By : Janoschka van zyl

The blitz was an attack on London planned by the German leader Aldof Hitler during the late 1940.

It was dangerous living in a big city during the war. Cities were the target of enemy aircraft that flew over at night and dropped bombs.

At 4:56pm on 7 September 1940, the air raid sirens wailed as the German Air Force, the luftwaffe, launched a massive raid on London. Over 350 bombers flew across the Channel from airfields in France and dropped 300 tonnes of bombs on the docks and streets of the East End of London.

My info

The word Blitz comes from the original word in German which is Blitzkerg and the meaning of it is lightning war

On the 7th September, 1940 German air force changed it’s strategy of bombing the British air force to bombing the people of London. Nearly 2,000 people were either Killed or wounded on the first night of bombing. During the first month of bombing the German air force drooped over 5,300 tonnes of bombs.

Most of the air raids took to the air at night to protect the people of London black outs were invented to stop people from seeing the horror outside.

When you hear the warning take cover at once. Remember that most of the injuries in an air raid are caused not by direct hits by bombs but by flying fragments of debris or by bits of shells. Stay under cover until you hear the sirens sounding continuously for two minutes on the same note which is the signal "Raiders Passed".Air raid warnings 1939

Other cities were heavily bombed during the great battle of Britain such as….

Swansea, Cardiff ,Bristol, Southampton, Plymouth, Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool.All of these cities were bombed.

During the Blitz over 32,000 people were killed and 87,000 were seriously injured.

Did you know that 60% of London's houses were destroyed.

Different types of bombs were dropped from the enemy planes. There were:

· H.E. (High Explosive) bombs of various weights; · Incendiary Bombs, also termed Fire Bombs as they

caused fires. and · Oil Bombs.One in every ten bombs that fell was a 'dud'. which

meant that it did not explode on impact. But some bombs had a delayed action fuse, which meant they could go off at any time. This meant that it was almost impossible to tell which bombs were which. People had to be evacuated until the bombs had been made safe.

Air raid shelters were built to prevent the Germens from seeing the people in hiding, Blackout were reinforced at night which meant all light had to be exposed.

Life was very hard during the Blitz and frightening too. London, in particular was very bad as it was bombed nearly every night. People in London spent most nights sleeping in Air Raid Shelters.

No one within any distance of a likely target such as a big city could sleep entirely easy in their beds. Sometimes German bombers made mistakes and dropped their bombs in entirely the wrong areas. At other times, returning from a raid, they would. Food and clothing had been rationed because all the shops had been bombed . It was also difficult to see during the black outs.

Barrage balloons were put up to force the german planes to fly higher – so their bombing would be less accurate. The Barrage balloons were tethered by steel cables strong enough to destroy any aircraft which flew into them.

Barrage balloons were put up to force the german planes to fly higher – so their bombing would be less accurate. The Barrage balloons were tethered by steel cables strong enough to destroy any aircraft which flew into them.

The Blitz ended in mid-May 1941, when much of the German air force was sent east to prepare for the invasion of Russia.

The next big air attacks came from the terrifying V-1 and V-2 attacks. These were flying bombs (doodlebugs) catapulted into the air from camouflaged launched sites in northern, Occupied Europe.

 

That Winston Churchill was president at the time of the Blitz.

Most babies were stranded for days not knowing were their parents were.

Over 5 ,000 of the killed were pregnant mothers.

Sad ones

I’d like to say thank you for watching my slide and thank you to my mother who helped me gather in formation.