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  • Introduction

The Battle of Britain

Preparation, seeking shelter, impact and legacy.

German bombing of London during the Blitz

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Nazi Germany, Nazi SS troops marching with victory standards at the Party Day rally in Nuremberg, Germany, 1933. (Schutzstaffel, Nazi Party, Nurnberg)

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  • Imperial War Museums - The Blitz Around Britain
  • Historic UK - The Blitz
  • National Museums Liverpool - The Blitz
  • Spartacus Educational - The Blitz
  • Old Dominion University - Digital Commons - Review of Stansky, Peter, The First Day of the Blitz: September 7, 1940.
  • Histroic England - London: The Blitz, September 1940–June 1941
  • The History Learning Site - The Blitz and World War Two
  • Table Of Contents

German bombing of London during the Blitz

the Blitz , (September 7, 1940–May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II . For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain . The attacks were authorized by Germany’s chancellor, Adolf Hitler , after the British carried out a nighttime air raid on Berlin. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word blitzkrieg (“lightning war”).

What was the Battle of Britain?

With the surrender of France in June 1940, Germany’s sole remaining enemy lay across the English Channel . On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive ordering the preparation and, if necessary, execution of Operation Sea Lion, the amphibious invasion of Great Britain. With Britain’s powerful Royal Navy controlling the surface approaches in the Channel and the North Sea , it fell to the Luftwaffe to establish dominance of the skies above the battle zone. On August 2, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring issued his “Eagle Day” directive , laying down a plan of attack in which a few massive blows from the air were to destroy British air power and so open the way for the invasion.

Samuel Bak: Smoke

A victory for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain would indeed have exposed Great Britain to invasion and occupation. Victory for the Royal Air Force ’s (RAF’s) Fighter Command blocked this possibility and, in fact, created the conditions for Britain’s survival and the eventual destruction of the Third Reich . Fighter Command’s efforts were greatly aided by the lack of any consistent plan of action on the part of the Germans. Sometimes they were trying establish a blockade by destroying shipping and port facilities, sometimes they were directly attacking Fighter Command ground installations, sometimes they were targeting aircraft factories, and sometimes they were attempting to engage Fighter Command in the skies.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The British, on the other hand, were supremely well prepared for the kind of battle in which they now found themselves. Their Chain Home early warning radar , the most advanced system in the world, gave Fighter Command adequate notice of where and when to direct their forces, and the Luftwaffe never made a concerted effort to neutralize it. The RAF’s Spitfire was a superlative fighter, and it was not always easy for the Germans to distinguish it from the slightly less maneuverable but much more numerous Hurricanes . Both planes quickly proved their mettle against German bombers, and Germany’s best fighter, the Bf 109 , was of limited use as an escort due to its relatively short operating range. The British thus fought with the advantage of superior equipment and undivided aim against an enemy with inconsistent objectives.

Nevertheless, through sheer weight of numbers, the Germans were on the brink of victory in late August 1940. The Luftwaffe had lost more than 600 aircraft, and, although the RAF had lost fewer than half that many, the battle was claiming British fighters and experienced pilots at too great a rate. Instead of pressing his advantage, however, Hitler abruptly changed his strategy. In late August the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in London. On August 25 the British retaliated by launching a bombing raid on Berlin. Göring had insisted that such an attack was an impossibility, because of the city’s formidable air defense network. The raid so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from RAF sites to London and other cities.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The British government had anticipated air attacks on its population centres, and it had predicted catastrophic casualties. A Luftwaffe terror bombing attack on the Spanish city of Guernica (April 26, 1937) during the Spanish Civil War had killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed much of the town. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began with Germany’s invasion of Poland, the British government implemented a massive evacuation plan. Over the course of three days, some 1.5 million civilians—the overwhelming majority of them children—were transported from urban centres to rural areas that were believed to be safe. The mass relocation, called Operation Pied Piper, was the largest internal migration in British history.

the blitz ww2 homework help

Authorities quickly implemented plans to protect Londoners from bombs and to house those left homeless by the attacks. The national government also provided funds to local municipalities to construct public air-raid shelters. The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) department distributed more than two million Anderson shelters (named after Sir John Anderson, head of the A.R.P.) to households. These shelters, made of corrugated steel, were designed to be dug into a garden and then covered with dirt. While Anderson shelters offered good protection from bomb fragments and debris, they were cold and damp and generally ill-suited for prolonged occupancy. Because basements , a logical destination in the event of an air raid, were a relative rarity in Britain, the A.R.P. devised the Morrison shelter (named for Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison ) as an alternative to the Anderson shelter. This type of shelter—essentially a low steel cage large enough to contain two adults and two small children—was designed to be set up indoors and could serve as a refuge if the building began to collapse.

