The first of the major air raids on London during the Second World War, were aimed at industrial areas and the surrounding docklands, in the East End of London. For the first few weeks, these raids took place by day and night but the Germans soon switched to night time raids as they were losing too many bombers to fighters during the day (night fighting required airborne radar and direction finding equipment, which only became available as the war progressed). Night time defence of London was mainly ineffective. Although the anti aircraft guns gave a psychological boost to Londoners, they actually brought down few bombers.

After the initial onslaught of the East End, from mid September the Luftwaffe attacked the rest of London and it was in this period that the famous bombing of Buckingham Palace occurred when the then Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) made her remark about being able to look the East End in the eye.

Air raids took place almost every night and huge wings of German bombers dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on the capital. Typically there were 100 to 200 bombers dropping around 40,000 tons of high explosive and incendiaries although later there were raids with more than double this intensity.

This bombing took its toll on London and disrupted everyones' private and working life there. Roads and railways were damaged and destroyed as well as other infrastructure industries such sewers and gas and water pipelines. Repairs to the city's infrastructure were top of the agenda and carried out quickly, so the German aim of disrupting London's commerce and industry was essentially frustrated.

The resilience of Londoners in the face of this nightly onslaught has become symbolic of British determination in the face of adversity. Ordinary men, women and children showed great courage by continuing with their daily lives in spite of the nightly bombing raids. Over time, many people became so habituated to them, that they just continued with what they were doing. For example, cinemas would run films during raids and the audience would remain in their seats.

It's common in any street in London with uniform housing, that certain gaps appear with more modern housing sandwiched between. This is one of the legacy effects of bomb damage, where a stick of bombs would have taken out houses in a line, crossing from street to street.

Although the image of Londoners sheltering in Underground stations is a familiar one, few people used them. Most Londoners (around 60%) stayed at home and seldom used their Anderson shelter in the garden either (especially if it was cold or wet).

From November 1940 the Luftwaffe started bombing other towns and cities in Britain too. Raids on London continued but they no longer occurred nightly. However, some of the raids were heavier with more explosives and incendiaries dropped than in the earlier ones. By May 1941 Germany was making inroads into Russia and needed air cover on this second front. The destruction of the 6th Army at Stalingrad and the depletion of forces at Kursk, coupled with the failure to secure oil wells in the Caucasus (a strategic objective of the Barbarossa campaign) meant that Germany did not have the men, material or fuel to stage further raids on London.

In November 1943, there was an attempt to mount fresh air attacks on London, coined as the Baby Blitz but the operation was unsuccessful. Although over 500 aircraft were assembled, they were of such incompatible and varying types, that integration was non-existent. Only 32 bombs from a total of 282 fell on London. The raids continued for several months, incurring little damage to London, but the loss of 329 aircraft to the Axis powers. Losses they could ill afford when faced with the prospect of the forthcoming D-Day landings.

On 12 June 1944, the first V-1 flying bomb attack was carried out on London. A total of 9,251 V-1s were dispatched to Britain, with the majority aimed at London; 2,515 reached the city, killing 6,184 civilians and injuring 17,981. Over 4,000 were destroyed by the Royal Air Force, the Army’s Anti-Aircraft Command, the Royal Navy and barrage balloons.

The V-2 Rocket was first used against London on 8 September 1944. 1,115 V-2s were fired at the United Kingdom killing an estimated 2,754 people in London with another 6,523 injured. A further 2,917 service personnel were killed as a result of the V weapon campaign. There is a V2 rocket in both the Science Museum and the Imperial War Museum. The size of them has to be seen to be believed. Fortunately the onslaught didn't last long as the Allies over-ran the bases in France and Belgium quickly. They were, by accounts of the time, truly terrifying since they came with no air-raid warning, visual cue, or approaching sound. They simply dropped from the upper atmosphere, usually killing 2-300 civilians without warning.

On 17 September 1944, the blackout was replaced by a partial 'dim-out'.

 

At the end of the Blitz, an estimated 16,000 Londoners had been killed and 180,000 injured.