Britain in The Age of Total War 1939-45

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Britain in the Age of Total War 1939-45

Helena Gardner

 

Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940 - 1941?
When France surrendered to the Nazis on 22nd June 1940, Britain was left vulnerable to a Nazi invasion. When Britain did not surrender as France had, Hitler decided to launch Operation Sealion, which was the invasion of Britain. The Germans initially attacked ships, but successful RAF attacks on German ships demonstrated that the RAF had to be destroyed before Operation Sealion could go ahead. This was the Battle of Britain, which was fought in British airspace between the RAF and the Luftwaffe. Eventually Britain won after nearly two months of hard fighting, due to the distance that the German fighters had to travel, radar technology, and the superior Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft. 

 

The Nazis decided to call off Operation Sealion on 7th September 1940, and try a different tactic: heavy bombing of major British cities, such as London, Birmingham, Coventry and Bristol. This became known as the Blitz. Hitler chose to attack major cities because this was where most of the population lived, as well as where the majority of the targets were. The simple aim of these night time bombing raids was to destroy transport, industry, the economy, morale and, ultimately, the British war effort.  

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Hitler knew from Guernica that when citizens were in constant fear of a violent, bloody death, they could and would pressurise the government into surrendering. He aimed for a large scale reconstruction of the Spanish atrocity. Hitler succeeded to a certain extent in his quest to crush the morale of the British public – despite official government reports describing how everything was continuing normally, and the “Blitz spirit”, unofficial reports about “unplanned hysteria” and there being “no humour or laughter” in the East End abounded. The Nazis hoped that by bombing munitions factories, it would be impossible for ...

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