the blitz ww2 homework help

During the first year of the war, “behind-the-lines” conditions prevailed in London. In spite of blackouts, ubiquitous shelters and sandbags, the visible effects of mass evacuation, the presence of A.R.P. wardens, and members of the Home Guard drilling in the parks, life went on much as usual. The winter of 1939–40 was severe, but the summer was pleasant, and in their leisure hours Londoners thronged the parks or worked in their gardens. Several theatres and many cinemas were open, and there were even a few sporting events. Apart from one or two false alarms in the early days of the war, no sirens wailed in London until June 25. The sense of relative calm was abruptly shattered in the first week of September 1940, when the war came to London in earnest.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes appeared over London. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. Later, guided by the raging fires caused by the first attack, a second group of planes began another assault that lasted until 4:30 the following morning. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600 were badly injured. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday.

the blitz ww2 homework help

Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. Between Black Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one “alert”—as the alarms came to be called—and generally far more. Nine were registered on three separate occasions, and from the start of the Blitz until November 30 there were more than 350 alerts. The nights of November 3 and 28 were the only occasions during this period in which London’s peace was unbroken by siren or bomb. After the first week of September, although night bombing on a large scale continued, the large mass attacks by day, which had proved so costly to the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, were replaced by smaller parties coming over in successive waves. On occasion, forces consisting of as many as 300 to 400 aircraft would cross the coast by day and split into small groups, and a few planes would succeed in penetrating London’s outer defenses.

The A.R.P. sprang into action, and Londoners, while maintaining the work, business, and efficiency of their city, displayed remarkable fortitude . During the whole period, although the city’s operation was disrupted in ways that were sometimes serious, no essential service was more than temporarily impaired. No significant cut was made in necessary social services, and public and private premises , except when irreparably damaged, were repaired as speedily as possible. In many cases the daily life of the city was able to resume with delays of only hours.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The raids on London primarily targeted the Docklands area of the East End . This hub of industry and trade represented a legitimate military target for the Germans, and some 25,000 bombs were dropped on the Port of London alone. However, the Docklands was also a densely populated and impoverished area where thousands of working-class Londoners lived in run-down housing. The raids hurt Britain’s war production, but they also killed many civilians and left many others homeless. A charitable relief fund for the people of London was opened September 10. Contributions poured in from every part of the world in such profusion that on October 28 its scope was extended to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. By the middle of December it had reached nearly £1,700,000 (adjusted for inflation, this was the equivalent of roughly £100 million in 2020).

the blitz ww2 homework help

A modern bomb census has attempted to pinpoint the location of every bomb dropped on London during the Blitz, and the visualization of that data makes clear how thoroughly the Luftwaffe saturated the city. Air-raid damage was widespread; hospitals, clubs, churches, museums, residential and shopping streets, hotels, public houses, theatres, schools, monuments, newspaper offices, embassies, and the London Zoo were bombed. While some of the poorer and more crowded suburban areas suffered severely, the mansions of Mayfair , the luxury flats of Kensington , and Buckingham Palace itself—which was bombed four separate times—fared little better. Although casualties were heavy, at no time did they approach the estimates that had been made before the war, and only a fraction of the available hospital and ambulance capacity was ever utilized.

Author Lawrence H. Dawson detailed the damage to London’s historic buildings for the 1941 Britannica Book of the Year :

