The
London Blitz started after an unsaid agreement between UK and Germany not to bomb the capitals was broken.
The first German bombs fell on central London on 24 August 1940. Reputed to be a mistake by German bombers aiming for the Thames estuary, RAF retaliation on Berlin was followed by the bombing of London on 7 September which started 'the Blitz'.
On 7th September 1941, 965 planes forming a 20 mile wide block of aircraft, filling 800 square miles of sky approach the city. 20,000 are injured and 500 killed on this first day, and is followed every night by hundreds of bombers for 76 consecutive nights, save one.
The first day, the East End burns:
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Massive night raids followed every night for the next 2 1/2 months
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In the worst single incident, 450 mostly women and children are killed when a school shelter suffers a direct hit
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The bookmakers's district around St Paul's burns to the ground, along with 6 million rare books:
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one of many firestorms, several blocks wide approach the cathedral, and is photographed from the dome:
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the most famous image of the conflagration:
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the cathedral at the end of the war stands while all around is flattened. This is due to the volunteer St Paul's Watch, who heroically defend the cathedral. Several bombs hit the building, including one massive timed bomb, the largest of the war, that bounces off the dome and buries itself in the streets below.
The Watch desperately dig 20ft into the street to extract it, then load the still ticking device to a special suicidal team that races across the city, on a special route where tens of thousands have been evacuated from either side. They offload in the Hackney Marshes, where it detonates, creating a crater 500ft wide.
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A massive bomb falls through the awning of Bank Station, bounces down three flights of escalators before exploding on the crowded platforms where thousands are sheltering, killing 117 instantly:
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In Balham a bomb detonates in the road but below ground, hundreds are swept away into the tunnels by a giant wave of sewerage:
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Life continues as normal for many:
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In the last night of the Blitz 3,000 are killed in the heaviest raid so far:
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Moorgate Underground station:
In all 1/3 of the city is destroyed and 30,000 Londoners are killed, with another 20,000 outside, and 1.2 million made homeless. At its height 200,000 people are employed in the cities defences.
Three years later Hitler starts a new offensive on the city, with thousands of missile attacks that kill hundreds at a time, with the worlds first rockets - the deadly V1's and V2's that give little warning. 16,000 more are killed in the latter stages of the war.
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In short London survived thanks to the courage of its defence crews and the resilience of its people. Although vast swathes of cityscape was destroyed far less people died than predicted (a possible 600,000 dead according to govt studies), thanks to the issue of home made Anderson shelters to millions of Londoners, the evacuation of 965,000 children and the mostly safe havens of the tube network, where 177,000 sheltered a night. Also the fact full scale invasion was averted in the Battle of Britain. In comparison, its rival target in Berlin saw 100,000 dead in horrific firestorms, street fighting and occupation.
...the responsibility now is by the Major of the City.
