
Eighty-two years ago, the blitz reached its deadly climax. For eight months, from September 1940 until May 1941, Hitler’s Luftwaffe, having been defeated in the Battle of Britain, pummelled the country’s towns and cities in nightly terror raids in a bid to break the will of the people to continue the war.
The German night bomber offensive began on 7 September, with a raid by 350 aircraft on London, which killed more than 400 people. For the next 57 days the capital would be attacked night after night without respite. At the time, prime minister Winston Churchill famously declared: “London can take it.” Privately, however, the PM was deeply concerned about the damaging effect the Luftwaffe’s unrelenting onslaught was having on civilian morale.
The public, he realised, was particularly disconcerted by the apparent lack of any effective defence being mounted against the nocturnal raiders, who seemed able to bomb London and other cities with near impunity. Britain’s anti-aircraft batteries could only fire blindly into the night sky and hope for a lucky hit, which they very seldom achieved.
As for the RAF’s Fighter Command, which had performed so magnificently in daylight during the summer of 1940, winning the Battle of Britain and thereby ending the threat of Nazi invasion, it appeared powerless to counter the enemy at night. Indeed, the risk of being shot down while bombing British cities during the blitz was so low, and German casualties so few, that Luftwaffe crews habitually referred to operations over the British Isles as “a milk run”.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2023-Ausgabe von Best of British.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2023-Ausgabe von Best of British.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden

Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Chris Hallam takes a look back at the Channel 4 improvisation show

HORNERAMA
Derek Lamb celebrates Round the Horne, the radio comedy first broadcast 60 years ago

BACK IN TIME WITH COLIN BAKER
BoB's very own Time Lord recalls his early days on the amateur stage, lodging in Liverpool and playing pranks as a professional at The Playhouse

Pieces of Eight
The lovable rogues of childhood fiction belie the harsh reality of the scourges of the seas. Claire Saul previews the National Maritime Museum's latest treasure

Battling On
Ian Wheeler reflects on 50 years of Battle Picture Weekly, Britain's seminal war comic

Another Opening, Another Show
Graham Whalan offers a brief history of amateur musical theatre

Think Again
Simon Stabler talks to a television maths and science legend about his previous life in comedy and as the drummer who stood in for Ringo Starr

Terry's All Gold
Chris Hallam remembers Sir Terry Pratchett

By Royal Appointment
Michael Montagu traces the history of royal warrants

Faster Food
Chris de Winter Hebron recalls his early experiences of \"dining at speed\"