伦敦大轰炸

The Blitz (English: 'lightning') was a bombing campaign by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy against the United Kingdom during the Second World War. It lasted for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 16 May 1941. The name is a shortened form of Blitzkrieg (English: "lightning war"), a term used in the popular press to describe a German style of surprise attack used during the war.

Toward the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, daylight air superiority over the United Kingdom was contested between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force. Germany began conducting mass air attacks against British cities, beginning with London, in an attempt to draw the RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation. Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights. The attacks included a large daylight attack against London on 15 September, a large raid on 29 December 1940 against London resulting in a firestorm known as the Second Great Fire of London, and a large raid on the night of 10–11 May 1941.

The Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of night attacks to evade attacks by the RAF, and the Blitz became a night bombing campaign after October 1940. The Luftwaffe attacked the main Atlantic seaport of Liverpool in the Liverpool Blitz. The North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, suffered the Hull Blitz.……

Background information

Luftwaffe and strategic bombing

In the 1920s and 1930s airpower theorists such as Giulio Douhet and Billy Mitchell claimed that air forces could win wars, obviating the need for land and sea combat. It was thought that "the bomber will always get through", and could not be resisted, particularly at night.……

Civil defence

Pre-war preparations and fears

London had nine million people—a fifth of the British population—living in an area of 750 square miles (1,940 square kilometres), which was difficult to defend because of its size.……

Pre-war RAF night defence

British air doctrine, since Hugh Trenchard had commanded the Royal Flying Corps (1915–1917), stressed offence as the best means of defence, which became known as the cult of the offensive.……

Technology

German night navigation devices

Because of the inaccuracy of celestial navigation for night navigation and target finding in a fast-moving aircraft, the Luftwaffe developed radio navigation devices and relied on three systems: Knickebein (Crooked Leg), X-Gerät (X-Device), and Y-Gerät (Y-Device).……

First phase

Loge and Seeschlange

The first deliberate air raids on London were mainly aimed at the Port of London, causing severe damage.……

Second phase

Night attacks

From November 1940 to February 1941 the Luftwaffe shifted its strategy and attacked other industrial cities. In particular, the West Midlands were targeted. On the night of 13/14 November, 77 He 111s of Kampfgeschwader 26 (26th

Final attacks

Directive 23: Göring and the Kriegsmarine

In 1941 the Luftwaffe shifted strategy again. Erich Raeder—commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine—had long argued the Luftwaffe should support the German submarine force (U-Bootwaffe) in the Battle of the Atlantic by attacking shipping in the Atlantic Ocean and attacking British ports.……

Aftermath

Luftwaffe losses

Between 20 June 1940, when the first German air operations began over Britain, and 31 March 1941, OKL recorded the loss of 2,265 aircraft over the British Isles, a quarter of them fighters and one-third bombers. At least 3,363 Luftwaffe aircrew were killed, 2,641 missing and 2,117 wounded.……

Effectiveness of bombing

The military effectiveness of bombing varied.……

Legacy, propaganda and memory

A popular image arose of British people in the Second World War: a collection of people locked in national solidarity. This image entered the historiography of the Second World War in the 1980s and 1990s, especially after the publication of Angus Calder's book The Myth of the Blitz (1991).……

Tables

Bombing raid statistics

Below is a table by city of the number of major raids (where at least 100 tons of bombs were dropped) and tonnage of bombs dropped during these major raids. Smaller raids are not included in the tonnages.