The following curtailed list identifies some of the better known places in inner London that have been damaged by enemy action. Some are a total loss; others are already under repair with little outward sign of the damage sustained: Besides Buckingham palace, the chapel of which was wrecked, and Guildhall (the six-centuries old centre of London civic ceremonies and of great architectural beauty), which was destroyed by fire, Kensington palace (the London home of the earl of Athlone, governor general of Canada, and the birthplace of Queen Mary and Queen Victoria ), the banqueting hall of Eltham palace (dating from King John ’s time and long a royal residence), Lambeth palace (the archbishop of Canterbury), and Holland house (famous for its 17th century domestic architecture , its political associations, and its art treasures), suffered, the latter severely. Of the churches, besides St. Paul’s cathedral , where at one time were five unexploded bombs in the immediate vicinity and the roof of which was pierced by another that exploded and shattered the high altar to fragments, those damaged were Westminster abbey , St. Margaret’s Westminster, Southwark cathedral; fifteen Wren churches (including St. Brides, Fleet St.; St. Lawrence Jewry; St. Magnus the Martyr; St. Mary-at-hill; St. Dunstan in the East; St. Clement [Eastcheap] and St. James’s, Piccadilly). St. Giles, Cripplegate, and St. Mary Wolnooth, also in the city, were damaged, while the Dutch church in Austin Friars, dating from the 14th century and covering a larger area than any church in the city of London, St. Paul’s alone excepted, was totally destroyed. Islington parish church, the rebuilt Our Lady of Victories (Kensington), the French church by Leicester square, St. Anne’s , Soho (famous for its music), All Souls’, Langham place, and Christ Church in Westminster Bridge road (whose tower—fortunately saved—commemorates President Lincoln ’s abolition of slavery), were among a large number of others. Over 20 hospitals were hit, among them the London (many times), St. Thomas’s , St. Bartholomew’s, and the children’s hospital in Great Ormond st., as well as Chelsea hospital, the home for the aged and invalid soldiers, built by Wren. The famous places damaged include the palace of Westminster and Westminster hall, the County hall, the Public Record office, the Law Courts , the Temple and the Inner Temple library; Somerset house, Burlington house, the tower of London , Greenwich observatory , Hogarth’s house; the Carlton, Reform, American, Savage, Arts and Orleans clubs; the Royal College of Surgeons, University college and its library, Stationers’ hall, the Y.M.C.A. headquarters, Toynbee hall and St. Dunstan’s; the American, Spanish, Japanese and Peruvian embassies and the buildings of the Times newspaper, the Associated Press of America, and the National City bank of New York; the centre court at Wimbledon , Wembley stadium , the Ring (Blackfriars); Drury Lane , the Queen’s and the Saville theatres; Rotten row, Lambeth walk, the Burlington arcade and Madame Tussaud’s.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. The most heavily bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham . Other targets included Sheffield , Manchester , Coventry , and Southampton . The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive. On November 14, 1940, a German force of more than 500 bombers destroyed much of the old city centre and killed more than 550 people. The devastation was so great that the Germans coined a new verb, “to coventrate,” to describe it. In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports. Raids between February and May pounded Plymouth , Portsmouth , Bristol , Newcastle upon Tyne , and Hull in England; Swansea in Wales ; Belfast in Northern Ireland ; and Clydeside in Scotland .

the blitz ww2 homework help

The night raids on London continued into 1941, and January 10–11 saw exceptionally heavy attacks; the Mansion House (residence of the lord mayor of London) and the Bank of England narrowly avoided destruction when a bomb fell directly between them, creating a gigantic crater. After a brief lull, the Luftwaffe returned in force on February 17. Hundreds of incendiary and many high-explosive bombs were dropped, doing little material damage but causing many casualties. Another large-scale attack followed on March 19, when hundreds of houses and shops, many churches, six hospitals, and other public buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. A short respite followed, until a widespread series of night raids on April 7 included some targets in the London area. On April 16 an attack even fiercer and more indiscriminate than those of the previous autumn started at 9:00 pm and continued until 5:00 the following morning; 500 aircraft were believed to have flown over in continuous waves, raining an estimated 450 tons of bombs across the city. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the damage was more widespread than on any previous occasion. Three nights later (April 19–20) London was again subjected to a seven-hour raid, and the loss of life was considerable, especially among firefighters and the A.R.P. workers.

Londoners enjoyed three weeks of uneasy peace until May 10–11, the night of a full moon , when the Luftwaffe launched the most intense raid of the Blitz. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much damage was done, and casualties were high. More than 500 German planes dropped more than 700 tons of bombs across the city, killing nearly 1,500 people and destroying 11,000 homes. The House of Commons , Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum were severely damaged, and The Temple was almost completely destroyed. Elsewhere in the skies over Britain, Nazi official Rudolph Hess chose that same evening to parachute into Scotland on a quixotic and wholly unauthorized peace mission. Although there were some comparatively slight raids later in 1941, the most notable one on July 27, the May 10–11 attack marked the conclusion of the Blitz.

