The London Blitz

The London Blitz
Author: Maureen Hill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 234
Release: 1990-01-01
Genre: London (England)
ISBN: 9781855927094

The Blitz Then and Now

The Blitz Then and Now
Author: Winston G. Ramsey
Publisher: After the Battle
Total Pages: 664
Release: 1987
Genre: History
ISBN:

The day-to-day, blow-by-blow account of the Night Blitz. Beginning with the first mass raid on London on September 7th, 1940, the story is continued through the winter of 1940-41 with the description of Luftwaffe operations over Britain. The author's account of each night's operations brings into focus the details of the escalating attacks as one raid exceeded another in size, damage or deaths. Every German crash on land is listed with its crew, and footnotes are included on all those which are known to have been investigated or excavated since the end of the war, together with photographs of discoveries. Over twenty features and special articles by historians and eyewitnesses intersperce the daily happenings, illustrating life at the time on both the civilian and Service fronts, and contrasting descriptions by German airmen give the reader an insight into what it was like to be on the other side. The book presents a record of a period which changed the face of Britain and cost the lives of 40,000 on her people.

The Spirit of the Blitz

The Spirit of the Blitz
Author: Paul Addison
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2020-08-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0192588052

During the Blitz, the morale of the British people was clandestinely monitored by Home Intelligence, a unit of the Ministry of Information that kept watch on the behaviour and opinions of the public and eavesdropped on their conversations. Drawing on a wide range of intelligence sources from every region of the United Kingdom, a small team of officials based at the Senate House of the University of London compiled secret reports on the state of popular morale as the Luftwaffe attacked Britain's major towns and cities between September 1940 and May 1941. Edited and introduced by two leading historians of the period, who tell the inside story of Home Intelligence and why it proved so controversial in Whitehall, the complete and unabridged sequence of reports provide us with a unique and extraordinary window into the mindset of the British during a momentous period in their history. Not only do they include in-depth reports on the effects of the bombing, including special reports on Coventry, Clydebank, Hull, Barrow-in-Furness, Plymouth, Merseyside and Portsmouth, but also insights into almost every aspect of everyday life in Britain as well as the response of the public to the shifting military fortunes of the war. Reading like the collective diary of a nation, the reports strip away the nostalgia that has grown up around the period, reminding us instead of the sufferings and sacrifices, the many frustrations and difficulties of daily life, the administrative bungling, the grumbling and petty jealousies, and the determination of the overwhelming majority to put up with it all for the sake of beating Hitler.

The Luftwaffe's Blitz

The Luftwaffe's Blitz
Author: Chris Goss
Publisher: Crecy Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Due to the failure of the day campaign during what has become known as the Battle of Britain, on 7 September 1940, the Luftwaffe commenced bombing London and major cities, predominantly by night. What became known as the Blitz continued until 10 May 1941 with many towns and cities across the country being attacked and London being attacked 57 nights in succession. By the end of May 1941, over 43,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and more than a million houses destroyed or damaged in London alone. The Blitz failed to break the morale of the British people and any thoughts of a German invasion were cancelled with German attention quickly being transferred to the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the intensity of the attacks against mainland Britain lessened considerably. Much has been written about the Blitz from a British perspective but The Luftwaffe's Blitz tells the story from the viewpoint of the German aircrew involved, many of whom were shot down and taken prisoner. Using over 30 first hand accounts and previously unpublished photos, The Luftwaffe's Blitz details the Luftwaffe's assault against the United Kingdom in 1941, covering the major attacks and those that occurred during the remaining months of that year. Integrated with accounts from the aircrew of RAF's embryonic night fighter force as they fought against the Luftwaffe night after night in very difficult and sometimes primitive circumstances, this book provides a new perspective on the Blitz from the attacker's point of view. Book jacket.

The Blitz 1940–41

The Blitz 1940–41
Author: Julian Hale
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2023-08-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472857879

An illustrated history of how the Luftwaffe intended 'the Blitz' to knock Britain out of the war, emphasising the German point of view and detailing how Britain's defences and civilians responded. The Blitz - the German 'blitzkrieg' of Britain's industrial and port cities - was one of the most intensive bombing campaigns of World War II. Cities from London to Glasgow, Belfast to Hull, and Liverpool to Cardiff were targeted in an attempt to destroy Britain's military-industrial facilities and force it out of the war. Most histories of the Blitz concentrate on the civilian experience of 'life under the bombs' or the fighter pilots of the RAF but, in military terms, the Blitz was also the Luftwaffe's biggest and most ambitious strategic bombing campaign. Focusing on both sides, this book places particular emphasis on the hitherto under-represented Luftwaffe view of the campaign and looks at the new technology and tactics at its heart. From the innovative development of specialist night-fighters to the 'Battle of the Beams' that pitted German electronic navigation systems against British countermeasures, the Blitz demonstrated the effects of developing technology on aerial warfare. Describing and analyzing the strategy, tactics and operations of both the Luftwaffe and the UK's air defences during the period between September 1940 and May 1941, author Julian Hale demonstrates that, for a variety of reasons, there was little chance of the Luftwaffe achieving any of its aims. Using primary sources, spectacular original artwork, 3D diagrams and maps, this study shines a fresh light on how and why the world's first true strategic air offensive failed.

The First Day of the Blitz

The First Day of the Blitz
Author: Peter Stansky
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780300125566

On September 7, 1940, the Blitz began. The bombing of London, by over one thousand planes on that night alone, was recognised at the time as being a direct measure to break the country's resistance. This book tells of the impact that this terror from the skies had on British people and the course of war.

Faces of the Home Front, 1939–1945

Faces of the Home Front, 1939–1945
Author: Neil R. Storey
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2022-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1399001612

Faces of the Home Front presents a fascinating insight into the people, wartime organisations, events, life and work on the British Home Front during the Second World War. This is the story of ordinary people in extraordinary times told through an array of previously unpublished rare photographs, illustrations and ephemera. If you have wondered how Air Raid Wardens, Ambulance crews, Home Guard, Firemen, Special Constables, Women's Voluntary Service and the Women's Land Army were recruited and trained, how they were uniformed and what their duties entailed in wartime were, this is the book for you. Drawing on the authors’ own extensive archives of original photographs, training manuals, documents, decades of research and interviews with those who were there, there are stories of well-known events such as the Blitz on London and many other often lesser known events and incidents around the country, some deeply moving, some harrowing and some that show how the kindness and selfless bravery of people that helped get Britain through its darkest hours. The combination of images and stories vividly bring to life the experiences of people in cities, towns and countryside in wartime as they experienced evacuation, rationing, the black-out and air raids touched the lives of everyone. This volume is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any family historian, collector, re-enactor.