Off Topic London, 75 Years After Destruction

London, 75 Years After Destruction
On this day, 75 years ago, the Nazis began their aerial assault on London. Intended to demoralize the Brits, it backfired.

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The unofficial motto of the citizens of London during the Blitz was “business as usual.” The times, however, were anything but. Britain was locked in a conflict, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill memorably put it, “against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.”
The specter of foreign invasion of the British Isles loomed for the first time in a millennium. Hitler’s triumphs up to that point in the year-long war were as astonishing as they were unprecedented. The Nazis effectively controlled the entire continent of Europe east of the Soviet Union, having conquered more real estate in a year than Napoleon had in a decade. The British expeditionary force had just been evacuated from Dunkirk on the coast of France, escaping annihilation by the narrowest of margins.
The Blitz—the British name for the sustained bombing campaign conducted by the Germans against their cities, especially London—began seventy-five years ago today. The campaign, which ran continuously for eight months, was initially conceived as a new phase of the Battle of Britain, Hitler’s effort to gain mastery of the skies over Britain, thereby clearing the way for an amphibious invasion of England. As such, the Germans shifted the focus of their aerial attack from RAF fighter airfields and the fighters themselves to the cities, with the primary intention of destroying aircraft factories and war production facilities, as well as the cities’ infrastructure and communications network.
On the fifth of September, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to commence “disruptive attacks on the [British] population and air defenses of the major cities, including London, day and night.” Two days later, 480 bombers and 600 fighters attacked the capital of the British Empire in three waves. Their target was the East End docks, but the lack of precision bombing meant that residential areas of the city also took a terrible pasting: 430 civilians died in those first attacks; another 1600 were seriously wounded. Especially hard hit that night, and for the duration, were the working classes, whose poorly constructed dwellings collapsed en masse in the bombardments.
London was bombed every night save one for the next 56 days. Although the population was greatly heartened by the torrent of antiaircraft fire thrown up at the raiders, the guns’ primitive radar control system and the lack of effective night fighters meant that it was rare indeed for a bomber to be hit, let alone shot down.
Owners of half-bombed-out shops, of which there were soon hundreds in every borough, hung out signs, “MORE OPEN THAN USUAL.”
By the 17th of September, Hitler had shelved Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of England. The Battle of Britain was over, and the Brits had prevailed. Yet the Blitz went on, serving now as an extended campaign of terror, designed to break the morale of the British people to carry on the fight. Once morale collapsed, the thinking went in Berlin, Churchill would be forced to sue for peace, and Germany would have a free hand to concentrate on invading the Soviet Union.
By mid-November, when the bombers shifted their main effort to such provincial cities such as Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol, and Liverpool, London had been the target of more than 13,000 tons of high explosive bombs and a million incendiaries. On the clear moonlit night of October 15th alone, German Heinkels, Junkers and Dorniers attacked the city continuously from 10:40 pm to 4:40 a.m., knocking out a slew of railway terminals, three large water mains, the Battersea Power Station, and starting more than 900 fires.
Far from sinking into a sloth of despondency under this deluge of death and destruction, the citizenry of London responded with steely defiance and sangfroid. Said American newsman Eric Sevareid of the Londoners, who covered the Blitz for CBS from central London, “They were steady. They didn’t panic, didn’t get emotional.”
The Stiff Upper Lip was a far more important weapon in waging the battle against the Blitz than the anti-aircraft batteries. So was a distinctly clipped brand of British humor. “Thank God Jack’s safe in the Army,” said a middle-aged housewife of her son, as she inspected the ruins of her local shopping district the morning after a raid. Owners of half-bombed-out shops, of which there were soon hundreds in every borough, hung out signs, “MORE OPEN THAN USUAL.”

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/07/london-75-years-after-destruction.html

 

The thing that gets me is the blitz turned out to be a campaign in the end to break the morale of the British people. It did the opposite. Made the British more resolute and determined to fight.

So what did Britain do... Start bombing German cities to break THEIR morale.

Although we won... That was pretty stupid move.

 

You fight your enemy with every thing you have nothing wrong in that.

 

All is fair in lube and war- that wasn't my point. My point is- bombing civilians DOESN'T "break" the will to fight of the people, it does the opposite. We had first had experience witnessing that when they bombed us. So after seeing that it didn't do anything useful, we wasted resources bombing their civilians and made them want to kill us just that little bit more.

Bombing civilians to "break them" is about as effective as torturing people to get "reliable information" from them. Sure from a basic desire for revenge it scratches an itch- but it is highly ineffective and less useful than other methods.

 

It wasn't just London that got blitzed during WW2 although the press act as if it was, the 2nd most bombed UK city during the blitz was Liverpool.

That Liverpool even had a Blitz will come as a surprise to many. Yet what Churchill described as ‘the worst single incident of the war’ occurred during an air raid on the city in November 1940. An explosion from a parachute mine caused the collapse of a technical school in Durning Road, bursting the boilers, and killing 166 of the people packed into the basement shelter.

Liverpool was targeted by the Germans – and badly hit – because it was a port town. The city had become a lifeline to Britain during the Battle of the Atlantic and the convoys were controlled from an underground command centre beneath a 1930s office building. The food, fuel, weapons and troops that came in to Liverpool saved Britain and made possible the liberation of Europe.

Between May 1st and 8th, 1941, over seven consecutive nights, German planes dropped 870 tonnes of high explosive bombs and over 112,000 incendiary bombs, starting fires throughout Merseyside. Lord Haw Haw addressed the people of Bootle with the words: ‘the kisses on your windows won’t help you’, referring to the tape supposed to prevent flying glass. The curtains flapping from the broken windows led to (untrue) rumours of white flags and peace marches. Thousands left their homes and spent the nights in fields.

