Since the Allies won the war in 1945 and 60 years since the Blitz, the British people have honoured their war dead and treasured the memories that sustained them during what was a time of fear, despair and loss. There are many theories about how we remember and about why we remember things in the way that we do. This includes being selective in our recall. Much of our understanding of the manner in which the British faced the Blitz is coloured by both the positive outcome of the war, and by the way people have chosen, with hindsight, to describe themselves. But while people might deceive themselves the sources separate the facts from fabrication.
I think that the statement - "British faced the blitz with courage and unity" is basically a myth but they were some times when people where courageous and united. The extract in Source A disagrees with the statement because it says “the British people showed that they didn’t have to be in uniform to heroes” and that “Out of terror and tragedy came courage …” but it is unreliable because the extract is from a book celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Blitz. Source B agrees with the statement because it is about a photograph that was published late because it was deemed too disturbing. This shows that the people were ignorant of the true facts and that the government thought that it was too much for them. Source C disagrees with the statement because it shows a group of people standing in front of their bombed buildings and they were smiling. The caption said “Their houses are wrecked but the tenants of the buildings still showed the British ‘grit’ ” this showed that this photograph was censored and that the people weren’t really showing the British ‘grit’ but what the government wanted to be shown. Source D agrees with the statement because it shows people that are dispirited and exhausted with nothing else to do but sort out their property from the rubble. This source was also censored and it was published in 1941.
Sources B, C and D support the statement because it shows that the government did not trust the people to be calm if the knew the real truth about the Blitz.
Source E is an extract from a secret report to the government by the Ministry of Information it shows that the people where hysterical and alarmed also that people were rapidly leaving the East End. This source proves that people were not all courageous and united. Source F agrees with the statement because it shows how bitter and dispirited the people were. Source G disagrees with the statement because it talks about how people turned up for work despite the war and how they kept up the economy.
I think that the statement "British faced the blitz with courage and unity" is a myth because most of the sources support this. What also convinced me is that most of what people claim as proof is actually government propaganda and censorship. For example in the city of Liverpool was hit 3rd of May 1941 British morale had never been so low Liverpool and its leadership collapsed. Its citizens were caught up in a war that they did not want to be involved in, and that many of them probably did not even understand. They were ready to surrender, but what could they do? Their story was suppressed by government censorship. In an attempt to cover-up low morale the government tried to show that life in London was carrying on as normal, and there was much coverage in the press of people going to parties, dining out and clubbing in the West End. This did not go down well with the majority of the population, particularly in the East End, who were not dining and partying in reinforced basement clubs. For them, shelter was either completely non-existent, or extremely poor.
In conclusion most of what is seen as “courage and unity” was really government propaganda that was meant to boost public morale. But needless to say in some cases people were indeed courageous and united.
