Anglonautes > History > 20th century > UK > Second World War - World War 2

September 7, 1940 - 1941

The Blitz

The Observer, 8 September 1940

London's night of fires: the beginning of the blitz

Monday 7 September 2015 06.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/from-the-archive-blog/2015/sep/07/
blitz-london-september-1940

Nurses clearing debris from a wrecked ward

at St Peter’s hospital in Stepney, east London, 1941

During the early part of the war,

Topham, or ‘Top’ as he was known,

was regularly published in Life magazine.

He would get calls from national newspapers

directing him to photograph

areas of war damage or action.

Photograph: John Topham

England at war, work and play – in pictures

From peashooting women to British troops in drag,

Kent photographer John Topham captured his country

from the 1920s through to the end of the second world war

Thu 10 Jun 2021 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/jun/10/
england-at-war-work-and-play-in-pictures

The Manchester Guardian, 10 September 1940

London's night of fires: the beginning of the blitz

Monday 7 September 2015 06.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/from-the-archive-blog/2015/sep/07/
blitz-london-september-1940

Keeping a stiff upper lip at a library during the London Blitz.

Photograph: Central Press/Hulton Archive,

via Getty Images

How Churchill Brought Britain Back From the Brink

NYT

February 25, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/
books/review/the-splendid-and-the-vile-erik-larson.html

A bus is left leaning against the side of a building

in the aftermath of a German bombing raid on London

in the first days of the blitz, 9 September 1940.

Photograph: H. F. Davis

Getty Images

London's night of fires: the beginning of the blitz

Monday 7 September 2015 06.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/from-the-archive-blog/2015/sep/07/
blitz-london-september-1940

Huge area of debris in London

after heavy German air raid bombing attacks

during the Battle of Britain.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date taken: September 1940

Photograph: William Vandivert

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=e026a8118435f285

Bus laying inside huge bomb crater in a London street

after heavy German air raid bombing attacks

during the Battle of Britain.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date taken: September 1940

Photograph: William Vandivert

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=73f492f6445593a2

Wreckage of bus leaning into huge crater

in front of bombed out buildings,

a result of German aerial blitz attacks

during the Battle of Britain.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date taken: 1940

Photograph: William Vandivert

Life Images

Winston Churchill (L)

standing in ruins of House of Commons debating room

after German blitz air raid.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date taken: May 1941

Life Images

Standing up gloriously

out of the flames and smoke of surrounding buildings,

St. Paul's Cathedral is pictured

during the great fire raid of Sunday December 29th. 1940.

306-NT-3173V.

Pictures of World War II

US National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-85.jpg

http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos

Londoners sleeping underground in subway

for protection during German bombing raids.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date taken: 1941

Photograph: Hans Wild

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=6f5b56b6dd847dd0

Dancing Through the War

How the Royal Ballet

danced on

as the bombs rained down

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/feb/15/
dance

During gas invasion test during WWII,

all civilians and wardens wear gas masks (respirators).

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date taken: 1941

Photograph: Hans Wild

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=e25cfaaf2a26bd0b

1941

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Story/0,6051,127462,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Story/0,6051,127470,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Story/0,6051,127512,00.html

14 November 1940

Destruction of Coventry / 'Coventration'

Prime Minister Winston Churchill

walks . . . through the ruins of Coventry Cathedral . . .

1942.

Photograph. Prints and Photographs Division
(106) LC-USZ62-16191 Digital ID# cph 3a18421

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/images/wc0106-3a18421r.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/wc-hour.html

The morning after an air raid on Coventry in the 1940s.

Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

A tale of twin cities:

how Coventry and Stalingrad invented the concept

Friday 4 March 2016 07.30 GMT

Last modified on Tuesday 8 March 2016 10.29 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/04/
twin-cities-coventry-stalingrad-war

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/
slaughter-by-moonlight-the-coventry-blitz-2130231.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/
slaughter-by-moonlight-the-coventry-blitz-2130231.html?action=Gallery

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/nov/21/
mainsection.fromthearchive

September 27 1940

Kent

Skirmish between a downed German bomber crew

and a group of British soldiers

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/7956015/
Kent-battle-between-German-bomber-crew-and-British-soldiers-
marked-after-70-years.html - 20 August 2010

1941

British Arrive in the Balkans

https://iht-retrospective.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/
1941-british-arrive-in-the-balkans/

Girl guides and sea rangers selling savings stamps

Photograph: Ted Dearberg

Imperial War Museum

The Blitz: rare colour photographs – in pictures

Friday 10 July 2015 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/jul/10/
the-blitz-rare-colour-photographs-in-pictures

Children of the hop pickers take shelter

to watch the Battle of Britain rage overhead, 1940

This became one of the most published pictures of the war.