the blitz ww2 homework help

When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make targeting more difficult for German night bombers. Streetlights, car headlights, and illuminated signs were kept off. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no lights showed outside their houses. When a bombing raid was imminent , air-raid sirens were set off to sound a warning. At the beginning of the Blitz, British “ack ack” gunners struggled to inflict meaningful damage on German bombers, but later developments in radar guidance greatly improved the effectiveness of both antiaircraft artillery and searchlights.

the blitz ww2 homework help

Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloons—large oval-shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail fins—installed in and around major target areas. These balloons, the largest of which were some 60 feet (18 metres) long, were essentially an airspace denial tool. They prevented low-flying aircraft from approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. The higher the German planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their bombs. While the balloons themselves were an obvious deterrent, they were anchored to the ground by steel tethers that were strong enough to damage or destroy any aircraft that flew into them. Over 100 German planes made contact with barrage balloon cables during the Blitz, and two-thirds of them crashed or made forced landings on British soil.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The initial human cost of the Blitz was lower than the government had expected, but the level of destruction exceeded the government’s dire predictions. Very early in the German bombing campaign, it became clear that the preparations—however extensive they seemed to have been—were inadequate. Many of the surface shelters built by local authorities were flimsy and provided little protection from bombs, falling debris, and fire. In addition, there simply was not enough space for everyone who needed shelter in one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. In a survey of shelter use, it was found that, although the public shelters were fully occupied every night, just 9 percent of Londoners made use of them. Some 27 percent of Londoners utilized private shelters, such as Anderson shelters, while the remaining 64 percent spent their evenings on duty with some branch of the civil defense or remained in their own homes.

the blitz ww2 homework help

In the first days of the Blitz, a tragic incident in the East End stoked public anger over the government’s shelter policy. After the bombing began on September 7, local authorities urged displaced people to take shelter at South Hallsville School. Those who sought refuge at the school were told that they would quickly be relocated to a safer area, but the evacuation was delayed. On September 10, 1940, the school was flattened by a German bomb, and people huddled in the basement were killed or trapped in the rubble. The government announced that 77 people had died, but for years local residents insisted the toll was much higher. Revised estimates made decades later indicated that close to 600 men, women, and children had been killed in the bombing. It is believed that the wartime government covered up the death toll because of concern over the effect it would have had on public morale.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The South Hallsville School disaster prompted Londoners, especially residents of the East End, to find safer shelters, on their own if necessary. Days later a group of East Enders occupied the shelter at the upscale Savoy Hotel, and many others began to take refuge in the city’s underground railway , or Tube, stations. This option had been forbidden by city officials, who feared that once people began sleeping in Underground stations, they would be reluctant to return to the surface and resume daily life. As more and more people began sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and bathrooms for the underground communities . The use of the Tube system as a shelter saved thousands of lives, and images of Londoners huddled in Underground stations would become an indelible image of British life during World War II.

the blitz ww2 homework help

Dissatisfaction with public shelters also led to another notable development in the East End—Mickey’s Shelter. After his optician business was destroyed by a bomb, Mickey Davies led an effort to organize the Spitalfield Shelter. As many as 5,000 people had packed into this network of underground tunnels, which was dangerously overcrowded, dirty, and dark. Guided by Davies, the people of the shelter created an ad hoc government and established a set of rules. Davies also set up medical stations and persuaded off-duty medical personnel to treat the sick and wounded. The success of Mickey’s Shelter was another factor that urged the government to improve existing “deep shelters” and to create new ones.

the blitz ww2 homework help

The Blitz was devastating for the people of London and other cities. In the eight months of attacks, some 43,000 civilians were killed. This amounted to nearly half of Britain’s total civilian deaths for the whole war. One of every six Londoners was made homeless at some point during the Blitz, and at least 1.1 million houses and flats were damaged or destroyed. Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake by the Germans. Hitler’s intention had been to break the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. Morale did suffer amid the death and devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. The phrase “Business as usual,” written in chalk on boarded-up shop windows, exemplified the British determination to “keep calm and carry on” as best they could.

the blitz ww2 homework help

From a purely military perspective, the Blitz was entirely counterproductive to the main purpose of Germany’s air offensive—to dominate the skies in advance of an invasion of England . By mid-September 1940 the RAF had won the Battle of Britain, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely. Air power alone had failed to knock the United Kingdom out of the war. On May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the Blitz as he shifted his forces eastward against the Soviet Union .

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The Great Fire of London was a fire that was so big that it burned nearly all of the buildings in London, with the exception of the Tower of London as that was made from stone, and stone doesn't burn up easily.

