7 September 2010 Last updated at 08:22

The Blitz, which began 70 years ago today, in pictures

Residential street in London after first bombing of the Blitz

The Blitz (short for Blitzkrieg, German for "lightning war") began on 7 September 1940, with more than 300 bombers involved. The attacks started on the East End before moving to central London. In total, 430 were killed and 1,600 badly injured that day.

Dornier Do 17 German bomber, which was used extensively during the start of the Blitz

Bombers including the Dornier Do 17 were used by the Nazis to inflict night after night of destruction on towns and cities across the UK.

People dreaded hearing the distinctive wailing of the air-raid sirens. Hitler hoped sustained bombing would shatter civilians' morale, and 5,300 tonnes of high explosives had been dropped on the capital by the end of September 1940.

Woman hanging out the washing, above the Anderson shelter in her garden

Simple corrugated steel Anderson shelters, covered over by earth, were dug into gardens up and down the country. While providing surprisingly good protection from all but direct hits, they were often very cold, wet and miserable places in which to shelter.

Children sit outside their bombed home in London, September 1940

To protect them from the worst of the bombing raids, 3.5m people - mainly children - were evacuated from cities around the UK. Those who remained suffered badly. In London alone, where bombs fell nightly until mid-November, 1.4m people were made homeless.

Anti-aircraft guns being fired in Hyde Park

Anti-aircraft guns weren't hugely successful against German bombers. Initially an average of 30,000 shells were fired for each Luftwaffe plane shot down. Although this ratio did improve, the guns mostly kept up spirits on the home front.

Despite blackout restrictions, German aircraft only had just to follow the Thames into London. Typically, the first wave of bombers would drop incendiaries, both to maximise damage and further light the sky for their colleagues who were just behind them.

As well as claiming thousands of lives, the Blitz was hugely disruptive to those who survived. Stations were targeted, and bomb damage wreaked havoc on the roads.

Coventry city centre, the morning after the Blitz destroyed three-quarters of it

On 14 November 1940, the Luftwaffe shifted its focus to Coventry, one of the most important manufacturing cities in Britain. In the single most devastating night of bombing to that point, three-quarters of the city centre was destroyed.

The smoking ruins of Coventry's medieval cathedral became the defining image of the raid, in which at least 568 were killed. It was deemed so successful by the Nazis that they coined a new verb - to "Coventrate" - to describe the annihilation of a city.

Rescue workers and police try to reach children trapped at a bombed junior school in Liverpool, 1941

Most industrialised areas were targeted by the Luftwaffe, not least Merseyside, said to be the most heavily bombed region outside London. More than 4,000 were killed, many during the worst two raids of Christmas 1940 and May 1941.

St Paul's cathedral, standing tall as London burns after the worst single night's bombing of the Blitz

In terms of the number of bombs which fell, 29 December 1940 was the worst night of the Blitz. More than 1,400 fires broke out, including one which covered half a square mile. St Paul's cathedral somehow survived, standing tall as a symbol of hope.

Anti-aircraft searchlights over London create a perfect silhouette of St Paul's Cathedral

Air defences improved as the weeks and months of the Blitz passed. An increasing number of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights were controlled by radar, making it easier to shoot down incoming enemy aircraft.

The aftermath of the heavy bombing in Belfast, May 1941

Even by Easter 1941, though, Belfast was poorly defended. It had only seven anti-aircraft batteries, and there were relatively few shelters. At least 900 people were killed in one night, and about 100,000 - a quarter of the population - lost their homes.

The last night of the London Blitz - May 10 1941 - was also the worst in terms of casualties. At least 1,500 were killed by around 700 tonnes of bombs, which also destroyed the House of Commons Chamber and badly damaged Westminster Abbey.

By early summer 1941, and despite inflicting 43,000 deaths, it was clear that the Nazis' aim of bombing the UK into submission was not working. Hitler then decided to shift his focus to the Eastern Front and attacked Russia.

The end of the Blitz did not bring an end to German bombing of the UK, but it was nowhere near as intensive. A real aerial threat did not reappear until V-1 flying bombs - known as Doodlebugs - and V-2 rockets were deployed towards the war's end.

UK

The Blitz, which began 70 years ago today, in pictures

Share this page

Related Stories

Related Internet links

Services

About BBC News