Nighttime air raids. Crowded bomb shelters. Burned-out houses. Loved ones killed. That was everyday life for the Britons during the Blitz.
The Blitz, Germany's terror-bombing campaign against Britain in 1940-41, was a horrifying experience. More than 43,000 civilians died during the bombing; one million homes were destroyed or damaged.
The Blitz shook Britons to their very core. They were scared and depressed; their homes and neighborhoods lay in ruins. But their spirit was never broken. Somehow, they found a way to get through it all and show Hitler that the best he could throw at them wasn't good enough.
To Mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the BBC invited Britons to relive their wartime experiences for a unique online archive titled WW@ People's War Included among the archives thousands of colorful recollections are firsthand accounts from those who survived the Blitz. They depict both perilously close calls and the indomitable fortitude that enabled the British people to persevere.
Task: Visit the following link and explore some of the accounts from the Blitz. Then leave a comment on this blog in the form of your own fictional account of a Londoner during the Blitz. Be sure to include enough factual information to make the accounts seem real while capturing the despair and resolve of the British people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c1161/
15 comments:
It has been 2 months since the raids on Britain began. John went off to join the RFa about a month ago. All mother talks about is how she hopes her little boy will come home safely. Seriouly, I'm standing right here and all she can talk about is how John is a hero to the nation and is going to do something good. I guess being the first born son of a middle class family would have some benefits. Since school is closed I have been helping out at the clinic. Although it has not been very bad here in london, the number of people who show up here is just unreal. The most common problem is the depression. It has gotten better since Prime Minister Churchill came into power things have gotten better, but still I don't know what we will do if this increases. The clinic is already near max. I hope that Churchill is right about us winning no matter what cause if not than the world will fall into darkness
History 12
J.J.
ps.. i spelled seriously wrong, and i also like to eat my bellybutton lint and collect my earwax in a jar that i slather on myself during summertime. It's like a sunblock with spf 9000.
J.J.
On the night of November 14, 1940, the unsettling quiet was disrupted by the sound of the sirens going off. I ran outside to ask the air raid warden how severe the next blitz would be; he quickly told me to grab Mary and the kids and run to the closest shelter.
I rushed back into the house and told Mary to head to the shelter with the kids while I ran next door to instruct the Roberts family. Just as I approached the door, the first bomb fell. It had made a direct hit with the bookshop a few roads over. The Roberts then immediately came outside to follow me to the shelter constructed in the back yard. When we got to the shelter, the small space was already cramped with 3 families and now the Roberts as well.
We sat in the shelter for what seemed like a life time. Bombs just kept falling all around us. Some sounded distant while others appeared as though they were right on top of us. The ground just kept shaking and it seemed as though the beating would never end. We waited about twelve hours until the all clear sirens were sounded.
My son James and I were the first to exit the safety of the shelter. When we opened the door and walked out, our town of Coventry was in ruin. Coventry now lay in ruins. The roads were bathed in smoke while there was an eerie orange glow from the fires trying to filter through. As we walked down the street, the town reeked of death and despair.
History 12
E.P
Yesterday wasn't the best friday I have had. The norm for any one in school especially in grade 12 is to run from school and hang out with my friends. The Jerry's finally came yesterday.We walked out of the school house and a overwhelming sound came from the sky. We looked up and the sky was filled with planes we knew they had finally come and we all ran home through the maze of precautionary sandbags to get our parents and friends down to the shelters. It didn't seem true we had done the drills over and over again at school but we thought it would never happen and the teachers were stupid but we didn't understand everything apperently. It is only a couple of months till my eighteenth birthday and I plan to go and sign up with the flying boys. It is 6 months to train but I want to get a crack at the dang Jerry's before there are non left for Paul and I.
D.M september 7th 1939
P.s. just to make this more interesting for Mr. Lewis I'd like to tell him of the meal that I ate last night for dinner. It consisted of pig entrails and small fetal babies, barely developed. Mom barbecued them with special earwax sauce from Jeff's ear. He sells it during the summertime. It's got lots of uses. It's what we eat in beverley.
E.P.
Dear Diary,
Every time it seems that this horrid battle of the skies is over, it simply gets worse. President Churchill keeps telling us that we need to stay strong, and to keep our spirits among us; that even if we are bested on the battlefields, Britain will never truly be defeated. We have our colonies, he says, and we will keep fighting until the bitter end.
