The Bombing of Britain 1940-1945

Discussion in 'Research Material' started by CL1, Oct 25, 2019.

  1. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    THE GERMAN BLITZ ON BRITAIN The British Isles were subjected to bombing attack by German aircraft from May 1940 to March 1945. For most of this time the bombing was light and intermittent. The German Air Force conducted a sustained bombing offensive only between August 1940 and June 1941. During this period most bombs fell on the major ports and shipbuilding centres around Britain's coastline, including London, which sustained the heaviest and most continuous attacks. Raids on industrial centres were limited chiefly to towns where aircraft production was based. In the last year of the war the German high command also ordered attacks by missiles, the V1 flying bomb and the V2 rocket, the first deliberately indiscriminate campaign waged against British targets. The pattern of bombing The German bombing of Britain went through a number of distinct phases. After the defeat of France in June 1940, German Air Fleets 2 and 3 were based in northern France and the Low Countries to prepare for action against Britain. In the summer of 1940 small probing attacks were made to test the defences and to give German aircrew experience in both day and night bombing. In August 1940 the German Air Force was ordered to destroy the RAF as a fighting force and to attack its sources of supply. By late August, believing the RAF to be close to defeat, the German Air Force switched to military and industrial targets around London and in other parts of Britain. On 7 September came the first heavy raid on the London dock area; almost four months of continuous bombing of the capital followed. The bombing in September coincided with the realization by German leaders that it would not be possible to invade southern England in the autumn of 1940 with the RAF still undefeated and the Royal Navy an ever-present threat to a cross-Channel operation. In mid-September Hitler postponed invasion indefinitely and the air force was left to conduct the world's first major independent bombing offensive. Because of high losses, the campaign was conducted almost entirely at night, a trend already evident from August onwards. The main focus of attacks was London but from November onwards heavy raids were made against cities in the Midlands – Birmingham and Coventry in particular – and against major port cities, including Manchester, Liverpool, Plymouth, Southampton and Portsmouth. During the winter months poor weather slowed down the offensive, which was renewed again in the spring of 1941.



    https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/med...andsociety/bombing/THE_BOMBING_OF_BRITAIN.pdf
     
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