Many unemployed people were drafted into the Royal Army Pay Corps and with the Pioneer Corps, were tasked with salvaging and clean-up. 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. In late 1940, Churchill credited the shelters. One third of London was destroyed. Locating targets in skies obscured by industrial haze meant the target area needed to be illuminated and hit "without regard for the civilian population". [119] The Ministry of Home Security reported that although the damage caused was "serious" it was not "crippling" and the quays, basins, railways and equipment remained operational. [155], The diversion of heavier bombers to the Balkans meant that the crews and units left behind were asked to fly two or three sorties per night. The 'all clear' was sounded at 05.00 on 8 September - 420 people were killed and over 1600 seriously wounded. German crews, even if they survived, faced capture. Between 1940 and 1941, the Germans attacked Britain by bombing London. 5 Jan. Leslie Hore-Belisha, Britain's Minister of War, is dismissed. The Luftwaffe had dropped 16,331 long tons (16,593t) of bombs. The Blitz refers to the strategic bombing campaign conducted by the Germans against London and other cities in England from September of 1940 through May of 1941, targeting populated areas, factories and dock yards. It also took part in the bombing over Britain. Though they failed to make a large gain in influence, the membership of the Party had doubled by June 1941. It is argued that persisting with attacks on RAF airfields might have won air superiority for the Luftwaffe. (PROSE: Ash, TV: The Empty Child) It lasted from 7 September 1940 to 21 May 1941. Of greater potential was the GL (Gunlaying) radar and searchlights with fighter direction from RAF fighter control rooms to begin a GCI system (Ground Control-led Interception) under Group-level control (No. [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. [50], On the other hand, some historians have recently contended that this revisionism of the "Blitz spirit" narrative may have been an over-correction. 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. 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. Contact Us 0207 608 5516 Call today: 9am - 5.30pm [159] Operations against London up until May 1941 could also have a severe impact on morale. 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. Smaller raids are not included in the tonnages. Explore Docklands at War. Daniel Todman reveals how Britons rebuilt their lives, and their cities, in the aftermath of the raids Published: December 1, 2017 at 4:27 pm Subs offer Its aircraftDornier Do 17, Junkers Ju 88, and Heinkel He 111swere capable of carrying out strategic missions[41] but were incapable of doing greater damage because of their small bomb-loads. 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. Anti-Semitic attitudes became widespread, particularly in London. Important events of 1940, including the beginning of the London Blitz (pictured above) and the Battle of Britain. The bombing effort was diluted by attacks against several sets of industries instead of constant pressure on the most vital. 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. [156] Westminster Abbey and the Law Courts were damaged, while the Chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed. Warehouses, rail lines and houses were destroyed and damaged, but the docks were largely untouched. The Royal Chapel, inner quadrangle and Palace gates were hit, and several workmen were injured. [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. The policy of RAF Bomber Command became an attempt to achieve victory through the destruction of civilian will, communications and industry. Support for peace negotiations declined from 29% in February. It would prove formidable but its development was slow. The cities and the capital were bombed until the following morning, leaving more than 430 dead and over 1600 people badly injured. 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. 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]. [95][96], Initially, the change in strategy caught the RAF off-guard and caused extensive damage and civilian casualties. Authorities provided stoves and bathrooms and canteen trains provided food. [156] Other sources point out that half of the 144 berths in the port were rendered unusable and cargo unloading capability was reduced by 75 percent. [189] The "Communist threat" was deemed important enough for Herbert Morrison to order, with the support of the Cabinet, the cessation of activities of the Daily Worker, the Communist newspaper. However, as with the attacks in the south, the Germans failed to prevent maritime movements or cripple industry in the regions. The exhausted population took three weeks to overcome the effects of an attack. [19] General Walther Wever (Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff Bomb-Damage Maps Reveal London's World War II Devastation. As the mere threat of it had produced diplomatic results in the 1930s, he expected that the threat of German retaliation would persuade the Allies to adopt a policy of moderation and not to begin a policy of unrestricted bombing. 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. On September 7, 1940, 350 German bombers escorted by fighters bombarded London on consecutive successions. Edgar Jones, et al. 4 June 1940 18 June 1940 22 June 1940 1 July 1940 . The debris of St Thomas's Hospital, London, the morning after receiving a direct hit during the Blitz, in front of the Houses of . The Blitz as it became known in the British press was a sustained aerial attack, sending waves of bombs raining down onto British towns and cities. (AUDIO: The Wanderer) Despite being forbidden under the terms of the Treaty of . It reveals the devastation caused by the Blitz over eight months. At this time, the Underground lines were mostly owned and run by separate companies, all of which were merged together with . [84], The attitude of the Air Ministry was in contrast to the experiences of the First World War when German bombers caused physical and psychological damage out of all proportion to their numbers. [94], On 9 September the OKL appeared to be backing two strategies. The tactic was expanded into Feuerleitung (Blaze Control) with the creation of Brandbombenfelder (Incendiary Fields) to mark targets. [179], Some writers claim the Air Staff ignored a critical lesson, that British morale did not break and that attacking German morale was not sufficient to induce a collapse. [61] A single direct hit on a shelter in Stoke Newington on October 1940 killed 160 civilians. Of the "heavies", some 200 were of the obsolescent 3in (76mm) type; the remainder were the effective 4.5in (110mm) and 3.7in (94mm) guns, with a theoretical "ceiling"' of over 30,000ft (9,100m) but a practical limit of 25,000ft (7,600m) because the predictor in use could not accept greater heights. 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. 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. The London docks and railways communications had taken a heavy pounding, and much damage had been done to the railway system outside. Between September 1940 and May 1941 the German Luftwaffe attacked the city on over 70 separate occasions, with around 1 million homes being destroyed and killing over 20,000 civilians. British fighter aircraft production continued at a rate surpassing Germany's by 2 to 1. [29] The British produced 10,000 aircraft in 1940, in comparison to Germany's 8,000. The building of London's Royal Docks introduced a new world of commerce to the capital. The electronic war intensified but the Luftwaffe flew major inland missions only on moonlit nights. [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. [145] Use of incendiaries, which were inherently inaccurate, indicated much less care was taken to avoid civilian property close to industrial sites. Some 107,400 gross tons (109,100t) of shipping was damaged in the Thames Estuary and 1,600 civilians were casualties. From 1940 to 1941, the most successful night-fighter was the Boulton Paul Defiant; its four squadrons shot down more enemy aircraft than any other type. Many Londoners, in particular, took to using the Underground railway system, without authority, for shelter and sleeping through the night. [99] Fighter Command lost 23 fighters, with six pilots killed and another seven wounded. 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. [192] The total number of evacuees numbered 1.4million, including a high proportion from the poorest inner-city families. This caused more than 2,000 fires; 1,436 people were killed and 1,792 seriously injured, which affected morale badly. On 17 January around 100 bombers dropped a high concentration of incendiaries, some 32,000 in all. Another poll found an 88% approval rating for Churchill in July. The name "Blitz" comes from the word "blitzkrieg" which meant "lightning war". History of the Battle of Britain The Blitz - The Hardest Night The Blitz - The Hardest Night 10/11 May 1941, 11:02pm - 05:57am The most devastating raid on London took place on the night of 10/11 May 1941. Air attacks continued sporadically, then in 1944 an entirely new threat arrived in the form . [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.
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