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29th July 2018

The blitz (which is German for “lightning war”) was a period where the Germans started dropping bombs on large British cities such as London. It lasted from 7th September 1940 to 11th May 1941 and killed 43,000 people over the 8 months it happened. How did the major cities prepare for this?

Air raid shelters

Throughout the major cities, London in particular, there were multiple air-raid shelters. Before there was a bomb attack, an air-raid siren would sound and everyone would stop what they were doing and head to the nearest air-raid shelter, whether that be in their back garden or in the street.

You can hear the air-raid siren sound below:

What were they made from?

the blitz ww2 homework help

Air-raid shelters were made from rugged metal and other materials given to them at the beginning of the war by the Government. They may have had some protection at the top, such as sand bags, which helped protect it if a bomb exploded nearby.

Regardless of whether you were in a city or not, you had to have a gas mask. This was so everyone would be safe in the event of a mustard gas attack.

What is mustard gas?

Mustard gas was a deadly gas used during World War I (but not during World War II.) This gas can cause large blisters on any uncovered skin and in the lungs (if breathed in.) It’s now classified as a chemical weapon.

the blitz ww2 homework help

There was no mustard gas attack in the UK during WW2 because the Nazis knew that Britain would fight back even more should they have used it.

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WW2 Home Front - The Blitz

WW2 Home Front - The Blitz

Subject: History

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Unit of work

Phil @icHistory's Shop

Last updated

5 September 2021

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the blitz ww2 homework help

A colourful, well-presented, and creative resource. Includes worksheets and embedded links, ideas and activities.

Main contents … ( 67 pages in total )

1 - Simple key word and vocabulary starter, matching activity. Extension, differentiation option included.

2 - Background and overview gap fill exercise.

3 - Source study ( all sources included ) and template worksheet. The focus here is … Air Raid Warden / Precaution / Children of the Blitz / Blitz Spirit / Impact / effect of bombing on civilians. Students can colour code, categorise then summarize the key information discovered into a neat template.

4 - Source Skills / type activity - understanding primary, secondary and tertiary sources via Blitz source type examples.

5 - Air Raid Warden / Precaution focus. This included well-presented information worksheets, primary sources and a summary /via a fun, diverse differentiated literacy activity to consolidate learning.

6 - The Blitz Spirit - Four focus sources and supporting worksheet template that consider the idea of The Blitz Spirit.

Extension - Creative exercise gives students examples of Blitz propaganda and option to create their own piece of propaganda.

7 - Take Shelter - Covers the various ways people tried to escape the bombs. Morrison and Anderson shelters, London Underground, communal shelters, and countryside evacuations for children. There are two activities here - one allows students to match the group to the shelter, the second is a simple table summary.

8 - Strike Back - This is a very interactive activity that covers RAF Bomber Command and British response to German bombing. Students can be put into teams and make decisions based on their given team role / perspective. Cross curricular links here with - Math / e.g., using statistics - ethics / moral decision making. This activity also looks at D-Day, Dam Buster Raid and the Battle of Britain - albeit in brief.

There are many links to videos and other websites embedded in the resource throughout.

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as Germany's Luftwaffe began to target Britain's major cities, rather than military targets such as airfields.

For the first time, the population of urban centres had to endure sustained air bombing campaigns, all in the pitch darkness of the blackout...

If you lived near a major military installation, or a city picked as a target, you could be in for a tough time:

When the Germans were looking to find and destroy this works, Slade Green was said to look like a 'fairyland'. This was due to the incendiaries [fire bombs] dropped. Someone said one lodged in our roof at No. 58 but did not ignite - Phew!

German fighters and bombers etc. used the Thames as a guide to London. Also if they got into trouble they dropped their bombs wherever they were. I believe that I can remember a dogfight between fighters over Slade Green. I can also remember a 'doodle bug'. These were unmanned guided missiles that were aimed at us [from 1944]. Crude rockets. When the engine stopped they would drop and explode. Many were sent into Kent.

Also landmines, these I believe were sea-mines dropped from aircraft by parachute, exploding on impact. Bombs usually made a hole and then exploded back-upwards whereas the landmine exploded when touching the ground. The blast went sideways causing a great deal of damage.

One dropped in a field along Thames Road, the blast went along the ground over the railway embankment, immediately along back gardens to break windows and do other damage to houses in Lincoln Road. Thank goodness for the railway embankment.

