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Anniversary of the Blitz: 'I Thought, I Cannot Be Alive'


THE TELEGRAPH: On the 70th anniversary of the start of the aerial bombing that devastated British cities, Juliet Gardiner recalls eight months of terror and hardship, and the rise of the 'Blitz spirit'.

Len Jones spent the night of Saturday September 7 1940 in a brick-built public shelter in Poplar, east London, which "lifted and moved, almost as if it was a ship in a rough sea. And the suction and the blasts were coming in and out of the steel door, smashing backwards and forwards, bashing us against the walls…

"The worst part was the poor little kids, they were screaming and crying and clutching their parents. The heat was colossal; the steel door was so hot you couldn't touch it. And everybody was being sick, and people were having to carry on their normal bodily needs, and the smell was terrible."

It was the first night of the Blitz that would last for eight exhausting and perilous months, with German bombs pounding the towns, cities, ports and industrial sites of Britain. The Battle of Britain, in which the Luftwaffe targeted British airfields and aircraft in an attempt to gain air supremacy, had clearly not succeeded in persuading the British to surrender as Hitler had hoped. Although he had no particular wish to fight Britain, since his ambitions lay east, towards Russia, the Führer needed British acquiescence and it was clear that this was not forthcoming. Britain would "fight on, if necessary alone", said Churchill after the fall of France. "We will never surrender."

So German tactics changed: although the dogfights in the air over southern England continued, the Luftwaffe switched its bomber force to attack London in an attempt to destroy Britain's capacity to wage war. London would be bombed without cessation for 57 consecutive nights. And, although in November the aerial attacks fanned out to the provinces, starting with Coventry and extending to Merseyside, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Clydeside, Hull, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Portsmouth, Plymouth and many other places, it was as if London was a magnet attracting the bombers back to devastate the capital.

That first terrible night set the pattern for the Blitz. First, the bombers would drop incendiary bombs; if left unattended, these would start fires that would absorb the resources of the Civil Defence workers and act as a beacon for the next wave of bombers, which would drop deadly high explosive bombs, ranging in weight from 112lb to the "Max" at 5,500lb. Although the targets were munitions factories, docks and administrative centres, the notion of precision bombing was a chimera and, in any case, in the 1940s industrial and residential areas lay cheek by jowl in Britain's towns and cities. "Collateral damage" invariably included a grim tally of homes and lives. >>> Juliet Gardiner* | Tuesday, September 07, 2010

* Juliet Gardiner is the author of 'The Blitz: The British Under Attack' published this week (Harper Press, £25)

Picture Gallery: Wartime propaganda >>>

Picture Gallery: Vintage Ministry of Food posters >>>

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Rare Colour Footage of Blitz Unearthed
THE TELEGRAPH: Rare colour footage of London during the Blitz has been unearthed after lying undiscovered in an attic for almost 70 years.



The amateur cine film, shot by an air raid warden, includes striking images of bombed-out landmarks such as the John Lewis department store on Oxford Street.

Sir Winston Churchill also makes a brief appearance in the footage as he reviews a parade of civil defence workers in Hyde Park.

The 20 minutes of film, covering the period of Sep 7, 1940 to May 10, 1941, was shot by the wartime mayor of Marylebone in west London, Alfred Coucher, who was also the area’s chief air raid warden.

After the war he stored the films in his attic where they were recently discovered by his family and passed on to the St Marylebone Society, an architectural preservation group of which he was founder.

The films have now been digitised with the help of Westminster Council, which is making them available to view on a dedicated website to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz. >>> Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Monday, September 06, 2010

West End at War >>>

TELEGRAPH VIDEO: Winston Churchill and King in rare colour footage of London during Blitz >>> | Monday, September 06, 2010

War Declaration on Nazis Recalled
BBC: The moment Britain finally declared war on Nazi Germany exactly 70 years ago is being remembered.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made his sombre radio broadcast at 11.15am on 3 September 1939, two days after German forces attacked Poland.

France followed suit hours after the historic address at 10 Downing Street.

There are no official events to mark the anniversary, but war-related re-unions and debates are being held in northern England and London.

A group of land girls who worked together on farms in Lincolnshire during the war will be reunited in Grimsby - some for the first time in 70 years. >>> | Thursday, September 03, 2009

Prime Minister Chamberlain Declares War
BBC: With Hitler's invasion of Poland on 1 September the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement had clearly failed.

In the face of a revolt from members of his Cabinet and a growing feeling in the country that Hitler must be tackled, he had little choice but to declare war.

At a little after 1100 on 3 September he made this broadcast.

I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street.

