blitz began, the Luftwaffe had targeted RAF airfields and radar stations for destruction in preparation for the German invasion of the. On occasion, only one-third of German bombs hit their targets. Hull and Glasgow were attacked but 715 long tons (726t) of bombs were spread out all over Britain. 11 Feb 2020. 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. These were marked out by parachute flares. [49] In 1939 military theorist Basil Liddell-Hart predicted that 250,000 deaths and injuries in Britain could occur in the first week of war. [26], The deliberate separation of the Luftwaffe from the rest of the military structure encouraged the emergence of a major "communications gap" between Hitler and the Luftwaffe, which other factors helped to exacerbate. [129] AA defences improved by better use of radar and searchlights. This is a Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II covering Britain 1939-45.Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II covering Britain 1939-45. 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. Seeschlange would be carried out by Fliegerkorps X (10th Air Corps) which concentrated on mining operations against shipping. Ex-Army personnel and his successors as Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff, Albert Kesselring (3 June 1936 31 May 1937) and Hans-Jrgen Stumpff (1 June 1937 31 January 1939) are usually blamed for abandoning strategic planning for close air support. German crews, even if they survived, faced capture. Committees quickly formed within shelters as informal governments, and organisations such as the British Red Cross and the Salvation Army worked to improve conditions. 'Blitz' is an abbreviation of the German word 'blitzkrieg', meaning 'lightning war'. People were forced to sleep in air raid shelters, and many people took shelter in underground stations. The property stands alone on a section of riverbank on the Thames, in South East London 's . 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. From 1916 to 1918, German raids had diminished against countermeasures which demonstrated defence against night air raids was possible. [142] Civilian casualties on London throughout the Blitz amounted to 28,556 killed, and 25,578 wounded. Ports were easier to find and made better targets. [5] Large air battles broke out, lasting for most of the day. [50] Panic during the Munich crisis, such as the migration by 150,000 people to Wales, contributed to fear of social chaos.[54]. This had important implications. [140] The first group to use these incendiaries was Kampfgruppe 100 which despatched 10 "pathfinder" He 111s. [145], In 1941, the Luftwaffe shifted strategy again. Night fighters could claim only four bombers for four losses. [90][91], Y-Gert was an automatic beam-tracking system and the most complex of the three devices, which was operated through autopilot. But their operations were to no avail; the worsening weather and unsustainable attrition in daylight gave the OKL an excuse to switch to night attacks on 7 October. 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. Whitechapel suffered greatly during this period. The Communists attempted to blame the damage and casualties of the Coventry raid on the rich factory owners, big business and landowning interests and called for a negotiated peace. If the German bomber flew closer to its own beam than the meacon then the former signal would come through the stronger on the direction finder. "[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. 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. [35], While Gring was optimistic the Luftwaffe could prevail, Hitler was not. Who . Included are activities that [31], The circumstances affected the Germans more than the British. Port cities were also attacked to try to disrupt trade and sea communications. [149], A further line in the directive stressed the need to inflict the heaviest losses possible, but also to intensify the air war in order to create the impression an amphibious assault on Britain was planned for 1941. [22], Hitler paid less attention to the bombing of opponents than air defence, although he promoted the development of a bomber force in the 1930s and understood it was possible to use bombers for strategic purposes. A third poll found 89% support for his leadership in October. The Minister of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook and Churchill distanced themselves. What he saw as the mythserene national unitybecame "historical truth". [175], Between 20 June 1940, when the first German air operations began over Britain, and 31 March 1941, OKL recorded the loss of 2,265 aircraft over the British Isles, a quarter of them fighters and one-third bombers. An unknown number of bombs fell on these diversionary ("Starfish") targets. The next night, a large force hit Coventry. [62], Communal shelters never housed more than one seventh of Greater London residents. Its explosive sound describes the Luftwaffe's almost continual aerial bombardment of the British Isles from. [161] This raid was significant, as 63 German fighters were sent with the bombers, indicating the growing effectiveness of RAF night fighter defences. The Luftwaffe had dropped 16,331 long tons (16,593t) of bombs. [93] The use of diversionary techniques such as fires had to be made carefully. [17], The vital industries and transport centres that would be targeted for shutdown were valid military targets. The rate of civilian housing loss was averaging 40,000 people per week dehoused in September 1940. An estimated 43,000 people lost their lives. 10 Group RAF, No. [173] In May 1941, RAF night fighters shot down 38 German bombers. [118] The London Docklands, in particular, the Royal Victoria Dock, received many hits and Port of London trade was disrupted. [141][failed verification] Altogether, 130 German bombers destroyed the historical centre of London. 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. Still, at Southampton, attacks were so effective morale did give way briefly with civilian authorities leading people en masse out of the city. Entertainment included concerts, films, plays and books from local libraries. [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. A tall white house known locally as the 'leaning tower of Rotherhithe' has sold for 1.5million. It expected about 90% of evacuees to stay in private homes, conducted an extensive survey to determine the amount of space available and made detailed preparations for transporting evacuees. [1], In early July 1940, the German High Command began planning Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. July 20, 1982: Two IRA bombs explode in central London less than two hours apart. During World War I, German zeppelins and Gotha airplanes had bombed the city and forced people to take shelter in the tunnels. [109], By mid-November 1940, when the Germans adopted a changed plan, more than 11,600 long tons (11,800t) of high explosive and nearly 1,000,000 incendiaries had fallen on London. (PROSE: A History of Humankind) In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin foresaw the Blitz. [12], Five nights later, Birmingham was hit by 369 bombers from KG 54, KG26, and KG55. The name "Blitz" comes from the word "blitzkrieg" which meant "lightning war". Timeline London portal v t e The United Kingdom took part in World War II from 3 September 1939 until 15 August 1945. Regional commissioners were given plenipotentiary powers to restore communications and organise the distribution of supplies to keep the war economy moving. [170] In November and December 1940, the Luftwaffe flew 9,000 sorties against British targets and RAF night fighters claimed only six shot down. [192] The total number of evacuees numbered 1.4million, including a high proportion from the poorest inner-city families. This was when warfare deliberately included civilian populations. [15] It was thought that "the bomber will always get through" and could not be resisted, particularly at night. Smaller raids are not included in the tonnages. 4 June 1940 18 June 1940 22 June 1940 1 July 1940 . The action did not guarantee automatic success. 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. Other reasons, including industry dispersal may have been a factor. The production of false radio navigation signals by re-transmitting the originals became known as meaconing using masking beacons (meacons). The AFS had 138,000 personnel by July 1939. Plymouth was attacked five times before the end of the month while Belfast, Hull, and Cardiff were hit. Loge continued for 57 nights. To prevent German formations from hitting targets in Britain, Bomber Command would destroy Luftwaffe aircraft on their bases, aircraft in their factories and fuel reserves by attacking oil plants. [40] The Port of London, in particular, was an important target, bringing in one-third of overseas trade. [50], On the other hand, some historians have recently contended that this revisionism of the "Blitz spirit" narrative may have been an over-correction.

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