It shows the children of hop pickers

watching the aerial ‘dogfights’ of the Battle of Britain.

It was used in a propaganda campaign

alongside the slogan ‘Help England And It Won’t Happen Here’

which helped to convince millions of Americans

to join the war against Nazi Germany.

In 2009

the image was used to publicise Outbreak,

the major Imperial War Museum exhibition

commemorating 70 years

since the start of the second world war.

Photograph: John Topham

England at war, work and play –in pictures

From peashooting women to British troops in drag,

Kent photographer John Topham captured his country

from the 1920s through to the end of the second world war

Thu 10 Jun 2021 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/jun/10/
england-at-war-work-and-play-in-pictures

London's Biggest Blitz (1941) British Pathé

Title reads: "London's Biggest Blitz".

L/S of flares falling to ground at night. Various shots of blazing buildings at night.

Various night shots of firemen playing hoses onto the flames.

Various shots of nurses, firemen and other ARP

(Air Raid Precautions) workers working amongst the ruins on the following morning.

Various shots of gutted and ruined buildings, many of which are still smouldering.

People living in bombed out houses are helped out of rubble by ARP workers,

many clutching bundles of their possessions.

More shots of Londoners and Civil Defence Workers clearing debris from streets.

FILM ID:1113.16

A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV.

IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES.

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKxrDza1d8

Battle of Britain The Blitz 1940-1941

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-blitz

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/blitz_01.shtml

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09gtbh2

https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c48q2vqggn8t/the-blitz

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/ww2/blitz

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/the-blitz-eight-months-of-terror/z7dyxyc

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks2-the-blitz/zm22jhv

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09gt9w0

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/
the-blitz-what-would-you-have-done-when-the-bombs-fell/zn6gpg8

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/
school-radio/history-ks2-world-war-2-clips-the-blitz-index/z7qxqp3

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/
sept-7-1940-nazi-germany-bombs-london-in-first-day-of-the-blitz/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/04/
movies/blitz-london-steve-mcqueen.html

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/jun/10/
england-at-war-work-and-play-in-pictures

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/02/
811133671/erik-larsons-latest-book-focuses-on-winston-churchill-during-the-blitz

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/
books/review/the-splendid-and-the-vile-erik-larson.html

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/from-the-archive-blog/2015/sep/07/
blitz-london-september-1940

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/sep/02/
hand-coloured-bomb-damage-maps-london-in-pictures

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/02/
blitz-london-bomb-sites-redevelopment

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/31/
battle-of-britain-won-german-ineptitude-british-heroism

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/08/11/
431536978/in-london-a-bomb-in-the-basement-stirs-memories-of-the-blitz

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/jul/10/
the-blitz-rare-colour-photographs-in-pictures

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/06/
thats-me-picture-jean-cardy-classmates-evacuated-surrey-1939

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2010/sep/24/london-tube-station-blitz-gallery

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/sep/07/british-pathe-archive-blitz

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/world/europe/17freeborn.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/
personal-memories-from-battle-of-britain-veterans-2079951.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/10/
alexander-chancellor-surviving-the-blitz

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/sep/08/
the-blitz-in-colour-video

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/sep/07/
british-pathe-archive-blitz

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-francis-beckett

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-liverpool-lloyd

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-london-caley

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-manchester-roberts

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-london-fox

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-coventry

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-london-crowther

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-london-james

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-london-warschauer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/sep/06/
blitz-london-coventry-anniversary-second-world-war-bombing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xpBneBRDwI

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/06/
blitz-second-world-war

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/
exhibition-marks-blitz-and-dresden-bombings-2071949.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/29/
blitz-london-crime-flourish-blackout

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/31/
second-world-war-blitz-survivor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/aug/30/
unnamed-woman-second-world-war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/08/
family-life

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/06/
battle-of-britain

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=5422698 - May 22, 2006

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=4778702 - July 30, 2005

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=4737580 - July 10, 2005

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/blitz_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/evacuees_01.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8229175.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7921.shtml

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/we-have-been-evacuated/zvpghbk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/prologue-to-war/zrf4scw

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4/
newsid_3500000/3500865.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,2171148,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,1887666,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/sep/17/secondworldwar

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1787239,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1785166,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1770013,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1305124,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1298985,00.html

http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,6051,128255,00.html

http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,6051,127361,00.html

http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,6051,127366,00.html

http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,6051,127406,00.html

http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,6051,127412,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Story/0,6051,127462,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/01/
rudolf-hess-hitler-deputy-escapes-to-britain-1941

