The Blitz

On September 7th, 1940, the German Air Force set out to destroy London - the Blitz had begun. For fifty-seven nights the city was bombarded. Buildings were shattered, homes destroyed, men, women, and children killed. But throughout this black winter of 1940/41 civilian morale refused to crack - London was fighting back. 'When they hit this huge pub they must have smashed every bottle because the booze just poured out into the street and I distinctly remember seeing an old man with a cup, scooping it up out of the gutter !' 'She was buried for hours, and we could hear her swearing away down there. Can't think where she learned the words, a nice little old lady like that.' 'He was a fighter pilot ... he was dining with his wife when the place was hit, and she was killed beside him. He went absolutely berserk ...' Fragmented memories, glorious, tragic, terrifying, shared by ninety-five boroughs and districts that then constituted Greater London. This is the story of the people who refused to give in - the air raid wardens, the Home Guard, the casualty and fire services - the ordinary men and women who knew they had to survive.