Collecting shrapnel was also a pastime. All houses had air raid shelters in the back garden, ours was partially buried in the back garden.


's father

Whilst air raids were very destructive, causing many civilian casualties, there could be lighter moments:

One of these latter went straight through the slate roof and the ceiling of a house on Queens Drive and incredibly landed in the toilet bowl of the dwelling. The man of the house had visited the toilet a few minutes earlier and yes, you guessed it, he left the lid up!

Smoke could be seen coming through the broken roof and before long many volunteers carrying buckets of sand and strirrup pumps converged on the house. A large number of people then crowded into the toilet and witnessed the incendiary bomb sitting in the toilet bowl burning furiously but harmlessly. It was left to eventually burn itself out and the prized tail section was added to my shrapnel collection.

The toilet bowl sustained fatal heat damage and was replaced by the local council depot.

Letters can be a key primary source for historians, as they provide an insight into the day to day lives of those who lived through the Blitz. These letters were written by a wealthy woman to her niece. She had been able to move to another house in Maidenhead, to escape the worst of the Blitz in London. Her husband and sons were all in military uniform.

I am hoping this will reach you to wish you all a Happy Christmas, & trust the New Year will bring us all happier times? I have no news from you, so am not sure that our letters reach these terrible times.

I have tried to send you 2 [pounds] this week as a little help toward a little X-mas happiness & I do hope it will reach you. Hope you are all keeping well. I am fairly well but not too happy. I have already told you, I have sold Redcliffe & all its contents & am staying here at Twynford with Stella [her daughter].

London is not very happy place. Most of my windows have been blown in, & I am having them boarded up, it is an awful time for me without Uncle. No one can do as he did, this is three hours from 110. One cannot get away from the horror, but it is a little more peaceful here & most of the bombs drop in fields.

I have also ordered a weekly paper to be sent you which gives you some London news but not much. It would break your heart to see some of the places, & how the poor people stand it I do not know without a roof or "stick" left. I shall only be too grateful if my house suffers no worse. I can write you more about it later. Reg [her youngest son] has had windows broken, and Will [another son] roof damaged. Your Dad will remember Ruby, Aunt Nell's daughter. Her house has caught it badly but ok. I think has been able to save her furniture.

I expect you are getting some of the news your side & radio or own papers, no one seems to think it will soon end. Am not looking a bit forward to Xmas. Shall be glad when it is over, hoping for Peace to look forward to after.

At any rate we can do that & wish each other happier times.
Which I am wishing for all
Yours affectionately
Aunt Jennie

110 Alderman's Hill
Wednesday March 19th [1941]

My Dear Helen

A letter from you to hand this morning dated Feb 1st. You just mention the 9 [pounds]. I have already written you I have put it in bank with other & hope you may one day receive it tho' God knows if and when that will be. I am glad you get the little papers, it gives you some news of this side.

Pleasant to know you are all well, the same here in health, only wish could say the same in mind. The worry is dreadful. Glad to hear like us you are busy knitting. We do our best but have an idea your Mother is a much more proficient knitter than either Stella or myself. This is what we do, socks for Army & Navy, helmets, scarves, mittens, gloves, caps for tin helmets, & sea boot stockings & hospital stockings, but not pull overs or jackets. Bedroom slippers & bed socks we do for ourselves & Stella does ankle socks for herself.

If it was only a reasonable time we could send you a sample of each but have not yet seen the ones you mention with a leather sole. At any rate I can try & send you slips of how to make some. I do not like the heelless socks. The sea boot stockings are very huge, very thick oiled wool & makes your hands quite sore to knit them. Wool has become very expensive here & scarce, except only the service colours. Most of that is now very poor. We reinforce the heels & toes with 'Star Silko' for strength. Sorry to say the new office [Uncle Phil's second law office] has suffered a little, but thank God not like the first. I am sure you cannot imagine not even a pen left.[Uncle Phil's first office was bombed to oblivion].

By the way we have been knitting the gloves on two needles, they are quite practical. I found the four needles much too "fiddling". Have you tried them yet? We got the instructions from the War Comforts Fund depot here. Very thick harsh wool, but fairly quickly done.

Well once again all the best to all
& Best love from
Aunt Jennie

110 Aldermans Hill
Wednesday April 30th [1941]

Dear Helen

No news from you but if this should reach you it will let you know we are all well thro' this horrible time. I sent you some knitting papers, hope they reached you & that you found them useful.