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Story/0,6051,127512,00.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/11/
archives/nazis-bomb-widely-sevenhour-blitz-hits-every-section-of-the-british.html

The meticulously hand-coloured

bomb damage maps of London – in pictures

The devastation

wrought on the capital by the blitz

was documented

by the architect’s department

of London County Council.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/sep/02/
hand-coloured-bomb-damage-maps-london-in-pictures

7 September 1940

London Blitz

The first day

of the German bombardment of London

that lasted 76 consecutive nights

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/06/blitz-night-fire-new-war

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/06/
blitz-night-fire-new-war

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/sep/06/
london-blitz-bomb-map-september-7-1940

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/sep/07/
remembering-the-blitz-francis-beckett

INF 13/281 (10)

WWII poster:

Firebomb Fritz campaign: Britain Shall Not Burn

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/imagelibrary/ww2/ - broken link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/holocaust_overview_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/cen_ww_two.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/england/ear20_wwtwo.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/war_adverts_gallery.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/blitz_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/evacuees_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/churchill_audio.shtml

https://www.iwm.org.uk/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/
topstories3.secondworldwar

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/
secondworldwar.world

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/
chamberlain_arthur_neville.shtml

https://www.theguardian.com/century/year/
0,6050,128341,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/secondworldwar/
fromthearchive/0,15744,1398350,00.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1945/sep/03/
japan.secondworldwar

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/
Story/0,6051,127505,00.html - - 8 December 1941

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1941/jan/22/
past.secondworldwar

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/dec/19/
mainsection.fromthearchive

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1940/may/08/
mainsection.fromthearchive

Hull blitz

The Yorkshire port

was the most bombed city

in the country after London

in the second world war,

suffering horrendous damage

to its Georgian centre

and buildings dating back

to medieval times.

The Nazi Luftwaffe first struck

on the night of 17-18 March 1941,

and later carried out

their first daylight raid on the city

and chose it

for the last piloted attack on the UK,

exactly four years later,

on 17 March 1945.

More than 85,000 properties

were damaged

and 1,200 people died

in more than 80 heavy raids.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/22/
hull-blitz-photos-anniversary-destruction

Related > Anglonautes > History > 20th century

1930s-1940s > WW2 > UK >

Timeline in articles, pictures, podcasts

1939-1945 > WW2 > USA, world

20th century > 1939-1945

World War 2 > Germany, Europe >

Antisemitism, Adolf Hitler, Nazi era,

Holocaust / Shoah,

Samudaripen

Related > Anglonautes > Vocapedia

genocide, war,

weapons, arms sales,

espionage, torture

Related > Anglonautes > Science > Scientists > Computing

Alan Mathison Turing UK 1912-1954

Germany: National Socialism and World War II

https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/
Germany:_National_Socialism_and_World_War_II

https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/
History_of_Germany:_Primary_Documents

A lost heritage:

Nazi pictures reveal full devastation wreaked by allied bombers

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/10/
secondworldwar.germany

https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/fotomarburg

enemy propaganda

National Archives

publish wartime propaganda in online gallery 13 June 2012

Hundreds of images of war art including posters

and a portrait of the future queen are released online

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:
War_art_in_The_National_Archives_%28United_Kingdom%29

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/13/
national-archives-wartime-propaganda-gallery

Ministry of Food Posters

A new exhibition

at London's Imperial War Museum (Feb 12 to Jan 3 2011)

pays tribute to a nation's creativity and resourcefulness

in the face of wartime – and peacetime – food rationing.

Here is some of the eye-catching

British Government propaganda

used on the 'Kitchen Front' during that time.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/7165696/
Vintage-Ministry-of-Food-posters.html

The following posters

were all used during the Second World War

to encourage austerity and stoicism

on Britain's home front.

They form part of an exhibition

at the Museum of Brands in London

entitled Make Do and Mend

(www.museumofbrands.com ;

020 79080880;

2 Colville Mews, Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London W11 2AR).

The exhibition runs until November 29, 2010.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/festivalsandevents/6615752/
Waste-Not-Want-Not-wartime-posters.html

The Guardian > Second World War

Second world war > Holocaust

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/sep/09/second-world-war

Second world war > Stalingrad

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/sep/08/second-world-war

Second World War > Liberation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/sep/10/second-world-war

Second World War > Aftermath

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/second-world-war/
2009/sep/11/all

BBC Archive

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive