It was to be some months before an effective night-fighter force would be ready, and anti-aircraft defences only became adequate after the Blitz was over, so ruses were created to lure German bombers away from their targets. The Luftwaffe flew 4,000 sorties that month, including 12 major and three heavy attacks. There is much that Londoners can look back on with pride, remarkably little about which they need to feel ashamed. [165], The last major attack on London was on 10/11 May 1941, on which the Luftwaffe flew 571 sorties and dropped 787 long tons (800t) of bombs. [148], Hitler's interest in this strategy forced Gring and Jeschonnek to review the air war against Britain in January 1941. [149], By now, the imminent threat of invasion had all but passed as the Luftwaffe had failed to gain the prerequisite air superiority. [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. [70] Pub visits increased in number (beer was never rationed), and 13,000 attended cricket at Lord's. [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. [145] Use of incendiaries, which were inherently inaccurate, indicated much less care was taken to avoid civilian property close to industrial sites. To support the operations of the army formations, independent of railways, i.e., armoured forces and motorised forces, by impeding the enemy's advance and participating directly in ground operations. At a London railway station, arriving troops pass by children who are being evacuated to the countryside. German crews, even if they survived, faced capture. Although not encouraged by official policy, the use of mines and incendiaries, for tactical expediency, came close to indiscriminate bombing. [126] RAF day fighters were converting to night operations and the interim Bristol Blenheim night fighter conversion of the light bomber was being replaced by the powerful Beaufighter, but this was only available in very small numbers. [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. Daylight bombing was abandoned after October 1940 as the Luftwaffe experienced unsustainable losses. Civilians left for more remote areas of the country. [156] Westminster Abbey and the Law Courts were damaged, while the Chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed. Far from displaying the nation's unity in times of war, the scheme backfired, often aggravating class antagonism and bolstering prejudice about the urban poor. The policy of RAF Bomber Command became an attempt to achieve victory through the destruction of civilian will, communications and industry. [73][74][75], The cheerful crowds visiting bomb sites were so large they interfered with rescue work. [145], In 1941, the Luftwaffe shifted strategy again. News reports of the Spanish Civil War, such as the bombing of Barcelona, supported the 50-casualties-per-tonne estimate. The British government grew anxious about the delays and disruption of supplies during the month. The Germans adapted the short-range Lorenz system into Knickebein, a 3033MHz system, which used two Lorenz beams with much stronger signals. The amount of firm operational and tactical preparation for a bombing campaign was minimal, largely because of the failure by Hitler as supreme commander to insist upon such a commitment. Soon a beam was traced to Derby (which had been mentioned in Luftwaffe transmissions). A third poll found 89% support for his leadership in October. Its hope was to destroy its targets and draw the RAF into defending them, allowing the Luftwaffe to destroy their fighters in large numbers, thereby achieving air superiority. 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. [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". Some people even told government surveyors that they enjoyed air raids if they occurred occasionally, perhaps once a week. [50] Panic during the Munich crisis, such as the migration by 150,000 people to Wales, contributed to fear of social chaos.[54]. [11][12] The greatest effect was to force the British to disperse the production of aircraft and spare parts. 11 Group RAF and No. It was supposed Bomber Command, Coastal Command, and the Royal Navy could not operate under conditions of German air superiority. The moon was full and the Thames had a very low ebb tide. [145] The shift from precision bombing to area attack is indicated in the tactical methods and weapons dropped. The 'all clear' was sounded at 05.00 on 8 September - 420 people were killed and over 1600 seriously wounded. Summerfield and Peniston-Bird 2007, p. 4. [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. [171] In the bad weather of February 1941, Fighter Command flew 568 sorties to counter the Luftwaffe which flew 1,644 sorties. 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. Workers worked longer shifts and over weekends. Authorities expected that the raids would be brief and in daylight, rather than attacks by night, which forced Londoners to sleep in shelters. [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. 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. [173] In May 1941, RAF night fighters shot down 38 German bombers. During World War I, German zeppelins and Gotha airplanes had bombed the city and forced people to take shelter in the tunnels. 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. Anti-Semitic attitudes became widespread, particularly in London. [47] Up to nine special transmitters directed their signals at the beams in a manner that subtly widened their paths, making it harder for bomber crews to locate targets; confidence in the device was diminished by the time the Luftwaffe was ready to conduct big raids. [151], Directive 23 was the only concession made by Gring to the Kriegsmarine over the strategic bombing strategy of the Luftwaffe against Britain. Smaller raids are not included in the tonnages. In December, only 11 major and five heavy attacks were made. While wartime bombings affected London in both world wars, it was the Blitz that truly altered the cityscape forever. 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. [157] Air attacks sank 39,126 long tons (39,754t) of shipping, with another 111,601 long tons (113,392t) damaged. Important events of 1940, including the beginning of the London Blitz (pictured above) and the Battle of Britain. [35], While Gring was optimistic the Luftwaffe could prevail, Hitler was not. Another poll found an 88% approval rating for Churchill in July. 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 . X-Gert received and analysed the pulses, giving the pilot visual and aural directions. Between 7 September 1940 and 21 May 1941 there were major aerial raids (attacks in which m Subjects: British History, Social Studies - History, World History Grades: Explore Docklands at War. 