I went up to London yesterday & found the sight most depressing. Regie's house has suffered a bit, windows & doors blown in, but thank God nothing worse. Suppose will tell you all about it one day, when the Beasts are got under.

Until then wishing you all, all the best
With love
Yours affectionately
Aunt Jennie

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Scheme of Work: The Blitz: all we need to know about World War II?

Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (resourced)

the blitz ww2 homework help

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The Blitz: all we need to know about World War II?

This unit provides children with the opportunity to look at the Second World War as an aspect of British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066.

This 8-part enquiry is useable in full or to use sections of as stand alone shorter enquiries. Pupils will be encouraged to examine different aspects of World War II including the Blitz and to make judgements about significance.

This unit is structured around 8 enquiries:

  • How significant was the Blitz?
  • World War II: whose war?
  • What was the impact of World War II on people in our locality?
  • How well does a fictional story tell us what it was like to be an evacuee?
  • Evacuee experiences in Britain: is this all we need to know about children in World War II?
  • New opportunities? How significant was the impact of World War II on women?
  • What did men do in World War II? Did all men have to fight?
  • When was the most dangerous time to live? How different was the Blitz?
were produced by members of the HA primary committee and its affiliates. This unit is a resourced scheme of work; however, the resources it refers to may in some cases only be available to full members of the HA. These schemes of work are designed to support your planning and should be moulded and adapted to fit the context and needs of your own school. To view a free sample scheme of work, please refer to our  .

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the blitz ww2 homework help

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Primary Homework Help

Britain Since the 1930s


 
 
    for information  

Children and some women were from the big cities into the countryside.

People carried to protect themselves against a possible gas attack.

People built in their gardens.

All windows and doors were to make it harder for the enemy planes to spot where they lived.

What effect did the war have on people?

World War II brought a lot of suffering and hardship to thousands of people.

.

The peaceful routine of everyday life was shattered.

- please read
All the materials on these pages are free for homework and classroom use only. You may not redistribute, sell or place the content of this page on or without written permission from the author Mandy Barrow.

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Woodlands Junior School, Hunt Road Tonbridge Kent TN10 4BB UK

IMAGES

  1. unit 3 the blitz activity pack

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  2. London blitz primary homework help! How many people died in the first

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  3. The Blitz

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  4. The Blitz

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  5. The blitz ww2 homework help. Primary homework help the blitz ww2

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  6. The Blitz

    the blitz ww2 homework help

VIDEO

  1. The Blitz. #history #ww2

  2. WW2 in a Nutshell The Blitzkrieg Unraveled

  3. The London Blitz WW2 #wwiii

  4. WW2 Explained: The Terror of the V-2 Rocket

  5. Homework-5 Facts About WW2

  6. The Berlin Wall

COMMENTS

  1. Blitz, The

    The Blitz was the name given to the bombing raids that Germany launched against Britain in 1940, during World War II (1939-45). For eight months German airplanes dropped bombs on London and other cities, including Birmingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Liverpool, Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, and Manchester. These were all places where ...

  2. What was the blitz?

    The heavy and frequent bombing attacks on London and other cities was known as the 'Blitz'. Night after night, from September 1940 until May 1941, German bombers attacked British cities, ports and industrial areas. London was bombed ever day and night, bar one, for 11 weeks. One third of London was destroyed. The bombs destroyed many buildings.

  3. The Blitz

    London suffered its worst assault of the Blitz at the end of the campaign, during the night of May 10-11, 1941. More than 500 German planes dropped bombs across the city, killing nearly 1,500 people and destroying 11,000 homes. One in every 10 bombs that fell during the Blitz did not explode immediately.

  4. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz

    The Blitz caused huge loss of life. 40,000 civilians were killed and 2 million houses were damaged or destroyed. Image caption, Firefighters in London put out fires following a bombing raid in 1941

  5. The Blitz

    The Blitz (September 7, 1940-May 11, 1941), bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against Britain during World War II. For eight months planes of the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German word 'blitzkrieg,' meaning 'lightning war.'.

  6. The Blitz

    Video summary. This short film offers a digestible insight into the blitz and how the British people responded. An eye-witness called Kitty describes first-hand the experience of being evacuated ...

  7. Blitz

    There was no mustard gas attack in the UK during WW2 because the Nazis knew that Britain would fight back even more should they have used it. The Blitz (which is German for "lightning war") was a period where the Germans started dropping bombs on large British cities such as London. It lasted from 1940 to 1941 and killed 43,000 people over the ...