What happened in May was the culmination of a bombing campaign which left a total of 4,000 dead, probably the heaviest loss per head of population of any British city. Yet the Liverpool Blitz remains the forgotten Blitz. It is still thought that, raids on Liverpool were not publicised in the hope of concealing their accuracy and effectiveness from the Germans.

Liverpool is a city with a powerful sense of pride in its history. The feeling that this has been an untold story lies at the root of the Spirit of the Blitz exhibition. A number of people approached National Museums Liverpool wishing to record their experiences as survivors. One woman who lived through the Durning Road tragedy asked the Museum to record her testimony because, over sixty years after the event, she still could not talk about what she had experienced without breaking down. In response to this request and others, reminiscences have been gathered from over sixty people, which form the basis of the exhibition.

For thousands in Merseyside, especially women, the experience of the war was of regular and often well paid employment. Local firms, such as Meccano and Littlewoods, turned to the production of war materials. In addition, the government built factories from scratch and employed 10,000 at a munitions factory at Kirkby. Of this number, 8,000 were women and they recalled how, as women of 18, they carried out highly dangerous work with explosives and detonators. Kirkby had a good safety record, nevertheless many suffered injury and death from explosions. Other women described making Halifax bombers and highly secret radar equipment. One elderly lady explained how she corrected the accuracy of Lee Enfield rifles after her female colleagues had test-fired them on ranges.

While the design of the exhibition was under way a remarkable discovery was made. Over 300 photographs were found in a house in Formby that had been taken by the Liverpool Police recording the immediate aftermath of bombing raids. Visitors will recognise relatives or even themselves in these photographs, which have never been on public display before. It is hoped that during the course of the exhibition more people will come forward with memories and artefacts. A special area of the exhibition, the Response Zone, has been designed where people can come with their recollections to be recorded and preserved for posterity.

The haunting image of the Blitz dominates the exhibition. German newsreel of a bombing mission on Liverpool is seen alongside film of the damage inflicted on Liverpool city centre, where swathes of devastation surround a strangely intact statue of Queen Victoria. Fire appliances used in the Blitz, including a hand pump dating from 1888, show the desperate measures of the times. One of the most poignant artefacts is a crushed steel helmet from the collection of Merseyside Police. The helmet was discovered several years ago at a car boot fair by a serving officer. The name and number inside matched that of Constable Frederick Doran, aged forty-four when he was killed after twenty-one years service, by a collapsing building during the May Blitz. There is a strong likelihood that someone who remembers him will visit the Spirit of the Blitz exhibition.

- See more at: http://www.historytoday.com/simon-jones/liverpool-blitz#sthash.r5DjdkK5.dpuf

Absolutely horrendous death and destruction time for the civilian populations of major cities on the receiving end on both sides during the 2nd world war.

 

About 25 years ago Sir Trevor MacDonald did a fantastic documentary/tribute to the wartime history of Liverpool that was available through the Echo. Only watching it with my dad did I find out he was a 15 year-old volunteer fire warden who was at Durning Rd. Apparently they just concreted over it in the end and called it a mass grave. He joined Bomber Command three years later.

 

My mum was a nursing auxiliary during the blitz in Liverpool. She told me stories of walking home at night with bombs dropping all around her. It beggars belief.

 

Yeah, my mum turned 14 in '40 and went to work in The Auto (became Plessey's) on Edge Lane. Going home to Dovecot one night, a raid started and all lights and power went off, including the trams. She ran down through Old Swan and Fairfield ducking into the entries between houses until an old couple in Kingsheath Avenue heard her crying and brought her into their Anderson for the night. She stayed friends with them until they passed away in the 60's.

Btw, she always spoke about the 'clever Poles' who worked at The Auto, and in the '80's it came out that they were connected with Bletchley park and were working on Turing's 'Collosus' computer.

 

Very clever Poles

 

So what would you have proposed instead then?

 

I think by now it is well knows than this type of tactic has the opposite effect, it galvanises. SOmeone tell Obama and Cameron please, they've been bombing countries left right and centre and it ony creates resistance and resentment.


When you say "we" do you include Russia in that? They only sacrificed 20 million compared to the tiny military numbers in comparison lost by the allies after all and all but destroyed the German army and airforce in Russia before 1944.

 

Civilians always pay the highest price. The people of London can be proud of their reaction to such barbarity.

London Dresden Guernica Warsar Stalingrad Tokyo Nagasaki Hiroshima, all of Cambodia, all examples of the horror of this tactic designed to massacre civilians. It still does to this very day

 

And still smaller than the number of Soviets that Stalin liquidated in the 30's. Also comparable in terms of Polish military that perished at the hands of the Soviets when they started the war on the Nazis' side (look up Katyn). And however many times Berlin was bombed by the RAF and the USAAF, it was nothing compared to the horrors the Red Army deliberately and systematically inflicted on the German population in the last months of the war (not that I blame them after Lenningrad and Stalingrad, but when the Brits seek similar revenge that is, somehow, wrong?). Remember, Stalin killed more Russians than Hitler ever did.

And the German airforce was primarily destroyed by the Western Allies, predominantly by Mustangs escorting the daylight raids from 44 onwards, and in Italy and Africa.

 

This was on BBC I-Player, Ricky Tomlinson's docu on the May blitz on Liverpool.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06bgpq3/blitz-cities-2-liverpool

 

He's now checking his propaganda instruction folder for the correct response to combat a westerner who mentions Stalin.