Blitz period in 1940
Blitz is a period in 1940 when the German forces heavily and frequently bombed British cities, ports, and industrial areas. On the first night of 7 September 1940, about two thousand people were killed. At the same time, about 43 000 civilians were killed. Like any war, there were many fatalities, destruction of property and infrastructure. Even though Britain tried its best to counter Germany, it was affirmed that they had superior weapons like the highly explosive bombs which they used to bomb the targeted London cities. Also, Germany used trickeries like the use of air raid sirens to alert the Londoners on their presence so that they can evacuate the targeted cities. However, Germany forces bombed different sites that had not been informed, thus getting many people unaware. Therefore, the German-Britain War made the Londoners have an early experience of the Second World War, which had more negative impacts not only to Britain but also to other international countries.
First, the Londoners experienced the Blitz of the Second World War because of the frequent bombings, destruction of property, and death of many Londoners. Like the Second World War, people could not be alerted of any destructive activity or raid. Since the Blitz was the first and among the worst experiences in London, many people were rendered homeless. Many packed and moved to safer places, which according to them, could be less hit by the bombs, and also if hit by the bombs, they can face little impacts, “By middle September, half the population of Stepney was gone. People fixed some notes on their doors” (Harrison p. 67). This experience made people be ready for any bombing at any time since the government was not able to track and predict the areas likely to be bombed by the Germany forces. Also, it is worth noting that after several nights of the endurance of the bombings in the major cities, people became used to the situation. Women could rarely cry; rather they became stronger and tougher, ‘”The women in particular were growing tougher; even crying was becoming rare” (Harrison p. 68). The Second World War had more atrocities than the Blitz. As such, becoming tougher was essential for the women not to panic and be involved in other unnecessary actions which could endanger their lives.
The main and important aspects of Blitz was the nature of war people are subjected to when two or more countries come into war. It compelled many Londoners to find courage stamina and time to know how they can survive the deadly attacks made by the German forces, “The blitz brought up new elements into people including time, stamina and time”. Harrison states that when planning for the safety, it had to consume time since they had to find better places which could not be affected by the bombs. The other important aspect of the experience was the ups and downs which affected people which they had to adjust their lives to suit the environment. By October that year, many Londoners had experienced the worst in their lives. Only few people had remained in towns because they had new normalcy of what was happening in their streets. The Blitz experience therefore exposed many people to horror, unbearable and terrifying life circumstances which led to suffering and the change of London’s strategy to help its affected people.
Different historians have different interpretation of the Blitz. Amy Bell describes it as a landscape of fear. Amy states that in the First World War, Britain’s military vulnerabilities to the zeppelin raids were exposed which led to killing of about 554 people. Also he states that England’s involvement in the Allied Forces never gave the country time to re-strategize itself as it primarily depended on the Allies’ weapons and machineries. He states that the physical landscape of the country immediately changed because of the air raid shelters. ASSSSSSSSS Among the things which changed include removal of the streetlights which led to darkness in many London streets. Further, the author states that Britain was the Allied country which had been affected by frequent bombings by the rival forces. As such, the government was aware of the plans that it the country could be invaded in any time. He also states that the early days of the war were the most as about 19000 tons of explosives raided the country of which about 14000 were done during the early days. From the raid, he states that this was meant to cut off Britain’s reiteration and focus on helping those affected other than combating the affected people.
Field interprets the war to be among the worst which hit London. In the article, he states that those were among the dark days in not only London which was among the most targeted city but also some other cities including Hull, Manchester and Nottingham. Many people were affected. From the article, destruction of the important buildings in the city rendered many people homeless. This also led to the death and injury of many people. He states that there was a social breakdown as many people were left as refugees. The government had to both reorganize itself in not only know how they could combat the air raids but also help the affected families. Also, hospitals were overrun with people suffering from psychological as well as physical injuries due to the frequent strikes which attacked their home towns and even in the neighbouring centers. To help save as many people as possible, the country made the evacuation intervention, which was to move people from the targeted cities more so London to other safer towns and villages where the Germans were less likely to attack. Therefore the author’s interpretation specifies how people lived in darkness, fear, and dismay upon the air raids as the country tried to secretly evacuate people to avoid being noticed by the rival German forces who could have resorted to those areas.
On the other hand, Brad and Griffiths state how the war period shaped the civilian’s and citizens’ morale. They state that many civilians in the country were used to the horrifying situations, which were characterized by lack of peace and disorder, “Many of these people had never known standards of home life, of space, quietness, and stability” (sadsfgdhjfkg). When the situation also hit their country, they had to sensitize the citizens to know how to deal with the situation and overcome it. At the same time, they state that unique morale was recorded in different parts of the country, including in Liverpool, to condition fear and life hardness. People had to devise new survival techniques to beat the life situation they were living in.