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With no sign of the RAF weakening and the Luftflotten suffering many losses, OKL was keen for a change in strategy. Other targets would be considered if the primary ones could not be attacked because of weather conditions. [50] London hospitals prepared for 300,000 casualties in the first week of war. A present day image of the Freedom Press, Whitechapel, London. 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. [27], Although not specifically prepared to conduct independent strategic air operations against an opponent, the Luftwaffe was expected to do so over Britain. [50] The unexpected delay to civilian bombing during the Phoney War meant that the shelter programme finished in June 1940, before the Blitz. [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. [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. BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline Yet when compared with Luftwaffe daylight operations, there was a sharp decline in German losses to one percent. Operating over home territory, British aircrew could fly again if they survived being shot down. Access Free A Dancer In Wartime One Girls Journey From The Blitz To On 15 October, the bombers returned and about 900 fires were started by the mix of 376 tons (382t) of high explosive and 10 tons of incendiaries dropped. The blitz: an interactive timeline | World news | theguardian.com Although the stress of the war resulted in many anxiety attacks, eating disorders, fatigue, weeping, miscarriages, and other physical and mental ailments, society did not collapse. Ironically, the Blitz was the result of an . [148], Hitler's interest in this strategy forced Gring and Jeschonnek to review the air war against Britain in January 1941. For the London-based American football team, see, Directive 23: Gring and the Kriegsmarine, This was caused by moisture ruining the electrical. [127] In November 1940, 6,000 sorties and 23 major attacks (more than 100 tons [102t] of bombs dropped) were flown. [87], Because of the inaccuracy of celestial navigation for night navigation and target finding in a fast-moving aircraft, the Luftwaffe developed radio navigation devices and relied on three systems: Knickebein (Crooked leg), X-Gert (X-Device), and Y-Gert (Y-Device). [62], Communal shelters never housed more than one seventh of Greater London residents. It would prove formidable but its development was slow. The Blitz - Historic UK On the night of 13/14 November, 77 He 111s of Kampfgeschwader 26 (26th Bomber Wing, or KG 26) bombed London while 63 from KG 55 hit Birmingham. [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. [5][6] Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Gring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. Much civil-defence preparation in the form of shelters was left in the hands of local authorities and many areas such as Birmingham, Coventry, Belfast and the East End of London did not have enough shelters. Their incendiary bombs [113] In the case of Battersea power station, an unused extension was hit and destroyed during November but the station was not put out of action during the night attacks. An unknown number of bombs fell on these diversionary ("Starfish") targets. The Battle of Britain Before the war, the Chamberlain government stated that night defence from air attack should not take up much of the national effort. [58][59], The most important existing communal shelters were the London Underground stations. Ground transmitters sent pulses at a rate of 180 per minute. The name "Blitz" comes from the word "blitzkrieg" which meant "lightning war". [138] The strategic effect of the raid was a brief 20 percent dip in aircraft production. Reflections made by factory skylights were created by placing lights under angled wooden panels. 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. Throughout 193339 none of the 16 Western Air Plans drafted mentioned morale as a target. More might have been achieved had OKL exploited the vulnerability of British sea communications. An average of 200 were able to strike per night. It was evoked by both the right and left political factions in Britain in 1982, during the Falklands War when it was portrayed in a nostalgic narrative in which the Second World War represented patriotism actively and successfully acting as a defender of democracy. 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 . The 'all clear' was sounded at 05.00 on 8 September - 420 people were killed and over 1600 seriously wounded. 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. [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. The light guns, about half of which were of the excellent Bofors 40 mm, dealt with aircraft only up to 6,000ft (1,800m). In January 1941, Fighter Command flew 486 sorties against 1,965 made by the Germans. It could be claimed civilians were not to be targeted directly, but the breakdown of production would affect their morale and will to fight. [120], British night air defences were in a poor state. [97] Of this total around 400 were killed. 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). But the Luftwaffe's effort eased in the last 10 attacks as seven Kampfgruppen moved to Austria in preparation for the Balkans Campaign in Yugoslavia and Greece. The Luftwaffe had dropped 16,331 long tons (16,593t) of bombs. 11 Group RAF and No. [130], Airborne Interception radar (AI) was unreliable. The Blitz holds a special place in British history for the light which it supposedly sheds on . A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency . 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. Three cross-beams intersected the beam along which the He 111 was flying. [127] By the second month of the Blitz the defences were not performing well. The tactic was expanded into Feuerleitung (Blaze Control) with the creation of Brandbombenfelder (Incendiary Fields) to mark targets. [51], British air raid sirens sounded for the first time 22 minutes after Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany. Authorities provided stoves and bathrooms and canteen trains provided food. [191] In other cities, class divisions became more evident. 80 Wing RAF. An American witness wrote "By every test and measure I am able to apply, these people are staunch to the bone and won't quit the British are stronger and in a better position than they were at its beginning". In particular, class division was most evident during the Blitz. Why TikTok is being banned on gov't phones in US and beyond Around 250 tons (9,000 bombs) had been dropped, killing 1,413 people and injuring 3,500 more. The Cruel Cost Of The Blitz: How Did Britons Rebuild Their Lives The Luftwaffe attacked the main Atlantic seaport of Liverpool in the Liverpool Blitz. OKL did not believe air power alone could be decisive and the Luftwaffe did not adopt an official policy of the deliberate bombing of civilians until 1942. [145] Part of the reason for this was inaccuracy of navigation. Support for peace negotiations declined from 29% in February. [151], Directive 23 was the only concession made by Gring to the Kriegsmarine over the strategic bombing strategy of the Luftwaffe against Britain. London Blitz Facts | London Blitz WWII | DK Find Out [135] In particular, the West Midlands were targeted. [42], Although it had equipment capable of doing serious damage, the Luftwaffe had an unclear strategy and poor intelligence. 