Except, it’s getting harder to see if the end is any closer then it was weeks ago. It’s horrible to even say, but it was easier for us civilians when the bombs were targeting the airfields. At least that way, it wasn’t our homes being destroyed; it wasn’t our loved ones being deliberately targeted. At least the RAF can defend themselves. We can’t.
But as easy as it would be to blame this on the military’s failures and direct my anger there, I simply can’t. We hear on the radio about how exhausted the RAF is. I hear reports about how our pilots are running ragged, falling asleep at breakfast and almost physically ill from the relentless combination of fear, fatigue, and strain they’ve been experiencing for months now. So as hard as I try, I always find that there’s no one to blame but Hitler, and the Germany that he’s created.
I have to go now; John will be getting home from work, soon. Strange, to think that despite all of the chaos, he still has to go to work. I’ll write tomorrow.
KD
Mr. Lewis,
I would just like to inform you that there is no way I am posting my blog entry on the interwebz. There are anonymous students trolling this blog *cough GB cough* and I'd rather not deal with rumors regarding bellybutton lint, earwax, or god knows what else these people (GB) can think of.
- No Way Am I Signing My Initials On This. I'm Too Scared For My Life.
Dear Journal,
I was living in Coventry at the time. It was our city and it got taken away from us be the German filth, flying high above us safe in their planes as we lived in fear. I was home with my mother and father playing with my toys while they drank tea. I had been watching the skies anxiously all day. Then I could hear the planes from above, followed by a rushing noise then nothing but a loud crash that deafened everything for a moment. My mom told me not to cry and my dad rushed us down to the cellar. I was crying the sounds hurt my ears the people’s screams barley reached us everything smelt of smoke.
I cried, I was scared I could not imagine what it would feel like for me to be there one minute and consumed in fire the next, with only the rushing sound of a falling bomb as a warning. I couldn’t understand how my mother and father kept so calm. How they still said everything was going to be okay. Did they believe it? When the sirens would sound we would flee to the closest shelter until we were safe once again. The main place of refuge for us children was the local catholic school. We would pray for the bombs to stop for the Germans to leave us be. I was getting tired of being afraid I was getting tired of hoping that this was a dream and that the sirens weren’t real.
Then came the day, where we came out of our cellar and we could see all the burning building including my school. Coventry was in ruin. But still here I am.
J.M.
Due to all the confessions on this blog, I'd like to start out with mine..it's been eating me up for awhile. My initials, KD stands for Kraft Dinner. I am the secret heiress to the dynasty. The secret ingredient armpit hair and a dash of wound puss. I am sorry to soil this blog with my true confessions, but it is true because it has nothing to do with earwax, or bellybutton lint.
K.D.
P.S.
so thats, like, commodification right?
J.M
I was 8 at the time when war was first declared in 1939.
I remember when we were all issued gas masks and had to keep them with us at all times. If we were in the streets without one, the ARP warden would ask us where ours was. At school we had to go into the back of a lorry filled with tear gas to ensure that we were putting the masks on properly and that they didn't leak. I hated it.
At the time when it all began I don't think anyone really realized how seriouse this was. We were young and it all seemed rather exciting.
At the start we were still living in London, and the city was unrecognizable. Bomb shelters were dug up everywhere and houses were barracaded with sand bags. We had to tape our windows to ensure that the glass wouldn't shatter, and put in black out window covers. The the montra of the day was "Be Prepared."
In the summer of 1940 the bombings began. They were terrifying and we would wait in the bomb shelter for hours with our masks on ready to be bombed and gassed. When the all clear signal would sound my brother and I would usually check out the destruction and see if the school was still standing. We would also check on our friends houses and see if anything new had developed.
My mother decided it would be safer in Hull with her family. We hitched a ride on a covered lorry and made our way to Hull. It was a terrible time, but I trusted that Britain would survive.
History 12
M.R.