This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that, unless we hear from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.

You can imagine what a bitter blow it is to me that all my long struggle to win peace has failed. Yet I cannot believe that there is anything more or anything different that I could have done and that would have been more successful.

Up to the very last it would have been quite possible to have arranged a peaceful and honourable settlement between Germany and Poland, but Hitler would not have it. He had evidently made up his mind to attack Poland, whatever happened, and although he now says he put forward reasonable proposals which were rejected by the Poles, that is not a true statement.

The proposals were never shown to the Poles, nor to us, and though they were announced in a German broadcast on Thursday night, Hitler did not wait to hear comments on them but ordered his troops to cross the Polish frontier the next morning.

His action shows convincingly that there is no chance of expecting that this man will ever give up his practice of using force to gain his will. He can only be stopped by force.

We and France are today, in fulfilment of our obligations, going to the aid of Poland, who is so bravely resisting this wicked and unprovoked attack upon her people. We have a clear conscience - we have done all that any country could do to establish peace.

The situation in which no word given by Germany's ruler could be trusted, and no people or country could feel itself safe, has become intolerable. And now that we have resolved to finish it I know that you will play your part with calmness and courage.
At such a moment as this the assurances of support which we have received from the empire are a source of profound encouragement to us.

When I have finished speaking, certain detailed announcements will be made on behalf of the government. Give these your closest attention. The government have made plans under which it will be possible to carry on work of the nation in the days of stress and strain that may be ahead...

Now may God bless you all. May He defend the right. For it is evil things that we shall be fighting against - brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution - and against them I am certain that right will prevail. [Source: BBC] | Wednesday, September 01, 1999

Hitler's Address to the Reichstag
BBC: At dawn on 1 September, German troops invaded Poland, unleashing Blitzkrieg or 'lightning war' on the world for the first time.

The Nazi invasion of Poland was entirely unprovoked and the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, gave no ultimatum or declaration of war to the Polish government.

Instead the Nazi leader simply issued a proclamation to the army saying that Poland had refused the "peaceful settlement" desired by him, but which in reality he had never worked for.

Later that morning the German High Command issued the order: "Soldiers of the German Army - after all other means have failed - weapons must decide."

Hitler addressed the German Parliament, the Reichstag, later that day.

Here are some extracts from his speech which have been translated from the original German.

For months we have been suffering under the torture of a problem which the Versailles 'Diktat' created. A problem which has deteriorated until it has become intolerable for us.

Danzig was and is a German city . The [Polish] Corridor was and is German. Danzig was separated from us. The corridor was annexed by Poland. As in other German territories [outside Germany] the east German minorities have been ill-treated in the most distressing manner... I attempted to bring about, by making proposals for revisions, an alteration in this intolerable position.

It is a lie when the outside world says that we only tried to carry our revisions through by pressure. I have, not once but several times, made proposals for the revision of intolerable conditions.

All these proposals have been rejected... In the same way I have also tried to solve the problem of Danzig, the Corridor etc... by proposing peaceful discussion... I then formulated at last the German proposals, and I must repeat that there is nothing more modest and loyal than these proposals.

These answers have been refused. Not only were they answered first with mobilisation, but with increased terror against our German compatriots and with a slow strangling of the Free City of Danzig - economically, politically, and in recent weeks by military and transport means.

I made one more final effort to accept a proposal for mediation on the part of the British Government. They proposed, not that they themselves should carry on the negotiations, but rather that Poland and Germany should come into direct contact and once more pursue negotiations.

I accepted this proposal and worked out a basis for those negotiations which are known to you. For two whole days I sat with my government and waited to see if it was convenient for the Polish Government to send a plenipotentiary or not. Last night they did not send us a plenipotentiary, but instead informed us through their ambassador that they were still considering whether and to what extent they were in a position to go into the British proposals...

If the German Government and its leader patiently endured such treatment Germany would deserve only to disappear from the political stage. I therefore, decided late last night, and informed the British Government that, in these circumstances I can no longer find any willingness on the part of the Polish Government to conduct serious negotiations with us...

When statesmen in the West declare that this affects their interests, I can only regret such a declaration. We ask nothing of these Western states and will never ask anything. I have declared that the frontier between France and Germany is a final one. I have repeatedly offered friendship and the closest co-operation to Britain, but this cannot be offered from one side only...

I will not make war against women and children. I have ordered my airforce to restrict itself to attacks on military objectives. If, however, the enemy thinks he can from that draw 'carte blanche' on his side to fight by other methods he will receive an answer that will deprive him of hearing and sight. [Source: BBC] | Friday, September 03, 1999]