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. This day marks the beginning of the Blitz when an attack on London is launched by the Germans, starting a nine-month long campaign against the city. Its aircraftDornier Do 17, Junkers Ju 88, and Heinkel He 111swere capable of carrying out strategic missions[41] but were incapable of doing greater damage because of their small bomb-loads. [22], Hitler paid less attention to the bombing of opponents than air defence, although he promoted the development of a bomber force in the 1930s and understood it was possible to use bombers for strategic purposes. Timeline London portal v t e The United Kingdom took part in World War II from 3 September 1939 until 15 August 1945. 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. The Luftwaffe had dropped 16,331 long tons (16,593t) of bombs. The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain. 4 June 1940 18 June 1940 22 June 1940 1 July 1940 . London was bombed ever day and night, bar one, for 11 weeks. There was also minor ethnic antagonism between the small Black, Indian and Jewish communities, but despite this these tensions quietly and quickly subsided. Many more ports were attacked. [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. Aviation strategists dispute that morale was ever a major consideration for Bomber Command. In this section. From 1940 to 1941, the most successful night-fighter was the Boulton Paul Defiant; its four squadrons shot down more enemy aircraft than any other type. The damage was considerable, and the Germans also used aerial mines. [157] Air attacks sank 39,126 long tons (39,754t) of shipping, with another 111,601 long tons (113,392t) damaged. The government planned the evacuation of four million peoplemostly women and childrenfrom urban areas, including 1.4million from London. Let us find out other historical facts about London Blitz below: Facts about London Blitz 1: the German intelligence Sperrle, commanding Luftflotte 3, was ordered to dispatch 250 sorties per night including 100 against the West Midlands. [15] It was thought that "the bomber will always get through" and could not be resisted, particularly at night. The property stands alone on a section of riverbank on the Thames, in South East London 's . The German bombing of Britain from 1940-45 exacted a terrible price, in lives lost, infrastructure wrecked and nerves shattered. [149], From the German point of view, March 1941 saw an improvement. A Gallup poll found only 3% of Britons expected to lose the war in May 1940. [73][74][75], The cheerful crowds visiting bomb sites were so large they interfered with rescue work. Its round-the-clock bombing of London was an immediate attempt to force the British government to capitulate, but it was also striking at Britain's vital sea communications to achieve a victory through siege. Want to Read. [60], Each day orderly lines of people queued until 4:00pm, when they were allowed to enter the stations. Direction-finding checks also enabled the controller to keep the pilot on course. Who . [92], German beacons operated on the medium-frequency band and the signals involved a two-letter Morse identifier followed by a lengthy time-lapse which enabled the Luftwaffe crews to determine the signal's bearing. Less than 100 incidents reported by the London Fire Brigade up to 5pm on September 7, 1940. It believed it could greatly affect the balance of power on the battlefield by disrupting production and damaging civilian morale. Dowding agreed air defence would require some offensive action and that fighters could not defend Britain alone. [49], In 1937 the Committee on Imperial Defence estimated that an attack of 60 days would result in 600,000 dead and 1.2million wounded. [127] Over 10,000 incendiaries were dropped. (AUDIO: The Wanderer) Despite being forbidden under the terms of the Treaty of . 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. (Photo by J. The London boroughs of City of Westminster and St Marylebone - 8.3 square miles of central London stretching from the north bank of the Thames up to Paddington and St John's Wood - were to suffer considerable bombing during the ensuing London Blitz of 7 September 1940 - 11 May 1941 and in later attacks during 1944 -1945. [35], While Gring was optimistic the Luftwaffe could prevail, Hitler was not. More than 40,000civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the war, almost half of them in the capital, where more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged. 1940 30 June: The order is given by Reichsmarschall Hermann Gering, head of the Luftwaffe, to draw the RAF into battle. Yet when compared with Luftwaffe daylight operations, there was a sharp decline in German losses to one percent. One-third of London's streets were impassable. Around 200 people were killed and another 2,000 injured. [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. The system worked on 6677MHz, a higher frequency than Knickebein. It was decided to recreate normal residential street lighting, and in non-essential areas, lighting to recreate heavy industrial targets. 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. 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. [11][12] The greatest effect was to force the British to disperse the production of aircraft and spare parts. 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. [32], The decision to change strategy is sometimes claimed as a major mistake by OKL. (PROSE: Ash, TV: The Empty Child) It lasted from 7 September 1940 to 21 May 1941. The word "blitz" comes from the German term. Committees quickly formed within shelters as informal governments, and organisations such as the British Red Cross and the Salvation Army worked to improve conditions. On 10/11 March, 240 bombers dropped 193 tons (196t) of high explosives and 46,000 incendiaries. [149], By now, the imminent threat of invasion had all but passed as the Luftwaffe had failed to gain the prerequisite air superiority. [42], Although it had equipment capable of doing serious damage, the Luftwaffe had an unclear strategy and poor intelligence. A present day image of the Freedom Press, Whitechapel, London. A trial blackout was held on 10 August 1939 and when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, a blackout began at sunset. When a continuous sound was heard from the second beam the crew knew they were above the target and dropped their bombs. [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. The attacks against Birmingham took war industries some three months to recover fully. 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. Their incendiary bombs Its explosive sound describes the Luftwaffe's almost continual aerial bombardment of the British Isles from. The first jamming operations were carried out using requisitioned hospital electrocautery machines. The light guns, about half of which were of the excellent Bofors 40 mm, dealt with aircraft only up to 6,000ft (1,800m). 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. Still, in February 1941, there remained only seven squadrons with 87 pilots, under half the required strength. An average of 200 were able to strike per night. 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. 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. World War 2 Timeline - 1940. by Ben Johnson. Port cities were also attacked to try to disrupt trade and sea communications. 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. Bombers were noisy, cold, and vibrated badly. Other reasons, including industry dispersal may have been a factor. Curiously, while 43 percent of the contacts in May 1941 were by visual sightings, they accounted for 61 percent of the combats. The Metropolitan-Vickers works in Manchester was hit by 12 long tons (12.2t) of bombs. The building of London's Royal Docks introduced a new world of commerce to the capital. [93], The first deliberate air raids on London were mainly aimed at the Port of London, causing severe damage. Rumours that Jews were inflating prices, were responsible for the Black Market, were the first to panic under attack (even the cause of the panic) and secured the best shelters via underhanded methods, were also widespread. [88] Bomber crews already had some experience with the Lorenz beam, a commercial blind-landing aid for night or bad weather landings. Jones began a search for German beams; Avro Ansons of the Beam Approach Training Development Unit (BATDU) were flown up and down Britain fitted with a 30MHz receiver. When the third cross-beam was reached the bomb aimer activated a third trigger, which stopped the first hand of the clock, with the second hand continuing. 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. [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. [62], Communal shelters never housed more than one seventh of Greater London residents. [100] Another 247 bombers from Luftflotte 3 (Air Fleet 3) attacked that night. The primary goal of Bomber Command was to destroy the German industrial base (economic warfare) and in doing so reduce morale. [139], Although official German air doctrine did target civilian morale, it did not espouse the attacking of civilians directly. Democracies, where public opinion was allowed, were thought particularly vulnerable. 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. [133] By mid-November, nine squadrons were available, but only one was equipped with Beaufighters (No. The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War.The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.. The Luftwaffe flew 4,000 sorties that month, including 12 major and three heavy attacks.