Yesterday was the first experience I ever had with the Blitz. I guess I can say I'm pretty lucky, and have been able to avoid just about every bombing so far. However, good luck always comes to an end. It was about midnight last night, and I had just crawled into bed. Running through my mind was what I was going to make the children for lunch the next day. Suddenly, in the dead of night .. I heard sirens. Considering I have never heard the sound of them before, I had no idea what was going on, and found myself panicking. Both my children were awake by this time, and standing at my door with frightened looks in their eyes. The poor children had no idea what was going on. Luckily, the neighbours had told us that in the event of a bombing, they had room in their shelter for us. Quickly, and without any thought, i grabbed my two children and ran as fast as i possibly could to the neighbours property. Already waiting in the shelter for us were William and Rose with their three children. All night we sat in the dark,listening to the screeches and shrills of the bombs crashing down around us, and i prayed to god to keep my children safe. What felt like three days of sitting in the shelter finally ended, and we all left unharmed. Many bombings followed over the next couple of weeks, and we lost two of the children next door.
History 12
J.W
The date of September 1, 1939 will always live on as the day that changed me forever. Me and hundreds of other children were taken from our families and gathered outside the school. They were taking us to the station to be shipped away from London, where I didn’t know and neither did anyone else. The fear and confusion I felt that day are still with me, the helpless feeling of not being able to control your own decisions and being taken to remote locations without my family. The only thing I had with me were my bag of clothes and the gas mask they provided us in case of an emergency. Everywhere I looked small children were screaming, searching for their families, and utter chaos. It all seemed to happen so fast, it took me a few minutes to even realize that I had been put on the train and was already heading for my new home.
After living in my new home for over a year things have hardly gotten better. The fighting is continuing and I still haven’t shaken the fear of dying at any moment. The place I am in is still in danger of bombing raids and invasion. The only sense of hope I have came from the words of Winston Churchill. I believe that there is still a chance things will be back to normal, but how long will that take and how far will I be driven away from my home before it happens?
I was just a little child during the Battle of Britain. I could barely understand the situations happening. The first declaration of battle was the Blitz on September seventh; the Germans had dropped bombs over in London. The invasion was confusing for me, and my sisters.
Gasmasks were handed out to all the residents around our block. We had to wear the gasmasks, or at least keep them close at all times. The bombings had continued, to the point where everyone had gathered at the train stations. I still remember that day so clearly. My two sisters and I were wearing our Sunday best, and were carrying a bag. Our bags only carried the necessary: Sandwiches, pajamas, and our undergarments (though I had snuck in Marissa, my most cherished doll!). I stood there with my sisters, holding on to their hands. We watched mom cry as we were ushered onto the train.
After the train ride we were adopted to our “new families” To Mrs. Smith, and Mr. Smith. The Smiths were very nice to my sisters, and me. They had a big house with three bedrooms: one for me, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and one for my sisters. Every night I would watch the news to see if the situation had gotten better back in London. A few months had passed since we came to Mississippi; it was now close to mid July. Apparently five hundred Luftwaffe plans had been lost or destroyed. I was glad to hear that our situation was becoming better in London.
We had watched Winston Churchill on T.V to! He had talked about how Britain was strong and how we could get through this disaster stronger. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Winston had said. The Luftwaffe initiated a strategic bombing campaign designed to cripple the RAF in preparation of operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Great Britain.) The significances of the battle were that WW2 would be long and drawn out, it allowed Britain to resupply and it allowed a staging point for Operation Overlord (D-Day). Britain’s defenses were too great, and the development of the radar system had helped our people even more. We finally wore out the Germans, and had won the battle.
rh
Mother keeps on saying that the war will end soon, but for some reason i don't think it will. Everyone has been affected by the war. The rations have been awful, we've been allowed only 5 inches of bathing water can be used per week. I have needed to get used to eating powdered eggs, which taste like salt mixed with flower. I must admit that a lot of the time I complain about the rations, but then I remember that the royal family is also subject to the rationing restrictions, so it must not be that bad.
Everyone used to mock Hitler and think that he was just some idiot, but now it feels like we were the idiots and everyone let Hitler get away with all of these awful atrocities. I don't think I'll ever understand why someone like Hitler could be so cruel to so many people.
Father started to build a bomb shelter a few months ago. We all thought that he was just being silly and getting ahead of himself, but after the blitzkrieg and after some of our neighbors died as a result, we realised that he better finish it soon. Father says that it will be built by the time that the Germans attack us again. It's is still very surreal for me to see what has happened in the past few years. It's strange to see London suddenly becoming a ghost town. Before everyone thought that the war wouldn't get this bad, but it doesn't feel like it will end anytime soon.
History 12
L.M.
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