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. London, and cities. To paralyse the enemy armed forces by stopping production in armaments factories. [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. From July until September 1940 the Luftwaffe attacked Fighter Command to gain air superiority as a prelude to invasion. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg ("lightning war"). The word "blitz" comes from the German term. The London Blitz started quietly. [9] and a large raid on the night of 10-11 May 1941. By December, the SC2500 (2,500kg (5,512lb)) "Max" bomb was used. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.[4]. [191] In other cities, class divisions became more evident. Unpopular with many of his fellow MP's, Prime Minister Chamberlain agreed to replace him under pressure from . Airfields became water-logged and the 18 Kampfgruppen (bomber groups) of the Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwadern (bomber wings) were relocated to Germany for rest and re-equipment. 28384; Murray 1983, pp. People referred to raids as if they were weather, stating that a day was "very blitzy". To reduce losses further, strategy changed to prefer night raids, giving the bombers greater protection under cover of darkness. [161] This raid was significant, as 63 German fighters were sent with the bombers, indicating the growing effectiveness of RAF night fighter defences. The main damage was inflicted on the commercial and domestic areas. [13] British wartime studies concluded that most cities took 10 to 15 days to recover when hit severely, but some, such as Birmingham, took three months. [173] On 19/20 April 1941, in honour of Hitler's 52nd birthday, 712 bombers hit Plymouth with a record 1,000tons (1,016t) of bombs. Five main rail lines were cut in London and rolling stock damaged. [168] The Boulton Paul Defiant, despite its poor performance during daylight engagements, was a much better night fighter. 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. [186] At the time it was seen as a useful propaganda tool for domestic and foreign consumption. [1], In early July 1940, the German High Command began planning Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. London alone had 1,589 assembly points and although most children boarded evacuation trains at their local stations, trains ran out of the capital's main stations every nine minutes for nine hours. The Minister of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook and Churchill distanced themselves. 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. The British were still one-third below the establishment of heavy anti-aircraft artillery AAA (or ack-ack) in May 1941, with only 2,631 weapons available. Many Londoners, in particular, took to using the Underground railway system, without authority, for shelter and sleeping through the night. [62], Communal shelters never housed more than one seventh of Greater London residents. [108], Kesselring, commanding Luftflotte 2, was ordered to send 50 sorties per night against London and attack eastern harbours in daylight. 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. Little tonnage was dropped on Fighter Command airfields; Bomber Command airfields were hit instead. This led the British to develop countermeasures, which became known as the Battle of the Beams. [130], Airborne Interception radar (AI) was unreliable. Air attacks continued sporadically, then in 1944 an entirely new threat arrived in the form . Democracies, where public opinion was allowed, were thought particularly vulnerable. [111], Wartime observers perceived the bombing as indiscriminate. [138] The strategic effect of the raid was a brief 20 percent dip in aircraft production. In Sunderland on 25 April, Luftflotte 2 sent 60 bombers which dropped 80 tons (81.3t) of high explosive and 9,000 incendiaries. [136] The Germans were surprised by the success of the attack. [40] The Port of London, in particular, was an important target, bringing in one-third of overseas trade. [24][182] Yet when compared with Luftwaffe daylight operations, there was a sharp decline in German losses to one percent. [156] Hitler now had his sights set on attacking the USSR with Operation Barbarossa, and the Blitz came to an end. [145] Captured German aircrews also indicated the homes of industrial workers were deliberately targeted. Want to Read. [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. Official histories concluded that the mental health of a nation may have improved, while panic was rare. [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. When the second hand re-aligned with the first, the bombs were released. Eventually, it would become a success. To start off, the idea of the London Underground as a bomb shelter wasn't a new one by 1940. The AFS had 138,000 personnel by July 1939. [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. He recognised the right of the public to seize tube stations and authorised plans to improve their condition and expand them by tunnelling. 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. Two hours later, guided by the fires set by the first assault, a second group of raiders commenced another attack that lasted until 4:30 the following morning. Get 20% off purchases above 10.Apply discount code SAVE20 at checkout.. Company Search. This was when warfare deliberately included civilian populations. With no sign of the RAF weakening and the Luftflotten suffering many losses, OKL was keen for a change in strategy. "Civilian morale during the Second World War: Responses to air raids re-examined.". [141][failed verification] Altogether, 130 German bombers destroyed the historical centre of London. [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. [134], From November 1940 to February 1941, the Luftwaffe shifted its strategy and attacked other industrial cities. [93], The first deliberate air raids on London were mainly aimed at the Port of London, causing severe damage. When a continuous sound was heard from the second beam the crew knew they were above the target and dropped their bombs. London: Aurum Press. All but seven of its 12,000 houses were damaged. [116] On 7 November, St Pancras, Kensal and Bricklayers Arms stations were hit and several lines of Southern Rail were cut on 10 November. [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. Later in . [142] Civilian casualties on London throughout the Blitz amounted to 28,556 killed, and 25,578 wounded. 