To make matters worse for the British civilians, rationing was introduced by the government. At sea, the German U-boats became more numerous and more effective. The U-boats began sinking large numbers of British merchant ships bringing food and war supplies across the Atlantic from America. This played a large part in forcing the government to bring in rationing, to make sure that the food which was available was fairly shared out.
Many cities in Britain were forced to cope with the difficulties above and many had to adjust their daily routines. However, London was especially badly hit. At the start of the campaign, the government did not allow the use of underground rail stations as they considered them a potential safety hazard. However, the population of London took the matter into their own hands and opened up the chained entrances to the tube stations. In the Underground they were safe from the high explosive and incendiary bombs that rained down on London night after night. With one or two exceptions, their confidence was rewarded. The City tube station was hit when a bomb went through the road and fell into it. Over 200 were killed.
The government did use its control over all forms of the media to present a picture of life going on as normal despite these horrendous attacks and life-devastating conditions. As we can see in the source pack, pictures presenting the civilians showing courage and determination were published and given loads of publicity and those defying morale were censored.
However, as I have shown above, life was not quite as easy as propaganda showed. London could take it, only because there was little else they could do. Under wartime restrictions, people could not simply leave their homes and move elsewhere. The poorest in London lived in the East End and it was this area that was especially hit hard by bombing because of the docks that were based there. However, most of the families there could do little else except stay where they were unless specifically moved by the government. These families developed what became known as a "war-time spirit". They adapted their lives to the constant night-time bombing.
By May 1941, 43 000 had been killed across Britain and 1.4 million had been made homeless. Not only was London attacked but so were many British cities. Plymouth was particularly badly bombed, but the most famous raid was on Coventry, when the raid lasted several hours killing 400. Most of Britain's cities were also attacked- Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool etc.