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. Too early and the chances of success receded; too late and the real conflagration at the target would exceed the diversionary fires. 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. Anti-Semitic attitudes became widespread, particularly in London. [58], Deep shelters provided most protection against a direct hit. The attacks against Birmingham took war industries some three months to recover fully. By September 1940, London had already experienced German bombing. Contributions rose to the 5,000 "Spitfire Funds" to build fighters and the number of work days lost to strikes in 1940 was the lowest in history. It hoped to destroy morale by destroying the enemy's factories and public utilities as well as its food stocks (by attacking shipping). Another poll found an 88% approval rating for Churchill in July. Dozens of men, women and children celebrate a Christmas party at a London Underground station during the Blitz in 1940. The populace of the port of Hull became "trekkers", people who made a mass exodus from cities before, during and after attacks. German legal scholars of the 1930s carefully worked out guidelines for what type of bombing was permissible under international law. [70] Pub visits increased in number (beer was never rationed), and 13,000 attended cricket at Lord's. A Princess At War: Queen Elizabeth II During World War II Many houses and commercial centres were heavily damaged, the electrical supply was knocked out, and five oil tanks and two magazines exploded. [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. Before getting into detail, an overview of the area around St. Paul's Cathedral will help set the scene. These were marked out by parachute flares. Dowding had to rely on night fighters. The air campaign soon got underway against London and other British cities. [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. [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. It was decided to recreate normal residential street lighting, and in non-essential areas, lighting to recreate heavy industrial targets. World War 2 Timeline - 1940. by Ben Johnson. Hello, I Am Charlie from London - Stephane Husar 2014-07-15 The Demon in the Embers - Julia Edwards 2016-09-02 . How Thousands of Civilians Were Killed by British Shells in the London The moon was full and the Thames had a very low ebb tide. [129] AA defences improved by better use of radar and searchlights. (PROSE: A History of Humankind) In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin foresaw the Blitz. Bomb Sight - Mapping the World War 2 London Blitz Bomb Census He recognised the right of the public to seize tube stations and authorised plans to improve their condition and expand them by tunnelling. The system worked on 6677MHz, a higher frequency than Knickebein. Poor intelligence about British industry and economic efficiency led to OKL concentrating on tactics rather than strategy. : The Blitz 1940 971941 510 : Blitz The considerable rail network distributed to the rest of the country. In late 1943, just before the Battle of Berlin, Harris declared the power of Bomber Command would enable it to achieve "a state of devastation in which surrender is inevitable". 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. [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. Blitz Incidents: High Holborn - the morning of 8th October 1940 - Blogger The Battle of Britain: Timeline | Military History Matters Curiously, while 43 percent of the contacts in May 1941 were by visual sightings, they accounted for 61 percent of the combats. [24], Hitler was much more attracted to the political aspects of bombing. [94], On 9 September the OKL appeared to be backing two strategies. Battle noises were muffled and sleep was easier in the deepest stations, but many people were killed from direct hits on stations. [1] It was the capital not just for the United Kingdom, but for the entire British Empire. 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. In one incident on 28/29 April, Peter Stahl of KG 30 was flying on his 50th mission. [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). Timeline of events in 1940 during World War 2 - Historic UK By September 1940, the Luftwaffe had lost the Battle of Britain and the German air fleets (Luftflotten) were ordered to attack London, to draw RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation. By the height of the Blitz, they were becoming more successful. [90][91], In June 1940, a German prisoner of war was overheard boasting that the British would never find the Knickebein, even though it was under their noses. The debris of St Thomas's Hospital, London, the morning after receiving a direct hit during the Blitz, in front of the Houses of . British anti-aircraft defences (General Frederick Alfred Pile) fired 8,326 rounds and shot down only 2 bombers. Port cities were also attacked to try to disrupt trade and sea communications. Some people even told government surveyors that they enjoyed air raids if they occurred occasionally, perhaps once a week. Less than 100 incidents reported by the London Fire Brigade up to 5pm on September 7, 1940. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 12:33. [143], Not all of the Luftwaffe effort was made against inland cities. Cardiff was bombed on three nights; Portsmouth centre was devastated by five raids. Many of the latter were abandoned in 1940 as unsafe. 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. [23], Ultimately, Hitler was trapped within his own vision of bombing as a terror weapon, formed in the 1930s when he threatened smaller nations into accepting German rule rather than submit to air bombardment. People left shelters when told instead of refusing to leave, although many housewives reportedly enjoyed the break from housework. [115] The bombing disrupted rail traffic through London without destroying any of the crossings. Reports suggested the attacks blocked the movement of coal to the Greater London regions and urgent repairs were required. [13], The German air offensive failed because the Luftwaffe High Command (Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, OKL) did not develop a methodical strategy for destroying British war industry. [89][90], Knickebein was in general use but the X-Gert (X apparatus) was reserved for specially trained pathfinder crews. Beginning. The first major raid took place on 7 September. 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. The Blitz Around Britain - World War 2 | Imperial War Museums Plymouth was attacked five times before the end of the month while Belfast, Hull, and Cardiff were hit. Morale was not mentioned until the ninth wartime directive on 21 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights. [192] The total number of evacuees numbered 1.4million, including a high proportion from the poorest inner-city families.