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. Contact Us 0207 608 5516 Call today: 9am - 5.30pm The mines' ability to destroy entire streets earned them respect in Britain, but several fell unexploded into British hands allowing counter-measures to be developed which damaged the German anti-shipping campaign. Wever outlined five points of air strategy: Wever argued that OKL should not be solely educated in tactical and operational matters but also in grand strategy, war economics, armament production and the mentality of potential opponents (also known as mirror imaging). 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. 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). [13] In April 1941, when the targets were British ports, rifle production fell by 25 percent, filled-shell production by 4.6 percent and in small-arms production 4.5 percent. [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. While direct attacks against civilians were ruled out as "terror bombing", the concept of attacking vital war industriesand probable heavy civilian casualties and breakdown of civilian moralewas ruled as acceptable.[18]. By the end of November, 1,100 bombers were available for night raids. [80], Pre-war dire predictions of mass air-raid neurosis were not borne out. Battle of Britain timeline. 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. (Photo by J. At around 8.30pm on Sunday 13 October, a high-explosive bomb plunged through the Coronation Avenue flats on Stoke Newington High Street, and exploded directly above a shelter made up of three interconnected basements. [164], In the north, substantial efforts were made against Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland, which were large ports on the English east coast. [93], For industrial areas, fires and lighting were simulated. Aviation strategists dispute that morale was ever a major consideration for Bomber Command. Predictions had underestimated civilian adaptability and resourcefulness. 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. [50] London hospitals prepared for 300,000 casualties in the first week of war. Hello, I Am Charlie from London - Stephane Husar 2014-07-15 The Demon in the Embers - Julia Edwards 2016-09-02 . The Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of night attacks to evade attacks by the RAF, and the Blitz became a night bombing campaign after October 1940. [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. [136] The raid against Coventry was particularly devastating, and led to widespread use of the phrase "to coventrate". In the last days of the battle, the bombers became lures in an attempt to draw the RAF into combat with German fighters. [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. Dec. 17, 1983: Six people are. Dozens of men, women and children celebrate a Christmas party at a London Underground station during the Blitz in 1940. The first jamming operations were carried out using requisitioned hospital electrocautery machines. [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. In late 1940, Churchill credited the shelters. Support for peace negotiations declined from 29% in February. The bombings left parts of London in ruins, and when the war ended in 1945 much of the city had to be rebuilt. It believed it could greatly affect the balance of power on the battlefield by disrupting production and damaging civilian morale. The Children's Overseas Reception Board was organised by the government to help parents send their children overseas to four British Dominions Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. X-Gert receivers were mounted in He 111s, with a radio mast on the fuselage. [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 Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (Kindle Edition) by. 4546. [61] A single direct hit on a shelter in Stoke Newington on October 1940 killed 160 civilians. "[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 cities and the capital were bombed until the following morning, leaving more than 430 dead and over 1600 people badly injured. Other targets would be considered if the primary ones could not be attacked because of weather conditions. With the doors to our museums physically closed, we are offering some exclusive World War II content from our galleries and collections. 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. The first cross-beam alerted the bomb-aimer, who activated a bombing clock when the second cross-beam was reached. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz were two central moments in the British war effort during World War II. [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. [31], The circumstances affected the Germans more than the British. [180] The 10th directive in October 1940 mentioned morale by name but industrial cities were only to be targeted if weather prevented raids on oil targets.[181]. 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 Sperrle, commanding Luftflotte 3, was ordered to dispatch 250 sorties per night including 100 against the West Midlands. [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. Bomb damage around St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. 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. The German Luftwaffe dropped thousands of bombs on London from 1939 to 1945, killing almost 30,000 people. [161] Another raid was carried out on 11/12 May 1941. 10 Group RAF, No. Another innovation was the boiler fire. Home Secretary Sir John Anderson was replaced by Morrison soon afterwards, in the wake of a Cabinet reshuffle as the dying Neville Chamberlain resigned. Its explosive sound describes the Luftwaffe's almost continual aerial bombardment of the British Isles from. In one incident on 28/29 April, Peter Stahl of KG 30 was flying on his 50th mission. Other units ceased using parachute flares and opted for explosive target markers. [32], The decision to change strategy is sometimes claimed as a major mistake by OKL. Over a period of nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed in the raids, which focused on major cities and industrial centres. On 17 September he postponed Operation Sea Lion (as it turned out, indefinitely) rather than gamble Germany's newly gained military prestige on a risky cross-Channel operation, particularly in the face of a sceptical Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. This philosophy proved impractical, as Bomber Command lacked the technology and equipment for mass night operations, since resources were diverted to Fighter Command in the mid-1930s and it took until 1943 to catch up. 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. 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.