What made London a target for the Blitz?
- capital city of Great Britain
- centre of government (destruction of government buildings would slow down the war effort)
- Britain’s most important port (crucial for international shipping and supplies)
- major industrial centre
- close to the south-west, where the German’s could launch raids
- the Thames made a perfect route finder for the bombers
What was the LCC and what were they responsible for?
The London County Council, responsible for the:
- Fire Service
- Ambulance Service
- Heavy Rescue Service (for getting people out of bombed buildings)
- care of those made homeless by bombing
What did ARP stand for?
Air Raid Precautions
What was each borough responsible for?
- distributing first aid
- setting up and running local ARP wardens (one for every 500 people)
What was the Civil Defense made up of?
- ARP wardens
- auxiliary fire and ambulance teams
- WRVS (Women’s Royal Voluntary Services)
What was evacuation?
The plan to take all children, and as many mothers possible put of London, mostly towards the countryside.
What were some key factors of evacuation?
- must happen before war broke out
- all children over 5 were already organised in schools, so they were to be evacuated by school
- Local authorities in rural areas would organise the reception of children, and families would be paid for each child they took in
- the process was very complicated - changed to railway timetables had to be made, many volunteers needed etc
What was the government policy on air raid shelters?
Dispersal - many small surface shelters, one per household, where possible
What were some reasons for dispersal?
- fewer casualties
- people more willing to leave these shelters than ones deep underground
- keeping people at work and keeping wartime production high was important
What were the two main shelters for a household?
- Anderson shelter: intended for a garden, built from steel and earth, half underground, provided by the council
- Morrison: steel cage intended to replace a downstairs table
What were some other examples of shelters?
Domestic surface: built from brick or concrete by better off families in their own gardens
Communal and public surface: built from brick or concrete by councils, often in the middle of streets. Not popular, many didn’t feel safe.
Basements: some modern houses, or blocks of flats (tenements) had deep cellars which people used as shelters.
Public basements: some large modern buildings (e.g. office blocks, hotels) had a steel and concrete frame over a deep basement. Many people felt safer in these than surface shelters.
Trench: built by councils - deep trenches dug in parks with a roof over most the trench. Very unpopular, people didn’t feel safe
When was the first German raid on London?
24 August 1940
For how long did the Blitz last for?
From 7 September 1940 until 10 May 1941
What the initial intention of the Blitz and what were the targets?
To soften up London before the German invasion. Targets included:
- military installations
- industrial areas
- energy supply centres
- communication centres
What were the targets after Hitler postponed the invasion (after 19th September)
- civilians and their homes: the main aim was a high death rate, significant urban damage (including the disruption of essential service) and the destruction of national treasures. This was expected to wear down civilian morale and break the will to fight
- industry and communications: in order to damage the war effort
What was Black Saturday?
The first proper German attack on London, starting just before 5pm on Saturday, 7th September
What were some features of Black Saturday?
- targeted the concentrated East End, because of the docks and concentration of railways there.
- 400 people killed
- 1,600 seriously injured
What could historians use as a source to study these attacks?
- memories from people who lived through these times
- diaries written at the time
- newspapers and radio news transcripts
- damage done by the bombs, recored by ARP reports
What was the South Hallsville School disaster?
- thousands of homeless East Enders being temporarily moved to South Hallsville School as a rest centre
- a plan to evacuate them on the 9th of September failed when the buses didn’t turn up
- the coaches did turn up on the 10th, but were sent away due to an air raid being in progress
- a bomb hit the school that night, killing an estimated 450 people
What was the impact of the South Hallsville School Disaster?
- Resulted in East Enders leaving London for the countryside without waiting for official evacuation
- some blamed the Civil Defence systems
- government banned all mention in the press, because it would be so bad for morale
What was ‘Mickey’s Shelter’ and what did it provide?
The basement under the Spitalfields Fruit and Wool Exchange, converted to a competent shelter by local Mickey Davis. It provided:
- organised cleaning and beds
- a GP, which provided free healthcare
- a Marks and Spencer built canteen
- free milk for the children, provided by the profit from the shelter
- toilets and bunks provided by the local authority
What were the three main types of bombs used in the Blitz?
- incendiaries: dropped mainly by the first wave of bombers. They started fires; and the plan was that later waves od bombers would use these fires as targets. Fires that got out of control caused more damage than bombs. So the fire service worked through the rest of the bombing with high casualties.
- high explosives: mainly dropped by the later waves of bombers. Some bombs had delayed- action fuses so they exploded later, killing rescue workers.
- mines: much more powerful, dropped by a parachute to make them silent. They exploded when they touched metal, so they often did not explode when they fell.
What was the ‘second fire of London’, 29th December 1940?
Caused by a raid dropping incendiary bombs in central London, starting over 1,500 fires, killed 163 people
What made life for most Londoners hard? (Name 4)
- disrupted transport made getting to work difficult
- The Blackout made it difficult to get anywhere at night
- disrupted gas, electricity and water supplies meant those who still had a home, couldn’t use it normally
- homelessness
- looting
- loss of sleep
- large death and injury toll (54,000 killed and injured between September 1940 and May 1941)
- Civil Defence volunteers dealt with death and mutilation on a large scale, leaving an effect on them
- unexploded bombs meant temporary refugees had to shelter in rest centres until the bombs were dealt with