  8. What was the Blitz?

    The Battle of Britain took place between 10th July 1940 and 31st October 1940. Some historians extend this to June 1941. It was the ongoing battle between the RAF (Royal Air Force) and the German Luftwaffe to control the skies above the British Isles. Adolf Hitler and the German army wanted to force the British to surrender.

  9. The Blitz Activities KS2

    Step back in time with Twinkl's excellent Blitz resources. If you're planning to teach the Blitz to KS2 pupils, then you'll be amazed at our wide assortment of the Blitz activities for KS2!. Within this collection, you'll find a wide variety of resources that will help you teach children what the Blitz was and what life would have been like for the people living through it.

  10. World War II: the Blitz

    London firefighters work in a bomb-damaged street after a German night raid in 1941.

  11. The Blitz: All we need to know about World War II?

    It was a time when most of Europe had been defeated by the Nazi regime in Germany, typically through 'Blitzkrieg' - or lightning war methods of attack - whereby heavy bombing from the air was followed by rapid military action on the ground. Britain had declared war on Germany after its invasion of Poland in 1939, following its ...

  12. The Blitz

    The Blitz Writing Frames. 5.0 (1 review) the blitz. Help students learn about the bombing of British Cities in the Second World War with our range of resources on The Blitz for Key Stage 1 History students. Featuring Blitz PowerPoints, displays and vocabulary activities including key phrases such as air raid, London, bomb, Luftwaffe and siren.

  13. The Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain is the name commonly given to the effort by the Luftwaffe to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF), before a planned sea and airborne invasion of Britain during the Second World War. The Luftwaffe tried to destroy the Royal Air Force. The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the ...

  14. World War Two (WW2) for Kids

    World War II was total war - every person, every business, every service was involved. Britain did not fight alone, the war also involved many countries. World War II involved 61 countries with 1.7 billion people (three quarters of the world's population). Fifty million people lost their lives and hundreds of millions people were injured.

  15. The Blitz

    The Blitz - WW2 Lesson (with PowerPoint) Subject: History. Age range: 7-11. Resource type: Lesson (complete) File previews. zip, 1.54 MB. This lesson will help children to understand the events of The Blitz during the Second World War. They will learn what the Blitz was, which cities were targeted and why, as well as the types of safety ...

  16. WW2 Home Front

    WW2 Home Front - The Blitz. A colourful, well-presented, and creative resource. Includes worksheets and embedded links, ideas and activities. Main contents … ( 67 pages in total ) 1 - Simple key word and vocabulary starter, matching activity. Extension, differentiation option included.

  17. BBC

    Article ID: A1112707. Contributed on: 17 July 2003. The Battle of Britain became The Blitz as Germany's Luftwaffe began to target Britain's major cities, rather than military targets such as ...

  18. Scheme of Work: The Blitz: all we need to know about World War II?

    The Blitz: all we need to know about World War II? This unit provides children with the opportunity to look at the Second World War as an aspect of British history that extends pupils' chronological knowledge beyond 1066. This 8-part enquiry is useable in full or to use sections of as stand alone shorter enquiries.

  19. The Blackout World War Two

    People were encouraged to walk facing the traffic and men were advised to leave their shirt-tails hanging out so that they could be seen by cars with dimmed headlights. Other people were injured during the Blackout because they could not see in the darkness. Many people were injured tripping up, falling down steps, or bumping into things.

  20. the Blitz: Anderson shelter

    the Blitz: Anderson shelter - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help. A woman waters flowers growing over her Anderson shelter in the Clapham district of south London, England, during World War II. Londoners built such shelters in their gardens to protect their families from bombs dropped by the Germans during the Blitz. A woman waters ...

  21. Ww2 Planes Homework Help

    Ww2 Planes Homework Help - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free.

  22. Evacuation During World War Two

    From June 13 to June 18, 1940, around 100,000 children were evacuated (in many cases re-evacuated). When the Blitz began on 7 September 1940, children who had returned home or had not been evacuated were evacuated. By the end of 1941, city centres, especially London, became safer. From June 1944, the Germans attacked again by firing V1 rockets ...

  23. World War Two

    World War II brought a lot of suffering and hardship to thousands of people. German bombers made terrifying night raids. Families were broken up as men were sent to the front lines to fight, some never to return. Children were sent out of the cities to stay with strangers, away from the bombing. Shops were half empty of things to buy and what ...