Many children were evacuated to the countryside, however many became homesick and fled back to the dangers of where the bombs were dropping.
The blackout rule was enforced by the Air Raids Precaution, everyone was afraid that the German bombers would see the lights and would drop bombs on the houses. People had to buy thick dark curtains, others stuck brown paper over the window. In some factories the windows were painted black. All the street lights were turned off and car headlights were blacked out except for a tiny cross in the middle. The amount of casualties caused by driving in the dark equalled the amount caused by the bombing.
British civilians did not really experience the horror of the war on the front line until 7 September 1940. This date signalled the beginning of the bombing campaign against London and other major cities which was known as the ‘Blitz’.
On the first night of bombing 430 people were killed. This night was called Black Saturday. The target for the first raids was the East End, with its docks and factories; this was also a densely populated area. As the Blitz went on the rest of London was hit, including Buckingham Palace and St. Paul’s Cathedral
.After November other major cities were bombed attacked, specifically aimed at destroying factories making war products, such as Coventry and Liverpool.
Coventry was devastated in November 1940 when the raid lasted several hours, which destroyed the centre of the city and killed 500 people. Liverpool was attacked regularly and in May 1941 suffered the biggest single raid on a mainland city, involving 500 bombers. Fires burnt out of control because water mains were hit. The city lost some of its finest buildings. A freighter, the SS Malakand, carrying 1000 tons of explosives received a direct hit and the noise was heard over 30 km away. The docks around the ship were destroyed, as were the homes of people who lived and worked around the docks.
Towns in the South- Bristol, Southampton and Portsmouth were attacked because of their dockyards. The North-West and Manchester in particular was attacked in December 1940. Liverpool was attacked regularly and in May 1941 suffered the biggest single raid on a mainland city, involving 500 bombers. Fires burnt out of control because water mains were hit. The city lost some of its finest buildings. A freighter, the SS Malakand, carrying 1000 tons of explosives received a direct hit and the noise was heard over 30 km away. The docks around the ship were destroyed, as were the homes of people who lived and worked around the docks.
Glasgow and the Clyde shipyard towns were hit hard in the spring of 1941. Belfast was devastated in April 1941 because there were no anti-aircraft guns as it had been thought that the Germans would never fly so far. At lest 1000 people were killed and 150,000 made homeless, shipbuilding took six months to recover.